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The Rich History Of Italian Foods

December 21st, 2010 No comments

Italy is a very old country, in fact, one of the oldest in the world. Not many countries can claim that their foods have become some of the most favorite foods all over the world. Italy has gained world-wide fame by introducing everyone else to the wonderful pizzas and pasta dishes that they’ve been eating for centuries. Pizza is their most famous food, and if you’ve ever had a true Italian pizza then you know that they just don’t compare to the pizza served in pizza chain restaurants.

There are a ton of books and magazines that will teach you about Italian food history, but we’ll try to sum it up for you in this article. Pizza has an extremely long history and it know to date back thousands of years. For example, in early civilization it was more of an herbal-seasoned flatbread and the Phoenicians and Greeks used to eat a variant of it made from water and flour. They put the dough on a hot stone to cook it and seasoned it with herbs while it was cooking on the stone. The Greeks called this early form of pizza “plankuntos” and used it as a plate and ate it with a thick broth.

Some historians even say that the word pizza comes from the Latin word pinsa, which is interpreted as flatbread. Recently, a pizza was discovered in a preserved state and dated back to the bronze age!

You may have heard of Margherita pizza and wondered if its origins were from Mexico. We’ll that’s not the case. The Margherita pizza is named after Italy’s Queen Margherita who paid the Pizzeria Brandi in Naples around the year 1889. The pizza maker at the pizzeria that day made a pizza for the Queen that was finely decorated with the three colors of the new flag of Italy.

The Margherita pizza may have set the standard for all pizza in Italy, but there are several popular types of pizzas made in Italy today. The round shape pizzas that we’re all familiar with come from the pizzerias and are usually baked in a wood-fired stove. Local Italian varieties are always a treat such as the Neapolitan pizza with the distinct hint of oregano, or the pizza marinara, which is filled with anchovies and heavy garlic salts. The pugliese pizza is made with local olives and capers, while pizzas from Sicily include peas, green olives, hard boiled eggs and seafood. The Quattro Formagi pizza is an all cheese pizza made with mozzarella, ricotta, gorgonzola and parmigiano-reggano cheese.

Bring great Italian pastas right into your kitchen! Get an Imperia Pasta Machine and create your own unique variations of great Italian pastas.

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Daniel Mancini and MamaMancini’s Sunday Sauce & Meatballs were featured on NJ12′s Buck Wild with Alicia Vitarelli.  As seen on Martha Stewart, The Today Show, and featured on RachelRay.com, this authentic Italian food chef demonstrates his grandmother’s meatball recipe to show you how to “Bring Back the Family Dinner with Sunday Sauce & Meatballs.”

Graduation Cake Decorations to Celebrate Your Graduate’s Accomplishment

November 11th, 2010 No comments

Individualized graduation cake decorations are a fun way to show your love and congratulations regardless if you are baking a cake for a family member graduating from a college or university or perhaps even your youngsters making it through of kindergarten. Many of these designs are pretty straight forward and can be made using readily available household items. Others however, may be a little more complex and sometimes even call for special know-how. Various graduation cakes need some unique and unusual shapes and therefore should be baked using specially shaped trays

Graduation Cake Themes

A large variety of themes can be used for decorating graduation cakes. For instance, you can’t go wrong cake shaped like a graduation; this is a perennial favorite and is easy to decorate. You can also bake a cake in the shape of a rolled up diploma and cover with white or beige fondant or frosting. Fruit leather can be used to make the ribbon, and a thin black accent line can be used to make the spirals at the end of the roll.

To give foot would otherwise be a normal looking cake a truly festive look, consider adding edible confetti. You can also choose a particular theme for the cake, like a college themed cake or a graduation announcement cake. Because most graduates have a special allegiance to their college or university, you can also decorate the cake with the school mascot.

Also, don’t feel like you are limited to traditional cake ingredients when decorating your cake for graduation. Some creative chefs have used gum paste to make an edible graduation cap complete with tassel. Others have used Reese’s peanut butter cups in dark chocolate to make the look of a grad cap topped off with an iced cookie. Then they used dabs of peanut butter to hold it all in place. You’re only limited by your own creativity and flair.

Cake Toppers for graduation

Cake toppers can be used for easier graduation cake decorations. Generally, they can be purchased from a local bakeshop and typically come with miniature diplomas, grand caps, or even many school supplies. The more whimsical ones show the graduate making a peace sign or jumping in joy. Along with store bought cake toppers, you can give a personal touch to the cake by adding handmade flowers and ribbons in bright colors.

