Southwestern Pierogi Ravioli with potato, corn, and chiles

Have you read my review of the Fonde ravioli pin made by Repast Supply Company? You should. Right after you check out this recipe. Because this is a little bit crazy.

I was trying to think of something different than the typical ravioli fillings of cheese, meat, and mushrooms.

My mind wandered to pierogi, which are also stuffed pasta.

While pierogi also might be filled with meat, cheese, or mushrooms, there are some other common pierogi fillings that are very different from what you'd find in ravioli - like potato, sauerkraut, and fruit-filled dessert pierogi.

But I didn't want just make a square pierogi. I liked the idea of potato as a filling, but i knew I needed to add something that was non-traditional in both cuisines. I settled on corn to add sweetness, and decided to use creamed corn because of the smaller pieces and to take advantage of the creamy liquid that would add moisture to the potatoes.

I made a batch with the corn and potato filling, and fried them in butter with some onions and prosciutto, and it was pretty good.

But the onions and prosciutto overwhelmed the filling a little bit, and the sweetness of the onions competed with the sweetness of the corn. It was a good dish, but not amazing.

I really wanted the pasta and its filling to be the thing that people would comment about. So i added peppers to give the filling a spicy southwestern flair. I tried the final dish with a number of different toppings, and my favorite was the combination of a  green salsa along with guacamole.

Southwestern Pierogi Ravioli

For the pasta:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 whole eggs
Water, as needed (about 1 cup)

For the filling:
2 pounds baking potatoes, baked or microwaved until done
1 14.75-ounce can creamed corn
4 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 4-ounce cans diced Hatch chiles (mild or hot, your choice)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the pasta:
I made the pasta dough in my stand mixer, but you can certainly knead it by hand.

First combine the flour and salt, then add the egg and then begin mixing in the water. you want a firm dough, but not super-solid, so add as much water as you need to get to that point. If you add too much water, you can add a little more flour as you knead.

Knead by hand or with the stand mixer until the dough is elastic. Form the dough into a ball and set aside for at least 20 minutes to rest. You can also make it ahead and stash it in the refrigerator.

To make the filling:
Peel the potatoes or scoop the flesh out - whichever is easier for you.

Rice or mash the potatoes, then add the creamed corn, cream cheese, salt, chiles, and pepper. Mix well. It should be fairly smooth with just small lumps from the corn and peppers.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt or pepper, if desired.

To make the ravioli:

For easiest handling, divide the dough into 4 pieces.

Roll the first two pieces on a lightly floured work surface until each is a rectangle a bit wider than 17 inches by about 15 inches. They shouldn't be paper thin, but they should be considerably thinner than a corn tortilla.

If the pasta bounced back too much as you roll it, cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes, then continue rolling.

Make sure your work surface has a light sprinkle of flour. Lay one of the pasta sheets in front of you with one of the 17-inch sides facing you. Spread half of the filling on top of the pasta, then top with the second sheet of pasta. You can stretch it to make sure it fits over the bottom sheet.

Use the Fonde ravioli pin to crate the ravioli. Trim the outside edges, then cut the ravioli apart with a pizza cutter, pasta cutter, or sharp knife. If you need tips about using the pin, check out this post.

Continue with the rest of the dough and filling.

If you're not going to cook all of the ravioli, you can place them on a baking sheet (make sure they're not touching each other) and freeze them.

Once frozen, you can put them in a plastic bag to store them in the freezer. You shouldn't thaw the pasta - just cook it from its frozen state. It takes slightly longer to cook, but not much.

To cook the pasta:
Use a wide, short sided pan with a lid. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan - just a barely 1/8 inch is plenty. Cover the pan and heat  on high until it bubbles, then add as much pasta as will fit in a single layer with a little space between them. Cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes then remove the lid and let the pasta continue cooking until all the water has evaporated and the pasta begins to fry in the butter. If you've added the barest amount of water, it should evaporate very quickly. If the pasta seems to be swimming in water, drain some of it out - since the pasta is fresh, it cooks quickly - you don't want it to get mushy.

When the pasta has browned a little on one side (it should be spotty browned), flip it over and brown it on the second side.

Serve hot with the condiments of your choice: Salsa, guacamole, sour cream (or crema or creme fraiche) would be my choices - or a combination of two or more of them.

If you want to tone down the heat of the chiles without adding any strong flavors, a little crema does that very nicely.








I received the Fonde pin from the manufacturer at no cost to me. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it here, since it's so much fun to work with!

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Review: Weight Watcher's Fresh Meals

I've never been a member of Weight Watchers, but I know a few people who've had success with the program. And I know a few who, er ... fell off the wagon.

Unlike some diets that I think are totally insane, Weight Watchers seems pretty rational. Logical. Healthy, even. So when I got an email asking me if I wanted to review some of their new Fresh Meals and Deli Salads, I said yes. I mean, why not?

I figured that if they're selling fresh food, it might be interesting. And I don't have to be in the program to judge whether the stuff is good or not.

I thought they might send coupons for some of the meals, but the products aren't available locally. Even more reason to give them a test. The meals arrived in a large Styrofoam cooler. It was almost lunch time, so I popped a three-cheese ravioli into the microwave. A few minutes and 230 calories later, my first impression was that the flavor was decent - the sauce had a hit of spice - but that spiciness covered up the flavor of whatever the three cheeses were inside the ravioli. But still, it wasn't bad. I liked the sauce and even though the cheese didn't add a whole lot of flavor, it added a different texture.

I envision these meals as something you'd pick up at the grocery store and pop into the microwave at work for a quick lunch. But after eating that first one, I couldn't help thinking that it would have been a heck of a lot better for a meal if there had been a vegetable alongside. If you were eating these things at home, of course you could make a salad or cook some vegetables to go with. But for a quick lunch option, it would have been great if there had been some vegetables bulking up the meal a little.

