Pizza, Pizza!

Homemade Pizza is so easy and just as long as you don't take yourself too seriously it's fun too!  The dough is never going to be perfect because we all don't have the time to go and study Domino's secrets in our spare time.  This last one we made was out of this world good!  Making it at home we can put as little or as much of the good stuff that we want on it or half n half since Jonjon doesn't really share my ridiculous love of olives (not picky, love them all equally the same).  In preparation preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

We bought our dough from Publix for $1.99.  Flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick.  Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further.  You can also use a kitchen roller (floured) but if you are like us and don't own one a wine bottle works just fine ;)  Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches your desired diameter.  Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. You can pinch the edges if you want to form a lip.  We've also made stuffed crust before too and it doesn't take much to place string cheese along the edges and roll the dough over it.  Lightly sprinkle your baking sheet with Italian bread crumbs or corn meal works too.  Too prevent the dough from getting soggy from the toppings you can brush a small amount of olive oil on it, use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest another 5 minutes.  Spoon on the tomato sauce (we enjoy the 7-herb variety), sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza - fresh basil curls are a must for us.  Bake pizza until browned and the cheese is golden, about 10-15 minutes, and Presto!  Enjoy :)

5.21.2011 Summer in the South

Nothing screams summer in the South like plump, juicy tomatoes!  Take advantage of summer’s vibrant bounty from farmers’ markets, local farm stands, or even your own backyard if you happen to have a husband with a green thumb like my Jonjon.  Me... I'm just in charge of decorating our rustic garden and finding new recipes to make with our yummy, fresh ingredients.

 

We recently made another trip back to Pepper Place Market with lil C in tow to meet up with a good friend to take in a cooking demo, book signing and shop for our ingredient of the day - green tomatoes!  Newlyweds Brooke Parkhurst and James Briscione (two-time champion of the Food Network's Chopped) wrote a new his-and-her cookbook "Just Married & Cooking", in hopes of helping young couples learn their way around the kitchen, which was right up our alley.  Our signed copy now sits in on an easel in our kitchen :)

You can check out Brooke & James' website at http://justmarriedandcooking.com/.  We'll def. be making something from their book soon, maybe this weekend if we can sneak in a trip to Pepper Place between all lil C's baseball games and Jonjon's studies :)  In the meantime, enjoy this recipe from one of our favorite Food Network stars, Claire Robinson of 5-Ingredient Fix!  The green tomatoes we purchased at Pepper Place that very day star.

 

Green Tomato and Vidalia Onion Gratin

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound bacon
• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (we cheated & didn't use fresh bread crumbs... won't make that mistake again! Go for the fresh if you can)
• 2 large Vidalia onions, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
• 4 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 6 ounces sharp white Cheddar, grated, about 1 1/2 cups

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Render bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Add the bread crumbs to a small bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the skillet and stir into the bread crumbs. Add the onion rounds to the skillet in batches and cook, without breaking the round slices apart, until there is some golden color, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.

To assemble the gratin, overlap the green tomato slices in 1 row in a large baking dish, about 9 by 11 inches. Next, make a row slightly overlapping of the partially cooked onion rounds, being careful to keep the slices intact. Repeat steps until all tomatoes and onions are used. Season tomatoes and onions lightly with salt and heavily with pepper. Crumble the bacon over the vegetables; sprinkle the grated Cheddar over the top followed by the bread crumbs. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 to 45 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, loosely cover with foil.

Grilled Cheesy Corn

It has literally been forever since we've posted, oops! I assure you we've been heating up the kitchen but left with little time to share.  I don't have much time to gloat right now but I must say married life and my sweet husband ROCKS!!! I love that we love to cook together and make time for it as much as we can during even the busiest of weeks.  We follow "plainchicken.blogspot.com" (we recommend you do too ;) and we have been so wrapped up in the awesome recipes there we have been a lil lazy in going out to find our own to try. In the current issue of Southern Living I found a must try for our "date night" cookout for 2 this past Saturday night.
Grilled Cheesy Corn

Preheat grill to 350 to 400 (medium high heat).  Soak corn in cold salted water to cover 10 minutes then drain.  The recipe calls for fresh corn, removing and discarding silks and tying husks together with kitchen string to form a handle. However we used frozen corn and it turned out perfectly.  Grill corn covered with grill lid, 15 minutes or until golden brown, turning occasionally.  Remove from grill, brush corn with melted butter; sprinkle with salt, chili powder, paprika, and grated Parmesan cheese.  Serve with fresh lime wedges.  OMG! Heaven in my mouth!!

12.03.2010 It's been a crazy Fall...

Wedding date is set :)  Sunday, 3.27.2010...  Now to iron out every other detail... I never knew wedding planning was so overwhelming but subconcisouly I must have because I had always intended on eloping, some days I think it still might not be to late.  All in all I can't complain though, we have A.Mazing family and friends that are helping tremendiously.  I always have in the back of my mind that I know more than anything I want it to be married to this wonderful man and start our new life together so it keeps the stress to a minimum.

Now on to share some much needed recipes!

I made my apple dip for Jonathan one recent Fall Football Saturday and he has been begging for more every since!  A co-worker shared this with me sometime last year and it's always a hit.

