So Much Food!!

Hey Friends! Sorry for the lack of posts the last few weeks. Rose was visiting me in Tucson, and while there were no posts, that does not mean the cooking stopped! I won't write about everything we ate, since there were over 20 meals involved, but I will share the highlights :)

First, I will share our experience having the best pizza in the world. No joke. Or at least according to Food Network and Bon Apetit magazine, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix is the best pizza in the country. We made the two hour trip to phoenix just for this reason and spent the morning walking through the botanical garden there and their Chihuly glass art exhibit. So beautiful! So we showed up at the restaurant at 4:30opm and they opened at 5. I was told to expect a wait, but never did we imagine we would be waiting until 8pm before being seated! Thankfully we were fully equipped with books and playing cards to keep us entertained while we waited in the bar next door drinking cider and eating "gormet grilled cheese." We were eventually seated at the bar (the wait was long, but quite enjoyable) and ordered bread for starters. The restaraunt is small, holding maybe 50 people at a time, so the chef "Bianco" is able to make each pizza by hand. And he truly is a genius. I heard that he didn't like any pizza ovens...ever...and so he made his own! Rose ordered the margherita pizza with homemade mozzarella and I ordered the "rose" pizza with red onion, parmigiano reggiano, rosemary, Arizona pistachios. Oh. My. God. This pizza truly is one of the best things I have ever eaten. I can't say it enough. If you are EVER west of the Mississippi, go to Pizzeria Bianco. It was well worth the trip! And the pizzas were only $11 each!

Now, ice cream time. Rose had the wonderful idea of making coconut curry ice cream. We were unsure how this would work out so we made a batch of coconut ice cream and used 1/4 of the cream for the actual curry part. We used coconut milk and toasted coconut in the ice cream. While the coconut ice cream tastes wonderful, I put a little too much coconut in, making it more chewy than anything else...The good news is, the coconut curry ice cream is delicious and something I would make again! All we did was add curry powder to the coconut custard before churning and freezing!

For your New Years Eve dinner we made spinach-feta pastries, one of our favorites. This recipe was taken from the Joy of Cooking (since it is amazing. always.)

Spinach and Feta Triangles
Melt in a small skillet over medium heat 2 Tbsp butter Add and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes 1/4 C minced onions Add One 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained (about 1 C) Cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and col. Stir into the spinach: 1 C crumpled feta (4 ounces) 1 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp black pepper Lay on a work surface 8 sheets phyllo dough, thawed if frozen Preheat the oven to 375. Melt in a small saucepan 1/4 C butter Remove 1 sheet of phyllo dough and brush it with melted butter. Lay another sheet over the first and cut the sheets lengthwise into 3 strips. Working with 1 strip at a time, spoon 1 Tsp of the filling into the bottom left corner of the strip. Fold the bottom end over the filling to meet the right-hand edge, making a triangle, then continue to fold as if folding a flag, all the way to the top. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining strips. Brush the tops with melted butter. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

These are surprisingly amazing topped with honey!!

Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorites ever, and was one of Rose and my first things we made together so we decided to make some for a New Year's Breakfast. The recipe is from here

Cinnamon Rolls
INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 
  
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

DIRECTIONS

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes

We decided against icing the cinnamon rolls since we didn't have any cream cheese. Even without frosting, these cinnamon rolls were moist, soft, and delicious! We made them the night before and put them in the fridge so they could go right in the oven first thing in the moring.




Our greatest success would have to be palak paneer with homemade cheese! With the help of this palak paneer recipe we made a wonderful Indian dinner. I was frightened to make the paneer. Making cheese has always been a goal of mine and never did I realize how easy it is to make fresh cheese. After some research, I can safely say the process of making paneer is very similar (if not the same as) farmer's cheese and also possibly ricotta.

Paneer
4 Cups whole milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Bring the milk to a simmer. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Wait 10 minutes, without disturbing, as the curds and weigh. Spoon into cheese cloth over a collander and let the weigh drain out completely (about half an hour). Then place a weight over the curds, still wrapped in cheese cloth, for another half hour or so. Fridge until the cheese firms up and it's ready to use.



Palak Paneer Ingredients:
Spinach - 1, 16oz pkt chopped, frozen (about 1/2 kg)
Paneer - 7 oz or 200 g
Oil - 3 tbsp
Onions - 2 med, minced
Ginger - 1″ pc, minced
Garlic - 4 cloves, minced
Water - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 2 large or 1, 14oz can diced (pureed)
Garam Masala - 2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Red Chili Powder - to taste
Salt - to taste
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Heavy Whipping Cream - 8 tbsp or to taste
Milk - to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Cook frozen Spinach with 1/2 cup Water in a microwave safe dish for 7-8 minutes stirring in between.
2. Blend cooked Spinach to desired texture (avoid over-blending).
3. Heat 2 tbsp Oil in a medium non-stick pan on high heat.
4. Once Oil is hot, add in the minced Onions, stir, cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
5. Add in the Ginger and Garlic and mix. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.
6. Add in the Tomates, cover and cook till the oil seperates from the mixture.
7. Keep stirring frequently as the Masala (Onion, Tomato, Ginger & Garlic mixture) tends to burn very fast.
8. While the Masala is cooking, cube the paneer to desired size…1/2″ cubes work well.
9. In a non-stick frying pan, heat the remaining 1 tbsp Oil.
10. Once Oil is hot, add in the paneer cubes and let them cook till they are golden brown on all sides.
11. Remove from the pan into a plate with paper towel to soak the excess oil.
12. In a couple of minutes, pour the Paneer into a bowl of cold water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, once the Masala is prepared, add in the mashed Spinach.
14. Mix and add the Garam Masala, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Salt, Chili Powder & Turmeric Powder.
15. Mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes.
16. Add in the desired amount of Cream and /or Milk. Mix and cook for another few minutes.
17. Gently squeeze the water out of the Paneer and put the Paneer in the Spinach.
18. Mix gently and serve hot.
19. Serves 4 . Enjoy with Naan, Chapati, Paratha or Rice.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a non-stick pan so when we tried frying the paneer it stuck and wouldn't brown correctly, so we just put it in uncooked. It was still delicious. We also found that this recipe needed some extra salt, pepper, garam masala, and I also put in a few dashes of cinnamon, because cinnamon makes everything better. This was a wonderful dish and we had tons of leftovers for lunches throughout the week.

There was much more cooking and baking that occured over the two weeks (including a few tomato, mozzerela, and basil sandwiches - our signature dish- and some amazing brownies, hot coco, rose's coconut meringues, cookies, and a coconut curry dish, not just an ice cream) but those recipes might have to wait for another time!