Of course, that was just the first one I tried.

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Sauerkraut Pierogi

Have you ever had pierogi? When I was a kid, they weren't as well known as they are now, but along with their current popularity came some non-traditional modifications. Fillings have gotten more varied. Which isn't terrible, but it still seems odd to me to see cheddar cheese in pierogi.

And some people (gasp!) deep fry them.

Pierogi - if you don't know them - are sort of like ravioli. They're a filled pasta. But unlike ravioli that's served with a sauce, pierogi are boiled and served with a little melted butter. Sour cream is a traditional topping.

That's the first day. But the second day, folks would heat up some butter - or maybe some bacon fat - and fry the leftover pierogi, browning them a bit. At that point, chopped onions or might be cooked with the pierogi, or they might be served with some crumbled bacon.

And again, sour cream.

But my mom liked pierogi best when it was fried, so we didn't do the first-day, second day thing. She'd boil them just to cook the noodles, then give them a little fry before serving them. And that's usually what I do, too.

When I was a kid, the traditional and most common) savory fillings were sauerkraut, potato, cheese, or meat. More rare were mushroom pierogi or cabbage pierogi. There were also sweet pierogi filled with plums. I never cared for those at all.

Out of the most common savory ones, I never liked the meat-filled ones. The cheese weren't my favorite, but I didn't mind them if I accidentally picked one. Potato was my second favorite. I'd pick a light-colored pierogi, hoping it had a potato filling instead of cheese. But my favorite was sauerkraut. I adored the sauerkraut pierogi.

There are probably thousands of recipes for cooking sauerkraut, from a basic draining and rinsing and heating of the preserved kraut, to longer cooking cooking with more ingredients. I like mine cooked longer, until it's browned a bit and I often add cabbage and onions. Sometimes I add mushrooms. Here's one of my recipes.

But you can use just about any sauerkraut recipe you like.

Pierogi dough isn't the same as dough used for ravioli or spaghetti - it's a softer dough, and richer. Many recipes include sour cream, which makes perfect sense, since sour cream is so common in Polish cooking.

When making pierogi, one key to getting it right is to make sure the filling isn't too wet. I decided to add a bit of Kary's Dry Roux to the sauerkraut filling to help keep any moisture from causing problems.

Sauerkraut Pierogi

Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
Filling:
1 to 1 1/2 cups prepared sauerkraut
2 teapoons Kary's Dry Roux

Pile the dough on your counter in a mountain-like formation. Create a well in the center of the dough. Hey! It's a volcano!

Put the egg, sour cream, and salt in the center of the well. Add about half of the water.

Use a fork to break the egg yolk and begin stirring the mixture, drawing in some of the flour to make a paste. Add the remainder of the water and continue stirring, drawing in more of the flour until you can start kneading the dough.

If the dough is too sticky to knead, dust it with flour, but try to avoid adding any. The goal is to have a soft, pliable dough. I should be soft and pliable; tacky, but not sticky.

If you have a stand mixer. using that to mix the dough is much easier, and you're less likely to add extra flour that you don't need.

If you're using a stand mixer, toss all the dough ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer and mix with the flat paddle until the dough forms a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. continue mixing at medium speed until the dough becomes smooth and stretchy. It should be tacky - like a post-it note. But not sticky.

Cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes so the gluten relaxes and makes it easier to roll.

I find that it's easiest to deal with pierogi in batches. Like this:

Sprinkle some flour on a baking sheet.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Flour your work surface lightly. Roll the dough to slightly larger than 9 inches square. If it's not exactly square, that's fine, but if you can get it sort-of square, you'll be able to cut more rounds from each piece.

Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter (or something similar) cut 9 rounds from your dough. I used a fluted biscuit cutter, but a plain round one is just fine. Gather the excess dough and set it aside - you can re-roll it to make more pierogi.

Brush the bottom half of the dough circles with water - a pastry or silicone brush is fine, or just dip your finger in water and brush the bottom edge of the dough. This will help the dough stick to itself when you fold it over.

Put about a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Make sure it's a compacted rather than fluffy. You don't need a lot of filling. After you've folded the first one, you'll get an idea of how much will work.

Fold the top of the dough over the bottom, and press to seal all around the edge. For extra security, you can press the fork tines all around the edge.

Continue with the rest of the rounds and with the other three pieces of dough. As you finish with the pierogi, put them on the baking sheet, not touching each other.

Gather and roll the scraps. You'll notice that the dough is stiffer than before - that's from the flour that got added to the dough as you were rolling it out the first time. Roll the dough as thin as previously.

Cut more rounds and fill and fold as before. You can reroll the scraps a third time, but after that the scraps might be too stiff for a fourth attempt. You could use those scraps to make some regular noodles, if you like.

You can cook your pierogi right away, or put the baking sheet in the freezer until they're frozen solid, then put them in a plastic bag and stash them in the freezer.

To cook the pierogi:

Heat water to a boil in a large pot - or a smaller one, if you're cooking fewer pierogi. Add as many pierogi as you want to cook. These cook quickly, since the pasta is fresh. Once they float to the top, let them cook another minute or two.

Meanwhile, melt a tablespoon or so of butter in a frying pan - more butter for more pierogi. Transfer the cooked pierogi to the frying pan. Let them brown a bit on the bottom, then flip them over and let them get a little brown on top.

If you like, you can serve the pierogi with some sauteed onions or mushrooms, or some crumbled bacon on top.

Serve with sour cream at the table.

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It was all spaghetti - even when it wasn't

Let me make one thing abundantly clear. My mother wasn't Italian. She wasn't even the littlest bit close to Italian. She was so far from Italian that I knew what ravioli was before she did. I came home from grade school all excited about this magical new food served in the cafeteria - ravioli. And no matter how I tried to describe it, she just couldn't get it.

