Crustless Southwestern Quiche

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 to 40 minutes
Serves: 6
Serving Size: 1 wedge

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces fresh spinach leaves, washed, dried and chopped (about 2 cups)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
5 large eggs
1 cup fat free half and half
½ teaspoon dried mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon corn meal
6 ounces grated reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese (about 1 ½ cups)
2 ounces shredded reduced fat Mozzarella cheese (about 1/2 cup)
2 large roasted red bell peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and jalapeno pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, dry mustard and parsley in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Coat a baking dish or quiche dish with vegetable oil spray. Sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal.

Sprinkle the cheeses on the bottom of the dish. Layer the top of the cheese with red pepper strips. Spoon the spinach mixture on top of the peppers. Pour the egg mixture over all.

Bake until the quiche is set and the top is golden, about 30 to 40 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes. Cut into 6 wedges.

Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Green Olive Tapenade

Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time:
Yield: about 2 dozen tomatoes
Serving Size: 4 stuffed tomatoes

1 cup Spanish olives with pimento
4 anchovy fillets
1 teaspoon capers
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes

Place the olives, anchovies and capers into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil. Season with ground pepper.

Use a sharp knife to remove the top of the cherry tomatoes. Use a small melon ball scooper to scoop out some of the flesh. Place a dollop of the tapenade into the bowl created in the tomato.

Asparagus Bundles Wrapped in Prosciutto

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves: 6
Serving Size: 1 bundle

6 thin slices prosciutto
1 pound fresh asparagus spears
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lay the prosciutto slices onto your work surface.

Trim the tough ends from the asparagus. Divide into 6 bundles. Place each bundle onto a slice of prosciutto. Wrap the prosciutto around the bundle of asparagus. Season with salt and pepper and place onto a baking sheet with a lip. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast the bundles until heated through, about 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Peel and Eat Shrimp with Chipotle Cocktail Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Yield: 18 shrimp and 1 cup sauce
Serving Size: 3 to 4 shrimp and 2 tablespoons sauce

1 pounds large uncooked shrimp, (about 18)
Juice of 1 medium lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon diced chipotle chili packed in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook the shrimp in boiling water with lemon until they turn pink and opaque, about 4 minutes. Place the shrimp in ice water to stop the cooking process.

Place the diced tomatoes, chili, tomato paste and Balsamic vinegar into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the shrimp with the dipping sauce on the side.

Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid: 10 kicked up cocktails, perfect for Labor Day Weekend

This is a great time of year to enjoy the tinkle of ice cubes in a glass, and revel in the chilled class of a carefully concocted drink. If you’re not the hostess and attending somebody else’s Labor Day shindig, the recipes included here travel well. Just jot down the ingredients and slip them in your pocket; whoever is manning cocktail hour will appreciate your little love-note as you hand it over the bar.

But before I dive in, let me remind my readers that they must take care over the holiday weekend and drink responsibly—designate a driver if you plan on partying hard, or borrow the nearest couch or guestroom. Now that my public service announcement is taken care of, I’d like to introduce 10 of my wildest, tastiest Kicked Up cocktails, legendary in my own soiree circles—sometimes we even put our signature on the drink. If your name is Doreen, I look forward to toasting you with a custom blended dirty martini. “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”

You’ll see from these recipes that when champagne meets the Sex & The City Girls’ favorite drink (Champagne Cosmo Cocktail) and your cherry colored sangria takes on a paler shade, in the form of a thirst quenching White Sangria, you’ve got yourself a kicked up version of a classic. I’ve also pumped up the tang on lots of other favorites; a simple Bloody Mary gets converted into a “Hair of the Dog” you’ll lap right up, and dirty martinis get edgier, thanks to my best friend’s aforementioned personal recipe…and so much more! Get ready to drink and be merry. I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than Isaac had elixirs at The Love Boat Bar.

You’re about to indulge in a happy hour no one will soon forget.

Champagne Cosmo Cocktail

12 ounces pomegranate juice
2 ounces Chambord raspberry liqueur
Juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
1 (750-ml) bottle Champagne
Fresh pitted cherries

Stir together the pomegranate juice, Chambord and lime juice in a pitcher. Pour about 1 ounce of this mixture into the bottom of a champagne flute. Top off the glass with Champagne. Garnish with fresh cherries.

White Sangria
1 (750-ml) bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja reds, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 whole orange, cut into pinwheels
1 whole lemon, cut into pinwheels
1 whole lime, cut into pinwheels
2 tablespoons all natural sugar
2 ounces Cointreau Orange Liqueur
8 ounces Prosecco wine or Champagne

Pour the wine into a pitcher. Add the fruit, sugar and Cointreau. Stir and refrigerate for several hours to combine the flavors. Add the Prosecco to the pitcher just before serving. Pour into glasses filled with ice cubes.

Lemon Sugar Rush Drop

1 ounce citrus flavored vodka
1 teaspoon super-fine sugar, plus more for rimming the glass
Juice of ½ large lemon, about 2 tablespoons
Lemon twist

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Pour in the vodka, sugar and lemon juice. Shake well and set aside. Run a lemon twist around the rim of a martini glass. Dip the rim into superfine sugar. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass and plop the twist in the glass.

