Posts Tagged "grilling"

Mushroom and Onion Quesadillas…

Posted by Mal on Jul 31, 2011 in All Recipes | 0 comments

Is it weird that I can watch Trauma:Life in the ER on the Discovery Channel while stuffing my face  daintily eating my dinner/breakfast? 

The show is seriously addicting and for some reason it makes me giggle – I know, I know the situations are horrific, however the hospital staffs are great.  The other day a dude came in who had shot himself and the doctor asked him if he had ever shot himself before.  REally?  Is that a question you have to ask?  Do people shoot themselves multiple times on a regular basis?  And live to tell about it???  Kelly or Carla, if you are reading this…some feedback please  

Maybe I like watching it because I generally only see the discharged part of the whole fiasco.  I set them up with the pain meds and antibiotics and send them home at 3am, however I have no clue what happened before hand.  And I get curiouis.  Very curious.  This show helps cease the curiosity.  Or at least gives my imagination fuel…

All in all, its a good show…for the strong stomached that is

So, what was I scarfing picking at while glued to the tube?  A quesadilla of course…

Not just any quesadilla though…this one was stuffed with mushrooms, red onion, roasted red pepper, and goat cheese.  I have been stuck in a mushroom and onion state of mind lately.  It has been delicious!  And you haven’t lived until you have tried the trio of goat cheese, mushrooms and onions…wowza!

I tried making these with a healther whole wheat version of a tortilla…though good, it didn’t have the texture I was hoping for.  It never got exactly crispy/flaky like a quesadilla should be.  Also, I used my George Forman fat grilling machine to make mine…it provided a nonstick surface, no flipping required, and well all my skillets were dirty….

Lets get to it!

Here is basically everything you will need to assemble your quesadilla…From the left…monteray jack cheese, sauteed mushrooms and onions, goat cheese, tortilla, roasted red pepper, oh and a bit of butter  

Butter one side of the tortilla…the side that will go face down on the hot surface. 

Layer on the ingredients on half of the tortilla…

Fold it on over …

And after a few minutes with George…it looks something like this…

Cheesy, crispy, savory…glorious.

Slice into wedges, enjoy!

 Mushroom and Onion Quesadillas

 Serves 2, maybe 3.

Ingredients

2 Flour Tortilla

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Red Onion – thinly sliced

10 ounces Mushrooms – sliced

3 ounces Goat Cheese

1/2 Cup Monteray Jack Cheese – shredded

1 Roasted Red Bell Pepper – sliced

Extra Butter, for tortillas

Directions

Prepare vegetables.  Preheat broiler, and place red bell pepper on a sheet pan and place under the boiler.  Broil until skin blackens, turning every so often.  About 10 minutes or so.  Once sufficiently blackened, remove from oven and let cool (cool enough to handle).  Remove skin and cut into thin slices. 

In a medium skillet over medium – high heat, place 1 Tablespoon butter, mushrooms, and red onion.  Cook until tender and slightly browned, stirring occasionally.  About 10 minutes. 

Assemble quesadillas.  Lightly butter one side of tortilla.  Place buttered side down and on one half of tortilla sprinkle monteray jack cheese, roasted red bell peppers slices, and mushrooms and onions.  Dot evenly with goat cheese.  Fold tortilla in half and place in skillet/George Forman Grill and grill until browned on both sides.  Just a few minutes.

Remove from heat source and with sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into wedges.  Enjoy! 

Tips:  The filling for these quesadillas can be increased or decreased to feed any quantity of people.  Do not stuff these too full, stuff falls out!

Grilled Pizza

Posted by Mal on Jul 17, 2011 in All Recipes | 0 comments

If you could only top your pizza with only three items, what would they be?  Cheese is already included, of course. 

Quick, don’t think about it…You shouldn’t have to think about it.  It should come as quickly to your mind as your phone number, address, and favorite ice cream flavor. 

Mine would be mushrooms, onions, and pepperoni.  Oh sweet heaven!  And favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate, if you were wondering.

I love pizza.  I enjoy my pizza cut into squares, not slices.  I prefer thin crust to thick and doughy.  I like a red sauce, not white – they have their place, but not on my pizza.  I think Friday’s dinner should always be pizza.  Cold pizza is my breakfast of champions.  I like pizza parlors and delivery is heaven sent on a snowy winter night.  Homemade pizza tastes best.  I have given pizza a lot of thought!

I was craving pizza and it just happened to be Friday – love how that happens!  OK, so my pizza craving may have started mid-week and the waiting until Friday (aka, Mallory’s National Pizza Day)  may have been premeditated…but the only thing that matters is that pizza was made and my craving satisfied. 

With it being July and comfortably warm and breezy, I have turned my a/c off and opened the windows to let in some fresh air.  Therefore, on Friday I had no desire to turn on my oven and grossly heat up the house.  So I turned to my beloved grill.  Grilled pizza is awesome!

Grilling pizza will test your abilities in heat/flame management on the grill, but if I can do it – you can!  You just can’t take your eye off of the task at hand.  Have all sauces, toppings, utensils, a.k.a. everything one will need, ready to go and within reach.  Make sure toppings are able to be heated through quickly and do not need much cook time once on the pizza. 

So are you ready for a pizza night?  Let’s roll…literally.

Sprinkle yeast over warm water…not hot, but warmer than luke warm.  Vague enough? 

