Our friends Iveth and Mario (her husband) just moved to Colombia, so we have been keeping in touch through Facebook. While checking my news feed one night, I saw Iveth had posted a photo of what she had made for dinner. It was this Croque Monsieur, and I had to have it.

I asked her for the recipe so she could be our next Guest Foodie.  We really enjoy our friends collaborating on our blog by sharing their recipes and experiences in the kitchen!

She told me she got the idea to make this dish from the movie It’s Complicated with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin (which she recommends, by the way).  On a scene from the movie Meryl prepares a Croque Monsieur, so Iveth searched for a recipe and now we have it for you!

I can’t wait to try it myself… with a little white wine. (I’ll try to get my hands on that movie as well.)

Croque Monsieur

Recipe by Iveth Bodensteiner de Villanueva
Serves 2

Ingredients
4 sliced of bread (they have to be thick slices)
4 slices of Turkey Pastrami
enough gruyere cheese to cover the bread area
1 cup of Bechamel Sauce*
Butter, for spreading

*Note: you can find the recipe for Bechamel Sauce in our Roasted Vegetable Lasagna post, here. Divide the ingredients by half to use in this recipe

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven at 200 F
2. Prepare your béchamel sauce, you will only need about 1 cup.
3. Spread your bread slices with a little butter, on both sides.  On one slice, place turkey pastrami and gruyere cheese and cover with a bit of béchamel sauce.  Place the second bread slice on top.
4. Spread more béchamel sauce on top of the sandwich you have made (on that second bread slice) and top with enough gruyere cheese to cover the whole thing.  Repeat this process to make a second croquet monsieur.
5. Place them on a cookie sheet or pyrex, and bake for about 10 min.  At 10 minutes, turn your oven to BROIL. This is the part where you have to keep an eye on them.  Broil until the cheese develops a nice brown crust.
6. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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It’s Super Bowl time again!  We hand picked snacks and appetizers we think you might like to include on your Super Bowl Food Fest menu, we’ll be posting a few new recipes soon!

Pizza Dip

Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

Stuffed Mushrooms

Vietnamese Rolls

Beef Empanadas

B’s Homemade Hamburgers

Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

Vegetable, Basil & Zucchini Pizza

Southern Cornbread

Chicken and Avocado Pizza

Tequila Bars (dessert)

Perfect Lemonade with Basil Syrup

Mariano’s Beer Michelada

© 2012, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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This is one of the best recipe finds I’ve stumbled upon in the last few months. Homemade ricotta cheese?  I imagined the process would be more complicated, so I was surprised to see how easy this recipe is. You just need milk, lemon, slat and cheesecloth Homemade mascarpone is next, so I can indulge Mariano with some Tiramisu for his upcoming birthday.

This is an incredibly creamy ricotta, which I have only slightly adapted from the original recipe.  It said to add 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt, which I found to be too bland. 1 1/2 teaspoons is right for my taste, but you can try making it as the original suggests. You can always add the salt later, as I did.  Once the cheese is done, you can mix in the salt using a wooden spoon.

I enjoyed mine with olive oil and salt, with rhubarb jam I recently made, or with sundried tomatoes and a little dry basil would also be amazing.  Go ahead, try it!

(Also, the recipe says the cheese will keep for 3-4 days, but mine lasted for a little longer than a week and it was fine)

Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen
Makes about 1 generous cup of ricotta

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Procedure:

1. Pour the milk, cream and salt into a 3-quart nonreactive saucepan. Attach a candy or deep-fry thermometer. Heat the milk to 190°F, stirring it occasionally to keep it from scorching on the bottom.
2. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, then stir it once or twice, gently and slowly. Let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.
3. Line a colander with a few layers of cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl (to catch the whey). Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain for at least an hour. At an hour, you’ll have a tender, spreadable ricotta. At two hours, it will be spreadable but a bit firmer, almost like cream cheese. (It will firm as it cools, so do not judge its final texture by what you have in your cheesecloth.)
4. Discard the whey, or, if you’re one of those crafty people who use it for other things, of course, save it. Eat the ricotta right away or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.  This cheese will keep for 3-4 days.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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September is here, and just like last year, we wanted to share with you our typical Guatemalan dishes.  This recipe is for “Tamalitos de Chipilín”.

A tamal is a traditional Latin American dish made of masa (corn dough) which is wrapped in corn husks or plantain leaves. (This wrapping is discarded to enjoy the tamal.)  They can be filled with chicken or pork meat, loroco, chipilín, and they are seasoned with a delicious red sauce called “recado”.