So, when it came to cooking anything resembling Italian food, it was all spaghetti. Even when it was mostaccioli or rotini. If it was served with a tomato-based sauce, it was spaghetti. And all tomato-based sauces were simply called spaghetti sauce. There was no such thing as Bolognese or marinara in our house.

Nope. We got spaghetti with spaghetti sauce, even if it was fettuccini with marinara.

Now I know better, but even so ... there are times when I think about making spaghetti, but end up making rigatoni instead. Because when I go see what noodles I have on hand, there are no long thin noodles. And I'm fine with that. I pretty much love noodles of all shapes and sizes.

I was feeling a little bit out-of-sorts the other day and the best cure for that is nostalgic comfort food, so I decided that recreating one of mom's non-spaghetti spaghetti recipes would make me happy. In other parts of the country, this might be called hot dish or goulash. In my house, this was just one of the things that might have been served when mom said we were having "spaghetti."

I used mini wagon wheels. They were one of my favorite past shapes when I was a kid.

Wheels and Sauce

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 large bell pepper (any color you like), cored, seeded, and diced
1 tablespoon dry oregano
Salt, to taste
1 jar ready-made pasta sauce (Your own or store bought. I used Ragu.)
1/2 pound pasta, any shape (I used mini wagon wheels! wheeee!)
Grated cheese, for serving

Heat a large saute pan on medium heat and add the ground beef, onion, pepper, and oregano. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring as needed until the meat and vegetables are cooked through.

Add the sauce and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt, if desired. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, while you cook the pasta.

Cook your pasta as desired, then add it to the meaty sauce in the pan. Cook for another minute and give it one last taste. Serve with grated cheese, if desired.

Last week, I wrote a sponsored post for Ragu with a different recipe and I used a similar Ragu sauce here, because I bought more than one jar to work with. However, this post is not sponsored. It's just a recipe. Using a jar of sauce that I bought. 

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Whole Foods Friday: Lasagna Night!

There's always a "first time" for eating every food. But how many of those first times do you remember? Unless it was especially wonderful or particularly traumatic, you probably don't remember too many of those firsts.

First corn flakes? Probably not. I'll bet that most of those "firsts" that you remember came as an adult. Your first experience with some exotic food at a special event, perhaps.

For me, my first lasagna was very memorable. And I was young - probably about eight years old. My experience with Italian food at that point was limited to my mother's version of spaghetti - which wasn't in any way "real" Italian, and my new love - the ravioli served at school. It was canned ravioli, but I was fascinated by it.

The great lasagna adventure began with Joe the butcher. No, he wasn't a mob guy - he owned a teeny grocery store and he and his dad - who everyone called "grampa" and who had a thick Italian accent - were the butchers.

Joe the butcher liked my mom's best friend and wanted to invite her over for dinner. But that wasn't proper. Oh, no, they couldn't be alone in his apartment. So mom and I were invited over for dinner, as well, to make it respectable.

The first amazing thing (to me) was that Joe was cooking. I thought that was what moms did. I mean, I was eight years old ... I wasn't eating out a lot.

When the lasagna came out, I was stunned. I'd never seen a layered pasta dish, and I'd never seen or tasted ricotta cheese before. It was all new to me, and I was absolutely in love. Lasagna became my favorite food, but it was a scarce one. My mother had no interest in making it, so my only chance to eat it was on the rare occasions when we went out for dinner and it was on the menu.

Before I made my first lasagna, I thought it was an incredibly complicated dish - all those layers! But really, it's not that hard. And you get a LOT of food. There's no sense in making a small lasagna.

The good news is that it freezes very well, so don't be worried about leftovers. Make extra, even. You can freeze in family-sized portions for nights when you don't have time to cook, or freeze in single portions for lunch or dinner. Reheat in the oven or microwave, adding a bit of water, if needed.

And ... I know I talk a lot about making things ahead, but lasagna cuts into much neater slices after it has cooled, so if you want to plate individual portions and have them look square and precise, make the lasagna ahead of time, chill it, and cut it while it's cold. Then reheat.

The salad I made to go with this looked unintentionally Christmas-like, particularly since I used romanesco cauliflower. Broken into florets, it looked like little trees, and the red of the peppers and the stark white of the feta added to the seasonal coloring. This would in fact be great for Christmas.

Check the next post for salad. First, you want to get going on that lasagna, since it takes longer.


Lasagna

1 pound dried lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 cups tomato juice (or 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce plus 1 cup water)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (or 1 teaspoon each, oregano and basil)
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup grated parmesan, plus more as desired
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced or grated
1/2 pound provolone cheese, thinly sliced or grated
Salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Choose the baking dish that you'll be using for the lasagna. I used a 9x13 Pyrex dish. Figure out how many pieces of lasagna noodle you will need to make 3 complete layers of noodles. Put the noodles you're using into the casserole dish and cover with hot water. Set aside while you're preparing everything else. Reserve the remaining noodles for another use.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to soften, stirring as needed. Add the garlic and allow to cook for a few more minutes, stirring and adjusting the heat if anything is threatening to burn.

Add the tomato products, the Italian seasoning (or herbs of you choice) and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir to combine. Lower heat to a simmer and let this cook, stirring occasionally, while you work on the rest.

Heat a frying pan on medium and add the ground beef and sausage. Break up the meat as it cooks so you have smaller bits rather than large chunks. Cook until all the meat is cooked through, then take it off the heat. Drain off any grease.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.

By this time, the noodles should have softened until they are pliable rather than brittle. They don't need to be as soft as fully-cooked noodles, but you should be able to cut them as needed without having them shatter. remove the noodles from the casserole dish and dump the water out.

