Tag Archives: onion

Pita Pizzas with Arugula Salad

3 Mar

I just came back from a skiing holiday in Vermont with my little “nieces” Mariana and Natalia – they’re the daughters of my 2 best friends.

We stay at a slope-side apartment with a fully equipment kitchen.  We love to buy stuff for breakfasts, dinners, and the much needed après ski break.  Mariana and Natalia specially requested this time around for me to make them pizzas.  And my kind of pizzas is Pita Pizzas – especially because I was not going to “bake” any crust in an unknown kitchen.

This is what we came up with to satisfy the kids and adult tastes alike…

 pita-pizza-w-arugula-salad

PITA PIZZAS with ARUGULA SALAD

Serves 4

 

4 whole-grain pita breads – about 6″ in diameter
1 cup of your favorite jarred tomato sauce – you may not need as much but I did not measure the sauce after I already placed it on the pizzas.  You can also make your own… mixing crushed tomatoes and seasoning them with some garlic salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.
Shredded cheese – I like the Italian Blend type, but you can certainly go as fancy as you want … using fresh mozzarella, Fontina, gruyere, etc.
1 tomato, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin
About 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
Arugula Salad – click for recipe here

 

 

  1. Pre-heat oven or toaster oven to 400 F
  2. Take the pita bread and smear some tomato sauce leaving a ¼” border.  Not too much so they do not turn soggy.  
  3. Top each with pita a few slices of fresh tomatoes and onions.  Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and top with the Italian-blend shredded cheese mix.
  4. Place in oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese melts and turns a nice bubbly golden brown in sections.
  5. Top each pizza with a handful of arugula salad for a nice contrast of freshness and tang.
  6. Sprinkle with additional shaved parmesan cheese on top of salad.

 

Have to admit, the girls ate the pizzas on their own and left the salad to the side, but the adults loved it.

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Caramelized Onion Risotto

17 Sep

This is another one of my risotto recipes that starts with Archer Farms 4 cheese Risotto mix.  This is more of a sweet version of risotto, because it has caramelized onions and sweet peas.  It’s a different twist from the salty versions I usually make.

This was an experiment to use up some caramelized onions I had left in the fridge from my French Onion Soup and experiments with a French Onion Dip.

 

CARAMELIZED ONION RISOTTO

1 box of Archer Farms 4 cheese risotto mix
½ cup caramelized onions
2 oz of smoked veggie ham, cut into small pieces
3 roasted garlic cloves
2 oz of shredded gruyere cheese
1 cup of frozen sweet peas
¼ cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

 

  1. In a medium saucepan, prepare risotto mixture according to package directions.
  2. While the rice is cooking, in a separate skillet, brown the pieces of smoked veggie ham.  Set aside.
  3. When the risotto is halfway done and the rice is starting to plump we can start adding more stuff to it…  add the onions and the garlic and mix well.   Add the gruyere cheese and mix well to melt thoroughly.
  4. When the rice is about to be done, add the Parmesan cheese and the peas.   Turn the stove off and let the rice and sauce thicken with the remaining heat from the stove.
  5. After leaving the risotto stand for 15 minutes, serve sprinkling the pieces of smoked veggie ham on top. 
  6. Drizzle with a bit of good extra virgin olive oil to garnish too.

NOTE:  I added the veggie ham pieces into my rice and they went limp on me… so do as I say, not as I do and just keep them as a garnish on top.  They’ll stay crispy and you’ll enjoy them better.

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Curried Potatoes

15 Sep

You know I love potatoes…  and my mom bought a HUGE 20lbs bag of potatoes in COSTCO and she didn’t know what to do with so many potatoes.  She bought it to cook at the Yoga Center, but still they were a bit much.  So, I took home 4-5 potatoes even though I had bought red skinned potatoes the day before.  These were russet, so I had to do something with them…

I love curried potatoes, especially when my friend Millie makes them at the Yoga Center.  After a quick crash course on how she makes them, this is my version.  It’s a mild version of curry potatoes – milder than what you would find at any Indian restaurant.  But you get all the goodness from the potatoes, the color from the turmeric and the flavor from the curry.  Again, this is at your discretion, if you can handle a stronger curry taste –  go ahead and add more.  I won’t care, unless you invite me over.

