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Greek Pasta Salad

Posted in Greek, Salad, Side dish, tagged , , , , on June 9, 2014| 1 Comment »

Caprese Salad

Greek Pasta Salad

This pasta salad war originally a caprese pasta salad with mozzarella, but I really don’t like to bite into chunks of mozzarella cheese. So I changed it up a little and replaced the mozzarella with a delicious feta cheese which I love. The dressing for the pasta salad is a wonderful blend of garlic infused olive oil, balsamic vinegar with a background of fresh basil, really flavorful. I hope you enjoy this easy to make and very delicious pasta salad.

Pasta Salad (8-10 servings)

Ingredients:

12 oz. of your favorite pasta, cooked

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

6 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 oz. feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse, set aside. In a small skillet combine olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes (optional) over low heat. Warm oil slowly to allow flavors to infuse, 5-10 minutes. Do not let the garlic take on color. Set aside to cool slightly.

Place pasta in a bowl. Add olive oil mixture, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes and basil, toss to combine. Add feta cheese, toss gently. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Enjoy!

Source: adapted from Annie’s Eats

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Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Quisadilla

Posted in Appetizers, Chicken, Lunch, Quick and Easy, tagged , , , , , , on January 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Quisadilla

I love a really good Chicken Quisadilla and when you make them yourself at home, your completely in charge of the outcome. I don’t particularly like a lot of cheese on my food and when asking for light cheese in a restaurant, it still comes loaded on. In this write-up I have not written any amounts, simply just make it to your own liking.

Makes 1 Quisadilla

Ingredients:

2 flour tortillas (6 inch)

russian dressing for spreading

cooked chicken, sliced

Cabot extra sharp cheese

feta cheese

roasted red pepper, diced

fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Preheat pan or grill to medium heat. Spread russian dressing on one side of each of the two tortillas. Top first tortilla with chicken, Cabot and feta cheese, red pepper and cilantro. Top off with second tortilla. Place on grill or pan, cook until cheese is melted. Flip over and continue cooking until light browned. Remove from heat and cut into quarters. Enjoy!

Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Shrimp and Feta Cheese Quiche

Posted in Appetizers, Main course, Seafood, Side dish, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 31, 2011| 9 Comments »

Shrimp and Feta Cheese Quiche

This recipe is from an old Everyday magazine. I had made this quiche a couple of times and my guests always loved it. It’s the kind of quiche that dissappears from the pie dish in no time at all. Then I lost the magazine and I tried to recreate it from memory but something was missing. I looked everywhere for that magazine, or so I thought, until one day recently I was cleaning out a closet and found a stack of old food magazines. What a find! To me old food magazines are like new food magazines and so I started reading them again and sure enough I found the long lost Shrimp and Fata Cheese Quiche recipe. I absolutely have to share this recipe with you because I know that you’ll love it. The feta cheese gives the quiche a wonderful slight tartness and the combination of shrimp, roasted red pepper and chives is just fantastic. I hope you enjoy this quiche as much as I do. I wonder what else is in that closet?

Ingredients:

1 sheet store-bought refrigerated pie dough, at room temperature

1 tbsp unsalted butter

8 oz large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 extra large eggs

1/2 cup half-and-half 

1 tbsp minced chives

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 cup jarred roasted red pepper, diced

3 oz crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Press the dough into a 9 inch pie or tart dish. Pierce the bottom of dough with a fork. Place tart dish on a baking sheet and line inside of pie dough with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and weights and reduce heat to 375 degrees F. Continue to bake dough until golden, about 12 minutes. Let tart shell cool on a wire rack.

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add shrimp to pan and cook for 2 minutes just until opaque, flipping shrimp half-way through. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, chives, salt and pepper. Arrange the shrimp, red pepper and feta cheese in pie shell and cover with the egg mixture.

Bake quiche in the 375 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean. Cool quiche for 10 minutes and serve. Enjoy.

Shrimp and Feta Cheese Quiche

Source: slightly adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

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Easy Cheese Danish

Posted in Breakfast, Danish, Dessert, Pastry, Quick and Easy, tagged , , , , , , on October 3, 2011| 9 Comments »

Easy Cheese Danish

Easy Cheese Danish

I saw Ina make these cheese Danish on Barefoot Contessa. They are easy, quick and very delicious. What’s not to like? They are wonderful served warm as well as the following day at room temperature. After the pastries are filled and folded, Ina tells you to refrigerate the pastries for 15 minutes before baking…which I failed to do. 😦 So the first four pastries I baked opened up during baking, not a pretty site (still tasted fantastic though). The next four I put in the refrigerator, as instructed, and these pastries stayed folded after baking. So I can only guess that the refrigeration of the pastries is an important step to keep the folded pastries closed during baking. I’ll remember this for next time 🙂

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry (1 box)

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

2 tbsp ricotta cheese

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp kosher salt

zest from 1 small lemon

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking pans with parchment paper.