Taste the tomato sauce for seasoning and add more salt (and/or herbs) as needed.

Put about 1/2 of the sauce on the bottom of the casserole - just enough for a thin layer covering the bottom. Add the first layer of noodles.

Top the noodles with the ricotta mixture, then 1/2 of the mozzarella. Place the second layer of noodles on top of the cheese layer.

Put about 1/2 of the tomato mixture on top of the noodles, then top with 2/3 to 3/4 of the meat. This doesn't have to be perfect - just eyeball the amount. Top with the remaining mozzarella and then the final layer of noodles.

Mix the beef with the remaining sauce and add that on top of the noodles. Grate some extra parmesan on top of the noodles, if desired.

Cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and place it on a baking dish to catch any spillover. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Uncover the lasagna, add the provolone cheese and bake, uncovered, until the cheese is melted and has begun to brown in spots - about another 15 minutes.

Remove the lasagna from the oven. You can serve immediately, or let it cool a while for easier slicing.

For information about Whole Foods Friday, see the tab at the top of the page.

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Sauerkraut Pierogi

If you're not familiar with pierogi, it's a filled pasta that's something like ravioli. When I was growing up, the traditional fillings were potato, sauerkraut, plum, and cheese. I was never fond of the plum.

Back when I was really young, pierogi used to be a special-occasion food. Mostly Christmas Eve, when one of my aunts would serve them.

When I got old enough to be interested in cooking, I asked her for the recipe, and was devastated to find out that she bought them from a Polish deli. I wanted to know how they were made, and my aunt had no idea.

While pierogi are similar to ravioli in form, they're not served the same way. Traditionally, they're boiled and served with some melted butter, sauteed onions, or bits of cooked, crumbled bacon. Leftover pierogi are pan-fried the next day - either in butter alone, or with a little bacon fat - to brown and reheat them.

The thing is that I like the reheated version better. That slight browning adds a lot of flavor. So usually I boil them first, then immediately fry them a bit.

While pierogi dough is very similar to other noodle doughs, one thing that makes it different is the addition of sour cream. Not all recipes use it, but I think it makes a difference. And of course, when you eat pierogi, it's traditional to serve it with sour cream.

Now that I think about it, the common ingredients in the traditional Polish foods I grew up with were sour cream, smoked meats, cabbage, black pepper, potatoes, and mushrooms. Not every dish had every ingredient, but it was a sure bet that one or more of them would show up. Most of those appear in this one dish.

When I most recently made these pierogi, I used my home-canned sauerkraut - 1 pint - but you can use commercially canned sauerkraut in a 14-ounce can instead. As far as the dried mushrooms, I used a dried Polish mushroom, but anything you like would be fine. If you don't have dried mushrooms, fresh cooked mushrooms would work as well.

Sauerkraut Pierogi

for the dough:
2 cups flour
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water (as needed)
for the filling:
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 small onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 14-ounce can sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
4 -6 dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water until soft, then finely chopped
Several generous grinds of black pepper
For cooking and serving:
Butter
Sauteed onions
Cooked, crumbled bacon
Sour cream

To make the dough:
Combine all of the ingredients (holding back a couple tablespoons of water) and knead until you have a soft, stretchy dough. Add the extra water, if you need it. More, if you need that. If the dough is too wet, add flour as you knead. The dough should be soft and pliant, but not at all sticky or tacky. Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside while you make the filling. You can also refrigerate it and assemble the pierogi the next day.

For the filling:
Heat the butter in a medium frying pan and add the onions. Cook until they soften. Add the finely chopped mushrooms and stir to combine. Cook for another minute. Add the sauerkraut. I like my sauerkraut well-cooked  - until it softens and browns a bit, but that's up to you. If you want extra mushroom flavor, add some of the mushroom-soaking liquid. Cook, stirring as needed, until all the liquid is gone and the sauerkraut is as done as you like it. Taste for seasoning. You shouldn't need salt, since the sauerkraut is salty. Add pepper. Allow the mixture to cool completely before filling the pierogi.

To assemble the pierogi:

Divide the dough into several pieces to make it easier to work with. Flour your work surface and roll the dough very thin - less than half as thick as a corn tortilla. The dough will get thicker when you cook it, just like any noodle dough. You want it thick enough to hold the filling, but not so thick that you're eating a dumpling instead of a filled pasta.

Using a large biscuit cutter, or a drinking glass, cut circles from the dough. Place about a teaspoon of the filling in the center of your dough circles. Wet the outside edge of the dough circles, fold the dough over, and press to seal, pressing out as much of the air in the center as possible. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal completely.

Continue with the rest of the dough and filling. You can reroll the scraps of dough and use it to make more pierogi.

To cook the pierogi:
Heat salted water to boiling and add the pierogi. Since this is a fresh pasta and the filling is already cooked, these cook very quickly. Once they come to the surface, let them cook another 30 seconds and remove them.

You can serve them as-is, or heat a bit of butter in a pan and cook the pierogi until they are browned on the bottom. Flip them over and cook until they're lightly browned on top.

Top with sauteed onions and/or cooked, crumbled bacon if desired. Serve with sour cream.

Note: uncooked pierogi freeze very well. Just lay them out on a sheet pan and freeze until solid. Then place them in a zip-top bag for storage. Cook the frozen pierogi in boiling water, just as you would cook the fresh ones. They take just a little bit longer.

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Iron Foodie - Now That It's Over...

Earlier this month, I participated in the Iron Foodie Contest sponsored by Marx Foods and Foodie Blogroll. I've got to say that from beginning to end, it was a blast.

First, I had to post a blog entry explaining why I wanted to be an Iron Foodie. From over 100 entries (125? 150ish - I don't remember), there were 25 contestants chosen, and I was one of the lucky ones. We each got a box with eight ingredients, and we had to use three for our recipes.

