By nando, on March 4th, 2011%
Arancini (Italian for “small orange”) are small rice balls, usually stuffed with mozzarella, that are breaded and deep fried. I’ve also seen them called Suppli al Telefono, due to the long strands of mozzarella resembling telephone cords (no joke!), but that is more of a northern-Italian name. Traditionally, cooks would use left over risotto to make the arancini because, try as you might, it’s impossible to get reheated risotto to taste as good as when it’s just been made. I guess you can say they were invented more as a way to enjoy the leftovers than by a stroke of genius (though some may argue that point).
I was first introduced to arancini in the winter of 2000, when I spent four months in Sicily as part of a military deployment. We stayed in a town called Motta Sant’Anastasia, and there was (literally) a hole in a wall in town where you could walk up and get whatever the cook (an old Sicilian woman) had made that day. Though the menu varied daily, she always had arancini ready to be flash-fried and served piping hot! I found arancini all over Sicily, but I never had a better version than these. Most places . . . → Read More: Arancini
By nando, on January 18th, 2011%
It’s NFL Playoff season and everyone knows that nothing says football more than buffalo wings and beer (especially during the Superbowl!). Buffalo wings are normally fried to ensure that they have a crispy enough skin to hold up to the sauce they are then drenched in. Most baked wings become soggy because by the time the exterior gets crispy enough the wings are overcooked and dry. I’ve found a way to bake them and get them just as crispy as fried wings but without adding any oil, which ensures that the wings are nice and flavorful, yet never greasy. This recipe allows you to enjoy your wings and not have to feel guilty about eating fried food.
The key to getting them crispy in the oven is to dry them out and to coat them in a bit of baking powder to ensure the skin blisters when baked. The easiest way to dry the wings is to first pat them dry, then season them and place them in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least 4 hours (overnight is best). I guarantee you will never fry your wings again!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40-45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: You . . . → Read More: Baked Buffalo Wings
By nando, on November 16th, 2010%
It’s fall, so every food blogger and their brother is probably posting something similar, if they haven’t already. So, why am I doing it if I know it’s been done a million times already? Because there are few things in this world that I like more than (roasted) Brussels sprouts, and because it’s my blog. What’s going to sound weird is that I only like them one way: roasted. I do not care for them if they’re boiled or steamed (though I haven’t tried grilling them) because it’s the mild bitterness from the charred leaves that whets my appetite.
This recipe can be made several ways; for one, you can use any kind of lubricant you’d like, including bacon or duck fat. I suggest olive oil (or other vegetable oils) with this recipe unless you want to play around with how much salt you should add.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: None
Ingredients:
1 lb Brussels sprouts
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
3 slices bacon, cut into small strips and cooked
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Remove the outermost leaves from the sprouts and discard, then cut a bit off from the stem part . . . → Read More: Roasted Brussels Sprouts
By nando, on October 26th, 2010%
I was looking for a way to make lasagna into a snack without having to either pig out or make a whole lasagna that would eventually end up in my fridge for longer than it takes me to eat it. Since I was on my own this past weekend (Mrs. Belly Full was out of town), I decided that this weekend was perfect for me to make my “snackable” lasagna (I had a craving for it, anyway).
I cooked the beef and refrigerated it overnight because I believe that it tastes better the second day. I also used store-bought wonton wrappers and my favorite tomato/pasta sauce (nothing fancy), but feel free to use your own homemade tomato sauce if you have some lying around. As far as cutting the wonton wrappers into perfect circles, I used a lid off a jar that just happened to be the right size. Place it on the wrapper and trace around it with a paring knife (or push it through the dough).
If I can make a small suggestion, try and use a silicone muffin pan, if you can. I found that it was extremely easy to get them out as I . . . → Read More: Lasagna Cupcakes
By nando, on October 21st, 2010%
I’m a meat-and-potato type of guy, and I think that there are very few toppings that go better with a baked potato than bacon. I was thinking of making a baked potato as a side one day this week but I changed my mind when I walked by the fingerling potatoes in the grocery store. The minute I saw them I pictured them wrapped in bacon and I just had to bring some home and try it out.
I made sure to pick the smallest ones I could find, and tried to ensure that they were all about the same size; to ensure even cooking, I picked potatoes that were between the size of a nickel and a quarter, and they worked out great. They just needed to boil for 10 minutes and spend about 20 minutes in the oven to ensure a crispy exterior and a nice, fluffy interior.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: You could use regular potatoes, cut up into small cubes (about 3/4″ squares) if you can’t find small fingerlings. Also, don’t use colored toothpicks as the food dye will bleed into the potato as it cooks (definitely not pretty).
Ingredients:
12 small fingerling potatoes
4 strips of . . . → Read More: Bacon-Wrapped Fingerling Potatoes
By nando, on October 7th, 2010%
Have you noticed a trend? I am a pork and cheese addict so it’s only natural that the Cuban sandwich serve as my inspiration for a few dishes. I’ve seen other chino-latino fusions as appetizers, most recently the pork and ripe plantain dumplings at Dragonfly in Puerto Rico, so I tried to come up with a recipe all my own. I was also unsure as to the cooking method, but I decided to fry them instead of steam or boil them. Feel free to cook them either way.
