Guacamole

Guac the way I make it (more or less)

We’ve been making a ton of guacamole lately. Which is kinda weird for us – not something we usually eat. Thought I’d post the recipe here.

Do you really need a recipe for guacamole? Probably not. It’s kinda like salsa – add a little of this, a little of that and voila. But anyhoo, here it is just for fun:

Guacamole

Ingredients:

1 Haas Avocado (ok, those ones usually in the store) – a little squishy to the touch

1 medium sized tomato seeded and chopped

1 T red onion or so

1 clove of garlic minced (pressed, whatever)

1 jalepeno seeded (wuss) and chopped

1/2 lime

1 T or so (give or take) cilantro chopped

salt. Do.Not.Forget.To.Salt.Your.Food

Steps:

Combine. Eat it. The end.

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Chicken with Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki chicken wings... er...thighs.

A few years back, my cooking club made these fab chicken wings with teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds and cilantro. I loved the flavor of the sauce but I do admit, I’m not all that keen on chicken wings. Gnawing on bones is so not my thing. So I’ve decided to make the recipe using chicken thighs instead (more meat, less gnawing) and served the whole shebang over rice.

But since I’m SOOO not in the mood to translate the recipe into EXACTLY what I made (and I alright, I don’t totally remember but I did follow it pretty closely), I’m putting the exact recipe down here. I halved it and used pineapple juice instead of grapefruit juice (alright, it was orange pineapple blend if you must ask!) and googled the chicken thigh cooking time.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings (Thighs)

From Tyler Florence
Serves 12 cocktail servings
Note: I halved this recipe when I made it
Ingredients:
Wings:
2 dozen chicken wings, about 3 1/4 pounds, rinsed and patted dry (I used thighs)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted in a skillet over medium heat until lightly browned
Leaves from 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
Teriyaki Sauce:
1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup grapefruit juice (I used pineapple juice)
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 fresh, hot red chile, halved
5 garlic cloves, halved
2-inch piece fresh ginger, smashed with the side of a large knife

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Season the chicken wings with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil on them to prevent sticking. Lay the wings in a single layer on a baking sheet.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the skin gets crispy and the wings are cooked through. NOTE: Chicken thighs will take longer – maybe 35-40 minutes. Use your thermometer and your best judgement!!
4. Meanwhile, combine the teriyaki sauce ingredients in a large saucepan.
5. Simmer over low heat and reduce until slightly thickened.
6. Pour the sauce into a large bowl. Dump the wings into the bowl and toss to coat them with the sauce.
7. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and cilantro. Serve hot.

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Fig and Olive Tapenade

Fig and Olive Tapenade - great for parties!

Need a chichi appetizer to bring to your next soiree? Fig and Olive Tapenade is it. For very sophisticated, adult palates only please.

I first came across this recipe years ago in a wickedly funny entertaining book by Erika Lenkert,The Last-Minute Party Girl : Fashionable, Fearless, and Foolishly Simple Entertaining. She, in turn, got the recipe from Carrie Brown of Jimtown store in Sonoma County. So now I’m passing it on to you.

And you must check it out. Briny olives, sweet figs, a dash of mustard and a squeeze of lemon to liven it up. It’s just about the most perfect spread you’ve ever eaten. Smear it on french bread, add it to your grilled cheese or sandwich, pair it with Proscuitto or salami and some good cheese or serve it with chicken or fish. Oh, sooo fabulous!

Note: this recipe is extremely paired down from the version in Lenkert’s book. Her recipe makes enough for a big party (4 cups). I think 1 cup is a little more reasonable.

Fig and Black Olive Tapenade

About 1 cup
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (about 3 ounces) stemmed & quartered, dried Black Mission figs
3/4 cups water
1 cup black olives; Nicoise, Lyon, or Greek, rinsed and pitted
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1/2 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
black pepper and salt, if necessary

Steps:
1. In a medium-sized saucepan, simmer the figs in the water for about 30 minutes, until very tender. Drain, reserving a few tablespoons of the liquid.

