Stuffed Green Peppers, light, right, and you'll be full all night!

"Oh my god, it's almost dinner time! What am I going to make? I don't even know what's in the fridge-crap!"

When you find yourself in this very moment (and you will), might I suggest adding this super-easy supper of Stuffed Green Peppers to your emergency arsenal? Or stuffed peppers of your choosing. I happened to be holding on to a few Green Bell Peppers when I realized they were on their way out if I did not utilize all of the pepper mass as soon as possible. Plus I had two two leftover proteins: roasted chicken legs and raspberry chipotle kielbasa, and in my world 2 green peppers plus two leftover proteins plus yellow rice and some extras equals the light, right and full all-night meal of Stuffed Green Peppers.

Recipe
Ingredients

• 2 medium green bell peppers
• 8 ounces protein of choice ( I have the roasted chicken and raspberry chipotle kielbasa)
• 3/4 cups chopped onions
• 3/4 cup chopped green peppers
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 cup uncooked yellow rice
• 2-3 marinated artichoke hearts
• 1 cup grated Parmesan & shredded cheese in mixture (I had white cheddar, but use whatevs)
• 4 teaspoons unsalted butter
• red pepper flakes
  

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare yellow rice. Takes about 15-20 minutes.
While rice is simmering, chop veggies and proteins, clean and core green bell peppers trying to reserve as much of the pepper as possible.
When rice is done, set aside off heat.
Heat olive oil or whatever oil you have. Add onions, garlic, green peppers, and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 4-5 minutes.
Add your protein. I used 2 pans. One for the chicken stuffing and one for the kielbasa stuffing. Pete really did not like the raspberry chipotle kielbasa so I wanted to make sure it did not encroach at all in his roasted chicken stuffing.


Add 1/2-3/4 rice, salt to taste and cook all together another 3-5 mintes more. Reserve the leftover rice for the side.
Transfer hot mixture to a bowl(s).
Add chopped artichoke hearts and half the parmesan/shredded cheese mixture. Just mix slightly. Spoon the stuffing mixture into the prepared green pepper shells.


Cover the peppers with the rest of the cheese mixture.
In a deep-ish baking dish, add 1-2 tablespoons of water.
Stand up stuffed peppers in the baking dish and roast for 25 minutes.
Take out and serve it up with a fork and knife because although this meal is elegantly contained, it is a monstrous amount of food.

Milanos at Home - July Daring Bakers Challenge

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.


Thankfully this month we DBers can be counted as a participant by completing either the Milans challenge or the Chocolate Covered Mashallow Cookies challenge, of course both were fair game too. July very unexpectedly picked in pace for me in addition to being away from L&S to visit home, mom, friends, and family for five days in PA. Regardless, I'm back and ready to release all the dishes I've been stockpiling since my last appearance. Also, look for my iPhone Photo Diary article at Eat, Live, Travel, Write as a guest blogger this August 2nd, 2009 featuring the lesser-known, yet none-the-lesser delicious foods of the Philadelphia area (Thanks Mardi!). I'm excited to showoff my childhood foods in the upcoming article, but without further ado-THE MILANs!

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website. I didn't change nearly anything at all, but truly enjoyed executing this recipe for an amazing homemade cookie version of a brand favorite.

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour

Cookie filling:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested (omitted this, but added peppermint extract later for about 1/2 the batch).

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.

3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.

4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.

5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).

9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.

10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Tex Mex Med Chicken Burritos with Cilantro Lemon Dressing

Want an alternative as easy to make as burgers and hot dogs without the heart-burn and calorie-guilt? Want to re-define a summer staple you eat with your hands that is fresh, full of flavor, and low-in-fat? Than I have the dish for you-Tex Mex Med Chicken Burritos with Cilantro-Lime Dressing. This dish is my attempt at pairing my native flavor-base of the Mediterranean by preparing the chicken in olive oil with fresh garlic and roasted red pepper and combining it with the popular Tex Mex and Latin cuisines of my current community highlighting cilantro and fresh peppers and onions for texture, flavor, and health. The lemon of the dressing bridges the gap of these regional fares making for a light yet filling dish that both is familiar and different.


Tex Mex Med Burrito Recipe, Serves: 4
1 lb. ground chicken
4 garlic cloves
2 large roasted red peppers
shredded iceberg lettuce
shredded Monterey jack cheese or any cheddar mix
diced red onions
diced orange peppers
diced tomatoes
4 large tortillas


Pre-chop all vegetables and prepare dressing ingredients. Heat 3 tblsp. of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add fresh garlic and cook 2-3 minutes. Add chicken meat. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for about 8 minutes. Add roasted red peppers for another 2-4 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through.


Cilantro Lemon Vinaigrette from Food&Wine.com
2/3 cup cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot: I used fresh garlic instead.
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey: I used white sugar instead.
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a blender, combine the cilantro leaves, shallot (garlic), lemon juice, red wine vinegar and honey (sugar) and pulse until the cilantro is finely chopped. With the machine on, add the olive oil in a steady stream and blend until smooth. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.