This variation does not have any meat in them, you can prepare the plain kind which is just made out of masa, or mix in chipilín leaves.  These leaves are commonly used in Central American cooking and impart a special flavor in certain dishes, even though I am asking that you use 2 bunches of chipilín leaves which you will think is a lot, trust me.  Use them all.
I am aware that you will probably not be able to find these leaves abroad, so as a variation of the plain tamal, just before you wrap it I recommend you put in a thin slice of  white cheese (queso fresco).

To enjoy your tamal, you can eat it just as it is, served warm with a little cream.  Another way is to slice it up and heat them in your toaster oven and spread some cream cheese on top.

Now, regarding this recipe and its procedure.  It seems like a very long procedure but that’s just because I wanted to describe each part of the process well.  Essentially, you just have to mix all the ingredients, grab a small portion with you hand to make a little “mud pie” with it, place in on the leaf and wrap it up.   The wrapping is very easy too, so don’t be intimidated by the length of the recipe.

This recipe was given to me by Sandra, she helped me out last year by showing me how to make Kaq-ik, which we posted last September.

Tips:

• Mix the corn flour with water a little bit at a time, alternating them.
• When you’ve used up half of the flour and water, mix in the margarine.

These will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, if you won’t serve them all,  it is best if you freeze them.  If frozen, you can heat them up in a pot with about 2 inches of water for about 12 minutes.  If you’re just pulling them from the fridge, pop them in the microwave.

I hope you try it!

Tamalitos de Chipilín
Yields approx. 20 units

Ingredients

1 package corn flour, 2lb (Maseca)
1 ½ sticks of margarine
2 1/2 cups of water
2 1/2 cups of chicken broth (consomé)
1 tablespoon salt
2 bunches chipilin leaves
2 bunches of corn husks (tuza)

Procedure:

1. Wash your hands.
2. In a large bowl which you will use for mixing, put about ¼ of the flour in and add some of the water (maybe 1 cup). Start mixing it in using your hands.
3. Add some more flour, add about another cup of water.  Mix it in.
4. Add the margarine. Mix it in.   More flour, then add the chicken broth.  Mix it in.
5. Add more flour and more water or chicken broth until you have finished the Maseca package.
6. Add the chipilin leaves, a handful at a time.
7. Mix, mix, mix.
8. This mix should feel moist, but not wet. Try to get an idea of the texture through our photographs

Assembly:

1. Take a couple of individual corn husks, and cut strips out of them, which you will use to tie up your tamal.  Make about 24 strips.
2. Place a corn husk on the counter. Open it up
3. Place about a handful of “masa” in your hand, try to give it an oval shape.
4. Put it in the middle of your corn husk, leaving a space of about 2 inches on the top (this is the part you’ll tie up).
5. Fold the sides in.
6. Fold the bottom up.
7. Gather the top together by sort of crunching it
8. Tie it tightly with a strip of corn husk.  (Go around a couple of times and then tie it up)
9. Set aside. You have your tamalito!
10. Repeat all the assembly steps until you have used up all your masa.

Cooking:

1. Get a large, deep pot. (see picture)
2. Place a few corn husks on the bottom of the pot.
3. Start arranging all your tamalitos, tied side up. Side by side.
4. Fill the pot with water until you have just covered them.
5. Place a wet cloth on top, to cover them.
6. Cover your pot with the lid.
7. Turn the heat to Medium and wait for it to start boiling, about 15 min
8. Set your timer to 1 1/2 hours.
9. When the time is up, remove the cloth carefully so you don’t burn yourself and drain out any liquid.
10. Serve warm!
11. You can leave them in the pot if you will serve them within a few hours.  Otherwise, lift them out of the pot using thongs and let them cool. Then refrigerate them.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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This is the chipotle mayonnaise we used for our B’s Homemade Hamburgers recipe.  It gives it a spicy kick that goes wonderfully well with the beef and cheese we put in our burger.

You can find canned chipotle peppers in the supermarket or specialty stores, use as many, or as little as you want. I didn’t want an overly spicy mayonnaise, so I only put in half a chipotle pepper to about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. I wanted to make my own mayo, but… quite frankly, I didn’t organize myself to make it ahead of time, so when Hamburger day came, I used my regular brand. We will be including some homemade mayonnaise recipes soon!  It’s worth the trouble, and it’s faster than going to the store!

