Cini-Mini Wheels

I had one last puff pastry sheet in the freezer and I wanted to make a sweet treat. (insert sympathetic fake teardrop here). That means I must restock. Anyway...I've been having cravings for cinnamon rolls lately. Who doesn't love a nice warn cinnamon roll with ooey gooey frosting slathered on top. I decided to make use of that last sheet and make myself some swirlies.

The only thing inside the dough is brown sugar and cinnamon. I rolled it up and divided it into ten mini wheels. I flattened it a bit to give it a pinwheel shape. When they came out I lightly basted the top with some honey and powdered sugar. As if it couldn't get any sweeter. Mwhahahaha!!! This is devilishly good. You can't have one. I had 5!!!

Makes 10 mini wheels

Cini-Wheels Wheels

1 puff pastry sheet - defrosted
1/3 c brown sugar
3 Tbsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
honey
powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 400˚F

Lay the puff pastry on a flat surface the fold lines facing parallel to you. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over. Then tightly roll the dough. Cut into 10 wheels.

Take each when and flatten the on the side, swirl facing up. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle some of the granulated sugar on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Baste them slightly with a bit of honey.

Cream of Spinach Soup

Soup is what's for dinner. Or in this case...lunch. I'm trying not to eat a lot these next several days as with Christmas it will be another day of celebration and feasting. A simple soup, yet so delicious.

Aside from the tradition cream soup, I added a pinch of nutmeg as well as some fresh chopped carrots and canned green beans. I didn't want it to just be all liquid. Some chunks here and there are pretty tasty. A bowl is filling and just right.

Have it with a piece of baguettes and I'm good to go. Look at those little pieces of carrot peeking out. Doesn't it just beg for you to dig in?

Serves 4

Cream of Spinach Soup

2 bundles fresh spinach.
2 can vegetable stock
1/2 medium sweet onion sliced
1 garlic clove - fine chopped
2 large carrot sticks - peeled and chopped
1 12 can string beans
1 5 oz can evaporated milk
1 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

In a stock pot, saute the garlic for 30 in some oil. Then add and saute the onions until translucent. Add the stock and bring to a boil on medium to high heat. Add the spinach and lower the flame to medium low and bring to a simmer until the spinach has wilted. Lower the heat and pour in the evaporated milk.

Then puree the spinach mixture in the blender, food processor, or with an hand blender. Then add the carrots, green bean and nutmeg. Let the soup simmer again until the carrots are slightly tender. Medium to low heat.

Persimmon Pouch

I had gotten a couple of persimmons from a family friend. This was actually my first time trying out these tasty fruit. I've also been seeing quite a bit of persimmon recipes around the blogosphere, so looking around it gave me a few ideas on what I could make with them.

So the first thing that came to mind was to make a kind of tart with them. Here comes Mr. Puff Pastry to the rescue. I sliced up the persimmons and simmered them with some brown sugar and cinnamon. Almost making a compote out of them. Then baked it in a puff pastry that I wrapped up like a bundle. I saved the brown sugar syrup that was left and drizzled it over the puff pouch.

Serves 3

Persimmon Pouch

2 ripe persimmon
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 sheet puff pastry - defrosted
1 Tbsp unsalted butter - melted


Bring a small pot of water to a boil and poach the persimmons for 30 to 60 seconds to help losen the skin. Let it cool for a bit before removing the skin. Slice the persimmons into thin wedges and place in a sauce pan. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon to the sauce pan and cook on medium heat until persimmons are slightly tender and the sugar has dissolved.


Preheat your oven to 400˚F

Lightly roll out the puff pastry and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. When the persimmons are ready spoon the fruit onto the center of the dough. Reserve the brown sugar syrup for garnish.

Fold the dough by bring the corners to the center.

Baked for 20-25 minutes.

Drizzle the reserved brown sugar syrup on top.

Oven-Fried Cheese Fries with Sweet Relish Mayo

A few weeks ago, I had won a cookbook giveaway from Justin at JustCook NYC. It was for the new book by Ellie Krieger called "So Easy." For those who don't know Ellie Krieger, she's a nutritionist and author who's got some fantastic recipes that are healthy and so delicious. She has her own show on the Food Network called Healthy Appetite. I try to catch it when I can. Her recipes are definitely worth checking out. So when I received the book in the mail. I immediately tabbed off recipes that I wanted to try. It just so happens that I received it as I was preparing for Thanksgiving. Darn! I guess It would have to wait until I finally got rid of all those leftovers.

I remembered that I had some russet potatoes I left that I wanted to eat up. As the leftovers dwindled down, I thumbs through the book once again. I come upon a recipe for Parmesan Steak "Fries". I'm a sucker for some good fries. I tend to go for the slightly thin crisp fries. But I can go for the thick wedges as well. I cut the potatoes into 1/4 to 1/2 inch sticks and baked them. I didn't have any parmesan as the recipe called for. The only thing left I had in the fridge was some shredded cheese. I had to make due with that. Plus, I didn't feel like stepping out in the cold. I was too comfy in my warm home to set foot outside. What you get are some nice crisp fries with slightly melted cheese on top. I served these with a side of sweet relish mayo with a hint of heat.