2. If using a food processor, pulse the pitted olives, drained figs, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, capers, and fresh rosemary to create a thick paste. Pulse in the olive oil until you’ve achieved a chunky-smooth paste. Season with black pepper and salt, if necessary. (The spread can be thinned with a bit of the reserved fig poaching liquid.)

3. Allowing it to sit for at least a few hours (if not overnight) helps the flavors meld.

4. Serve. Serving suggestions: smear on French bread toasted with a little olive oil, or with meats like Prosciutto or salami and mild creamy cheese, or on a sandwich/grilled cheese, or with your favorite grilled meats.

Enjoy!
Ms. Pantry Raid

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Tomato Sandwich with Garlic Aioli

A plethora of tomatoes from the Farmers Market: multi-colored heirloom cherry tomatoes, Green Zebras, yellow grape and bright red Early Girl tomatoes.

Alright, so I was a little excitable at the Farmers Market recently. Tomatoes were in and I had to have every shape, size and color available. Each stall was better than the last. Needless to say, I came home with pounds of tomatoes. I mean, look at them. Could you resist?

One of my all-time favorite food memories is the first time I brought home a perfectly ripe tomato from the Farmer’s Market and bit into it like an apple, juices running down my arm and into my kitchen sink. It was like candy and I was in heaven.

Since then, one of the rights of passage of summer for me is a Tomato Sandwich with the best summer tomatoes I can find. Nothing simpler. Nothing better.

Does it warrant a recipe?

French bread layered with garlic aioli, heirloom tomatoes, a drizzling of balsamic vinegar and parmesan shavings.

No. Probably not.

What I do is slice a mess of tomatoes (remember my tip for slicing small tomatoes?) Different sizes and different colors are best cause it just looks so summery.

Then I grab some good, crusty bread.

Slather on a layer of (cheater’s) garlic aioli*.

Then load it up with tomatoes, a sprinkling of sea salt, some shavings of Parmigiano-reggiano, a drizzle of the best balsamic vinegar I’ve got on-hand and voila.

The best summer sandwich imaginable.

And an alternative on toasted baguette rounds for an easy appetizer.

*Cheater’s garlic aioli = store bought mayo + a clove of crushed garlic. Summer is for relaxing my friends.

Enjoy!

Ms. Pantry Raid

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Plantains!

I served my Maduros with short ribs roja and a sprinkle of cotija cheese. Drool...

Quick – name a food you could eat every day for the rest of your life.

Ok, I’ll go first since I’m here, and since I’m pretty sure you’ve already guessed my answer (ahem…plantains).

This past spring we took a trip to Costa Rica and our hotel served fried plantains every.damn.day. Yes, it was a buffet, but that’s even better! I could load my plate up and still go back for more.

Fried plantains = heaven

I mean really, what other dish can you describe as an appetizer, condiment, garnish, side dish AND dessert?

So what do you need to know? Ok, there are different outcomes for your fried plantains based on the ripeness of the fruit. You know how a banana starts to get dark and you immediately toss it in the freezer to save for banana bread? Yeah, you want the plantains to go FURTHER. All black if you can wait that long (tossing in a paper bag for a day or two supposedly speeds up the process, but that STILL is asking for a lot of patience IMO). Slice ‘em up, fry them in oil and finish with a sprinkle of salt. Called Maduros, these are the kind of fried plantains I like.

For fried sweet plantains (Maduros), your plantains should look kinda like this

You can also fry green plantains. Often called Tostones, they aren’t the sweet kind. Basically, you slice up your green or barely ripe plantain, fry it, flatten it and then fry it again. It’s crispy and used more for savory purposes – often accompanied by a garlic sauce. These, admitted, aren’t usually what I have in mind when I think fried plantains. But I’m sure in the right place at the right time…

I’m pretty sure this doesn’t warrant a recipe, does it? You’ll probably want to pick a neutral oil with a high smoke point for the frying part. I used a cast iron skillet. Tossed in an inch or so of oil. Waited for it to get good and hot. Threw in the plantains (no overcrowding please!) and fried them for maybe 3 minutes or so on each side.  Remove with slotted spoon and let drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and enjoy them HOT!

