Chocolate Bell Pepper Chorizo Tostadas with Quail Egg

So far there are a lot of things I love about my new condo in San Diego, but the one thing that tops the list is my neighborhoods weekly farmers market, also known as the Little Italy Mercato! With more than 150 booths there is something for everyone, including many items I’ve never eaten before, much less cooked with… kind of like that escargot, but less scary!

This week I picked up some squash blossoms, chocolate bell peppers and quail eggs.  While I’ve eaten squash blossoms and quail eggs before, I’ve never cooked with them and I’d never even heard of a chocolate bell pepper until this weekend! So what exactly is a chocolate bell pepper? It’s simply a hybrid bell pepper that spends 75 days turning from a green pepper into a chocolate-brown pepper.  The taste is a little sweeter than a green bell pepper, but very slight.

Now comes the fun part, what am I going to make with these little “Mercato Treasures”? I went to my dungeon of happiness, also known as my refrigerator, to get some inspiration.  Staring at me in the face was my favorite Trader Joe’s item of all time, Soy Chorizo.  As my friend said at dinner that night “this is the first non-meat item I’ve eaten where I couldn’t tell the difference.”  I think it’s better than most traditional chorizo’s and definitely better for you!

So with my obvious obsession of TJ’s Soy Chorizo, I immediately decided to add that in to the mix. I also wanted to incorporate those quail eggs on top so I knew I had to create something that was “open”  i.e. not a taco, burrito etc.  So I was thinking pizza because where does my mind go at least 50% of the time… you guessed it, pizza!  But keeping with the Mexican theme, I decided to go with tostadas, they’re kind of like mini mexican pizzas after all!

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp avocado (or olive) oil
• 1 chocolate bell pepper (chopped)
• 1/2 onion (chopped)
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 12 oz soy (or traditional) chorizo sausage
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3 large flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup cotija cheese
• 9 fresh, local quail eggs
• 1/4 cup green onions (chopped)
• 2 squash blossoms (chiffonaded)

Start by heating up the avocado oil in a large skillet.  Add the bell pepper and onion. Sauté for 3-5 minutes, then add the garlic clove.

Next, add the chorizo, then top with the cumin and chili powder. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes to combine all the delicious flavors.

In the mean time, make your tostadas.  Pre-heat the oven to 350° and use a 3 inch circle pastry cutter to cut 3 tostadas from each tortilla.

Place the tortilla circles on to a baking stone and into the oven for 10 minutes or until nice and crispy.

Remove from the oven and top with the bell pepper chorizo mixture and the cotija cheese.

Next, top with the green onions and chiffonade (fancy word for cutting herbs into long, thin strips) of squash blossoms.

Finally, poke a hole in the side of the quail egg, then slice it open. Remove the top half of the shell, then transfer the yoke back and forth between the shell halves while discarding the egg white (like you would do with a chicken egg).

Quail eggs are safe to eat raw without worry of salmonella because a quails body temperature is higher than a chickens which makes them resistant to infections and kills any harmful bacteria. The reason I say “fresh, local” quail eggs is because you are eating them raw. Do you really want to eat something raw that you don’t know where it came from or when it was laid? I think not!

Eating quail eggs raw gives you all the amazing nutritional benefits of the egg, rich in good cholesterol with no bad cholesterol, more protein than a chicken egg and over 100% Vitamin B1, just to name a few. It also acts as a “sauce” when you pour it out over the dish.

And voila, my Little Italy Mercato creation has come together!

Knock that little egg over to cover the chorizo in the “yolk sauce” and dig in!

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.  Yay for soy chorizo!

♦ Gluten Free Option: Substitute corn tortillas for flour tortillas to make this a gluten-free meal.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Chopped Challenge Thursday: Lemon Curd, Bacon, Sage and Escargot

I am BEYOND excited to share with you all the results of my first “Chopped Challenge Thursday”.  In case  you missed the 1 Year Anniversary post explaining the concept, on Monday I made an announcement on Little Leopard Book’s Facebook Page asking for the four “mystery” ingredients for my “Chopped Challenge Basket” this week.