Photo Cakes

Cakes with edible photos of the graduate are the latest rage in graduate cake decoration. It is now possible to have a photo, usually a prom picture or their senior portrait, printed on edible paper. There are several online firms as well as local bakeries which provide this service at very nominal prices. If you are a professional pastry chef you can also purchase an edible photo printing system. Together with a congratulatory phrase to mark the milestone, edible photos make for outstanding graduation cake decorations.

Do you want to learn how to make and decorate beautiful cakes, but don’t have the time or money to go to culinary school? The perfect answer is to indulge in one of the cake making courses on the internet. It’s the perfect low-cost way to produce beautiful cakes that look like they were done by a professional. Visit http://www.cakemakingcourses.net to see which cake decorating courses are right for you.

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Recipes of the 2009 Inaugural Luncheon

December 31st, 2009 No comments

Recipes from the 2009 Inaugural Luncheon

Menu

Seafood Stew
Duck Breast with Cherry Chutney

Herb Roasted Pheasant with Wild Rice Stuffing

Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes

Winter Vegetables

Cinnamon Apple Sponge Cake

First Course:

Seafood Stew
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients
6 (1 Lb) Maine lobsters
20 medium size Sea scallops
36 Large shrimp, peel, cleaned and tail removed, aprox. 2 lbs.
10 (1 oz) pieces of black cod
½ cup small dice carrots
½ cup small dice celery
½ cup small dice leek
½ cup small dice Idaho potato
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper or black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 quart heavy cream
1 cup dry vermouth (can be made without)
10 (5 inch) puff pastry rounds

Equipment
10 (3 ½ inch) terrines/ramekins or serving dish of your choice

Directions
1. Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil; poach lobsters, then shrimp, then black cod and last scallops. After seafood is cooked, remove from water; reserve water and bring to boil.

2. Cook all vegetables in liquid that was used for the seafood, remove vegetables when tender. Allow the liquid to continue to boil until only 1qt of liquid remains. This will be the base for the sauce.

3. Bring seafood liquid back to a boil and add the vermouth and heavy cream and reduce by half, season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg to taste. You have reached your desired thickness when the sauce will cover the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool.

4. Cut Maine lobster, shrimp and scallops into bite size pieces.

5. Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees.

6. Fold seafood and vegetables into cool sauce, being careful not to mix too much as this will break up the seafood. Scoop mixture into terrines or oven proof baking dish of your choice.

7. Cover terrines with puff pastry rounds, brush them with egg wash and bake them until golden brown about 8-10 minutes, allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. You can cook this 2-3 hours ahead of time and keep warm at 150 F degrees.

*All seafood can be substituted with other favorite options of your choice and availability.

Second Course:

Duck Breast with Cherry Chutney
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped onion (1 small)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Scant ¼ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup coarsely chopped red bell pepper (½ medium)

1 plum tomato, coarsely chopped
¼ cup dry red wine
1 ½ to 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 can (3 cups) Bing cherries, quartered *Oregon brand
½ cup Golden Raisins
10 (6 oz.) boneless duck breasts with skin
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or chives

Method for chutney and glaze:
Heat oil in a 2 to 3 quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook onion, garlic, and shallot, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Add tomato paste, black pepper, cumin, hot pepper flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium and add bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in wine, vinegar (to taste), and sugar and simmer approx 5 minutes. Stir in mustard, 1 1/2 cups cherries, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer 1 minute. Allow to cool slightly and reserve all but ¼ cup of the mix to the side. Place1/4 cup mix in a blender and puree until very smooth, about 1 minute (use caution when blending hot liquids). Reserve for glazing duck. To finish the chutney, add the remaining 1 ½ cups of cherries, tarragon, chives and all the golden raisins. Can be prepared one day ahead.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F. Score duck skin in a crosshatch pattern with a small sharp knife and season duck all over with salt and pepper.

Heat water in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over low heat until hot, then add duck, skin side down. Cook duck, uncovered, over low heat, without turning, until most of fat is rendered(melted) and skin is golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Transfer duck to a plate and discard all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet. Brush duck all over with cherry glaze and return to skillet, skin side up.

Roast duck in oven until thermometer registers 135°F, about 8 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Holding a sharp knife at a 45-degree angle, cut duck into slices. Serve with cherry chutney and molasses whipped sweet potato.