Enjoy!

Ms. Pantry Raid

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Shrimp and Pork Potstickers

Shrimp and Pork Steamed Beggars Purses

I enjoy blogging challenges. They often get me out of my comfort zone and trying something new. Case in point: Asian dumplings and potstickers for the latest Daring Cooks Challenge. This is my first time making potstickers. To be quite honest, it’s one of the first times I’ve ever eaten them too. For whatever reason, they aren’t the first app I think of when dining in Asian restaurants.

The challenge involved making the dumpling wrappers as well as the filling. I made two different kinds – standard potstickers (fried) and steamed beggars purses wrapped with a blanched Chinese chive. In retrospect, I will say I’m glad I did it once, but probably not doing it again. Can’t help it. It’s a lot of work for the outcome. I’ve also had quite enough experience in my past making wontons, raviolis, etc etc and I’m not the sort that finds it therapeutic. Granted, today was the last day I should have attempted doing this. After gardening with my condo peeps for five and a half hours, the last thing I wanted to do was make these dumplings. And of course, I had to make Szechuan Green Beans as well. But more on that later.

Shrimp and Pork Potstickers

Anyway, my dumplings turned out alright. A little gummy – but I think I made the dough too wet? And again, maybe they aren’t my thing? Perhaps there is a reason I never order them when I’m out??

The dough recipe came from sponsor of this challenge, Jen at Use Real Butter. Really, go to her site cause she’s got so much fantastic information regarding dumpling/potsticker making that I won’t even bother to repeat it.

The filling came out of a fabulous book my husband picked up for me awhile back – The Cooks Book by Jill Norman. I love this book – it’s all about technique and is filled with great recipes by top chefs. This is where the idea of the beggars purses came from. The recipe also recommended serving with a ginger vinaigrette, but I preferred using the sauce from the Szechuan Green Beans instead. I would recommend any soy based dipping sauce.

Alright, since I already gave you the link regarind how to make your own dumpling wrappers, I’m just going to share the filling recipe here.

Shrimp and Pork Dumpling Filling

From The Cooks Book by Jill Norman
Ingredients:
8 oz peeled, deveined shrimp
5 oz ground pork
1 T veg oil
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 t chopped ginger
1 Thai green chile minced
8 Shitake mushrooms thinly sliced
1 T soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
2 t Oyster sauce
1/2 t ground white pepper
3 scalllions
1/2 bunch cilantro minced (I left this out).

Steps:
1. Finely chop the shrimp.

2. In a saute pan over medium heat, add the oil and saute the garlic, ginger and chile briefly. Add the mushrooms and saute till softened. Remove from the heat and add the sauces, season with pepper. Let cool.

3. When cool, add shrimp and ground pork.

4. Fill dumpling wrappers according to whatever directions you are following.

Enjoy!

Ms. Pantry Raid

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Alsatian Pizza

      

French influenced pizza

Vacation memories

Back when the economy was booming (well, right about the time it started to crash and burn), we took our honeymoon to Tahiti. All the stars were aligned in the sky – which is the only way we were ever able to afford it (in reality, it was Chase Bank -known to me forever by another, more colorful moniker –  messing up our property tax escrow for a full year and supplying us with a hefty refund when they finally got it right). The French influence abounds in the local cuisine. Of course, fresh fruit and Tahitian vanilla were everywhere. But so were Croque Monsieur and Crepes.

Our first night, we walked to a nearby restaurant on Moorea called Le Sud. My husband had a chicken curry and I had a personal pizza. Cracker-thin crust was layered with creme fraiche, thinly sliced potatoes, herbs, olives, caramelized onions, and topped with gruyere. Hot and bubbling and intensely flavorful, it was my new favorite food. I’ve been trying to recreate it ever since.  How could something so simple be so hard to produce? Perhaps it was the romance of the islands that had me under its spell.

Where to start?