The first four responses came from Cindi Bogue with Lemon Curd, Kyle Baker with Bacon, Brian Spracklen with Sage and Krista Lombardi with Escargot. Lemon Curd, Bacon, Sage, I can make something happen with this… ESCARGOT, what the heck am I going to do with escargot? Thanks to Krista for throwing a curve ball at me on week one!  Although it wouldn’t be called a “challenge” if it were easy!

I knew I wanted to make the lemon curd and sage into a sauce. First thing I thought of was bacon wrapped scallops with a lemon sage reduction, but then Krista threw the escargot at me and my plans changed.  This change actually led to the development of an amazing lemon sage alfredo sauce. The only way I knew to cook escargot was with some garlic and wine so I thought, let’s go pasta here!

I wanted to use a large noodle to hold up the thickness of the alfredo and meatiness of the bacon wrapped scallops and escargot, so I chose Pappardelle, a broader, larger fettuccine egg noodle.

So the final result of “Chopped Challenge Thursday” Week One: Pappardelle tossed in Lemon Sage Alfredo topped with Seared Bacon Wrapped Scallops and White Wine Garlic Escargot

Ingredients

White Wine Garlic Escargot

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 7 0z can escargot

Lemon Sage Alfredo Sauce and Pasta

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 lemons (juiced)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp lemon curd
• 1 tbsp fresh sage (chopped)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese (grated)
• 8 oz package pappardelle

Bacon Wrapped Scallops

• 4 slices bacon
• 4 fresh large sea scallops
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp butter

We’re going to start with the escargot. I mean why not?  Who doesn’t just love themselves a little afternoon snail on top of their pasta

I will admit that prior to this meal I had never cooked, nor eaten escargot and that I was much more concerned about the actual eating part than the cooking part!

I opened them up and surprisingly they looked and smelled so much more appetizing than they sound…. NOT!  They are scary looking!

At this point, I feel like everything I’ve said above is going to come back and bite me in the butt some day when I end up on Food Network and they make fun of me for not being super excited to eat the delicacy that is escargot!

Any who, I drained the little buggers using my strainer and then place them in a bowl full of cold water to rid them of the canned taste (because that’s really going to help the cause here!)

Yes, that is a hot pink plastic Wal-Mart bowl from college.  I feel like everything looks less scary in hot pink! I mean really, would you be scared of someone breaking into your house in a hot pink jumpsuit?  I think not!

As the snails squirmed over on the side I began their sauce bath by melting the butter in a large skillet, then adding the garlic.

Sauté the garlic for 2 minutes, then add the white wine, salt and pepper.

Allow the sauce to come to a light boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Next add the escargot.

Now, what do you do with the rest of the bottle of wine you ask?  Drink it while these guys are cooking so that you have the courage to eat them when they’re ready (at least that’s what I did!)

Alright, one chopped basket ingredient down, three to go. Lets make some sauce!

Start out the lemon sage alfredo by pouring the cream and lemon juice into a saucepan over medium heat, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the butter and allow to melt.

Once the butter has melted add in the lemon zest, nutmeg and lemon curd.

Lemon curd is VERY sweet, the first ingredient in lemon curd (also known as the dominate ingredient) is, none other than our friend sugar. I counterbalanced the sweetness with the sage and sea salt.

Next, add the sage, salt and pepper.

The sage was actually an amazing addition to the sauce. The savory, peppery flavor complimented the cheesy rich alfredo and balanced the sweetness of the lemon.  Thanks Brian

Finally, add the parmesan cheese. Stir to combine well and make sure no chunks of cheese exist.

Simmer on a burner for 15-20 minutes while the sauce thickens.  In the mean time, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pappardelle 10-12 minutes.

At this point, the escargot is simmering, sauce is thickening, pasta is boiling and I’m drinking the rest of the wine, oh wait, no I’m making bacon wrapped scallops!