Assemble the burrito about 1/3 up on the shell and be sure to keep all components in the middle leaving enough room to fold-in on both sides. Drizzle about 1-2 tsp. of dressing on top, fold, and ta-da! You've got a hearty, healthy, burrito sure to make everyone in the family happy and full with a new summer favorite.

Orlando’s own craft beer, orange blossom pilsner

Dear Fantastic Blog Followers:

Looking for my recent post, "Orlando’s own craft beer, orange blossom pilsner" ? Well, for that you will have to venture to my second online home for food blogging, Examiner.com/Orlando (post is directly linked).


Thanks for stopping by LaptopsandStovetops and I hope you visit examiner.com/orlando soon!

Ciao~
Rachel 'Tha Pizza Cutta' Joyce

Daring Bakers June Challenge - Bakewell Tarts

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annamarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

My Complete Bakewell Tarts

Is it me, or do the Daring Baker challenges come about just when you need an old friend to hang out the most? A few weeks back Pete my partner-in-everything was away for a tattoo convention leaving me to my devices. Idle hands are the devil's playground so thank goodness I had the Bakewell Tart challenge to keep me company and keep me busy. I spent my entire Saturday making my tarts from start to finish and capped the whole wonderful day lingering in the kitchen with an outdoor photo shoot for my tart beauties.


Like most of the DB challenges the recipes are susceptible to interpretation. See my adptations in orange to the 3-part recipe:

1. Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional) - lemon extract
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 min.

Rachel's Notes

I definitely overworked this dough compared to all the directions from the DBers. My crust was more of a dense shortbread, and while I was I executed this better, there were no complaints about the lemon-butter flavor or the texture.

2. Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bow

l and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

3. Raspberry-Watermelon Filling

Part number 3, the filling, was left entirely up to the challengers. You were able to use store bought jellies, jams, and curds or you could make your own. Some folks even used chocolate or caramel instead of a fruit filling. When I was just a gal, after my family would go strawberry picking in June we would make and jar strawberry perserves with my mom. For this challenge, I thought I could just reach into the memory bank and pull a curd out on my first try. In the fridge I complied fresh raspberries and watermelon. Although an abnormal pair, I guessed these fruits would be knockout, summery flavor combo. In the end the flavor was great, but my curd didn't quite take shape even after chilling it for a few hours. It was watery so I added whole raspberries just in the hopes to give the final curd-ish product some weight.

My base curd recipe comes from Annie's Eats post on a Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes with Raspberry Curd Filling
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 pint ripe raspberries or 1 12-oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2-3 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Here is what I did to it:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter - tried to be healthy, but will use more butter n e xt time.
1 pint ripe raspberries or 1 12-oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
1 cup of chopped, de-seeded watermelon
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten - I only had 2 eggs left so I only ha d 2 yolks. This was my biggest folly because the curd did not quite coagulate.
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2-3 tsp. fresh orange juice - since my shortbread was lemon flavored, I choose the orange for citrus.

To make the raspberry curd, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the raspberries, watermelon, egg yolks, sugar and salt, and cook, mashing the berries. Stir frequently at first and then constantly at the end, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Pour the mixture through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the so lids to extract as much liquid as possible. Cool to room temperature; the curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in orange juice to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

4. Assembling the Bakewell Tart

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)

Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges)-I don't have one of these so I just used a muffin pan, rolling pin

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam ontothe pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Catching Stuffed Tomato Fever TWiCE

A few Saturdays back whilst in the middle of the June Daring Bakers Challenge (post coming this Saturday), I had some down time and was hankering for something delicious yet light for lunch. Scrolling through my Foodbuzz recipe favs I found Stacey Snacks Stuffed Tomatoes with Ricotta. I immediately was inspired and I began hollowing out tomato halves with vigor! Before I share my tomato indulgence, I want to shout out my fellow Foodbuzzers who also caught the craving for stuffing and roasting tomatoes : Meatless Mamas Stuffed Tomatoes and Stumptown Savoury's Ricotta-Stuffed Tomatoes.

Each and every one of the linked recipes are great to try, so give them a look. Here is my version.

Ingredients (pic below):
2 Vine Ripe Tomatoes, cut in half and hollowed out
Italian Blend Cheese
Gorgonzola Cheese
Chopped flat leaf parsley
Crushed crackers
Italian Breadcrumbs
Chopped Sweet Onion
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Dry Thyme
Celery Seed
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I eyeballed the stuffing mixture which you will see in the image below, so sorry kids! No exact measurements for this one. Truthfully, next time absolutely no breadcrumbs! They soaked up too much moisture away from the cheeses. Also, I love these cheese flavors but will break them down more with some heat before stuffing and roasting the tomatoes. My peers all used ricotta, a soft cheese, which melts so much easier.