Doreen’s Dirty Martini

2 ounces vodka
½ ounce olive juice
Whiff of dry vermouth
2 to 3 colossal size olives

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the vodka and the olive juice. Shake well and set aside. Add a touch of vermouth to a martini glass. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass. Garnish with olives.

That’s Mr. Tom Collins to you!

2 ounces gin
Juice of ½ large lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon super fine confectioner’s sugar
Club soda
Lemon wedge

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the gin, lemon juice and sugar. Shake well and set aside. Fill a cocktail glass with ice cubes. Strain and pour the mixture over the ice. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Old Fashioned Bourbon

3 maraschino cherries
Orange pinwheel
1 tablespoon super fine sugar
2 ounces bourbon
Club soda

Place two cherries and orange slice into the bottom of a cocktail glass. Sprinkle with sugar and stir with the back of a wooden spoon to blend flavors. Pour the bourbon over top. Fill the glass with ice. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with the third cherry.

White Wine Spritzer

2 ounces white wine
Club soda
Lemon wedge

Fill a wine glass with ice. Pour in the wine. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with lemon wedge.

Light as Air Daiquiri

1 ½ ounces light rum
Juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon super fine sugar

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the light rum, lime juice and sugar. Shake well and set aside. Fill a cocktail glass with ice cubes. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass.

Gimee a Gimlet

2 ounces gin
1 ½ ounce Rose's lime juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Pour in the gin and lime juice. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice cubes

Hair of the Dog

12 ounces tomato juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
2 to 4 drops (or more) hot pepper sauce
1 whole lemon, cut into wedges
1 tablespoon celery salt
2 (12-ounce bottles) beer
Celery stalks with leaves

In a pitcher, stir together the tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and hot pepper sauce. Rub the rims of the cocktail glasses with lemon wedges. Dip the rims into a saucer containing the celery salt. Fill each glass with ice cubes.
Fill half the glass with beer and top it off with the tomato juice mixture. Garnish with celery stalks.

Let’s Make Zucchini Pasta with Fresh Pesto and Ricotta Cheese while dishing on Food Network’s latest

Greetings Fellow Foodies,

It’s been far too long since I dished up a celebrity chef knock-off recipe, featuring one or two twists from my own kitchen. Last summer I brought you a Rachel Ray knock off (affectionately called RRKO.) I still can’t get the YUMMO taste of that Bacon Wrapped Shrimp in Creamy Tomato Sauce over Cappellini off my mind—I mean, my god, it sounds like an Italian love story, and speaking of which, this week I’m featuring a GKO—a Giada knock off—where I kick up her pesto pasta, by adding fresh strips of zucchini and ricotta cheese to the sauce.

Taking my culinary cues from what’s local and delicious in North Carolina, I’m kicking up this signature Giada pasta dish with what’s in season here in the mountains—which…drum roll…just happens to be zucchini! Shoppers at any local farmer’s market—particularly the ones located near the zucchini-rich fields of Sampson and Henderson counties—will note that North Carolina zucchini are bursting with late summer harvest flavor right about now.

You gotta get to ‘em (the zucchini) before they succumb to their short shelf life of just 1 to 2 weeks, just off the vine. Mmm…mmm…mmm! The mere image of this veggie—before you’ve done a thing to it—has the power to make my mouth water. Imagine what it will do to my ravenous dinner guests, when I pair strips of this fabulouso veggie with creamy ricotta in a zesty pesto sauce. Click here for recipe!

Check out my recipe below, and, if you have a chance to prepare it while watching a mini TV, that many home chefs (like this one) like to put in their kitchens, I recommend catching up on the latest on Food Network.

I’m a big fan of Top Chef, Iron Chef and have also been following The Next Food Network Star. It’s fun to muse on how these different chefs hit it big. My favorite, Giada, was discovered when a network executive read an article about her in Food & Wine Magazine. The article was called “Let’s Do Lunch”, and described a luncheon party that the Rome born beauty hosted in honor of her grandfather, a legendary filmmaker. Giada’s passion for food shown through that day, and has ever since.

I can’t help but appreciate how the art of narrative detail has helped others accomplish Food Network fame. When we hear a good story, we want to add, literally, more flavors to it by passing a really good table wine around the table and serving those we love a family style favorite, ratcheted up 100 percent, with flavors passed down among generations. I saw the recently selected Food Network Star, Aarti Party do this with Indian cuisine her grandmother made her as a child in Bombay.

Stay tuned to my blog, which is a cooking narrative that grows yummier by the week. Starting now, I’m putting up a post every Monday morning! I’ve got stories to tell, people to feed and history to make.

Zucchini Pasta with Fresh Pesto and Ricotta Cheese

Adding fresh picked veggies to pasta creates a satisfying dish that is not only full of flavor, but also packed with good nutrition.

Serves: 6 to 8
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 to 8 minutes

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
4 cloves garlic, peeled
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese, about ½ cup
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon coarse pepper
½ cup olive oil
1 pound fresh pasta, cut into ½-inch strips
2 large zucchini, shaved into ½-inch strips
1 cup ricotta cheese
Shaved Parmesan cheese

To make the pesto, place the basil, spinach, pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese into the bowl of a food processor (or blender). Pulse to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper. With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil to form a paste.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt. Cook the pasta until al dente. Add the zucchini and cook for 2 minutes more. Drain the pasta and zucchini and place back into the pot. Stir in the pesto and Ricotta cheese. Serve in a large bowl and garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese.