Cheddar Cheese and White Pepper Grits

Holy Moly.....I'm gonna need a bigger spoon or two maybe spoon's... I've been making grits for a while and they're an under appreciated product, except in the south of course. Because grits are white in color, I use white pepper as an ingredient when making the grits. The white pepper add just a little heat, but really it's more about the pepper flavor than the heat. When you try this dish, you'll taste the creamy grits and sharp cheddar cheese, but you'll say to yourself, wow, what is that other flavor that makes this so good? Check this dish out sometime.

 

Ingredients:
1 cup grits
2 cups water
1 cup 1% milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preparation:

Heat the water and milk up in a large sauce pan. Add the salt and pepper. You may want to add another dash or two of white pepper, but you want to wait until your all done with the grits and then decide.

 

Add the 1 cup of grits to the sauce pan and stir frequently with a whisk. As the grits cook they will thicken up and stop thickening when fully cooked. You want the consistency of the grits to be like a thick pancake batter. If the grits are to runny or thin, add another dash of grits. If the grits are too thick, add a little more milk. 

 

Now is when you check to see if you need more white pepper. You want to taste the pepper, but not be overwhelmed. Add the cheddar cheese and stir until melted in and serve. Finish the dish with a little chopped Italian parsley, drizzle of olive oil and a grind od salt and black pepper. 

Chicken Italian Sausage with White Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic and Bay Leaf.

This dish is just crazy good! It's a rustic Tuscan recipe that I saw one of my favorite food network cooking dudes make and his name is Gabrieli Corcos. There is a combination of flavor that develops from the beans, garlic, bay leaf and the cherry tomatoes as they cook down  that is so unique. For this dish I used spicy Italian chicken sausage, but I can see making this dish with chicken as well, so stay tuned for that one. Try this dish! 

Ingredients:
2 Turkey Italian sausage
1 can great northern white beans
2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 bay leaf

Preparation:

Take a 10" sauté and brown off the turkey sausages. They're usually already cooked so you just want to heat and put some color on the sausages. When the sausages are done set a side.

Take the same 10" sauté pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil and heat to medium. Add the white beans, tomatoes, garlic and bay leaf. Cook for about 15 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked and broken down. Cut the sausages into large pieces and add to the beans and tomatoes, heat through and you're done. Serve the dish with a drizzle if olive oil and a grind of pepper.

Shrimp Scampi and Linguini

Here's a fantastic dish that I recently had when I was in Las Vegas at a restaurant called Roas. Roas is a famous old New York Italian landmark visited by all the movie stars over the years. They've had a restaurant in Las Vegas for a few years now.

I ordered the shrimp scampi because it was a lesser expensive items on the menu at only $38.00. I thought their shrimp scampi and linguini was off the chart, but it was pretty high in butter content. My version looks and tasted pretty much like Roas, but I cut the butter from 1/2 a cube to just one tablespoon, a tablespoon of olive oil and a drizzle of olive oil in the end.

Ingredients:
1 pound Barilla linguini pasta
1 pound extra large shrimp, 10 - 12 per pound
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup reserved pasta water
1/4 cup Italian parsley
Zest of 1 lemon

Preparation:

Make sure to buy the uncooked, extra large shrimp, shelled and deveined if possible. All shrimp are frozen so that is not a problem if that's what's available. You want to serve 6 shrimp per serving.
 

Take your uncooked, shelled and deveined shrimp and add to a medium size ceramic bowl, or a plastic bag works fine too. Add the minced garlic and marinate for 30 minutes.
 

Heat you largest stock pot with water and 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil. Add the Barilla linguini and cook to perfection; al dente in 12 - 13 minutes.
 

The shrimp will cook pretty quickly 3 - 4 minutes max. You want the shrimp and pasta to be done at the same time, so start cooking you shrimp with only 4 minutes left to cook the pasta. While the pasta is finishing cooking, take your 12" sauté pan and heat to medium high. When hot add the olive oil, butter, shrimp, garlic and lemon zest then the wine. When done, remove the shrimp and set a side and you're ready for the pasta.
 