Before I even posted about why I wanted to enter, I was giddy excited about this contest, and I told my husband (who patiently listens to me blather about such things) that I'd be thrilled just to get the ingredients and to play the game.

When the box arrived, it was like an early Christmas present.The items were Dulse Seaweed, Fennel Pollen, Bourbon Vanilla Beans, Maple Sugar, Dried Porcini Mushrooms, Tellicherry Peppercorns, Smoked Salt and Aji Panca Chilies. Quite the interesting selection.

And then we all posted our recipes. Shortly after, the public voting began, and a secret ballot was held where only the contestant and sponsors could vote.

And oh yeah, it was fun! I wrestled with ideas and thought about the ingredients, played with the recipe, and finally got what I wanted and took photos and posted. Pretty much all in one long breath, just like that. And then waited. And watched the votes. And waited some more.

And then it was over, and I managed to win third place in the public vote AND I won the contestant-only vote. Wheee! I was thrilled!

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Whole Wheat Biscuits #SundaySupper

Biscuits might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to summer cooking, but biscuits go really well with pulled pork, barbecue chicken, and that fried chicken you're going to take to a picnic.

And compared to my usual loaves of bread, biscuits are pretty darned fast.

This weekend's #SundaySupper (with a theme of Simple and Fresh Meals for Summer) is sponsored by LAND O LAKES®, who sent out a bunch of coupons to the group to use to buy butter and to give away to our readers. The butter isn't their usual salted or unsalted - this one includes olive oil as well as sea salt.

I figured it was worth a try. I use a LOT of butter, and I always like trying different brands and different types of butter. I stay away from margarine and fake butter products, but there are plenty of times when I use both olive oil and butter in a recipe. So this didn't seem too weird.

The LAND O LAKES® Olive Oil & Sea Salt butter comes in 1-pound boxes divided into  half-sticks. I'm not sure if that's more convenient or not, but it's different. At least I know which butter it is when I'm looking into the refrigerator.

Taste-wise, it's not like anyone's going to notice the olive oil. The butter was a little softer than regular butter, though, so that's something to keep in mind if firm butter is important. I'd think twice about using this butter for puff pastry - or I'd be shuffling it to the refrigerator a lot more often.

Then again, most people don't make their own puff pastry, so I'm probably the only one having these thoughts, right?

Yeah, right. Except for you over there in the corner, thinking about puff pastry.

But I digress. Biscuits.

At first I considered making some kind of herbed biscuits, then I changed my mind and decided that I'd make them a little healthier with some white whole wheat flour. Good thought process, but the bag that I thought was white whole wheat flour was actually whole wheat flour.

Oh well. That works, too. The biscuits were a little more brown than I wanted, but the flavor was good, and that's really all that counts.

Whole Wheat Biscuits

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 half-sticks LAND O LAKES® Olive Oil & Sea Salt butter
1 1/4 cups cold milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, all purposr flour, baking powder, and salt, Whisk to combine.

Add the butter. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the pieces are no larger than small peas. Add the milk and stir until all the flour is moistened.

Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Pat it (or use a rolling pin, if you prefer) until it's 1/2 thick. Fold it in thirds, like a letter. (If you need more flour to keep the dough from sticking to your work surface, dust with flour as needed - but don't add too much) Pat or roll it again until it is 1/2 inch thick. Fold in thirds again.

This time pat or roll it until it's 3/4- to 1-inch thick. Cut rounds from the dough with a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on your prepared pan. Pile the scraps on top of each other, trying to keep the dough oriented in the same way - all that folding created layers, and you want to keep them as horizontal as possible.

Cut more biscuits from the scraps.

From the remaining scraps, you're probably better off making a drop biscuit or two. They won't be pretty, but they will taste fine - and the cook needs one for a sample, right?

If you like, brush the tops of the biscuits with milk or melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees until the biscuits are browned on top, about 14 minutes.

You wanna win some buttah? (Contest is now closed!)

• To win a coupon for a free pound of this butter, leave a comment telling me what your favorite recipe is that features butter. 
• For a second entry, tweet a link to this contest, and make sure you include the #SundaySupper hashtag. You can say whatever you like in the tweet. Come back here and tell me that you tweeted.  

 This contest will run through Wednesday, June 13 at Midnight, mountain time.

Disclosure: I received a full-value coupon redeemable for LAND O LAKES® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, for recipe development and review purposes along with one coupon to give away. All opinions are my own.

For more information about LAND O LAKES®, you can find them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter at @LandOLakesKtchn.

About LAND O LAKES® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt: Land O’Lakes is expanding its popular line of half-stick butter with the introduction of LAND O LAKES® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt. This new product contains wholesome ingredients: sweet cream, olive oil and sea salt. LAND O LAKES® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt is an easy and convenient way to simply enhance the flavor of your favorite foods. Available in a premeasured half-stick size, this new product can be used for topping and cooking a variety of foods, combining the two ingredients consumers often combine separately when frying or sautéing foods. The delicious taste of butter and olive oil will add delicious flavor to any dish.

About Ree Drummond and Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt: Ree Drummond, better known to her fans as The Pioneer Woman, is helping us explore the delicious flavor of our new Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt. Ree will create blog posts, recipes, and videos that explore how she uses this new butter to enhance simple weeknight meals.

Want more buttery #SundaySupper?