This is simple and quick…

 

CURRIED POTATOES

2 large russet potatoes – peeled and cubed
1 large onion – sliced thin
1 clove of garlic – minced
2 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup of water – optional
A dash of white wine vinegar with tarragon
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

 

  1. Place the potatoes to boil in well salted water.  I salt the water as if I was making pasta – very generously.  This is the time to get flavor into the potatoes.  I usually do not cover the potatoes with water.  I find they cook faster if the water is ¾ of the way up the potatoes.
  2. Meanwhile in a separate saucepan under medium heat, add the butter, olive oil and onions.  After a few minutes, add the garlic. Sweat the onions and the garlic until they become soft.  Add the curry powder and the turmeric and stir well.  Add the vinegar and scrape off any stuck on bits in the bottom of the pan.  if the mix is too dry, add a bit of water.
  4. When the potatoes are cooked, but still hold their shape, drain them and return to the pot.  Add the curry/onion mixture and stir to combine.  Add a bit more vinegar if you need added moisture.
  5. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes or even 30 minutes to let the potatoes absorb the curry taste.

 

Serve as a side dish or even use them as a filling for tortillas… kind of like an Indian-flavored burrito.

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French Quesadilla

31 Aug

You know me… the Puerto Rican girl with a French fixation. 

After my French get-together, I had a lot of left-overs from the party.. . Gruyere cheese, lots of onions, bread…  I think I thought I was going to cook soup for a French Army or Navy 😉  So, I had to get creative in how I used up all of that without boring myself and that’s how the French Quesadilla came about.

This comes together really fast and has a nice flavor to it.  Perfect for a lunch or simple supper, it can even impress a date.

 

 

FRENCH QUESADILLA

1 whole-wheat flour tortilla
2 tbs caramelized onions – I’ll show you how to caramelize them, but you don’t need the whole batch for this – recipe follows
1 tbs sun-dried tomato jam
3 ounces of gruyere cheese, shredded
Canola oil spray

 

  1. In a large skillet sprayed with canola oil over medium- high heat, place the flour tortilla and heat up a bit, for about a minute.
  2. Place half of the cheese on the tortilla.  Fill half the tortilla with the onions and the other half with the sun-dried tomato jam.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Fold the tortilla, so you know have a ½ moon.
  3. Let the cheese melt on one side for about 2-3 minutes, then flip the quesadilla so the cheese on the over side can melt evenly too.

 

To caramelize onions:

1 medium onion, sliced thin
2 tbs butter
Drizzle olive oil
1 1/2 tbs white wine vinegar with tarragon
Salt and Pepper
  1. Follow the same procedure you might have used if you made my French Onion Soup.
  2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter with the drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. 
  3. Place the onions and stir to make sure they’re all covered.  Let the onions get soft for about 6-7 minutes, stirring them occasionally. 
  4. Lower the heat a bit and cover the pot.  Let them cook over low heat for about 30 minutes.  Stir them occasionally. 
  5. Almost at the end of the 30 minutes, add the salt, pepper and vinegar.  The vinegar will help you scrape anything that might have stuck to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. 

Allow to cool off and use in your favorite recipe…

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French Onion Soup

30 Jul

For our Les Francophones get-together I wanted to make a French Onion Soup…  for 2 reasons: 

  1. I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time now, and
  2. I’ve witnessed how my fellow Francophones ordered Onion Soup in every French restaurant we visited… so I wanted true onion soup lovers to try out my vegetarian version.

I took inspiration from the Barefoot Contessa book from Ina Garten.

 

FRENCH ONION SOUP with GRUYERE CROUTONS

6-7 medium yellow onions, sliced
4 tbs of butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 bay leaf
½ cup sherry vinegar
½ cup white balsamic vinegar
8 cups of Roasted Vegetable Stock
Kosher Salt
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1 whole wheat baguette
½ cup grated Gruyere cheese

 

  1. In the largest stock pot you have, sauté the onions, butter, olive oil and bay leaf for 20-30 minutes, until the onions are a nice light brown color.
  3. Deglaze the pot with the sherry and white balsamic vinegars and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
  4. Add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
  5. Remove the bay leaf and check to see if you need to adjust the seasonings.

 

You can make this soup before your guests arrive and it will keep warm for several hours.

Before serving the soup…

  1. Slice the baguette in ½” slices; drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and place a mound of grated gruyere cheese on top.
  2. Place in a 350° F oven until the croutons toast and the cheese melts and creates a nice brown crust.
  3. Serve the crouton dunked in the soup.

 

The veredict???  Les Francophones loved it.  It’s a sure-fire hit!!!  Bien sûr.

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