After brushing the tomato halves with olive oil and sprinkling them with sea salt, I stuffed them, sprinkled crushed crackers on top, and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Stuffed and Ready for Roasting

Roasty Toasty Tomatoes

Once they were all done and roasty toasty I could only eat two halves, or one tomato because they were so filling. I wrapped up the other two halves because wasting food is simply something I am not able to do. The very next day for dinner, the tomato fever began boiling again. However salvaging the tomatoes in their original roasted state was not probable, so I made something up off the top of my head instead.

In my freezer I had just enough frozen cheese tortellini for one serving. I boiled those up and in a separate pan over medium heat I heated some olive oil and threw in some chopped onions and crushed fresh garlic with red pepper flakes. As they cooked, I crudely chopped up my roasted stuffed tomatoes halves and began cooking those pieces in the same pan. I hit the whole thing up with white cooking wine and salt. Let it cook down for a few minutes then I tossed the cooked tortellini with the tomato-mixture saute, topped it off with fresh parsley and Parmesan-reggiano cheese, and WOW, this dish packed a freshness punch of flavor and ultimate hunger fulfillment. I was so engrossed in eating this that I only had time to snap a pic on my iPhone before it was completely gone.

Second Life of Stuffed Tomatoes

Ina Garten's Chicken Piccata

Oh mama, do I LOVE piccata! The butter, the lemon, the capers! These light flavors are great for a summer dinner. With traditional dishes its tough to say with utmost confidence, "This is my recipe," because truthfully it's really not. These recipes are passed down through the ages and all we can hope to do is tweak them to match our style of cookery.

For my chicken piccata the basics were already in my head but I wanted a super lemony flavor so I turned to our collective brain trust-the Internet-to compare piccata sauce preparation variations. Most of the recipes online are identical which only validated that my working knowledge of this dish was correct. I knew that I did not want a rue to be my sauce base, so any recipe calling for such a thing close to a rue I dismissed. After my exhaustive comparative analysis, I settled on using Ina Garten's Chicken Piccata recipe for my guide.

Ladies and Gents, I am here to tell you that if you crave piccata use this recipe! I was frothing at work all day today for just a bite of my perfectly cooked chicken oozing with the sensational lemon-caper sauce. Without further ado, here's Ina's recipe with my alternations in orange.

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1/2 tablespoon water
• 3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• Good olive oil
• 2 tblp capers
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, cut into 3-4 slivers per clove
  
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
• 1/2 cup dry white wine-used white cooking wine
  
• Sliced lemon, for serving
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (I did 350). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the egg and 1/2 tablespoon of water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium to medium-low heat and add garlic. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place chicken and garlic on the sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, wine, the reserved lemon halves, capers, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced in half, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine (I whisked to combine). Discard the lemon halves and serve 1 chicken breast on each plate (I saved the halves and served them in my pasta. They looked great!) Spoon on the sauce and serve with a slice of lemon and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

A Whole Lotta Piccata

Thanks for stopping by!

Biscottis for a Party

Mr. T is notorious for throwing himself a surprise party each year for his birthday. He does all the cooking and all the inviting so when it came time to decide what dishes I wanted to bring, I needed an ok prior to the party. No surprises here! Fortunately for me Mr. T. was down with my smoked salmon potato cakes and homemade biscottis. But surprise! This post isn't about potato cakes, its about the creamy, crunchy, confection that is the biscotti.

This batch was my first attempt at this Italian favorite, so I turned to the trusty Internet for some guidance. Allrecipes.com is always a first-stop for me when searching for recipes and lucky for me I found Laria Tabul's Anise Biscotti. I know biscottis can take on a bazillion flavor profiles, but since this was my first time going into that dark night I stuck to the anise and almond flavors. Allrecipes.com is also super helpful because of the recipe reviews. Others that have come before you really take the time on that site to review how the recipe went for them as well as what changes they made for better or for worse. I found the reviews for this recipe is what made my biscottis such a hit at the party. Below, follow the recipe (along with my changes in blue) and photos of my progress.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup brandy - substituted 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract - used 2 tsp. of anise an 1 tsp of almon d extract.
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 cup almonds - uped this to 2 1/2 cups
• 2 tablespoons anise seed - doubled this. wish I did more.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil.
2. In large mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a ti me, beating well after each addition. Combine brandy, anise extract and vanilla in a small bowl or measuring cup. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Alternately add dry ingredients and brandy mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in the almonds and aniseed. Change: I ground the almonds up in a food processor and added the almonds to the dry ingredients.

   

   

   Above-All 3 parts of dough mixed together alternately.
   

3. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto prepared sheet, forming two 2 x 13-inch long strips on each sheet. Smooth dough into logs with moistened fingertips.

   

   

   Above-My dough loaves.
   

4. Bake about30 to 35 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch. Place cookie sheets on racks and cool completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

   

5. Cut cooled logs on the diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices using a serrated knife. Place slices on cookie sheets.

   

   

6. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, until dry and slightly brown. Remove to a rack and cool.

   

   

   Above-The finished product!