Candied Smoked Salmon with Lemon Ricotta Spread on Crostini [Rhonda]

After being AWOL from our family food blog for quite some time--moving to Chicago, settling in, renovating, learning to cook all over again with an electric cooktop--I'm happily back into new food adventures.

This is an appetizer we served over the holidays. It starts with some kind of bread--crostini, brioche toasts, water crackers--gets a dollop of lemon ricotta spread and, in this case, a topping of candied salmon for seafood lovers or pomegranate seeds with herbs for a light alternative.

In the spirit of trying new things, the Canadian candied smoked salmon was a home run. I'm hoping it's not just a seasonal offering from the True North Salmon Company...it was as if brown sugar and applewood smoke had done a happy dance over tender strips of Atlantic salmon. Entire packs of it can disappear while these apps are being assembled.

Lemon Ricotta Spread

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
salt and white ground pepper

Mix ingredients together, adjust seasonings to taste, spread on crostini and serve.

Easy Simple Fast Savory Pie Crust [Zack]

I’m a big fan of keeping a pack of puff pastry sheets in my freezer because I’m normally too lazy to make crust the traditional way.  We were in the mood to make a breakfast quiche and I realized we didn’t have any of the puff pastry sheets.  We found a 4-ingredient recipe online that took about 5 minutes to make.  It cuts out the fuss of using a food processor or letting it rest in the fridge.  As a bonus, it ended up having a better flavor and texture than the puff pastry sheets!  It was more firm and crumbly. 

Process:

Mix the flour and salt together.  Add a few ice cubes to a glass of water, and stir vigorously with your finger.  Loosely mix the oil and water together in another bowl.

Gradually stir the liquid into the dry ingredients.  Use a fork to mix together.  Once it's all combined, if it's still sticky, add a touch more flour until it becomes solid.  Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into the shape that you need.

Add quiche ingredients (I used roasted pumpkin, crispy bacon, shiitake mushrooms, feta cheese, and rosemary).  Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375F/185C.

Ingredients (recipe from Food.com)

1 cup flour
1/4 cup ice cold water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Song: Mathieu Boogaerts - Ondule 

Tomato & Spinach Red Sauce in Under 10 Minutes [Matt]

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 Can - 28oz Diced Hunt's Tomatoes (not spiced, seriously.)

1 Handful of Spinach

1 Tbsp Butter (the real stuff.)

Garlic Powder

1 Tsp Salt

Favorite form of spicy Heat

When on any ride over an hour you spend AT LEAST the last half-hour thinking about what you're going to gorge when you get home. Now your stomach is saying, "just grab a stick of butter and put some fat back in dat belly!" while your mind knows that's a terrible idea which will set you back to feeling worse than when you started the session.

I spend this time thinking about what's in my fridge and cabinet that will offer me maximum-recovery benefits while not tasting like the bottom of a shoe.

Tonight I got impromptu-ly excited about red sauce. Normally I'll cook up a batch of Bolognese over half a day, but my stomach and patients have no time for that. 

So, here's the best way to play it in order to make the ~10 minute deadline before hunger-induced death ensues:

Get your pasta water started first and crank the heat. Don't use more water than is necessary. I keep homemade pasta stocked in my freezer (get that pinky up), but it cooks faster and tastes noticeably better. Or, just follow the directions on the side of your noodle box.

Break out your favorite 10+" sauce pan. Plop 1 Tbsp butter in the middle as you crank the heat to High. Toss in the handful of spinach and stir as the butter begins to melt.

While the spinach starts to wilt in the pan, quickly open your can of diced tomatoes. Use the lid to strain out the extra liquid into your sink.

Once the spinach is looking limp, dump in garlic powder, spicy-heat-spice of your choosing and salt to taste. Stir that. 

Now dump in the tomatoes.

Bring the sauce to a quick boil, then turn the heat down to about Medium. Add a pinch of brown sugar if the tomatoes aren't sweet enough when tasting the sauce. Also, feel free to utilize the full breadth of your spice rack here. I tossed in some fennel seed and chipotle peppers. 

Once your pasta finishes up, pour it into your sieve to get rid of the excess water. Now, dump those noodles into your sauce pan with the red sauce.

Let that hang out for 1 - 2 minutes. Serve (at this point you could also grate some parmesan, but I didn't have any or really miss it because the flavors melded so well). 

Quick Time Oven Fries [Rhonda]

These fries are super easy and can cook while you get the rest of the dinner underway. They're perfect with burgers but can fancy up next to roasted chicken or a grilled pork chop.

There's one magic ingredient. So shop for it and keep it stocked. (It's good for grilling meat, too.)

Ingredients:
Potatoes (Idaho, if you've got)
Olive oil
Cayenne pepper (optional for some, a must for me)
Smoked paprika
Salt
Magic ingredient: McCormick Grill Mates Smokehouse Maple Seasoning



Preheat the oven to 425 F. Slice the potatoes into long chunky slivers, dump into a mixing bowl, pour a little olive oil over to lightly coat, sprinkle the dry ingredients in, toss.

Spread onto a cookie sheet, making sure they're not clustered together and can crisp nicely on their own. Sprinkle a little more McCormick's on top, a bit more smoked paprika, and another sprinkle of salt. Bake in upper part of the oven for 20 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave them in there for another 10 minutes or so to insure crispness. Serve immediately.

Suggested soundtrack: Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home"