Herb Roasted Pheasant with Wild Rice Stuffing
Yield: 10 portions

Ingredients
10 Pheasant breast, boneless, remove tenders and reserve for stuffing, cut small pocket in side of breast for stuffing
½ cup Olive oil with chopped rosemary, thyme and sage
1 lb. Wild rice, long grain
2 quarts Chicken stock or canned chicken broth
2 Carrots, diced
½ Onion, diced
½ cup Dried apricot, small diced
1 Tablespoon Salt and pepper mix
2 Tablespoons Garlic, roasted

Directions
1. Boil the rice with the chicken stock, cook until soft and most of the liquid is gone.

2. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and apricot. Cook until the vegetables are soft and all liquid has been absorbed. Refrigerate rice mixture until cold.

3. In a food processor, puree pheasant tenders to a paste consistency to use as a binder for rice mix.

4. When rice is cool, add the pheasant puree to the rice until well mixed. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and return to refrigerator until ready to stuff.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

6. Make 10 small football shaped patties of the rice mix, stuff inside the pheasant, being careful not to overstuff the pheasant. Rub herb/oil mixture on top and bottom of the pheasant, season with salt and pepper. Place the pheasant on a heavy gauge roasting pan and then in a preheated oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with lid or foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Serve over sauté of spinach.

*Pheasant can be substituted with chicken.

Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Yield: 2 quarts

Ingredients
3 large sweet potatoes, about 3 pounds
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup orange juice
½ tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of molasses
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and roast until easily pierced with a fork, about 1 hour.

3. Peel the skin off of the sweet potatoes while still hot.By hand or mixer, smash potatoes until all large chunks are gone. Combine the potatoes, butter, salt, orange juice, brown sugar, ground cumin, molasses and maple syrup in a large bowl. Continue to mix all together until all lumps are gone. Adjust any of the seasonings to your specific tastes. Can be made the day before.

Winter Vegetables
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients
2 bunches Asparagus, green, bottom 1/3 of stem removed
2 lbs. Carrots, peeled, cut oblong or large dice
1 lb. Baby Brussels Sprouts, fresh, cleaned or frozen can be used
1 lb. Wax Beans, ends snipped
2 oz Butter
1 each Zest from orange
4 oz. Olive
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Directions
Asparagus: preheat grill or large heavy bottom sauté pan. Rub 2 oz of olive oil on asparagus and season with pinch of salt and pepper. Lay flat on grill or sauté pan until lightly browned. Using long fork or tongs, rotate the asparagus to brown other sides. Usually 2 or 3 minutes per side. The asparagus is done when you can use a fork to cut through. Do not overcook, this will cause asparagus to become stringy. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Carrots: bring 3 qt salted water to a boil, add carrots to water and cook until fork tender, meaning a fork will easily pass through the carrot. Drain the water from the pot and toss 1 oz butter and zest of orange and mix until carrots are coated. Season with pinch of salt and enjoy. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Brussels Sprouts: For Fresh: Bring 3 qt salted water to a boil, cut into the stem of the sprout with a pairing knife to create an X on the bottom, this will allow the stem to cook more evenly. Place sprout in boiling water and allow to cook until bottom of sprout is tender and easily cut with a knife. Preheat a heavy bottom sauté while the sprouts are cooking. Remove sprouts from water and allow all water to drain completely. Add 2 oz oil to sauté pan and add the sprouts, season with salt and pepper while tossing the sprouts around to evenly brown in the pan. If sprouts are too big, you can cut them in half, keep warm until ready to serve.

For Frozen: Bring 3 qt salted water to a boil and drop frozen brussel sprouts into water, these are precooked so you are only thawing them out. Remove from water and sauté as above.

Yellow Wax beans: bring 3 qt salted water to boil, add snipped wax beans to water and allow to cook until fork tender or to your liking of doneness. Remove from water and toss with 1 oz butter and season with salt and pepper.

Third Course

Cinnamon Apple Sponge Cake
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

Apple Filling:
4 lbs Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup apple sauce
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
Grated zest from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bread Crust:
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melt 10 of tablespoons
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
34 slices brioche bread (or white bread)

Equipment:
10 Ceramic baking ramekins or metal molds (3” diameter)

Sauce:
2 cups caramel sauce(store bought)
2 cups granny smith apples, peeled, cored, diced small
Pinch sugar
Pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
Ice Cream
1 quart vanilla ice cream

Preparation:

Filling
1. Melt butter in 6-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Add apples and caramelize, add water, cook, stirring occasionally for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are completely soft. Remove cover and add sugar, nutmeg and salt. Increase heat to medium-high and continue to cook, stirring apples frequently, until liquid has completely evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest, apple sauce and vanilla. Set aside to cool while making crust. The filling can be made one day ahead

Making crust and assembly
1. Position oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Grease 8 ceramic dishes with 1 tablespoon butter. Sprinkle sugar in dish and tilt to coat bottom and sides. Tap out excess sugar and set aside.