Suzanne Goin has a wonderful recipe for a Wild Mushroom Tart with Onions and Gruyere in her Sunday Suppers book that seemed like a good jumping off point. From that recipe, I came to understand that her influence was the Alsatian pizza, Flammekueche. The base is puff pastry layered with creme fraiche and gruyere. What could be more French than that? While a little different than the pizza from my memories, it was pretty close.

Mexican Crema  =/= Creme Fraiche

Cause I’m cheap, I thought I could use Mexican crema in place of the creme fraiche. It worked out ok in a pinch, but I wouldn’t recommend it cause it curdles pretty easily. In the recipe below, I replaced the crema with the creme fraiche.

Don’t forget to caramelize the onions!

The recipe also requires caramelized onions. Easy to make, just takes awhile. The longer you let them cook the better they are. I lightly sauteed onions in a combination of butter and olive oil. Then I reduced the heat and let them cook down for maybe 10-15 minutes. Finally, I popped them in the oven while I was cooking something else and let them go for another 45 minutes.  

Serves 2 for dinner, more as an appetizer

Ingrediants

1 sheet puff pastry – thawed
1/4 cup creme fraiche
1/4 cup caramelized onions
2 pieces bacon – crumbled
sprinkle of fresh thyme
handful of olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup grated gruyere

Steps

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees F.

2. Unfold puff pastry. Score the edge with a knife – so, about 1/4 inch from the edge, run your knife parallel to the edge all the way around all four sides of the sheet of puff pastry. This will make the edge rise up nicely.

3. You could brush the edges with an egg wash, but I didn’t…

4. Spread the creme fraiche evenly along the surface – up to the scored edge.

5. Sprinkle caramelized onions, thyme, bacon, and olives across the creme fraiche.

6. Sprinkle the gruyere on top of the other toppings

7. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cut into pieces and serve.

Enjoy!

Ms. Pantry Raid

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What I’m reading now: Some Like It Hot

Enliven your taste buds!

So, every month I get together with a group of women to cook. To be quite honest, while the dishes we make are tasty, they are not the most adventurous. Usually we prepare something from Ina or Giada’s latest tome. More recently, we’ve been cooking a lot from Suzanne Goin (you’ve read her book, yes? If not, stop reading immediately and go get it!). This always promises great results, but sometimes I crave something a little more exciting. 

Enter Clifford Wright’s Some Like It Hot. If your weekly meals are a little on the blah side, or you’re stuck in a rut, this book is exactly what you need. From Jamaican Jerk Shrimp to Indian Pork Vindaloo to Louisiana Gumbo, Wright takes you from Peru to Ghana – one spicey dish at a time. He gives a little history of the region, introduces you to a few new spices and guides you through authentic recipes. Great food AND you learn something new!

A greater depth of flavor than my favorite Thai place.

 

 

 

Crying Tiger

My all-time favorite restaurant dish is from a Thai place nearby my house. It’s an appetizer consisting of chargrilled flank steak doused in a sauce containing typical Thai hot, sour, spicey and sweet flavors. The dish at this particular restaurant is called Neau Sa Ded, but more often, you’ll see it listed as Crying Tiger or Tiger Cry.

I crave it.

I mean LUST FOR IT.

When all the beef is gone, I swat away my server’s attempts to remove the dish before I can pour the sauce on anything/everything else that comes to the table. It’s on my “if you could only have one dish for the rest of your life” list. I think you get the picture, yes? I’ve tried semi-successfully to recreate it at home. Thanks to Clifford Wright, I’m getting quite a bit closer. In fact, this is probably more complex than my beloved Neau Sa Ded. 

Dipping sauce - this is some hot stuff!!

Dipping Sauce

 The dipping sauce uses quite a few dried chili peppers. If you can’t stand the heat, by all means, tone it down (I would never do such a thing myself…). The recipe also calls for galangal. I came across this root at Whole Foods a few months ago and quickly snatched it up and stashed it in my freezer for safe keeping. I always came across recipes requiring it but could never find it. Of course, once I found it, I had lost the recipes. Anyway…now I’ve had it and I can say I prefer the taste of ginger and would use that instead.

