Cook: Mushroom tarts

Just the other day, I found this hand-written recipe for delightful mushroom tarts that my mother in law shared with me a while ago. I had to share the recipe with my deliciousLA readers! I hope you enjoy them as much as our families do! Warning - these mushroom tarts really rich and addictive.  :)

Pastry:

• 1/2 lb butter
• 1/2 lb cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 c flour

Filling: 

• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped fine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp sherry
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 1/8 tsp thyme
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 tablespoon flour

Cook: Jamie Oliver's The Easiest, Sexiest Salad in the World

Jamie was right. This salad is pretty darn sexy. It is an amazing combination of flavors that just melts in your mouth and makes you happy. It also happens to be a very photogenic salad as well. It's fig season in Southern California and we're taking full advantage of it! If you can, I'd strongly encourage you to try out this recipe.  Serves 4

Criss-cross the figs, but not quite to the botton. 1 fig per person is always a good start, but if they are ripe treat yourself and your loved ones to a larger portion, let's say 3 or 4 figs per person.  Place the figs in a dish, and then weave some pieces of Proscuitto around each fig, throw in some torn buffalo mozzarella, and rip some basil into the mix. Finish off by drizzling everything with honey/lemon dressing (6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon good honey, sea salt and freshly ground pepper). Bon appetit!

Cook: Patatas Bravas

Here is part two of the potatoes two ways series :).  Our friend Shannon made these for a potluck dinner party and they were a huge hit. They would go well with the following recipes on this blog:
- Spanish Tortilla
- Chicken and Chorizo Paella
- Seared Squid, Olives, Tomato and Arugula Salad

Cook: Potato Crisps with chive sour cream dip

This week I'm going to feature two fantastic and deliciously addictive potato recipes shared by our friend Shannon. This one utilizes the skins, whereas the next recipe will feature the rest of the potato. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups canola oil
• thick peelings from 3 pounds of Yukon Gold or Russet Potatoes (roughly 1-by-3 inch strips)
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons snipped chives
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
2. In a large saucepan over moderately high heat, heat oil to 360F
3. Fry potato skins in batches, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp (approx 2-3 min per batch)
4. Using slotted spoon, transfer each batch of potato strips to paper towels to drain, then sprinkle with salt immediately.
5. Transfer the potato strips to a baking sheet and sprinkle them with the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake for 3-4 minutes, just until the cheese is metled.
6. Let the crisps cool, then transfer to a bowl.
7. In a blender or processor, puree the sour cream with the chives and a pinch of salt and pepper until the chives are finely chopped. Transfer the dip to a bowl and serve alongside the potato crisps. 

Cook: Pea & Mint Soup with Proscuitto

This is one of my favorite spring/summer soups. It is light and refreshing, and incredibly satisfying. Who knew that peas and mint would make such a good pair!  Apparently, it also makes a good ice cream flavor.  Green pea and mint was the special flavor at Sweet Rose Creamery the other day!

This is a very very easy soup to make. It is also very inexpensive. You can choose omit the creme fraiche to make it dairy free if you prefer. You can also substitute yogurt or sour cream for the creme fraiche.

Pea & Mint Soup with Proscuitto (recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 slices of proscuitto (or pancetta)
sea salt and black pepper
large handful of mint (approx 6 sprigs, leaves only)
1 lb bag of frozen peas
3/4 cup (175ml) of  creme fraiche (you can use sour cream or yogurt)

1. Heat the olive oil in the skillet, sprinke prosuitto with some black peppe rand cook over high heat until golden brown and crisp, turning once. Drain on paper towel to remove excess oil
2. Bring a small pot of salted water to boil - add mint leaves then bring back to a boil. Add peas and blanch for 2-3 min until they are just tender and still bright green. Drain (reserving some of the liquid)
3. Tip the peas and mint into a blender. Add just enough reserved liquid to cover and whiz to a smooth puree. (I used an hand blender and did this in the pot I cooked the peas)
4. At this time you can choose to drizzle with oil and add a couple dollops of creme fraiche if you like.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, pulse to combine.
5. Pour soup into warm bowls and dollop some reserved creme fraiche on top. scatter with crisp proscuitto and serve!