Chipotle Mayonnaise

Ingredients

1/2 cup of your favorite mayonnaise brand
1/2 of one canned chipotle pepper

Directions

1. In a small food processor, or blender, combine the mayonnaise and chipotle pepper.
2. Process until well blended.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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I LOVE french fries, but I don’t like the idea of cooking them in a pool of oil splattering all over my kitchen, much less the thought of having a pool of hot oil on my stove top when my toddler is around.  This is another (much healthier and easy cleanup) option for the next time you plan to make french fries.

You can add your favorite seasoning and condiments, or just follow my suggestion bellow.  For our latin american friends, worcestershire sauce is “salsa inglesa”.

Oven Baked French Fries
A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 russet potatoes (do not peel them)
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/8 cup worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin (powder)
3 tablespoons olive oil

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Spray a baking sheet with oil.
2. Cut potatoes into thin stips. The thinner you cut them, the crispier they will turn out.
3. Run them under cold water.
4. Place them in a large bowl and toss them with all the ingredients.
5. Arrange your seasoned potato strips on your prepared cookie sheet. Try to spread them out into an even layer, without them piling on top of each other.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Toss them around, trying to turn them over and bake for about 15 minutes longer.  If you see that some of them are starting to brown, take them out and let the rest of them continue baking.
8. When they are done, as soon as you take them out of the oven, sprinkle them with additional salt.  Serve immediately!

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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I was able to spend some mother-daughter time recently with my mom, which we hadn’t done in a long time. We just wanted to veg out in comfy clothes with good food and drink and a good movie. We went grocery shopping together to make this pizza dip… Well, so I could make this pizza dip. My dear mother won’t cook to save her life.

It is basically, all the ingredients you would use to make pizza… except for the crust.  And to add the creaminess that makes this a dip, or more accurately a spread, you start off with a layer of herbed cream cheese and add the other ingredients by layers, finally melting it all in the oven for a delicious bread topping.

This is a great appetizer if you have friends coming over for movie night, or game night… and it is VERY filling. It easily serves a crowd of 10 people. You can add or leave out any of the ingredients to your own preferences. I prefer to add vegetables and stay away from meats, but you can add pepperoni, ham, prosciutto, or bacon.

To accompany this I sliced a medium baguette, brushed each slice with olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper on top, to the oven they went until they started to brown, about 6 min.

Pizza Dip

Serves 10
Adapted from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried basil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup italian tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
8 cherry tomatoes, sliced or halved
12 black olives, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, garlic powder, dried oregano, and basil.
2. Spread cream cheese mixture into a 9-inch pie pan, and sprinkle ½ cup of mozzarella and ½ cup of Parmesan on the cream cheese mixture.
3. Top with the tomato sauce and mushrooms and sprinkle the remaining cheeses over the  sauce.
4. Top with bell pepper, onion, cherry tomatoes and black olives.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and additional dried basil.
6. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes or until cheese is fully melted and bubbly.

;

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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I had whole mushrooms at home, which I needed to use before they spoiled, so I searched for recipes.  I found this one, but had none of the other ingredients used to make it.  The original recipe calls for goat cheese, and of course… I din’t have any, so I figured I would substitute with cream cheese.  If I would’ve known these were so delicious, I would’ve made more!  They are easy to make, and they make a fancy appetizer if you’re hosting a dinner party at home, or want to impress a date.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 8 appetizers

 Ingredients

8 mushrooms
4 teaspoons seasoned breadcrumbs
4 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese
3 teaspoons cream cheese
1 teaspoon cream
A pinch of cayenne pepper
A pinch of black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Lightly oil a baking sheet
3. Remove stems from the mushrooms.
4. In a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs with the parmesan cheese. Add pepper and cayenne, mix well.
5. Add your cream cheese and cream. Mix with a fork combine it all well. It will be very thick, like a paste. You can add some more cream if you feel your mixture is too thick.
6. Spoon the mixture into mushroom holes. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, the top will be golden brown.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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Here at The Foodies’ Kitchen, we know that the other big thing this upcoming Sunday is Food! Here are some of our favorite recipes for Appetizers and Snacks:

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Chicken Wings: Buffalo Style

Vietnamese Crab Spring Rolls

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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These are so easy to make!. You can try them as a side dish to surprise your family with something different for meal time, or you can serve them as appetizers for a small dinner party.

Roasted Portobello Mushrooms with Lemon Rosemary Dressing

Serves 4
Recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
8 trimmed portobello mushrooms
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 sprig rosemary, torn into pieces
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place trimmed mushrooms, stem side up, on a rimmed baking sheet. In a bowl, combine the extra-virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Pour over mushrooms and top with garlic slices, and rosemary.
2. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Roast until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

© 2011, The Foodies' Kitchen. All rights reserved.

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