The only major changes I made to the recipe were to add a little sugar to the dipping sauce and finish it off with a little more vinegar – just to make sure the sweet and sour flavors were covered.  To make a meal, I served the meat and dipping sauce over jasmine rice and stir-fried green beans. Hot stuff my friend! But I loved every minute of it!

Crying Tiger

Adapted from Clifford Wright’s Some Like It Hot

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
1 T sugar (beef) + 2 t sugar (dipping sauce)
1 lb beef rib eye or beef round (London Broil) in 1 piece
2 heads garlic
2 t oil
1/4 cup dried and crumbled birds-eye chilis, piqun chilis or chile de arbol
1/2 t salt
1 shallot chopped
1 T chopped cilantro
1 one-inch cube of fresh galangal or ginger, chopped
3 T fresh lime juice
1 t rice wine vinegar

Steps

1. In a baking dish large enough for the beef, combine soy sauce, 2 T fish sauce and 1 T of sugar. Stir till sugar dissolves. Place beef in dish, let marinate for 1 hour, flipping once.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut tops off of heads of garlic. Drizzle with vegetable oil. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast until insides are soft – about 40 minutes. Cool, the squeeze garlic out into bowl of food processor. Set aside.

3. Prepare the dipping sauce. In a small cast iron skillet, dry-roast the chilis over high heat with salt until chiles begin to blacken – 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool and add to the food processor.

4. Add the shallot, cilantro and galangal to the food processor. Puree into a paste. 

5. Add the remaining 2 T fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar and remaining 2t sugar to the food processor and continue to puree, scraping down the sides when necessary, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl for serving.

6. Preheat grill. 

7. Place steak on the grill and cook until center is medium rare – 8 to 10 minutes. 

8. Remove the steak and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

9. Slice crosswise into thin slices and serve with the sauce.

 

Enjoy!

Ms. Pantry Raid

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Wonton Cups filled with five-spice pulled pork in Asian BBQ sauce

Not your typical bbq pulled pork - five spice powder gives these bite sized apps an Asian flair.

Asian Pulled Pork

For Valentine’s day, among the myriad of tapas I was assembling, I wanted to make pulled pork stuffed in wonton cups. I sought out an Asian inspired recipe as I thought it was most appropriate. I was quite surprised at the outcome of this recipe. It was dang tasty but still let the flavor of the pork shine through. I scooped it into the wonton cups and topped with a little diced mango. I meant to make the mango into more of an Asian salsa, but time got away from me. I will say I think this pulled pork is the perfect filling for bite sized wonton cups. I woke up the following morning craving the combo (thankfully, I still had two left).  

What is five-spice powder anyway?

 Five-spice powder is a seasoning in Chinese cuisine. It incorporates the five basic flavors of Chinese cooking – sweet, sour, bitter, savory, and salty. Most commonly, it consists of Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fennel. I have forgotten how much I love it. When you are sick of making the same old stir fry, try adding a little bit. It definitely livens up the party. I made a Five-spice Chocolate Cake once that was too die for. I think it came out of America’s Test Kitchen Restaurant Recipes, but here’s an online version.

Five spice pulled pork with Asian BBQ sauce, sauteed cabbage and a wonton crisp.

A variation

Later in the week, I still had a lot of pulled pork to use up. I thought it would be nice to pair it with an Asian BBQ sauce. So I sauteed some cabbage with a little ginger and garlic to use as a bed for the pulled pork. Then topped the pork with a little of the bbq sauce and a wonton crisp (cause shoot, I am addicted to the crunch. Now I know to make crispy little crackers out of leftover wontons!). Once again, a fantastic combo.

For a variation on your normal bbq pulled pork, give five spice pork a try. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Five-spice Pulled Pork

Adapted from here. I made this into a slow cooker recipe cause I just couldn’t be bothered to do otherwise.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 medium onion, sliced
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled 
1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 (3ish pound) pork shoulder, deboned or 3 lbs boneless country ribs
1/2 cup water

Steps

1. Place the sliced onion in the crockpot.

2. Pulse the ginger, garlic and shallot in a food processor to a fine mince or paste (it will be rubbed into the pork).

3. Mix all the dry spices, salt and the brown sugar together in a medium bowl.

4. Rub the minced ginger, garlic and shallot paste into the meat. Then follow with the dry spice rub.

5.Fold the roast into a compact shape, and put it (or country ribs if using that) in the crockpot on top of the sliced onion. Add the water to the crockpot.