Follow the hastag on Twitter on Sunday, and check out these other participating blogs:

• Ravioli Florentine with Spinach and Butter Sauce by Hezzi-D’s Books &Cooks
• Roasted Salmon & Asparagus with grilled Garlic Bread by Daily Dish Recipes 
• Steak with Blue Cheese Butter by In the Kitchen with KP
• Pasta with Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes by Mama’s Blissful Bites 
• Fettucini with Cream Sauce and Turkey Sausage by Val’s Food and or Art 
• Butter Burgers by Ultra Epicure 
• Bacon and Havarti Quiche by Juanita’s Cocina
• Cider Chicken with Butter Pecan Rice by Momma’s Meals
•  Crusty French Bread with Sun-Dried Tomato and Parmesan Herb Butter by The Weekend Gourmet 
• Chicken Scallopini by Diabetic Foodie 
• Pasta with Butter Thyme Sauce by Magnolia Days 
• Chicken Tikka Masala by Melissa Likes to Eat
• White Bean Ragout with Grilled Garlic Bread by Comfy Cuisine 
• Wild Raisin Nut Rice Pilaf with Olive Butter & Sea Salt by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz 
• Olive Oil and Sea Salt Pan Seared Scallops with Quinoa by Big Bears Wife 
• Flank Steak with Garlic and Wild Mushrooms by Family Spice
• Bay Scallop Gratin by An Appealing Plan 
• Buttery Sea Salt Tuna Fajitas by Family Foodie 
• Sole Meniere by The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen 
• Buttermilk Biscuits with Jalapeno Cheddar Butter by Damn Delicious 
• Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Dinner, Dishes and Desserts 
• Sage Cornbread Muffins with Cranberry Orange Butter by Cupcakes and Kale Chips 
• Easy Onion Focaccia Rolls by The Meltaways 
• Whole Wheat Biscuits by Cookistry
• Buttery Garlic Knots by From My Corner of Saratoga
• Herbed Cheese Bread with Pancetta and Onions by Mrs. Mama Hen 
• Honey Butter Dinner Rolls by Chocolate Moosey 
• Warm Balsamic Green Beans by Chip Chip Hooray 
• Buttery Herbed Potatoes by The Messy Baker Blog
• Basil Butter Corn by Supper for a Steal 
• Mashed Potatoes with Herb Butter and Cheese by Basic and Delicious 

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Cuban Chicken Cordon Bleu

I love Cuban food, and Cuban sandwiches in particular. So when I saw a recipe for Cuban Chicken Cordon Blue in the book Stuffed by Dan Whalen, I knew I had to give it a try. The general idea is that you flatten some chicken breasts and then stuff them with ham, Swiss cheese, pickle and a smear of mustard.

As is usual when I'm making a recipe from a new book, I followed the recipe as closely as possible. Unfortunately, I ran into couple little glitches along the way. Not necessarily recipe problems, but things where I might have gone off the rails a bit. You'll see.

Technical difficulties aside, we really liked the results a lot. And to be honest, once these were cooked, you really couldn't tell that I had any difficulties. I like that in a recipe. You can mess up, but the results still look presentable and taste great.

Cuban Chicken Cordon Bleu
Adapated from Stuffed by Dan Whalen

For the chicken rolls:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt (maybe) and pepper
6 tablespoons mustard (I suggest brown)
6 large slices rosemary ham (I suggest thin-sliced deli ham)
12 slices dill pickle
6 slices Swiss cheese

For the breading:
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying

Slice the chicken breasts the long way to form two thinner cutlets.

This was my first technical difficulty. Chicken breasts come in different sizes, and mine weren't huge. I think this would have worked better if I had bought larger chicken breasts, or if I had not sliced them into two pieces per breast. At some point, you don't want these to be overly huge, because you'd probably want each one as a serving, but you could also present these as slices, or cut each one in half if they're really huge. So ... choose your breasts wisely.

Now, pound the chicken breast halves thinner. The instructions suggested using two sheets of plastic wrap, but I put them, one at a time, into a zip-top plastic bag to pound them thinner. That's just what I do. Less mess since nothing can escape from the sides, and the plastic is thicker so it holds up to the pounding and it just seems easier to manage than some flimsy plastic wrap. But you can do it any way you like. I've been known to just flatten them with the chicken breasts sitting on my cutting board. As long as you end up with evenly-thick slices that can be rolled, you're good to go.

One at a time, you salt-and-pepper the chicken breasts. I didn't add any salt, since the ham, cheese, and pickles were all salty ingredients. I think it was a good choice. If I was going to salt, I'd add it to the flour or the bread crumbs rather than the inside part of the chicken.

So, for the mustard, I used a brown mustard because that's what I use for Cuban sandwiches. I think it makes a difference, but use yellow mustard, if that's what you have. You probably don't want to use hot Chinese mustard ... but then again, that could be interesting, too. Your choice.

Then on top of the mustard goes 1 slice of the rosemary ham. Okay, here's my second technical difficulty. I had no idea what "rosemary ham" might be. I'd never heard of it, and never seen it. Maybe it's a regional thing. I assumed it wasn't a ham steak, but the note to use a "large" slice was puzzling. When you buy deli ham or lunchmeat-style ham, the slices tend to be all the same size, but you can vary the thickness. I ended up with a slightly thick slice of regular lunchmeat-style ham, which worked, but not as well as it could have. When it came to rolling, I would have been MUCH better off with paper-thin slices of ham and using more than one slice if I wanted more ham flavor. The thick(ish) ham slices made this harder to roll. Or, then again, if my chicken breasts had been a little larger, this might have been fine. Stupid chicken breasts. Sigh.

Then you add the pickle chips and the cheese. That's easy enough.

And now the rolling. The instructions suggested using the plastic wrap to help the rolling process, but I had used one plastic bag, so my chicken breasts weren't all sitting on pieces of plastic. No biggie, except that for some reason I envisioned this rolling like a jelly roll, with a swirl of chicken and filling. No go, there. What I ended up with was ham wrapped around pickle and cheese, and chicken wrapped around that. Which actually makes more sense because with the chicken all on the outside rather than swirled in the center, it cooks more evenly.

As far as the cheese, a little log of cheese or even shredded would be fine since it didn't need to be swirly. Heck, chopped pickles mixed with the cheese might have been fun, too.