Cook: Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates with Almonds

Dates are my favorite dried fruit.  A little while ago, I shared my recipe for bacon wrapped dates. The other day, when we were at FIG, we had dates prepared another way - stuffed with blue cheese and garnished with chopped dates. It was so good and simple, I came home and replicated it.

Here is how you can make this delicious appetizer yourself at home. The bacon wrapped dates are pretty easy, but believe it or not - this is even easier! No cooking required! All you need is some good quality dates (trader joe has some fantastic ones), blue cheese and dry roasted almonds.

1. Cut date in half and remove pit
2. Stuff the cavity with good blue cheese (I used a french kind from whole foods -see pic below)
3. Put an almond or two in middle (depends on the size of your dates)
4. Close the two halves of the dates and enjoy!

Cook: Grilled Mexican Corn

I remember the first time I was introduced to Grilled Mexican Corn - it was love at first bite at Cafe Habana in Soho, New York. (There is an outpost of Cafe Habana in Malibu, CA - but we have not tried it yet). The corn was sweet, buttery and grilled so that the kernels were almost caramelized. It was seasoned with lime and loaded with cotija cheese. YUM.

J and I grill corn all the time.  It is hands down our favorite way to prepare corn. J has actually mastered a delicious grilled corn that is prepared by basting it with parsley and butter. However, since I love grilled mexican corn so much, I decided to try to make it on my own. To my delight, it actually isn't hard to make at all!!!

Ingredients:

• Corn on the cob
• melted butter (a couple tablespoons for brushing on corn)
• Mayonnaise (1/4 cup is plenty, in a small bowl)
• grated parmesan (if you can find cotija even better, but parmesan will do)
• fresh limes, sliced into wedges
• paprika

Directions:

1. Warm up grill to med- high heat. You can also do this on a grill pan on the stovetop but it will take a little longer. 
2. Remove the husks from the corn (if necessary).  Brush melted butter all over the corn.
3. Place on heated grill. Grill until corn is cooked, with some caramelized spots. 
4. Remove from heat. Squeeze lime juice liberally over corn.
5. Brush with mayonnaise 
6. sprinkle with parmesan
7. sprinkle with paprika

Serve with lime wedges. Yum!  Below - the corn from Cafe Habana - photo taken the last time we were in NYC!  ok. So the home made version doesn't look quite as glam but it tastes pretty darn good!!! :)

Cook: Tortilla Espanola with Sofrito

Lucky for me, J is a master of making tortilla espanola. This is a very typical Spanish dish that is essentially an egg omelette with fried potatoes.  You can find at most Tapas restaurants in the US, and pretty much everywhere in Spain (at least where we've travelled which includes together and separately - Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, etc).   One of the tastiest snacks ever is a sandwich made of french bread and tortilla espanola with some jamon serrano. We had this pretty much every day we were in Spain and never got sick of it.

If you're planning on having a spanish themed dinner, please do try this recipe. It is so delicious!

In order to make the Tortilla Espanola, you will need:

• 1 large frying pan for frying potatoes and onions; 1 medium frying pan for cooking the tortilla
• potato peeler
• 2 mixing bowls - 1 large and 1 small 
• 6-7 medium potatoes, peeled
• 1 whole onion chopped
• 5-6 large eggs
• 2-3 cups of olive oil for pan frying
• salt to taste. 

Rather than type out the instructions, here is a link to the step by step instructions with pictures that J uses:  http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/ss/tortilla.htm

The tortilla is fantastic alone or with aioli. We like to serve it with Sofrito. Sofrito is a basis of many spanish foods (including paella - recipe will be shared tomorrow!) Ingredients include tomatoes, onions, garlic, green peppers and olive oil. It makes a delicious accompaniment to tortilla

Sofrito
Ingredients:

• 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-29oz)
• 1 long green pepper (not hot)
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 clove garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic
2. Chop the pepper into small pieces (1/4'' or smaller)
3. Heat a large saute pan over medium pan
4. Drizzle with olive oil.  Add onions and saute until transparent (reduce heat if necessary so onion won't burn). Add the green pepper and cook for 5 minutes, adding olive oil if necessary. Stir constantly so the vegetable don't burn.
5. Add the minced garlic, saute for another minute. 
6. Pour the crushed tomatoes and paprika into the pan and mix well. 
7. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook: Red Lobster's Cheesy Garlic Biscuits!

