TFF -- A "Sponge Worthy" Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

From the Urban Dictionary:

"A phrase coined by Elaine on the TV show "Seinfeld." Refers to Elaine's favorite kind of birth control that was ultimately taken off the market. Elaine bought all the remaining stock she could get her hands on and then hoarded her stash of sponges. She defined her dates as being "sponge-worthy" or not.

Jerry- I heard you went out with Bob last night. Was he sponge-worthy?
Elaine- VERY sponge-worthy!

Or alternate response from Elaine-I don't waste my sponges on just anybody. He has to be sponge worthy, Jerry!"


Remember this Seinfeld episode? Well, I feel the same way about my homemade Pesto Sauce that Elaine felt about her sponges. There's consequences if you use it and there's consequences if you don't. So using my homemade Pesto Sauce is a serious decision. I only have so much Pesto in my freezer and when it's gone, it's gone!

Is the dish good enough for my pesto sauce? Down the road when my pesto supply has been depleted will I say to myself "shouldn't have done it"? What if next month I find a fabulous pasta recipe and I don't have enough pesto? These are just some thoughts I had when I was considering making Tyler's Mozzarella Grilled Cheese. The sandwich sounded very interesting, and if I ate a grilled cheese every day for the rest of my life I'd be happy, but I just wasn't sure if it was "sponge worthy".

Mozzarella Grilled Cheese
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence

4 slices thick-cut sourdough bread
1 ball (1 pound) fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 plum tomatoes, cut into thick slices
1 cup fresh basil pesto, recipe follows
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Basil pesto:
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano
2 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

To make pesto:

Toast pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Combine pesto ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined but still rough-textured.

If you have a panini press, turn it on to warm up; otherwise, set a cast iron skillet over medium heat.

Assemble sandwich by smearing insides of bread slices with pesto. Arrange a layer of sliced tomato and season with a few turns of fresh pepper. Layer the mozzarella slices over the top and then place another piece of bread on top to make the sandwich. Drizzle olive oil over skillet's surface and place sandwiches on the hot skillet or panini press. If using a skillet, place another heavy skillet over the top to form a "press". Turn after 2 to 3 minutes and replace weight. The sandwich is ready when golden brown and mozzarella has melted around the edges.

Please stop by and check out the rest of Tyler's Fans at Tyler Florence Fridays!


Tasting Notes: Mr. Tastebuds was not happy when I told him we were having Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for dinner. But then I told him I was making potato chips and he'll eat anything as long as I make him some homemade potato chips. Well, he loved this sandwich and specifically said I should make it again!

Grilling the sandwich in EVOO was wonderful and made a fabulously crisp crust! But I'm still on the fence if it was sponge worthy or not. However I do think Tyler's Mozzarella Grilled Cheese would have been delicious served sometime in July when my basil is in full glory and made with a warm-from-the-sun homegrown tomato! YUM! Now that would be a very sponge worthy sandwich!


All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog

Whisk Wednesdays — Goes Diner!

Last week our Whisk Wednesdays recipe was Beignets de Langoustines (shrimp fritters) with Sauce Tartare. So I decided to serve it as a Shrimp Basket "a la diner-style"! Also made some homemade potato chips which are one of my favorites!

The shrimp were marinated in EVOO and lemon juice before breading and they were out-of-this-world delicious. I will from now on marinate my shrimp before breading...gawd they were so good!

The breading was so light and easy to work with, although I did add a few extra drops of water to thin it just a tad. It was delicous and perfect for shimp.




Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare
Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

36 Langoustine, in the shells or 36 large shrimp
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice of 1 lemon, strained
1 TBL chopped parsley
EVOO

Savory Fritter Batter
1 1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 potato flour
1 TBL baking powder
Salt
1/4 c. EVOO
1 c. cold water
3 egg whites

Tartar Sauce
2 egg yolks
1 TBL dijon mustard
2 TBL white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 hard boiled eggs
2 TBL gherkins
2 TBL fine chopped capers
1 TBL fine chopped onion
1 TBL chopped parsley
1 TBL chopped fresh chives

Parsley sprigs for garnish
3 lemons, wedges
Vegetable oil for frying



Just an update on my home life lately. I have sort of a late start on preparing for winter this year. But our gorgeous fall weather has been so wonderful I am beginning to think I can catch up. So I washed 61 windows including the screens in the last 6 days and I am pooped.

