Chicken Cutlets

Hi There,
This past Friday I cooked chicken cutlets.  My family likes them the easy, simple way, which a restaurant would call Chicken Milanese (my family is from the Milan area of Italy).  Milanese is anything that is cooked with a lemon/garlic sauce.  Very simple ingredients, very simple flavors, but oh so yummy. 
Today I had left over chicken cutlets.  I wanted to have them for dinner, but how should I serve them?  I didn't want to eat them the same way we ate them on Friday.  So I looked around the fridge and pulled out a container of fresh baby spinach, half of a hunk of fresh mozzarella and a tomato.  What could I do with these for a simple, clean dinner.  Here is what I decided:

I took the spinach and sauteed it for about 2 minutes in a bit of olive oil and 2 cloves of garlic.  I put the cutlets in a baking dish, and places a small amount of the mozz on top of each cutlet.  I cut up the tomato into chucks and added that too.  Then the spinach, garlic and all the juice over the top of everything.  I sprinkled a bit of chicken broth in the pan and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

This is such and easy meal and it was soooo good!!.  You could even buy already cooked chicken cutlets at the local meat market.  You will have an "almost homemade" dinner that will taste like you were in the kitchen for hours. 

Enjoy!!
Love,

Beth

Eggplant Donut Holes

Hi
I'm sure the title sounds silly, but believe me, these are delish!!!  This is another recipe for this time of year where you can use the bounty from your garden (or the local fresh market), in different ways other than the same old recipes your family is used to.  This one is fun and really good.  Let me know what you think.  So many of you responded to the Zucchini Bread recipe and I thank you for that.  I really want to know what you think of my ideas!!

This recipe was created because I remember seeing something similar on TV.  I couldn't remember all the ingredients so I just opened my fridge and used what I had.  Here is what I did:

1 large eggplant - cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise.  Score it with a paring knife into cubes but keep the cubes in the skin.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 or 45 minutes.  Let it cool. 

Scoop out the inside of the eggplant into a bowl.  Add 3/4 cup grated Parmesan, 1/2 flavored bread crumbs, 1/4 store bought pesto, 1 egg beaten, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley.  Mix together.  If the mixture is very wet, add a bit more bread crumbs. 

Heat some vegetable oil in a pan (I use cast iron) and using a small cookie scoop (or anything round) scoop the mixture into the hot oil and fry for 3 or 4 minutes per side.  Remove them from the oil and drain onto a paper towel.  Serve with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese.  If you want this recipe to have a kick to it you can add some red pepper flakes to the sauce. 

I'm using these tonight as a first course for dinner - I have a friend coming over and I thought it would be nice to serve something different.  Please let me know if you give this a try!

Enjoy,
Love
Beth

Zucchini Bread

Hi There,
In keeping with my theme "all things zucchini" this month, today I'm sharing zucchini bread.  Now to some people bread sounds dull and boring.  I assure you this is not dull and boring bread.  It is sweet and moist.  Wonderful for breakfast with a bit of cream cheese or a late night snack.  My family was recently on vacation in Lake Placid, NY.  I brought two loaves of this bread to share.  It was devoured moments after it was served. 
This recipe makes two loaves.  When I make it I leave one out for us to eat and put the other in the freezer.  Nothing is better on a cold winter's day than to have a wonderful loaf of sweet summer bread with a cup of tea.

Zucchini Bread:

3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups zucchini, grated
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grate the zucchini in a food processor or with a box grater.  Place the zucchini in a strainer in the sink and let it sit.  In a bowl combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.  In another bowl combine the oil, eggs, water, and lemon juice.  Squeeze the zucchini in the strainer as much as you can to get out all the moisture.  Add the zucchini to the wet mixture.  Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir.  Don't over mix.  Fold in nuts. 
Spray two loaf pans with nonstick spray.  Add half the mixture to each pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. 

After it's cooled, sprinkle with a little bit of powdered sugar and serve. 

Enjoy!!
Love,
Beth



Zucchini Fritters

As I mentioned in my previous post, now is the time for all things zucchini.  It's abundant in gardens and at farm markets.  It's also rather inexpensive at this time of year, so take advantage of a good, delicious deal!!!

This recipe is easy to make and tastes wonderful.  Even the kids will love it and they don't need to know what they're eating.  My family eats them as I'm frying them.  It's hard to have any left to serve!!

Grate 2 small zucchini or one large one.  You can manually grate them or use your food processor.  Place the grated zucchini into a colander in the sink.  Toss in 2 teaspoons of salt.  Let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes.  The salt will extract some of the liquid in the squash.  After it sits, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and place the zucchini in a bowl.  Mix in 1 small onion that has been chopped finely (I used 1/2 of a large vadallia onion), 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley, 3/4 cup grated parmesan, 1/4 cup flour, 1 beaten egg.  Mix together until combine.  Do not over mix.  Heat oil in a pan and place one spoonful of mixture into pan.  Flatten with back of spoon.  Fry just one fritter, let it cool and then taste it.  Does it need more salt?  If so, then add a small amount to the mixture.  Fry each fritter for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with parmesan. 

Enjoy!!

Love,

Beth

Zucchini Blossoms

Hi
Some of you may be familiar with eating squash flowers and others may think I've lost my mind.  Believe me, they're delicious.  They are a real treat and the reason I plant zucchini in my garden!!  Yes, I love the squash, but the real delight is when I can pick the flowers and fry them.  It brings me right back to my grandmother's kitchen when I was a child.  I go back there a lot in my mind............

You can pick your own flowers or you can buy them at an Italian food store.  I've bought them at Liuzzi's Market and the Natural Food Market, both in North Haven and both worth the trip.   Whether you pick or buy them, make sure you wash them when you get ready to use them.  They will last, uncooked, up to a week in the refrigerator if you wrap them in a wet paper towel.  When ready to fry, wash them and remove any large stamen.  Little ants LOVE these flowers as much as we do so make sure they're cleaned well.  Place them on a paper towel and let them air dry. 

This is one of those recipes that you need to determine the amount of ingredients based on how many flowers you are frying.  For the amount above I used the following:

2 eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon pepper

In a bowl, mix together the egg, milk and cheese.  Stir - mixture should be a bit thick but you should still be able to dip flowers into mixture. 

In a plastic bag mix flour, salt and pepper.  Heat a frying pan and put enough oil in it to cover the bottom.  Put a few flowers in the bag and shake so that flowers are covered with flour mixture.  Remove and dip into

egg mixture.  Cover completely with egg mixture and fry for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until lightly brown.  Repeat steps until all flowers are cooked.  Place the cooked flowers on a paper towel to remove excess oil.  When ready to serve sprinkle with a small amount of Parmesan cheese. 

** a tip - I usually fry one first.  Let it cool and taste it to make sure everything is seasoned properly. 

Don't they look yummy!!!  I hope you try this recipe.  It's really easy once you get the flowers.  Finding them is probably the hardest part. 

Enjoy!!

Love,

Beth



Sweet Onion Pizza

Hi There
I'm back from traveling to Russia and Tennessee and I'm glad to be back in my kitchen.  There's something very comforting to me about creating food for my family to enjoy.  Cooking is my therapy.  It relaxes me and pulls me away from all the problems of this world. 
Today's post is a very easy, but wonderfully delicious pizza.  We can even cheat and use store bought pizza crust.  If you try this, I guarantee it will be one of your "go to" recipes for company or a quick weeknight meal. 

1 Boboli store bought thin pizza crust
1 tablespoon butter (more if your not concerned about butter intake!)
2 large onions, sliced
salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
2 level tablespoons brown sugar
Shredded mozzarella (as much as you like)


Heat your oven to 375 degrees.  In a saute pan, melt the butter.  Add the sliced onions, salt and pepper to taste.  Saute the onions until soft.  No need to carmalize them.  Add the rosemary and saute another 3 to 4 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the brown sugar. Stir until the sugar melts.  With a slotted spoon, remove the onions from the pan and place on top of the pizza crust.  Top with mozzarella and bake directly on the grate of the oven.  This will allow the crust to crisp on the bottom also.  Bake for about 20 minutes but watch to make sure the mozzarella doesn't brown too much.  Each oven is different, so yours may require less time.  The picture below is what mine looked like the last time I made it.  I think I left it in the oven a few minutes too long.  I like the cheese a bit less brown.  But, it still tasted delicious.  I really hope you try this one.  I promise it won't disappoint!!

Enjoy!!
Love,
Beth

No Russian recipes

Hi
I spend the past two weeks in Russia.  It was a wonderful experience.  People were friendly and Moscow is a very impressive city.  Prior to leaving I was hoping that I'd have some really neat Russian recipes to share with you when I returned.  Well, that didn't happen.  The one thing I wasn't impressed with was the food.  Russian's eat a lot of meat, and I'm not a meat lover.  They also eat a lot of fish, which I like, but I like to identify it prior to eating it!!  Needless to say, I wasn't very daring when I was choosing my meals.  I stuff with the "American" food on the menu. 

So I'm home and ready to start cooking farmiliar food once again.  Stay tuned.  I'll post some new recipes this week.

Love,
Beth