Mix together cream cheese and sugar with an electrical mixer on low-speed. With the mixer still on low, add egg yolks, ricotta cheese, vanilla, salt and lemon zest, mix just until smooth. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. If needed, roll it to a 10 x 10 inch square. Cut pastry into 4 smaller squares. Brush borders of each square with egg wash and then place a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the centers. Fold one corner gently over the filling, brush this corner with egg wash. Fold the opposing second corner over the first corner allowing the egg wash to seal the two corners together. Finish brushing the top of pastry with egg wash. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry. Makes a total of 8 pastries.

Using a spatula, place pastries on baking pans and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Then bake pastries for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Cheese Danish

Source: Barefoot Contessa

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Gamle Ole – Beauty and the Beast

Posted in Breakfast, Danish, Other, tagged , , , , , , on August 1, 2011| 18 Comments »

Gamle Ole aka Stinky Cheese

Let me introduce you to my little friend, my childhood friend, Gamle Ole aka Stinky Cheese. This is a Danish cheese which is aged 40+ weeks and it taste AMAZING and I absolutely LOVE it. It’s a very sharp cheese and as the name indicates it’s very aromatic. When I bring it out my son makes sure windows and doors are flung wide open…I guess that means it needs air to breath…no? 

Gamle Ole Danish Cheese

My parents mailed me this cheese for my birthday. It was what I had wished for and I was so happy when it arrived in the mail. I posted about it on Facebook and my cousin Anita told me a story about how her In-laws kept their Gamle Ole outside in the mailbox so not to stink up the refrigerator, besides the mailman always delivered the mail directly to their door. One day there was a substitute mailman and you can imagine his surprise to find the cheese sitting in the mailbox. 🙂

I don’t keep my Gamle Ole outside in the mailbox as I am sure the Virginia heat would melt it away, but instead its securely wrapped in two layers and stored in a Tupperware container so it wont contaminate the entire fridge. I only eat Gamle Ole on weekends because I am sure my coworkes would not appreciate the aroma of, what my son calls “smelly feet”. But despite all the talk of how badly it smells, the taste is incredible. Denmark has long had a reputation of producing award winning cheeses and Gamle Ole is no exception. It won the Best Scandinavian Cheese award in 2010. It remains a controversial cheese meaning in short that you either love or hate it…as for me, I simply just LOVE it.

Beauty and the Beast

 Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Chicken Scallopine with Basil and Fontina Cheese

Posted in Chicken, Italien, Main course, tagged , , , , , , on September 27, 2010| 6 Comments »

Chicken Scallopine With Basil And Fontina Cheese

Chicken Scallopine With Basil And Fontina Cheese

I have made this Chicken Scallopine many times before and it is absolutely lovely. The Fontina cheese is what really makes this dish. I like to use a Danish Fontina which is mild, sweet and nutty. It is also a very soft cheese so it can be a bit challenging to shred. Try placing the cheese in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before shredding. Of course, you could simply just cut the cheese into very thin slices instead and place onto chicken. It should roll just fine since the cheese is so soft. This recipe was originally made with sage but I just love the basil flavor with the tomatoes.

Chicken Scallopine With Basil And Fontina Cheese

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin

salt and freshly ground pepper

6 large basil leaves, plus more

3 ounces grated Fontina cheese, shredded

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large garlic clove, cut into thick slices

1/2 cup white wine

1 (28 ounces) can whole San Marzano tomatoes

a pinch of red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Special Equipment: toothpicks

Directions:

Rinse chicken breasts under cold running water and cut off any excess fat. Place one chicken breast in a large zip lock bag, press out inside air and close. Pound chicken breast thin using the smooth end of a meat tenderizer or a rolling-pin. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.

Place chicken breast on plastic cutting board, narrow end facing you. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on large basil leaf on top of chicken. Sprinkle with 1/2 ounce Fontina cheese (about 2 tablespoons). Starting with the narrow end, roll up chicken and seal with two toothpicks. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Warm the olive oil and garlic slices in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until garlic is fragrant. Add the chicken and brown on all sides. Remove the chicken to a plate and discard the garlic. Add the wine and simmer for 2 minutes, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon.

Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes and red pepper flakes in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the tomato mixture to the reduced wine, season with salt and pepper, stir to blend. Place the browned chicken breasts back into the skillet with the tomato sauce, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over and simmer covered for another 10 minutes. Chop extra basil and add to sauce, stir. Remove all toothpicks.

Spoon tomato sauce onto a warm serving platter. Cut each chicken breasts into half and place on top of tomato sauce. Serve immediately.

Chicken breasts rolled up and secured with toothpicks

Brown chicken on all sides.

Source: adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

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