Next time, I'm going to wrap the ham around the pickle and cheese, then put the ham on top of the chicken breast and wrap the chicken around the outside and secure. I think that will be easier and the final result won't be any different.

Since one of my chicken breasts was undersized, I ended up taking one of the six pieces and using that to fill out some of the halves that were a little smaller. That worked well, and I ended up with a total of five rolls. And, once cooked, you'd never know I did that. Pretty cool.

It's suggested that you wrap each chicken breast in the plastic and twist the ends to tighten the rolls and refrigerate them as you make the rest. I didn't do that. But if I was making these for company, I might. Making them ahead and refrigerating would make this a pretty quick dinner, since you just unwrap, bread, fry, and bake. Once they're in the oven, you have time to make a salad and set the table.

Then you need a lightly greased baking dish - I used a quarter-sheet pan lined with aluminum foil rather than a baking dish, and it was just right for my 5 rolls with some space between them. So if you're using a baking dish, you'll need a pretty large one, particularly if your chicken breasts are larger than the ones I used. But ... I tend to use sheet pans for a whole lot of stuff. I do have some pretty baking dishes, but I tend to use them when I'm going to serve in the dishes.

Which ... hmmm ... if you had smaller baking dishes, you could cook these each in their own dish and serve in the dishes. That's a thought.

So ... after unwrapping the breasts from the plastic, secure with toothpicks so they don't unroll. I actually toothpicked as I made them, since I skipped the plastic wrap step. If they're plastic-wrapped for a while, they might not need the picks, but they're good insurance. I used 2 picks in each one. Some could have worked with just one, but I always use the same number in each piece when I do something like this - that's so I know how many I need to remove later.

Dredge in flour, then coat with the eggs, then coat with the bread crumbs. You know how to do this, right? Flour in one flat dish, eggs in another, and crumbs in another. Then just roll them through, coating on all sides with each ingredient.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, and brown the crumbed chicken on all sides, cooking in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan. As they're done, transfer to the baking sheet/dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. I'm not actually sure if they needed that much cooking, but I guess it depends on how thick your chicken layer is, and how long it took to brown them on the stovetop. They might be pretty close to cooked when they're done browning, but you also want to heat the filling and melt the cheese, so some oven time makes sense.

And ... ta da!

About the book:

The premise of this books is things stuffed into other things, and I've got to say there are a lot of creative ideas, and a lot of mashups of cuisines, which is something I like. So there are recipes like cheesesteak pot stickers, carnitas burrito manicotti, Italian bolognese polenta tamales, mac and cheese ravioli, and teriyaki ravioli.

Some of these are the types of recipes where you'd purposely go into the kitchen and make them totally from scratch (like the chicken I made), but others I think would be great for those days when you've got something left over and you're looking for some way to transform it into something else.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be making the mac and cheese stuffed burgers the next time I have a little bit of mac and cheese left over, for example.

There are also a lot of recipes that are great inspirations for other things. There's a recipe for couscous salad that's stuffed into giant shell pasta. And the first thing I thought was, wouldn't that be great stuffed with tuna salad? Or a shrimp seafood salad?

That's one thing I love about cookbooks - you see one thing and think, "gee, that's great. And now let me run with that idea and try something else." With all the crazy "stuff this into that" recipes here, there's lots of room here for inspiration.

This might even get me out of my rut where all leftovers are fodder for tacos.

Dan Whalen blogs at The Food in My Beard. Go visit him there.

This book was provided to me by the publisher for review. Opinions are my own.

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Home Made Rigatoni

Fresh, home made pasta is a great thing, but most people stick to simple shapes like flat noodles. A few more might make filled pastas like ravioli or shapes like gnocchi.

But what about tubular pastas? Can you make those at home?

Yes, you can, if you have the right equipment.

Tubular pasta is extruded through dies, and I have an  attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer called the Pasta Press that's made to do just that. It came with dies for rotini, spaghetti, and several different sizes of tubular pasta.

I went with the die labeled "large macaroni" which made ridged noodles about the size of rigatoni.

I used the recipe from the KitchenAid manual that came with the Pasta Press. Unfortunately, the recipe uses cup measurements for the flour, so it's not as accurate as it could be. I estimated 4 ounces per cup, since it specified sifted flour.

The instructions about adding water is also just a bit ambiguous. I'm still not sure if the extra tablespoon of water is supposed to be to adjust the egg measure, or if it's in addition to that.

Basic Egg Noodle Pasta
adapted from the KitchenAid Pasta Press manual

4 large eggs
3 1/2 cups flour (I weighed this as 14 ounces)
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon salt

Break eggs into a glass (Why glass? I don't know. That's what the instructions said.) measuring cup.

Check to see that the eggs measure 7/8 of a cup. If less, add water to equal 7/8 cup.

Place flour and salt in the bowl of the stand mixer and mix with flat beater on speed 2, adding egg (and 1 tablespoon water?) gradually.

Mix for 30 seconds, then stop the mixer and exchange the flat paddle for the dough hook. Knead with the dough hook for 2 minutes at speed 2.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a clean surface. It may appear crumbly. Hand knead until the dough is smooth, pliable, and holds together in a ball.

Form walnut-sized pieces and feed them into the pasta extruder. Cut and separate the pieces, and dry as desired.

Cook in salted boiling water until pasta is al dente.

I served the pasta with Italian sausage and peppers I had cooked earlier for sandwiches, and added homemade tomato sauce and fresh basil to round it out a bit.

I've got to saw that the press makes it really simple to make complicated pasts shapes. I've got to get better at cutting the pasta in completely even lengths. Meanwhile, I'm still tweaking the flour/liquid ratio since the included recipe isn't as accurate as it could be.