Start by placing the bacon in a 375° oven for 5-10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the bacon and how crispy you would like it). I learned this trick somewhere, sometime, that I don’t recall, probably Food Network, but you place the bacon on a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet, that way the grease drips off the bacon instead of swimming around in it!

You want to cook the bacon slightly prior to wrapping it around the scallops because scallops cook much quicker than bacon and if you don’t pre-cook the bacon, you will end up with one of two things:

1. Overcooked scallops… $17.99/lb people, just saying, overcooking something that expensive and delicious should be a crime!
2. Undercooked bacon… no one likes soggy bacon, let’s be real!

So while the bacon is in the oven, lightly salt and pepper the scallops on each side.

Next, remove the bacon from the oven and wrap one slice around each scallop, securing with a toothpick.

Next, add the butter to a warm cast iron skillet and watch it melt. (OK, you don’t have to actually watch it melt, but it’s quick and exciting so why not!) As soon as it is melted spin that skillet around to allow the melted butter to cover the bottom. Add the scallops to the pan.

Cook for 5-7 minutes then use tongs to flip.

Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes. The scallops should be a nice white color with a light brown caramelization on top.

Chopped Basket Ingredients have been used, stove burners are full, kitchen smells amazing, I think it’s time to plate this baby up!

Are you ready?  Ready for what you ask?  To be bombarded with pictures!

This recipe was so fun to create, from the incoming Facebook comments with ingredients, to the recipe coming together in my mind, to the ingredients coming together in the kitchen, I am proud of this dish and took enough pictures to show it

I want to grab the scallop right off my computer screen and eat it!

For some reason I feel the need to write something between each picture, so we’ll just say YUM!

Lets check out the inside of that scallop.

Buttery, creamy, mouth-watering amazingness!

Now about that escargot…

Yeah, that’s them, sitting over there by their lonesome, tossed to the side, haunting me with their presence on my plate.

I have to eat them, right?  I mean I did spend $12 on a tiny can of them.  I have to try.. at least one… maybe half one.  Maybe if I wrap it in a noodle, top it with bacon and smother it with sauce I can bare it!

Yes, that was the first bite I was able to muster up the confidence to eat. A tiny little sliver of escargot, covered in my porky BFF, bacon.

It wasn’t that bad, the taste was salty and the texture reminded me of a portobello mushroom.

Although I will probably not put escargot on my weekly shopping list, it was a fun experience and I’m glad I can say I’ve both cooked and eaten the french delicacy!

Over all this dish was delicious.  I would eat the sauce, pasta and scallop combination pretty much every day!

If you’re feeling super adventurous in the kitchen, prepare this dish as is.  If you’re feeling a little less likely to want snails on your dinner, discard the escargot and enjoy the amazingness of the bacon wrapped scallops!

If you’re on a budget (or vegetarian), escargot and scallops may be a little out of your price range but never fear, the sauce in and of itself is so delicious it could be a meal on its own with the pappardelle!

♣ Vegetarian Option: See above ↑

♦ Gluten Free Option: Substitute the pappardelle with a gluten-free pasta such as corn spaghetti from Trader Joe’s. You can also order gluten-free pappardelle online or find it in specialty stores.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Deconstructed Mexican Street Corn

If you haven’t experienced Mexican Street Corn, you must not live in Southern California or New York City!  This delectable dish is typically served by a street vendor and combines sweet grilled corn with spicy cayenne pepper, creamy sour cream and rich parmesan cheese.

I served mine “deconstructed”, meaning off the cob and mixed with all the delicious ingredients that are usually smothered on top. This was an easier way to serve multiple people at the one year anniversary dinner for LLB.

After all, you never want someone to show up unannounced and be left without an ear of corn!  This version of the dish eliminates that problem.  A problem that I’m sure was keeping most of you up at night

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

• 5 ears of corn
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 limes (juiced)
• 1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro (chopped)

Start by pulling the husks off the kernels, yet keeping them attached to the cob for easier handling. Place the ears of corn on the grill over medium heat.