Apple Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened ( I use 1/3 fat)

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 bag of Heath toffee Bits

Mix together and serve with apples and/or graham cracker sticks.  A tip from keeping your apple slices from turning brown is to sprinkle or store with some lemon juice.  Also, Pampered Chef makes a great apple slicer for those that aren't trusted so good with knives like me :)

11.8.2010 y'all come back now ya hear

Classic Southern Blackened Catfish

Yield: 4 servings

Compound Butter:

1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp Creole seasoning

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1 tbsp chopped chives

Catfish:
1 lemons, thinly sliced
Compound butter (recipe above), divided
4 8oz fresh skinless, boneless catfish filets
1/4 cup Creole seasoning
Whole chives for garnish

For the compound butter:  In a bowl, mix the butter with the Creole seasoning, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper; mix in chopped chives and set aside.  The butter can be made ahead and chilled; bring to room temperature before using.

For the catfish:  Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Preheat a large well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.

Line the bottom of a 9 x 11-inch baking dish with the lemon slices and dollop half of the compound butter evenly over them.  Evenly coat both sides of each fish filet with 1 tbsp Creole seasoning.  Working in batches, add the seasoned filets to the hot skillet and cook 2 minutes on each side to just toast and brown the seasoning.  With a spatula, carefully place the seared fish on top of the buttered lemon slices in the baking dish.  Bake until the fish easily break apart with a fork, 12 to 15 minutes.  Immediately top each hot fillet with a spoonful of remaining compound butter; transfer to heated serving plates and garish each filet with a few whole fresh chives.

5 Ingredient Fix - Easy, Elegant, and Irresistible Recipes, Claire Robinson, Host of 5 Ingredient Fix [October 2010]

Enjoy!

One Kookin' Kouple

10.31.2010 LOVE AT FIRST BITE!

So yes it was Halloween but since we celebrated that on Friday night with friends at a viewing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, at the always fabulous Alabama Theater, we decided to do a little different kind of celebrating... WE GOT ENGAGED (10/30)!!  A random day trip on that Saturday to the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Tennessee led to much, much more than just a tourism photoshoot!  We are so excited about spending the rest of our lives together!!

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody,

you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"

~ When Harry Met Sally ~

Celebration Dinner - Cajun Shrimp with Smoked Gouda Grits (Pampered Chef Recipe, 29 minutes to dinner volume 2)  Yield: 6 servings

GRITS

3 cups - reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup uncooked quick grits*

4oz smoked Gouda cheese

SHRIMP

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 medium green bell pepper

3 garlic cloves, pressed

1tbsp Cajun seasoning

1 can Rotel

1 can (15oz) tomato puree*

1 3/4lb large cooked shrimp (31-35 per lb), peeled and deveined
1/3 cup snipped fresh parsley (optional)

1.  Cook grits.  Place broth and cream in Large Micro-Cooker.  Microwave, covered, on HIGH 3-5 minutes or until hot.  Add grits; cover and microwave on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until thickened.  Grate cheese into grits with Rotary Grater; stir until cheese is melted.

2.  Prepare shrimp topping.  Heat oil in skillet over medium heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Dice bell pepper and add to skillet along with pressed garlic and seasoning.  Cook 2-3 minutes or until bell pepper is tender.  Add tomatoes, puree/sauce and shrimp; cook 1-2 minutes or until heated through.

3.  Serve.  Remove skillet from heat.  Divide grits among serving plates; top with shrimp mixture.  Garnish smipped fresh parsley, if desired.

 *We use Jim Dandy Quick Grits and Tomato Sauce (makes for a thinner sauce).  We always make a double recipe of this dish. It's great leftover.

It was love at first bite!

~one kookin kouple~

10.23.2010 Laisser les bons temps rouler!!

We definately let the good times roll with this awesome "beer shrimp boil" courtesy of Claire Robinsons' cookbook "5 Ingredient Fix - Easy, Elegant, and Irresistible Recipes" in honor of the Auburn/LSU throwdown!!! This book owns simple and affordable while keeping the ingredients fresh finishing with refined flavor. Did I forget to mention mouthwatering?! In just 5 ingredients Claire reaches BOLD favor that the boys, jonjon and punderwood, devoured before the last "L-S-Who?"



Ingredients:
Three 12-ounce bottles lager beer*

1 cup water

1 tbsp shrimp boil or Creole seasoning*

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black peppercorns

Juice of 1 lemon, lemon halves reserved

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 1/2 lbs large shrimp, heads on and in shell, rinsed well*

Yield: 4 Servings

In a large pot, bring the beer, water, shrimp boil seasoning salt, peppercorns, and the juiced lemon halves to a boil. Allow the mixture to boil, covered, 10 minutes. In the meantime, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the lemon juice. Add the shrimp after 3 minutes for pink color throughout; with a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp and transfer them to a serving bowl or bowls.

Add 1/2 cup of the boiling beer liquid to the butter and simmer 2 minutes.

Serve the warm shrimp with the butter dipping sauce on the side! 5 Ingredient Fix - Easy, Elegant, and Irresistible Recipes, Claire Robinson, Host of 5 Ingredient Fix [October 2010]

* We used: Dos Equis Amber; More Spicy Tony Chachere's; and 2 lbs large white shrimp (previously frozen) heads removed, easy peel with shell on

A.Mazing!!!!!!! Hope you all ENJOY :) Jonjon's Saucey Grilled Wangs recipe coming soon!! Stayed tuned!

Peace, Love & Football!!
onekookin'kouple