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I love cookbooks ... maybe a little too much

I my cookbook collection is pretty extensive, but that doesn't stop me from wanting more. And more. And more. And then the mailman comes.

Here's the latest batch, just in time for you to go last-minutes shopping. Or put them on your "me" list for after Christmas.

Breakfast for Dinner
By Lindsay Landis & Taylor Hackbarth

I'm not big on eating breakfast foods in the morning, but I adore scrambled eggs for dinner, so this seems like a great book for (yawnnnn ... sleepy) me.

There are dishes that are instantly recognizable as breakfast foods with a dinner twist, but there are others that are dinner foods with a hint 'o breakfast.

In the main dish section, I found some interesting twists, like Italian-style Stuffed French Toast, Huevos Rancheros Tacos, and Breakfast Sausage Ravioli.

But this book doesn't stop at dinner - there are drinks and desserts, too. I thought the Mocha Ice Cream Pie with Biscotti crust was an interesting way of presenting coffee and a biscotti.

For me, one of the keys to "do I want this book or not" is whether there are recipes I want to try right away. For sure. The breakfast pizza is pretty high on the to-do list.

The Geometry of Pasta
By Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy

When I was a kid, pasta was spaghetti or elbow macaroni. Sometimes mom would get fancy and buy wagon wheels or bow ties.

It was a looooong time before I realized how many pasta shapes there are. And a lot longer before I realized that the shape should match the sauce. Perhaps because mom only made one sauce and that went with the spaghetti.

Even now, I know that different shapes of pasta are supposed to match the sauce, but ... who has time to look up that stuff? I buy and interesting shape, and then sauce happens. Maybe I'll change my evil ways now that I have this book. It explains the different shapes of pasta, and then has recipes.

There are the usual pasta shapes that we all know, but there were plenty that I wasn't familiar with. AND, there are recipes for making some of the pasta shapes. Awesome!

One thing I wish this book included is a visual index of the pasta shapes, all on a few pages. There are graphics for each type of pasta, but if you know the shape and not the name, it will take some browsing to find it in the book. Probably not a big deal, since most boxes and bags of pasta do have the name, but there are times when something like that could be handy.

I'm a big pasta fan, so I'm looking forward to diving into these.

Winter Cocktails
By Maria Del Mar Sacasa

Ah, cocktails. If it seems odd to have a book specifically about winter cocktails, think about it a moment. There are some drinks that are year-round favorites, but there are plenty of others that are tied to seasons. Light, fruity drinks evoke summer. Mulled wine is definitely a winter drink.

This books includes some classics, but there are plenty of original cocktails, like Mama's Remedy or the Nutella Melt. There are also recipe for simple syrup, mixes, and some small bites and nibbles to go with the cocktails.

Not everything includes alcohol - there are non-alcoholic recipes included, and a few where the alcohol is optional. Some of the recipes include variations, which is nice. And many include tips or tidbits of information.

I didn't see a whole lot of exotic alcohols or specific brand names, and if there was something a little unusual mentioned, there were options included as well. So it should be pretty easy to make most of these drinks. I'm looking forward trying some of the warm cocktails. in particular.

Booze Cakes
By Kristina Castella and Terry Lee Stone

Might as well continue with the boozy theme. This time, we're not drinking, though - these are baked goods that use liquor for flavoring. Some rely on a single type of alcohol like the Pink Champagne Cake while others are all about the cocktail, like the Harvey Wallbanger Cake or the Margarita Cheesecake.

I usually make a rum cake for Christmas or New Year's, so I'm thinking I might try the recipe in this book. Besides a plain rum cake, it includes variations for a chocolate rum cake, one with nuts, and spiced rum cake.

There are also small bites - called Cake Shots here, and traditional cakes with added alcohol, like chocolate lava cakes with port wine. Not enough? There are also toppings and garnishes.

There are quite a few recipes in this book I'm looking forward to trying.

Tiny Party Food
By Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park

Let's face it, small food is cute. And little bites are awesome because you can have just a little taste without facing a whole slice of cake or a giant burger. And then you can have another little taste, or you can choose some other little taste.

 That's what the book is all about. There are little sconces, one-bite crab cakes, And itty-bitty shepherd's pies.

Ooooh, those shepherd's pies look awesome.

And then there are desserts. Mini chocolate raspberry tarts and chocolate eclairs. Fried apple pies. Cheesecake. And breakfast - French Toast or Eggs Benedict. Yup, this book's got you covered.

Besides being great for parties, these would be fun as appetizers and nibbles at home when you want to do something a little special and quirky.

I received these books from the publisher. All words are my own.

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Back to My Roots

Once again, I went digging in the Left Hand Valley Courier archives to see what other food articles I've written. This one appeared in 2007, as part of my Vicinity and Beyond series that looks at interesting businesses outside the normal delivery zone of the newspaper.

I grew up in the Chicago area, where ethnic food was easy to find. Moving to Colorado was a bit of a culture shock. Not only were the regular grocery stores bereft of many items I considered normal fare, but there weren't ethnic neighborhoods or ethnic markets nearby.

It took me a while to venture far enough to find those sorts of places. Now, I know where to find more and more unusual ingredients. It's not a short jaunt as it was when I lived in Chicago, but it's a worthwhile trip when I'm craving the authentic ethnic foods that I haven't figured out how to make at home.

Vicinity And Beyond: Roots

When you think of ethnic food, what does it mean to you? Are you thinking of Indian or Chinese or Thai? Do you think about food that’s foreign to you? Or do you think about the food of your ancestors, whoever they may be?

Strictly defined, I suppose ethnic food would be anything eaten by people from a specific country or region. Sort of the opposite of the recent trend for “fusion” cuisine where you find chorizo-stuffed eggrolls and pizza topped with gyros meat and tzatziki sauce.

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