Serves 2-4

Oven-Fried Cheese Fries with Sweet Relish Mayo 
adapted from "So Easy" by Ellie Krieger

3 russet potatoes - washed and unpeeled
2 Tbsp Canola Oil
cooking spray
1/2 shredded cheese - you choice
salt to taste
Sweet Relish Mayo (recipe below)


Preheat your oven to 450˚F

Spray a baking sheet with the cooking spray.

Cut the potatoes into 1/4-1/2 inch sticks and place them in a bowl and add the canola oil. Toss them together until the potatoes are coated with the oil.

Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and bake them for 30 minutes. Ans slightly crisp around the edges.

Remove the fries from the baking sheet and onto a plate and top with the shredded cheese.

Sweet Relish Mayo

2 Tbsp Mayo
1 Tbsp Ketchup
3 tsp sweet pickled relish
1 tsp hot sauce - or more for your preference

Combine ingredients for the dip together and set aside.

Tuna Daikon Bake

 
I wasn't sure how this dish would turn out. It's one of those "I don't have much left in the pantry, so I'm going to throw whatever I can into the pot." This was the result of all that. Tuna, diakon radish, orzo pasta. A trio you wouldn't really find together. Okay maybe you would, but not something you'd easily find appealing to eat.

I turned the tuna and daikon radish in a sauce with some diced chunk tomatoes. A tuna-daikon sauce. The cool thing about the radish is that it absorbs the flavors its put in. Assembled it like you would for any pasta rish and placed it in a casserole. Topped it with a good helping of cheese.

Serves 3

Tuna Daikon Bake

1 c uncooked orzo
1 5-6 oz can tuna in oil
1 daikon radish - peeled and chopped
1 12 oz diced tomatoes
1 garlic clove - chopped
2 green onions - chopped
1 to 1 1/2 c shredded cheese - your choice
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Drain most, but not all the oil from the tuna.

Bring a pot with water to a boil. When boiling, season with salt and drizzle of olive oil and cook the orzo until al dente. Roughly 8-10 minutes. Be sure to give the pasta a quick stir to keep them from sticking to each other. Drain the water and set aside.

In a sauce pan, heat a little olive oil and saute the garlic for 30 seconds. Then add the green onions and saute until slightly tender. Add the tuna and heat for roughly 2-3 minutes.

Next add the tomatoes. bring to a boil then lower the heat and let it simmer. Add the diakon radish. Add the orzo to the tuna daikon sauce and mix well. Place the pasta mixture in a casserole and top with the cheese.

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

Place the casserole in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Serve warm.

Caesar Salad

After eating all that food for the past couple weeks, I felt it was right to make myself a nice refreshing salad to balance out all the hefty delicious leftovers. I made one of my favorite salads ever. The caesar salad. It's not named after Julius Caesar, but for Caesar Cardini. A restauranteur living in San Diego. So it seems that this salad had its origins in good ol' Southern California. Also anchovies were never in the original recipe. As I've seen many recipes "claiming" to be the original. Those were just recent adaptations. So for you non anchovy lovers out there, here's a recipe that would more likely float your boat. You can view the rest this salad history via its Wikipedia page here.

There's a variety of ways to make the dressing and this salad if you look around the interweb. Some use anchovies, some use eggs, some use mayo. This is my version of doing it. Garlic, worchestshire sauce, parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil.  Simple basic ingredients I'm sure you'd have in your own pantry. I used to make it with a food processor, but you can also make the dressing using a mortar and pestle.

Makes 3/4 cup

Caesar Salad

Mixed Greens or 2 romaine hearts - washed and chopped
1/2 lbs cherry or grape tomatoes - sliced
1 ripe avocado - diced
mushrooms - your choice - sliced
shredded chicken or tuna - optional
courtons - optional

Dressing
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire saice
juice of one lemon
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese (plus extra for topping on salad)
pepper to season

For food processor:
Chop the garlic, then add in the remaining ingredients. Pulse mixing after each one. Do this until a creamy consistency. Season with a little pepper. 

For mortar and pestle:
mash the garlic and mix in the extra virgin olive oil, worchestershire sauce and lemon juice. Then mash in the grated parmesan until a creamy consistency. Season with a little pepper.

Putting it all together:
Combine the ingredients of the salad together and drizzle the dressing over. Toss thoroughly.

Production Eats - No. 11

It's time for another edition of Production Eats. This week I got the chance to work on the show Community. Has anyone seen that show? I know it has Joel McHale and Chevy Chase in it as side from that I bare know of it. I do know it's a comedy. I'll have to check it out on hulu. We shot at the Paramount Studios lot.

Anyway...for our lunch break I ventured into the Paramount Studios commisary. It was after the much hours, so only a couple stations were open. I didn't feel like eating meat so I went for a veggie burger and some fries.

It's basically a premade veggie patty that was grilled with a toasted bun. You put on any tomato, onion or lettuce to your preference. I topped it with some tomato slices with mustard and mayo. It was pretty decent for something that was quickly made to order.  Either that or I was really hungry. Probably the latter. Though, the fries were nice and crisp. I try to stay away from the craft service table as much as possible to avoid endless snacking.