As with any Cuban sandwich, the ingredients are slowly-braised pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard. I didn’t want to put the mustard inside the wonton wrapper, so I ended up making a dipping sauce instead (you can get the recipe in my previous post, here). Serve them as you would any other appetizer.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: None
Ingredients:
10-12 wonton wrappers
1 oz slowly braised pork, chopped fine
1 oz ham, chopped fine
1 slice Swiss cheese, chopped fine
5 pickle slices, chopped fine
2 tbsp mustard dipping sauce from link above
Procedure:
Heat 3 cups of peanut oil to 375 degrees (make sure that there is enough oil to completely cover . . . → Read More: Cuban Fried Wontons
By nando, on October 4th, 2010%
It’s football season, which in my house means that there must be snacks available on Sunday afternoons. Buffalo wings are delicious and popular, but they do tend to get messy. I was looking for a way to keep the buffalo flavor in some sort of finger food but eliminate the need for a whole roll of paper towels. I also wanted to make it a bit healthier by adding some green, leafy vegetables (i.e. spinach) to the mix. Think of it as a combination of two very popular appetizers: buffalo wings and spinach dip.
I chose to poach my chicken breasts because I wanted a clean chicken flavor to come through. Feel free to cook your chicken however you like it most. You can even buy a pre-cooked chicken (a rotisserie chicken works well here) if you want to save time. Just remember that the flavor of the chicken, and how it’s cooked, will come through in the dip.
You may be tempted to serve this with chips or even some sort of cracker. Don’t! This dip needs the bulk and crunch provided by Melba Toast or some other form of crostini. If . . . → Read More: Buffalo Chicken and Spinach Dip
By nando, on September 21st, 2010%
I want to make something clear: armadillos are mammals and, as such, do not lay eggs. I want to get that out first so that PETA doesn’t come knocking my door down in the middle of the night claiming cruelty to armadillos.
Typically, armadillo eggs are jalapeños stuffed with cheese (sausage is optional), breaded, and fried; they’re more commonly called “jalapeño poppers” in most restaurants. I’m a big fan of these appetizers but I wanted to make a version that was more, I don’t know, meaty. So, in order to attain my goal, I made an inside-out version of the jalapeño poppers by stuffing some roasted jalapeños, cream cheese, and cilantro inside a ball of sausage then breading and frying them.
I first attempted the recipe using country sausage but found it to be too heavy and greasy; they just weren’t enjoyable. I almost gave up and decided to go back to the original form of the dish but then a light bulb went off, so I went to the store and purchased some turkey sausage (mild Italian, but feel free to use hot if you’d like). Working with turkey sausage is messier than the pork version (the meat is stickier and needs to be cold . . . → Read More: Armadillo Eggs
By nando, on August 20th, 2010%
I’ve seen my share of tuna burgers on restaurant menus for years now. I’ve never ordered one because I’m not a huge fan of seared tuna steaks and I was afraid that the non-steak burgers were made from canned tuna (which I don’t really care for, either). I’ve also seen cooking shows where they use either tuna steaks or canned tuna to make burgers but I usually change the channel as it’s something I never thought I’d be interested in. However, I was inspired to do something different after watching an old episode of Iron Chef America where Morimoto took a large piece of tuna and chopped it up with two knives into very small pieces and than created a beautiful tuna tartar out of it. My thought process was as follows: “Why can’t I take small pieces of tuna and mix them as I would a crab cake, then make a burger/slider out if it?”
It’s been a few weeks since I saw that episode and had almost forgot about it until I was looking through the sale items in my local Harris Teeter and saw that sashimi-grade Tuna was on sale for $7 a pound. I usually try to stick . . . → Read More: Ahi Tuna Sliders
By nando, on July 23rd, 2010%
It’s summer here in Durham, NC, with means only one thing: weekly trips to the farmers market. Ok, so it means more than just that, but what can you expect, I’m writing a food blog. The Durham farmers market runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays in downtown Durham and is the place to be if you’re looking for farm-fresh, local ingredients. Most of the vendors here will tell you that they aren’t certified Organic but that they do tend to their produce and livestock in a way consistent with Organic practices. Since it can cost upwards of $2,000 a year in fees to be certified by the USDA, not to mention all of the paperwork, I can’t say I blame the small farmers for not wanting to incur the extra expense.
I believe it’s more important to eat locally than it is to eat something certified Organic, especially since almost 20 percent of all organic products sold in the US are imported from countries such as Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and, yes, even China (GASP!). The USDA had this to say: “Organic imports have played a significant role in the U.S. market expansion for organic products. Again, concrete data are not . . . → Read More: Recipe: Pimento Cheese and Tomato Open-Faced Sandwich
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