And last weekend Joe cut down our vegetable garden. As he removed the frost damaged tomato plants he laid the green tomatoes on the ground. Eva, our 1 year old female Rottweiler, stole about 10 of the tomatoes and OH BOY did she have fun. But what's really funny is that she only took the BIG ones!

All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Whisk Wednesdays and Steak Mirabeau

OMG.....DELICIOUS! Absolutely, out-of-this-world wonderful entree! Who would have thought that anchovies and beef could be so fabulous! Mr. Tastebuds and I loved it!

The recipe did call for Fried Onion Rings and Roasted Tomatoes which we enjoyed very much! I had some Red Onions that needed to be used, so fried up a large batch of onion rings and we ate every last one!! And I could use my fresh from my garden tomatoes too! All in all it was a perfect summer dinner.



Steak Mirabeau -- Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Anchovy Butter
Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

6 Tenderloin Steaks
Vegetable oil
Fresh ground pepper
18 oil-packed anchovy
6 green olives

Mirabeau Butter:
15 oil-packed anchovy
8 TBL butter, softened

Onion Rings
3 large onions
Salt and Pepper
1 TBL parsley
Milk
1 c. flour
Oil for frying

Roasted tomatoes
6 medium tomatoes
2 TBl butter, softened


I can't wait for next weeks Whisk Wednesdays which is Brochet au Beurre Blanc (Whole Poached Pike with White Butter Sauce) pages 307-308.


All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

It's officially Summer!

It's been so hot here and with so much rain the humidity is atrocious. I've been doing my baking after 9:00 pm just to keep the heat down in the house.

So last night we had a simple dinner of hot dogs, potato chips and a pickle and it was delicious!! But of course I baked the hot dog buns and made homemade potato chips and even the dill pickle was from my pantry collection that was canned last year.

Earlier in the week we had hamburgers again on homemade hamburger buns. I think I'm just going to keep the 5-minute Artisan Dough in the refrigerator at all times and make our buns as needed. The freshly baked buns made a huge difference in the entire meal.




All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Grama and the Fried Dandelions

I have fond memories of my Great Grandparents. When I was very young, maybe 4 years old, my G-Grandparents managed and lived in a large apartment building in Detroit. I remember going into the apartment basement with Papa Fred and watching, fascinated, as he shoveled coal into the huge furnace. Once when I was in the basement with Papa Fred the coal delivery truck came. I remember hearing the diesel motor and gears grinding and then coal came crashing down a shoot into the basement bin! And I also remember the casts of Dandelion Wine stacked in a dark corner and Papa Fred showing me the golden yellow liquid inside.

I remember Grama, always dressed in a "housedress" and apron, telling me about eating puff balls and picking wild mushrooms and huckleberries. I remember her livingroom with the fancy table lamps and the big windows that I could sit at and look way down at the traffic on the street. And I remember Grama telling me about frying dandelion blossoms.

Fried Dandelion Blossoms
Recipe by Big-Black-Dog in memory of my Great-Grandparents, Fred and Cora Will

15-20 large dandelion blossoms
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. hot Hungarian paprika
1 crushed garlic clove
Oil for frying

Mix up milk, flour, corn meal, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic. You can add a bit more milk if the batter is too thick. Holding the dandelion blossom by the green end dip in batter and place in the deep fryer careful not to crowd the dandelions as they fry. Fry until golden brown and put in a bowl lined with paper towels.

When I read about Sarah's blogging event Tastes to Remember, my Grama's Dandelions immediately came to mind. Thank you for bringing back that long forgotten memory.




All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Diner Food

Well I did not have a good baking weekend. I tried out 2 new recipes, 1 was a total bomb and I threw it out. The other tastes pretty good but does not look very appealing.

It's not often that I have 2 recipes fail in a row so baking depression is not a common ailment of mine!

BUT, I did make a wonderful dinner Sunday night, Patty Melts and homemade potato chips. And I served it in my new plastic diner baskets that I picked up last week. I love my new Diner Baskets and will use them often.

Joe's Patty Melt was made with a grilled burger, caramelized red onions, swiss cheese and mustard on grilled whole wheat. And mine was a grilled burger, mozzarella cheese with horseradish sauce on grilled sour dough bread.

Yum....Yum.....YUMMY!!




My absolute favorite Patty Melt is a grilled burger with mozzarella and topped with creamy cole slaw on grilled sour dough. But I was too lazy to make the cole slaw!


All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog