Stromboli Chop Bread

This is a particular specialty of my friend Melissa's, and we have enjoyed it together many times during our three years together in Rochester. Sadly, she's moving to Texas, so I thought I would gather the recipe to carry on the flame of Stromboli Chop Bread.

Stromboli Chop Bread

1 loaf's worth bread dough; Melissa uses frozen, thawed, about 6 hrs
1 t oregano (not ground)
1 c shredded mozzarella
1/4 lb hard salami, cut thickly
3 cloves garlic

Preheat oven to 350 F. Chop up all the ingredients aside from the dough and mix together. Punch down dough, spread it out, and put the other ingredients upon it. Fold it up into a little closed purse. Chop loaf in thick strips one way, and then again on the perpendicular axis. Move the clump of dough to a greased baking sheet (or, I imagine, a sheet with parchment paper). Adjust its form as necessary. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Soba with Smoked Salmon

A dish representative of my healthy-eating quest. I like smoked salmon, but this time I got a different variety which was a little too fishy for me. But I really liked the soba, especially with the pea shoots, and I'd like to eat this again with normal smoked salmon. The earthiness of the buckwheat with the smoke of the fish, the fresh crunch of the sprouts, and the sweet spiciness of the dressing is really quite nice. This recipe is from The Every Day Chinese Cookbook editted by Linda Doeser. The picture of soba is, in fact, the brand I used.

Soba with Smoked Salmon

8 oz soba (buckwheat noodles)
1 T oyster sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 T light olive oil
4 oz smoked salmon, cut in strips
4 oz young pea sprouts
2 ripe roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, cut into strips
salt, pepper, chives

Cook soba, it shouldn't take long. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain. Season them with oyster sauce, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Add salmon, sprouts, tomatoes, chives. Serve.

Chicken Riggies!

This is a specialty of Utica, NY. A few friends and I had a small dinner party a few days ago and Josh, who is from Utica, made this for us. It may have been how he made it and perhaps I couldn't reproduce how delicious it tasted to me that night, but I sure enjoyed it. The name is silly, as often names of regional dishes are; "riggies" comes from the use of rigatoni.

Chicken Riggies

1 pound rigatoni
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken meat; half white and half dark
black pepper
6 T extra-virgin olive oil, in total
1 large onion, chopped
7-8 cloves garlic, finely chopped, in total
2 large cubanelle peppers, seeded, chopped
3 roasted red peppers, chopped
6 pickled hot cherry peppers, seeded
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
about 1/2 c cream
1/2 c grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Cook pasta al dente. Reserve 1 c of the cooking water. Cut chicken to bite size pieces, season with salt and pepper. Heat 3 T oil in a large skillet over med high to high heat. Add chicken; brown 7-8 minutes, remove. Add onions, about half the garlic, and cubanelle peppers; season with salt and pepper and cook 6-7 minutes to soften. Add roasted red peppers and cherry peppers. Stir in tomatoes and chicken. Simmer sauce and add about a cup of the pasta cooking water and up to half a cup of cream. Bring heat to low and simmer for a few minutes. Stir in cheese and pasta.

Flan

1 1/2 c sugar
1 t water

Over medium heat, stir sugar till hot. Add water, keep stirring, and break up any lumps. When sugar is liquid amber, pour in a custard dish. Coat the dish.

1/4 c sugar
8 eggs
1 t vanilla
12 oz sweetened condensed milk
12 oz whole milk
14 oz evaporated milk

Beat eggs. Mix in sugar, vanilla, and milks. Bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours in the custard dish, set in water, at 350. Cool and unmold.

Mom's Stovetop Rice Pudding

1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
1/8 t salt
2 c milk (part condensed)
2 beaten eggs
1 c cooked white rice
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon

Cook and stir over medium heat for 15 minutes. Reduce heat and cover. Stir occasionally. Cook 8-10 minutes. Add eggs slowly; cook and stir 2 minutes. Add rice. Remove from heat; add vanilla and cinnamon

Marshmallow Treats

Yes, Mom's are better.

7 T butter
16 oz big marshmallows
9 c crispy rice cereal

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in cereal. Press into a buttered dish-- but do not press very hard. Cut in squares. I like these with chopped dried apricots added, and even slivered almonds.

Thanksgiving Cranberry Jell-O

I only trust Jell-O when mom makes it. I can't even touch it if a non-nuclear-family member makes it. But for all that, I do love the handful of things Mom does with Jell-O, especially this Thanksgiving standard.

6 oz raspberry Jell-O
2 c water
1 cans whole cranberry sauce
1 c sour cream
1 c chopped pecans

Swirl in sour cream when the rest is partially set.