Rotate the corn on the grill 2-3 times while cooking for 15 minutes or until slightly charred. Remove from the grill and allow to cool slightly for easier handling.

Remove the kernels from the cobs using a sharp knife.

And the kernels to a saucepan over medium heat.

Add the sour cream, lime juice and cayenne pepper and mix well.

Heat for 5-7 minutes then place in a serving bowl and top with the parmesan cheese and fresh cilantro.

So much deliciousness packed in one little dish! I served mine on the side of Chipotle Lime Chicken Fajita Skewers and Grilled Pineapple Tomatillo Guacamole for a fresh and flavorful Mexican Meal!

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

It’s been a record-breaking 3 months since I posted a recipe involving one of my favorite ingredients, the almighty buffalo sauce… I would say it’s time for a reappearance!

Here for you today is the ultimate Buffalo Chicken Burger.

Combining all the amazing elements that we think of when daydreaming about the combination of buffalo sauce and chicken, from celery and carrots to blue cheese, this burger encompasses it all (and just in time for football season might I add!)

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground chicken (You can purchase already ground chicken in the grocery store or use 2 chicken breasts and grind them in the food processor like I did!)
• 1 celery stalk (finely chopped)
• 1 carrot stick (peeled and shredded)
• 1/2 red onion (finely chopped)
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup franks red-hot buffalo sauce
• 1/2 cup Mary’s Gone Crackers Gluten-Free Breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup blue cheese dressing
• 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 6 hamburger buns

Optional Toppings

• tomatoes (sliced)
• baby spinach
• red bell peppers (diced)
• green onions (diced)

Start by combining the ground chicken, celery, carrots, red onion and garlic in a large mixing bowl.

Next, add the egg, 1/4 cup buffalo sauce, bread crumbs, chili powder and paprika.

Form into 6 patties.

Next, place on the grill over medium heat for 8-10 minutes per side.

While the burgers are on the grill combine the additional 1/4 cup buffalo sauce with 1/4 cup blue cheese dressing.

Toast the buns, then spread the mixture onto each side of the bun.

Remove the burgers from the grill and place onto the bun.  Top with the blue cheese crumbles and any desired additional ingredients.

The burger is super flavorful and packs a bit of a punch while the blue cheese cools down the spiciness and adds a layer of creaminess.

I served these scrumptious burgers with Buffalo Potato Salad for the ultimate buffalo sauce filled dinner!

Buffalo Potato Wedges or Spicy Buffalo Macaroni Salad would also be perfect with this dish!

♣ Vegetarian Option: Substitute “veggie crumbles” for the ground chicken.

♦ Gluten Free Option: Use Mary’s gluten-free breadcrumbs as pictured above with gluten-free buns or go “bun-less” for a low carb option.

Nutmeg Cream Cheese Sopapillas

When I decided to serve Mexican food for the LLB one year anniversary dinner I knew I had to stick with this cuisine throughout the whole meal, including the dessert.  So instead of baking a one year anniversary cake, I went with one year anniversary nutmeg and cream cheese stuffed sopapillas complemented by a delicious side of homemade coffee ice cream.

The result was an entire house that smelled like cinnamon heaven and a sweet, creamy, delicious dessert!

Ingredients

• 2 8 oz packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 8 oz packages crescent rolls
• 3 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1/4 cup honey (not pictured/for topping)

Start by adding the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.

Use beaters to mix well. Roll out the Crescent roll dough and separate into the 4 perforated rectangles in each can using your fingers to press together the two triangles.

Next, spread each rectangle with the cream cheese mixture.

Fold over and press the edges together.

Melt the butter and brush on top of the sopapillas.

Next, combine the additional 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the sopapillas.

Place in the oven at 350° for 15-17 minutes. Enjoy that amazing cinnamon nutmeg smell that is now filling your entire house!

Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey.

Slice these babies open and get to that delicious creamy center!

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe for gluten-free crescent rolls can be substituted for traditional crescent rolls to make this a delicious gluten-free dessert.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.