This recipe is courtesy of our dear friend S, who along with her other half A, loves delicious food as much as we do.  Although she is a foodie who enjoys fine dining, she revealed recently that she has a soft spot for Red Lobster. So, when she came over for dinner the other night, she made these awesome cheesy biscuits (inspired by RL) to go with our baked cod dinner.  What a treat!

Cheesy Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups bisquick baking mix
• 1 cup cheddar cheese; finely grated
• 3/4 cup Whole milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 dash salt

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 400F
2. Combine bisquick with cheddar cheese, milk, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a medium bowl. Mix until well-combined
3. Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions on the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Combine 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt. Brush this mixture over the tops of each unbaked biscuit.
5. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until tops of biscuits begin to turn light brown. Serve warm.

Cook: Hot and Delicious Spinach and Artichoke Dip

This is the best spinach and artichoke dip - I've made it a dozen of times and it always a hit at parties. My recipe is a slight modification of the Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip II from Allrecipes.com:

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup pecorino and romano parmesan blend (you can find this at trader joe's or use 1/4 cup each of parmesan and romano)

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (in water, NOT in marinade or oil)

1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained (squeeze out excess water)

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

pepper to taste

*tip - I usually use trader joe's canned artichokes and half of a 16oz (1lb) bag of frozen chopped spinach.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. lightly grease a small baking dish (spray with pam)
2. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese.
4. Bake in preheated over 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled depending on the size of your party! Serve with chips or crusty bread.

Cook: Bacon Wrapped Dates

I made these for J as part of Valentine's Day dinner and they were a huge hit! They are simple, delicious, and make a fantastic appetizer!

For the first batch, I didn't use enough bacon (only enough to cover the date) and overcooked the dates. The result was a overly crunchy and not entirely enjoyable morsel. We ate them all anyway. I learned from that batch, and made some changes for second batch. This time around, I omitted the almonds (was trying to stuff too much into a little date) and got the timing just right!

Here is my recipe for Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese:

Ingredients:

• 1 package of bacon - cut slices in half
• dates - however many dates you want to make. we ate 20 between the two of us easily, but I think a "normal" serving size is probably something like 3-6 dates per person.
• blue cheese - whatever kind you like

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

2. Slice dates in half and open them up (if they aren't already pitted, remove the pit).

3. Pinch off pieces of blue cheese and place them in the center of the dates. Close the halves of the dates.

4. Wrap a half-slice of bacon around the outside. Secure with a toothpick.

5. Arrange in a 9x13 baking pan covered with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up) - (If using a baking sheet, make sure your pan has sides to keep the grease from dripping into your oven!)

6. Bake for 15 minutes - turn dates over for even cooking

7. Bake another 15-25 minutes until bacon is crisp. Watch carefully not to overcook!

Remove from oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes, then enjoy!

Cook: J's fantastic Ceviche

J invented this delicious ceviche. It was AWESOME!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound red snapper (sushi grade white fish)

1/2 pound scallops (sushi grade)

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 3 limes

handful of cilantro leaves, chopped

2 serrano chili peppers, chopped

1/2 red onion sliced thin, chopped

2 teaspoons sugar

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

chop fish and scallops to 1/2 in cubes, season with salt and pepper

then cover with lemon and lime juices

add cilantro, pepper and onion, toss

let marinate for at 1 hour.

We get our fresh seafood from Santa Monica Seafood.

Santa Monica Seafood

www.santamonicaseafood.com

1000 Wilshire Blvd

Santa Monica, CA. 90401

(310) 393-5244