Month: November 2015

Twice Baked Candied Sweet Potatoes!

Instead of another potato casserole on your Thanksgiving table, try these adorable twice baked potatoes. With all of the sweetness of your favorite candied potatoes, these potatoes are sooooo delicious! Top each one with marshmallows, pom arils, cherries, pecans….or any combination! Do you have a guest who doesn’t like pecans? Give him/her a special potato with double marshmallows!

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Here is the recipe–>

Twice Baked Candied Sweet Potatoes
(makes 4 potatoes)

Ingredients:
4 Whole sweet potatoes, scrubbed
2 tbsp. melted butter + 4 thin pats butter
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 cup brown sugar + a little to sprinkle on top
1/4 cup dark/maraschino cherries or I used pomegranate arils
1/4 cup marshmallows
Optional Pecans for topping

Directions:

Bake whole sweet potatoes at 375 degrees for 1-1/2 hours until softened.

Slice the top of the potatoes and scoop out potato.

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Put all potato in a large mixing bowl and add melted butter, cinnamon, cloves, and brown sugar.

Spoon potato mixture back into skins.

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Top with butter pat, sprinkle brown sugar, and add toppings- cherries, pomegranate arils, marshmallows, pecans.

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Bake another 15-18 minutes until marshmallows start to brown.

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Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ciao!

Potato Soup!

I am convinced that sometimes we want things only because we can’t have them! I made this creamy and delicious soup last week for Meatless Monday, and all I could think about was adding bacon. Crispy delicious totally crunchy bacon bits were on my mind. Hearty, creamy, and full of your favorite vegetables, this soup is a meal! Think loaded baked potato and add some fun toppings like chives, shredded cheese, sour cream, even chili. Serve with your favorite crusty bread and Enjoy!

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Potato Soup
makes approx. 2 quarts

Ingredients:
4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, chopped
5 celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups water
4 cups vegetable stock
4 tbsp. Butter, sliced into tbsp.
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
6 tbsp. Flour
1 cup heavy cream
Salt/pepper to taste
(Optional- 1/2 lb. bacon/pancetta, finely chopped and cooked until crunchy)

Directions:
In a large stock pot, add potatoes, carrots, and celery. Fill 4 cups water or to top of vegetables and heat.
Cook in water until tender.
Remove vegetables and set aside.
Add onion and butter to pot and cook until the onions are translucent, add stock.
Stir in flour and Parmesan cheese.
Add heavy cream, little by little, while stirring.
Bring to a boil to thicken, and add vegetables.
Add more vegetable stock until desired consistency.
Salt/pepper to taste

Top with bacon, shredded cheese, any of your favorite baked potato topping would be delicious!
Enjoy!
Ciao!

Party of Five: Montana’s Rib & Chop House!

“We are fortunate to have been in Pennsylvania since November 9, 2009” – Montana’s Rib & Chop House

No, Montana’s, we are fortunate to have you!  With two booming locations in Pennsylvania, Charlie Bish decided to open a third in Southpointe’s Town Center block. The Pittsburgh suburb’s business district needed a great steakhouse and Montana’s Rib & Chop House is the perfect addition!

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The location has a casual feel with a huge bar area surrounded by big booth seating.  The main dining room is a large open room with white tableclothed tables , and the best seating in the house are the private rooms down the back hallway. Perfect for a private party or business meeting, these rooms provide privacy as well as a comfortable atmosphere.  There is a $300 food minimum for private room booking, but that is easy to do with a party of five or six and wine! If you are like me, you will want to order everything on the menu, and Montana’s is one place you will want to leave lots of room for dessert!!

OK, let’s start at the very beginning..appetizers.