When the pasta is done, drain and add 2 portions of linguini to the sauté pan that you cooked the shrimp. Add 1/2 the Italian parsley and 1/4 cup pasta water, more if you feel it's needed. The linguini is already hot, so you just want to toss for a couple of minutes all the garlic, butter, olive oil, wine, lemon zest and parsley. Lastly, add back the shrimp just to put a little warmth on them.


Plate the linguini and place 6 shrimp scampi on top of the linguini, sprinkle on some Italian parsley and drizzle with olive oil to finish.

Tuscan Style Sautéed Shredded Zucchini

I called this dish Tuscan Style because of the olive oil, garlic, grated parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes which is common with Tuscan dishes, but it isn't really a dish from Tuscany. I did a Google search on Tuscan Style Sautéed Shredded Zucchini and got my own blog page, so I suppose I could claim this dish as my recipe, well maybe I will someday. Anyway, this has always been one of my favorite ways to prepare zucchini and you'll enjoy.

Ingredients:
3 large zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 crushed garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Pinch red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper

Preparation:

Wash and cut off both ends of the zucchini. Take your box cheese grater and grate the zucchini. Take 3 or 4 paper towels and cover the zucchini and squeeze out as much moisture and the paper towels will soak up.

Heat a 12" sauté pan over medium high heat and add the olive oil. When hot add the garlic for 30 seconds and then add the zucchini. Add a grind of salt and sauté the zucchini tossing occasionally. You almost want to cook this like hash browns and get a good crisp on the zucchini and toss. When the zucchini is cooked after about 10 minutes, add half the parmesan cheese and a grind of salt and pepper. Finish the dish by topping with the remaining parmesan cheese and pinch of red pepper flakes.

Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Heirloom Marinara

I've tried a lot of different ravioli's over the years and never found one that I would call great, until now. Pasta Prima Wild Mushroom Ravioli's are outstanding. I'd never of heard Pasta Prima until my wife brought this home with their Heirloom Tomato Marinara. She purchases these products at Albertson's grocery store. This dish is pure old world Italian that I would expect to be served in an Italian restaurant and one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Try this!

Ingredients:
1 package Prima Pasta Wild Mushroom Ravioli
1 package Prima Pasta Heirloom Tomato Marinara
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cook the ravioli's 10 - 12 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain the ravioli's and make sure they are completely dry because any left over water on the ravioli's will just make the sauce watery.

To serve, place a portion of ravioli's on a serving plate top the ravioli's with the warmed heirloom marinara and top with parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of chopped Italian parsley and a grind of pepper.

Mandarin Orange, Blue Cheese & Toasted Walnut Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

I've thinking about making this salad for a while and just wasn't sure on the dressing because so many raspberry vinaigrette dressings have 14 grams of fat per serving and that's no good. I fall back on my favorite brand of salad dressing, Bolthouse farms. The Raspberry Merlot dressing has only 1.5 grams of fat per serving and taste great. The key to this dish is to toast the chopped walnuts in a saute pan with a little bit of butter and salt. By doing this you bring out the oil and flavor of the walnuts.

Ingredients:

1 head of green leaf lettuce

1 cup mandarin oranges

1/4 cup crumbed blue cheese

1/8 cup toasted chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons raspberry merlot dressing

 

Preparation:

Prepare your lettuce by tearing or cutting into bite size pieces. Wash in a lettuce salad spinner and make sure to completely dry the lettuce. wet lettuce makes the dressing watery and diluted and brings down the overall quality of the salad. Place the lettuce in a large salad bowl and add 2 tablespoons of dressing for each serving and mix well.

 

Take the lettuce with dressing and add to a serving plate. Divide up the mandarin oranges, blue cheese and chopped walnuts and place on each salad. Finish the salad with a grind to fresh black pepper.