2. Using a bread knife, remove crusts from bread. Center the bottom of mold over one of the bread squares. Cut around mold to form circle to use as the top. Make a total of 20 of these round pieces. Ten will be for the bottom and 10 will be used for the top. Dip each one in melted butter and place at the bottom of mold.

3. Cut each of the 15 remaining slices of bread into four rectangular pieces. Dip one side of each strip in the melted butter and arrange strips, upright, around the inside of molds, buttered-sides against mold and overlapping by about 1/2” to completely line mold. Use 6 rectangles to line the mold.

4. Spoon the apple filling into bread-lined molds, mounding it slightly in center.

5. Take the remaining ten rounds of bread and dip pieces of bread into the melted butter and place on top of filling, buttered-sides up. Press down lightly.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover top loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until top is deep golden brown and side slices are golden brown (slide a thin-bladed knife between bread and pan to check). Remove from oven, uncover, and let rest for 15 minutes on wire rack. Run thin-bladed knife around edges of molds to be able to flip the mold out onto serving plates.

7. For the apple cinnamon caramel sauce, sauté 1 cup of peeled and diced Granny Smith apples in butter, add a pinch of sugar and cinnamon. Allow to cook until apples are lightly browned and all sugars have dissolved. Remove from heat and add 2 cups caramel sauce to the apples and stir to coat apples.

To Assemble
Pour caramel apple sauce over warmed apple cakes and serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream.

Source: Buffalo News, Jan 13th, 2009


Secret Restaurant Recipes for the Holidays

October 27th, 2009 No comments

My favorite restaurant recipes have become my secret weapon for family holiday meals. It started innocently enough. I was throwing a Halloween party for the neighborhood and was looking for some adult-friendly treats. As usual, I started with an internet search and ran across a website full of free restaurant recipes. In no time, I found a recipe for Appleby’s Caramel Appletini. Perfect! Needless to say, the cocktails were a big hit. Not only were they seasonal and fun, but they were so easy to throw together. In fact, the hardest part was the moment when the compliments started rolling in. I had to decide: should I give Appleby’s the credit for the recipe or just smile, nod and offer an oh-so humble, “Thanks. I’m so glad you like them!” As you can probably guess, I did what any self-respecting Martha Stewart wanna-be would do. I kept the credit for myself (after all, I was clever enough to find the free restaurant recipes website. That should count for something, right?).

I thought it would be a one time thing, but the very next week my family was invited to have Thanksgiving dinner at my perfect sister-in-law’s house. Don’t get me wrong, my sister-in-law is a lovely person. She’s kind, has an infectious laugh, and a wicked sense of humor. But with hardly any effort at all, she can throw together a five-course meal that would make Julia Child swoon. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, she split up the cooking duties by assigning a different dish to each family invited. My assignment: sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes?! Intimidated by the thought of coming up with a dish that would be traditional, yet creative enough to stand up to the rest of the meal, I found myself heading to the computer. Once again, the secret restaurant recipes site delivered, this time in the form of Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole. And, once again, I humbly accepted rave reviews.

By December, I was hooked. I downloaded secret restaurant recipes for Joe’s Crab Shack’s Crab Dip and knocked the socks off of everyone at the office holiday party. My parents came to our house for Christmas and I hit the free restaurant recipes site again, this time for The Cheesecake Factory’s Pumpkin Cheesecake. On and on, into 2009 I found secret restaurant recipes for every family holiday and event. Bake sale at the kids’ school? No problem! How about delectable, homemade peanut butter cookies, thanks to the free restaurant recipes from Mrs. Field’s? A Mardi Gras Party? What fun! I’d be happy to bring jambalaya rice (a la free restaurant recipes form Houlihan’s). For July fourth, I found Ruby Tuesday’s secret restaurant recipes and helped myself to their mouthwatering apple pie recipe. I think that’s when my husband started to suspect something was up. As he cut into the perfectly flaky crust, I saw him glance my way with suspicion in his eyes. The next day, with a heavy heart, I deleted the free restaurant recipes folder from my favorites list and promised myself that the apple pie would have to be my grand finale. By August, I thought I’d kicked the habit for good. But now, holiday time is drawing near again and the neighbors are starting to clamor for “My” Famous Caramel Appletinis. One more time couldn’t hurt…. let’s just keep this our little secret.

–Janell Leigh Oakes