Most popular! Fried Green tomatoes with blue cheese, lump crab meat, and a balsamic reduction. I can totally see why it is the most popular app, majorly delish a  must try!
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Calamari- deep fried calamari.  The star of this dish was the garlic aioli.  I love a smooth garlic aioli!!
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Soup course!  Montana’s Gumbo, offered everyday, a delicious chunky gumbo with both chicken and sausage! I don’t know why, but I thought it was strange that the Midwestern steakhouse’s soup was gumbo?? It might be odd, but I could not stop eating it!
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After a traditional house salad was the steak and rib course…All steaks are served on a 400 degree plate with butter. I kept saying everything reminded me of Ruth Chris (My favorite of the age old Morton’s- Capital Grille- Ruth Chris debate.) We tasted the baseball cut top sirloin, the famous filet.  All were a perfect medium rare and soooo tender.
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The Babyback Ribs were incredible.  Just enough char with a light BBQ glaze.  Just how I like them!
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Lamb Chops- Delciious! Sometimes I like to order out the few things I don’t make often at home.  This is your dish! Totally yummy!
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And the Seafood Course…

Seared Ahi Tuna- I am a humungous seared ahi tuna fan.  However, the crust on this tuna is “blackened” spices and it is very peppery.  Too much for me.  Next time I will ask for no seasoning.  It was perfection and one of the most beautiful platings.
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Cedar Plank Salmon – Montana’s Cedar Plank Salmon comes in two preparations.  One being a traditional lemon and the other …wait for it….Jamaican brown sugar glaze! What?! This salmon was ridiculously good.  Cooked to perfection meaning a bit undercooked and was delivered on a flaming plank! My favorite seafood dish of the night!
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Shrimp – The shrimp were delicious.  I can’t wait to try them in the Jambalaya next time!
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The delciious and totally affordable sides, which never ever is the case at a steakhouse, rocked.  Like spot on, carrot soufflé a take on the sweet potato version knocked our socks off.  Also, the garlic mushrooms and sausage stuffing were awesome additions!
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I needed a dolly to wheel me out and it was dessert time! We tried one of each! Not your typical steakhouse carrot cake bigger than our head, Montana’s desserts are exactly what I wanted after eating a heavy dinner.  Choices contained creamy, light, delicious bites.  Exactly what I needed for a little sweetness.

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Best Creme Brûlée ever!!  I know, huge statement.  Not kidding.
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Pecan Meltaway, Cheesecake, Ice-Cream Brownie Sandwich, Satin Pie, and Apple Cobbler all were amazing! Nothing will disappoint!

The house wines are delicious and affordable- good, but bad.  We were lucky enough to land a bottle of Mollydooker Enchanted Path.  A new favorite! They have their own shake. The Mollydooker shake! Montana’s Southpointe is hoping to do a wine dinner with Mollydooker soon!

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Montana’s Rib & Chop House blew all of us away. Yep our entire party of five and that never happens!

Ciao!

Montana’s Rib & Chop House Southpointe
1900 Main Street
Canonsburg, PA 15317
724-514-7153

Cheesy Roasted Cauliflower

Satiny, perfectly smooth cheese sauce is hard to replicate. The nature of cheese is to clump up when combined with other ingredients.

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I am lucky to work with a very talented professional chef on the cooking show Between The Eats. In our lobster mac and cheese episode, Chef David revealed his chef tip secret to the perfect cheese sauce.The secret is to coat the shredded /grated cheese in corn starch before adding it to the pan. It works like a charm every time!
Thank you Chef David from all of us! Our cheese sauces will never be clumpy again!

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Cheesy Roasted Cauliflower
Ingredients:
Cauliflower
1- head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
salt/pepper to taste

Cheese Sauce
2 cups heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar/guyere
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
1/4 cup corn starch

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Add cauliflower florets , olive oil, cumin, paprika, and salt/pepper to a ziploc bag.
Coat cauliflower.
Transfer to a cookie sheet, lay florets in a single layer.
Roast 15 minutes. Toss and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Continue checking every few minutes until cauliflower is softened but still crisp.

For the sauce, heat the cream, olive oil and garlic in a sauce pan on medium heat.
In a mixing bowl, toss cheese with cornstarch.
Add cheese a little at a time while whisking until smooth.
Top cauliflower and serve!

Enjoy!
Ciao!