6. Cook in crockpot on high for 4-5 hours. You can alter the cooking time (put on low for longer) to suit your schedule, but I was running out of time and needed this cooked asap. 

7. Remove from crockpot when it is fork tender. Shred pork with 2 forks (or your hands – whatever works best). 

8. Serve

Serving suggestion – put in wonton cups, top with a little Asian BBQ sauce, maybe some mango. Or a variation on any of the above.

Wonton Cups / Crisps

Ingredients:

Wonton wrappers (however many you want to make)
Vegetable cooking spray

Steps:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Place wonton wrappers on work surface; spray lightly with oil.

Flip wonton over and give the second side a spray (Important – remember to spray both sides! Otherwise they bake up extremely sharp – and, um, painful to eat).

Press each wonton wrapper into muffin tin. Or, alternatively, place on baking sheet for flat squares.

Bake until wonton cups/crisps are golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Cool completely in tins/baking sheet. (Can be made 3 days ahead).

Remove cups from tins and store airtight at room temperature.

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Hot Pork on Pork Action

Mmmm....porky goodness.

For Valentine’s Day!

We stayed in for Valentine’s. Like New Years, Valentine’s Day seems to be riddled with overpriced options meant to impress, but often fall short. Thank you, I’ll pass on the $80/pp prix fixe sweetheart dinner and obligatory long stemmed rose. This year, I opted to whip up a variety of tapas at home instead.

 

Pork wrapped in…more pork

I started with my favorite bacon wrapped, chorizo stuffed dates (hence the title of this post). I skipped the tomato sauce this time, thinking it was just too much work but I will say, I really missed it.  The sauce just takes the whole dish one step further.

 

Marinated Ciliegine

Then we moved on to marinated Ciliegine (small balls of fresh mozzerella – smaller than bocconcini) with tomatoes, basil and olives. The marinade was a lemony olive oil concoction supplied by the always fabulous Emeril Lagasse.

Lemon-herb marinated fresh mozzarella with grape tomatoes, olives and basil

 

And then there was…you guessed it…more pork

Following that was a spectacular five spice pulled pork in wonton cups. This turned out great. Oh, I have forgotten how much I love five-spice powder! For reference – it’s a spice blend often used in Chinese cooking usually consisting of Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, fennel, cloves and cinnamon. Give it a try with your favorite stir-fry for something a little different. I promise it doesn’t disappoint! I’ll give that recipe special attention in it’s own post (cause it was that fabulous).

 

Greens keep it healthy

Since I didn’t want to give my beloved a heartattack, we finished with a salad consisting of baby lettuces (really, I wanted Mache, but my local grocery doesn’t prescribe to that kind of snobbery), wafer thin slices of Asian pear, onion, feta tossed with a Walnut Raspberry Vinaigrette (woohoo! A use for my new Walnut Oil!). More experimentation on salad dressings is needed I think. 

Asian pear, walnut, feta and baby lettuces in a raspberry-walnut vinaigrette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But not too healthy…

We topped the whole meal off with a slice of Devils Food White Out cake - my first Tuesdays With Dorie truimph! And it truely was a great finish to our Valentine’s meal. 

The Lemon Marinade for Fresh Mozzarella

Emeril’s Marinated Bocconcini
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, Emeril’s Food of Love Productions, 2008

1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 inch x 1- inch strip of lemon peel (yellow part only)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 fresh bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound mozzarella bocconcini or ciliegini, drained

In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the lemon peel, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper and salt and let steep for 3 to 5 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat and allow to completely cool. When cool, pour over the bocconcini and allow to marinate for 2 to 4 hours and up to 1 week before serving.

Yield: 4 small servings

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