3 Cheese Grilled Cheese

Ever get tired of the regular old yellow-cheddar grilled cheese sandwich? I know I do.  I have soo many different ways of spicing it up--add tomatoes, pesto, seasonings, etc.  But really a creative grilled cheese sandwich starts with the most basic ingredients: cheese and bread.  REALLY? In the words of Soup-Host Joel McHale, "Do you just commute to Oxford while you compete in Miss USA?!" Actually, yes, I commute to Oxford while carrying fancy cheese and bread under my arm.  Thank you for asking.

This grilled cheese recipe really takes the metaphorical cake: its bread is crunchy and soft simultaneously, and the mixture of three of my favorite cheeses--sharp cheddar, blue, and brie--make for a sandwich loaded with flavory, chewy layers.

A word on the delicious bread I call for in this recipe: the bread pictured here is not your average whole wheat, healthy, hearty, yummy bread, but rather a special loaf from Whole Foods called "Seeduction Bread."  Get it? SEEDuction? Or as my friend John refers to it, "Bird Seed Bread!" It's a bread loaded with seeds, and oh-so-mealt-in-your-mouth-amazing.  Michael introduced me to the loaf, and I will never go back. Trust me, you have to try it.  Seeduction retails for $4.50-ish and definitely worth the extra dollar or so.  Use Seeduction for this Clearly Delicious treat, or try it on some other sandwich.  You will definitely be impressed!

3 Cheese Grilled Cheese
Although I call for Seeduction Bread and a brie/blue/cheddar combination, feel free to mix-up this recipe as you see fit.  Really, any 3-cheese combo in a 1:1:1 ratio will work great here and so will any bread.  But...Seeduction just takes it to the next level.  THANK YOU Michael for showing me the light at the end of a loafy bready tunnel!


Ingredients:
* 2 slices Seeduction Bread
* 3 ounces cheese: 1 ounce brie, 1 ounce cheddar, 1 ounce blue

Special Equipment:
Foreman Grill

1.) First, pick out your favorite cheeses.  Mine are the blue-brie-cheddar combo pictured here.

2.) Then, pick out 2 slices of the amazing seeduction bread.

3.) Third, slice up your cheese accordingly and stack on the bread.

4.) Press together and grill on a Foreman Grill.

5.) Wait until both sides are golden brown and the cheese is all gooey...yum.  Plate and serve!

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Fusilli with Asparagus, Ricotta, and Parmesan

When my Uncle Doug came to visit this week, I wanted to make something that was both delicious and quick in preparation (Uncle Doug rolled in at 12:30, and I had gotten up at 9:00 and still needed to go to the store! Oy!).  Thus, I made a dish that was guaranteed to be tasty to everyone--pasta.  Not just pasta, richly flavored pasta with a homemade sauce made from ricotta cheese, Parmesan, asparagus, and spices.

This recipe, like many of my favorites, comes from Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes and can be found here.  I've made several adjustments to the recipe (the spice combination, pasta suggestion, etc. have all been adjusted according to my palette). Otherwise, the core recipe remains pretty much the same.  Uncle Doug liked the recipe ("very much"), which is a big deal given that he doesn't consider himself a pasta man!

Fusilli with Asparagus, Ricotta, and Parmesan
The below recipe originally calls for penne pasta.  Although I am a big fan of penne, I have discovered that fusilli often offers a certainly preparational edge over penne in the final product.  Unlike penne (a short, tube-like pasta), fusilli is the "swirly" pasta we often see at picnics and creates a natural grip on the sauce around it.  Essentially, fusilli holds tight to cheeses and sauces (they get stuck in its endless swirls), whereas penne often slips through sauces. 

Ingredients
* salt, for the water
* 1 1/4 pound thick asparagus, woody ends trimmed
* 1 lb penne, or fusilli pasta
* 2-3 cloves garlic, pressed, or chopped finely
* 15 oz ricotta cheese (about 1.86 cups)
* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
* Several dashes of Nutmeg

1.) Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add one tablespoon of oil to prevent the fusilli pasta from sticking, and feel free to add plenty of salt to the water.  Although salt is certainly not a cornerstone to a healthy diet (and can be nutritionally harmful in excess), the Italians believe that pasta water should taste like the consistency of seawater.  This technique gives pasta incredible flavor, and really adds to the body of a dish.
2.) Once water has come to a boil, add the asparagus and boil for 4-5 minutes.  Make sure to have an ice bath ready (I used a colander filled with ice), and when the asparagus is done, remove from water using tongs, and place on ice bath to stop the cooking process.  Reserve 1/4 cup asparagus water for the sauce.
3.) Bring water back to a boil and add pasta.  Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until pasta is "al dente" or "to the tooth" or "to the bite" in Italian. Essentially, the pasta should be firm to the bite, but not too soft that it is soggy or loses its structure when prepared in a dish.  Strain pasta and reserve 1 cup water (you may need this for the final sauce).
4.) While the pasta is cooking, crush 1-2 cloves of garlic and wipe down your prep bowl with it.  Measure out 15oz of ricotta cheese (1.86 cups, or about 1/2 of a standard 32 ounce container) and add to bowl.  Add olive oil, 1/2 of Parmesan, a crushed clove of garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and several dashes of nutmeg;  mix up sauce.  Continue to taste sauce until it has the right spice to it.  I can never really suggest the perfect amount of salt or pepper here because it really does depend on the person.  Additionally, you may wish to add other kitchen spices like Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, rosemary, etc. to the dish, so feel free to experiment with your seasonings.
5.) Add cooked pasta and mix with sauce to integrate.  If you feel the sauce is too clumpy, you can use some of your reserved pasta/asparagus water and smooth it out.  However, you don't have to add this water, it's merely a suggestion.  Continue to taste for flavoring (ricotta is a naturally bland cheese, so figuring out your favorite seasoning combination here is really what can make the dish your own (not to mention tastier!)). 
6.) Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top of the pasta as a garnish and enjoy!

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Homemade Pizza

I met the most interesting man last Friday night at the end-of-semester-EGSA party--his name is Samuel Welsh, and many people in the LSU music department know him as the very talented pianist Sam.  Well, Sam was interesting to say the least.  Not only did he amuse me with his crazy stories about getting his own doctoral degree in the Music Department, but he also is pretty cool to look at: stylish blonde hair, bad-ass glasses, and these really big muscles.  I like muscles.

Regardless, one conversation led into another conversation and Sam and I realized that we both had brindle dogs! This similarity seemed crazy to me until we realized that they couldn't be more different in breed and size: Sam's dog, Lucy (also known as Ms. Lady, Snarfleton, etc.), is a brindle Boston Terrier of roughly 25 pounds, whereas Eve is a brindle greyhound of about 65.5 pounds.  As an excuse to create a playdate of what would be great doggie-friends, Sam and I scheduled a get together/cooking lesson of sorts where I would teach him to make something he didn't know how to prepare.  Case in point: pizza.  Not just any pizza.  GRILLED pizza.  One of those delicious homemade specialties that make you wonder why you'd ever eat Domino's ever again.


Pizza a la Brigman
The below recipe is one that I have amalgamated over the years--it's a combination of anything I ever liked in other pizza recipes mashed together in a flavorful bash of goodness.  You can easily use a storebought dough here, but that really destroys the point of homemade pizza on the grill.  So, please see the easy and fast pizza dough recipe catalogued by Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes.  I will try to post my own version of this recipe in the future.  Until then, the below ingredients list is the most specific recommendation I can give you in terms of what to do right here.


* 1/2 Simply Recipe's pizza dough
* flour for rolling
* cornmeal for bottom crust (if cooking in oven)
* about 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
* salt and pepper, to taste
* 1-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
* Tony's Cachere's, to tase
* 1/2-1 cup tomato sauce (storebought is fine!)
* 1 cup-2 cups cheese (depending on how cheesy you like your pizza)
* 1/2 bell peppers, chopped (a combination of red, green, etc.)
* 1/4 cup onions, chopped (red or white will do)
* 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
* 4-8 anchovies, optional
* pesto, optional

1.) Prepare the dough by sprinkling a work surface with flour.  Divide dough recipe in half and use one half for the dough ball of this pizza.  (NOTE: the other half of the dough ball will keep pretty well in the refridgerator for a few days, but if in doubt, freeze it.  It should keep for up to 2-3 months and still taste fresh.)

2.) Begin rolling dough with an actual rolling pin.  The key to evenly/circular pizza is usually a combination of the rolling pin and one's hands, so make sure you have washed your hands when entering into this process! Also, the rolling pin technique works best for me in the same way you would prepare a pie dough crust: roll forward and back a few times, then flip the dough in another direction, roll forward and back.  Flip and repeat until the dough is properly stretched out and big enough for the recipe (about 12 inches in diameter).

3.) Now's the time to begin the stacking process.  As we add ingredients, you want the pizza to be stacked with different layers of flavor--oils, cheese, seasonings, toppings, sauce--but it's key that you're not too greedy here.  Since this recipe is built for a grill (but can be used on an oven), you'll need to make sure you don't OVERSTACK the dough as many Americans are want to do.  Let's continue....

4.) Poke the circular disc of dough with a fork evenly.  This technique allows the dough to breathe and not get giant bubbles during the cooking process.  Sprinkle 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil over the dough's surface, and smooth with a spoon.  Add tomato sauce and spread with spoon.  Season with Tony's, salt, pepper, italian seasoning, garlic, and several tablespoons of pesto (pesto is optional).

5.) Now, I suggest stacking the pizza in the following order: toppings first, then cheese.  This way, the cheese will melt on top of the topings and you will have a very cool effect: not only will you still be able to see the topings after the cooking process (like any normal pizza), but you will have created a sealant of sorts for structural stability between the cheese and dough.  So, add the the toppings like the ones listed above--mushrooms, peppers, onions, etc., and then the cheese (1-2 cups depending on preference).

6.) Place on heated grill that's been sprayed with non-stick spray.  If your grill has one of those temperature gages, heat up to 350-400F.  Place pizza directly on grill.  Now, this task is much harder than it seems! Since the dough is soft and floppy and now has all of these ingredients waying it down, putting the dough directly on the grill may be a crazy and unstructural process.  Thus, you'll probably need two people (one for each half of the dough.

7.) Once dough is placed on grill, close lid and let cook for 5 minutes.  Check to see if crust is cooked all the way through.  Depending on your grill and the accuracy of the temperature gage, this process can take as little as 5 and as much as 10 minutes.  You'll know the pizza is done when it is one, all melted together and delicious looking, two, the cheese has browned a little bit on top, and three, the crust is a golden brown or cooked thoroughly.

8.) Remove pizza from grill using a metal spatchula and let sit for a few minutes (this process, as many pizza lovers know, allows the pizza to solidify and help the cutting process).  Enjoy!