Gruyere and Mushroom Pizza

Sometimes simplicity is the best policy.


Gruyere and Mushroom Pizza

1 lb pizza dough, thawed
¾ cup Gruyere cheese, shredded
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
10-12 button mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste



Allow the pizza dough to almost reach room temperature. This will allow you to roll out a large thin crust.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Roll the pizza dough into a long rectangle, about the size of legal paper (about 9”x 14”).
Place the dough on your baking sheet and lightly prick the crust with a fork.
Bake for about 6-8 minutes, or until the dough begins to get slightly golden.
Remove from the oven and poke out any air bubbles and flatten the pizza.
Spread the mushroom slices over the pizza.
Sprinkle garlic over the mushrooms.
Top with cheese and a sprinkle of pepper and kosher salt.
Drizzle olive oil over the top.
Bake another 6-8 minutes, or until the cheese begins to bubble and brown lightly.
Serves 4.

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

I love tacos. Maybe it's because I don't like being told what to do that tacos agree with me. With a taco, there are no set rules about what you can and can't use as filling. If you only have beans and cheese, have a bean taco. If you want to make a fish taco, there is no cookbook out there telling you that you can't (well, if there is, don't read it.) The point is that you can put nearly anything you want in a taco shell and call it a taco. And no one is going to tell you that you must have a crispy shell, or that it must be a corn tortilla.

I've never had a shrimp taco before, but it sounded good, so I set out to have a grilled shrimp taco and no one was going to stop me. Here's my recipe:

Grilled Shrimp and Black Bean Tacos

1 lb (31-40ct) shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp chili powder
1 ½ tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
½ tsp olive oil
¼ tsp salt
6 Skewers, soaked for at least 30 minutes.


1 can black beans (seasoned with cumin and salt to tasted), warmed
Pico de Gallo
12 corn tortillas

Preheat your grill.
Mix the chili powder, lime, and salt to form a paste. Set aside while you prepare the shrimp skewers.
Place the shrimp on the skewers sideways so that each shrimp is pierced through the middle of its tail and the middle of the top, forming a “c” shape on the skewer.
Once all the shrimp have been skewered, brush the chili paste over the shrimp.
Grill for about 4 minutes on each side. (If using an indoor grill pan, grill for 2 minutes on each side.)
Build your taco and eat!

Pico de Gallo

"Pico de gallo" means "rooster's beak."
???
Anyway, I love pico de gallo especially around this time when the weather is warming up, the avocados are in season, and it's too hot to cook inside. Here's my recipe:
Pico de Gallo

2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped red onion
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh jalapeno
2 ripe avocados, diced
Juice of one lime
salt

Combine all ingredients, taking care not to mash up the avocado. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour while the flavors combine.

Serve with chips or on top of tacos.

(I will be serving mine on top of my grilled shrimp tacos)
Notes: Tweak the recipe according to your taste. If you like yours a little hotter, add more jalapeno. If you want more citrus flavor, add more lime. You can even add corn and black beans to make a black bean salsa dip.

Chocolate Mousse

A craving for chocolate can only be remedied by chocolate. If that isn't already a scientific fact, it should be. Far be it from me to defy my new law of science to resist chocolate when only chocolate will do. This is my first attempt at chocolate mousse, and what I learned is that you must have everything close by and ready, and you must have patience.


Chocolate Mousse

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used chocolate chips because that's what I had on hand)
8 oz cold heavy cream
2 large egg whites
1 oz sugar


Place chocolate in a large bowl and melt over boiling water. Stir the chocolate until melted.
Turn off the heat and let stand.

Beat the cold heavy cream until it begins to form soft peaks.
Whip eggs until they reach the same consistency as the cream.
Gradually add sugar while continuing to whip the egg whites.


Remove the chocolate bowl from the pot and, using a whisk, fold in all the egg whites.
When the whites have almost disappeared, fold in the whipped cream.
Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, but overnight is best.


Note: Seriously, overnight is best. One hour hardly did anything to the consistency of my mousse. I gave up looking at it for the whole day, and I was pleasantly surprised the next day with a creamy but well-set mousse.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Sometimes you just need barbecued chicken, but Rudy's BBQ and Dreamland BBQ are both too far away.
This recipe uses the slow cooker, which means that you don't have to do much work. And because the chicken is cooked in barbecue sauce, the end result is a deliciously tender chicken sandwich.


Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

2 chicken breasts, with skin and bone
2 chicken thighs, with skin and bone
1 1/2 cup store-bought BBQ sauce
1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
½ yellow onion, sliced
¼ cup vinegar

Preheat the slow cooker while you trim some of the excess skin from the chicken thighs (there is always just a little too much skin on thighs).
In the slow cooker, combine the BBQ sauce, bell peppers, onion, and vinegar.
Arrange the chicken in the cooker so that each piece is laying flat on the bottom (if possible).
Cover the chicken with some of the BBQ sauce.
Cook on high for 3 ½ hours, stopping midway to turn the chicken (if possible).
Remove the chicken from the sauce, remove the skin and throw away.
Using a fork, pull the meat from the bones. Set the meat aside.
Remove the onions and bell peppers from the BBQ sauce.
Place the pulled chicken back into the sauce and mix to combine.
Serve on a toasted bun with pickle relish.

Makes enough for 6-8 sandwiches.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

I found a recipe for grilled pork tenderloin with pineapple salsa, but I didn't think I would like the rub very much, and the chutney looked iffy. So I chucked the recipe and made my own. I think it was a success, especially the spice rub which was very spicy. And the pork came out tender and juicy - I don't think I've ever had such juicy pork in my life! From now on, pork loin at our house will only be grilled.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

1 lb pork loin
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp chili paste (I get this at the Asian market)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp lime juice

Preheat your grill, and let your pork loin rest at room temperature while you prepare the rub and chutney.

The chutney:
1 small can of pineapple chunks (8 oz)
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2-3 strips of roasted red bell peppers, chopped (or you can use fresh red bell peppers)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar

Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep at room temperature or store in the fridge.


Combine chili powder, chili paste, salt, sugar, and juices. You'll get something that resembles a thin paste.
Rub the paste on the pork loin.
Place the loin on the heated grill and turn the heat down to med to med-high. (Remember this all depends on your grill).
Grill for about 20 minutes, turning it a quarter of the way so that you get good marks on each side. On the final 5 minutes, turn the heat to med-low. You're looking for an internal temperature of about 145.
Allow the pork to rest under a foil tent for about 10 minutes while it reaches an internal temp of 160.
Slice and serve with the pineapple chutney.

An Update on the Plants

The basil have grown so much that I had to thin them out and move them to more cups (which now take up one half of my bedroom windowsill.) There are two sets of true leaves, and if smell could come in miniature form, that is what these little basil would smell like. I don't know how to explain that any further except that these leaves look and smell like mini basils.

The tomatoes have also grown quite a bit! There are now 8 globes of all sizes growing on the plant. That last picture is a macro picture of the smallest tomato on the plant (about the size of a small pearl).