And…voila!   Not really, well kinda.  The mixing bowl contained flour and salt, to which I added some olive oil and mixed to combine.  Then, with bread hook attached and mixer on low speed, the yeasty water was slowly added to the bowl and mixed until … well, voila!

Form it into a nice, roundish ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.  I made my dough 3 days before I made my pizza…see, premeditated.

Roll – correct term is pulling, but tearing seems appropriate if you aren’t careful!  Divide dough into 4 equal balls and turn them out onto a lightly floured surface.   If you are using the oven, you can divide into 2 balls if using large sheet pans, but smaller pizzas are easier to manage on the grill.  Pull them out to an even and desired thickness.  

Brush olive oil on side 1 and place side 1 down onto a clean, preheated, greased grill.  Brush oil on side 2 now.

When side 1 is done, give it a flip. 

Top it. 

Tip:  I turned the heat to low and closed the lid – creating an oven atmosphere.  I eventually turned the flame off to prevent burnt crust, but allowing the cheese to melt.  Just work with your grill, no right or wrong way here.  This only took a few minutes!

Cut into squares and enjoy! 

Grilled Pizza

Dough will make 2 medium to large pizzas, serving 6 or so.

I cut the dough recipe in half and it could have easily served 4.

I topped mine with caramelized onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, and fresh mozzarella.  Make it your own!

Ingredients 

• 4 Cups All-Purpose Flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 + 1/2 Cups Warm Water
• 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (if you are cutting the recipe in half, the volume of this would be 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons), plus extra for grilling.
• Tomato Sauce
• Toppings of your choice
• 1 grill
• Pam Grilling Spray (optional) – makes life easier!

Directions

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of yeast over warm (warmer than lukewarm) water.  Set aside.

In a mixer, combine the flour and salt.  With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle in the 1/3 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil until combined – you can use the bread hook or paddle attachment for this.

Attach bread hook to mixer and turn on low and slowly add the yeasty warm water.  Mix until a ball forms.  Remove from mixing bowl and shape into a nice round ball. 

Lightly coat a medium sized bowl with olive oil and place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in refrigerator until ready to use.  It can remain in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. 

When you are ready to make your pizza,  prepare your toppings first.  I thinly sliced a red onion and cooked it over medium heat in 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter until they became translucent (about 10 minutes) and then added 2 portabella mushrooms – roughly chopped.  I continued to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes until they were tender and slightly caramelized.  I also sliced pepperoni and fresh mozzarella and had my tomato sauce ready to go. 

Clean and preheat your grill.  If you are going to use Pam Grilling Spray, make sure to apply to grill before you turn it on!

Remove dough from refrigerator and divide dough into at least 4 evenly pieces (2 if recipe is halved).  Dust work surface with flour.  Either using a rolling pin or your fingers, stretch dough out evenly into the shape of your liking.  Using the tips of your fingers to finish.  It will be thin, be careful. 

Brush side one with olive oil and place oiled side down on preheated grill over medium – low flame.  Brush side 2 with oil.  Grill for 2 to 3 minutes on side one, checking every 30 to 45 seconds to maintain appropriate heat/flame.  Once golden brown, flip.

 Once flipped, add toppings quickly and continue to cook.  At this time, you may want to turn the flame to low and close lid, letting the cheese melt.  Checking every minute or so.  Once the crust is golden brown on the bottom, you can turn the grill off, shut the lid, and let the captured heat continue to melt the cheese and heat the toppings.  Once crust is a golden brown on bottom, toppings are heated through, and cheese is melty, remove from grill.  Cut into squares and enjoy!  Phew…

Oh and hey, look at my flowers…I may or may not have taken my eye off the grill to take this photo

Spicy Turkey Burgers

Posted by Mal on Jun 7, 2011 in All Recipes | 0 comments

How many blueberries can one eat before they turn blue?  Didn’t that happen to one of the girls on Willy Wonka?  Yep… Not sure why she turned blue, but I think I am headed for the same fate.  I can’t resist them when I go shopping, buying 2 to 3 pints at a time.  Ah well, blue may be better than the pale thing I have going on right now.  Sorry, no picture of blueberries, I ate them too fast. 

*Begin with this brainy looking mess*

Switching gears.  These burgers almost didn’t make it on the grill.  Why?  Because I walked out of the grocery without ground turkey and had to stop the Jeep, re-park, run back in, and get another weird look from cashier, before I could head for home.  Mind you, this was all done post-workout – aka, sweaty as a pig, so the weird look could have been from my appearance or re-appearance, who knows. 

*Then you add everything and anything*

Once me and the turkey made it home together, I was starving!  So I heated up the grill and whipped up some tasty burgers.  I threw in a little of this and a pinch of that.  This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a guide.  It can be altered to your liking.  Wanna use garlic powder, or maybe cumin, or a jalapeno, or what about some feta or goat cheese – all great ideas!  Use whatever you have in your fridge and pantry that will make you happy.   This time around I used crushed red pepper, black pepper, salt, stir – fry sauce (main ingredient is soy sauce), 1/2 sweet onion, 1 garlic clove, and I bound it all together with bread crumbs ( I couldn’t locate my bread crumbs, so instead I used instant oatmeal – worked like a charm!) and an egg. 

*Divide and conquer (make the patties)*

Don’t know about you, but I sometimes get more excited about the burger toppings than the actual meat.  One of my favorites, which I was a little hesitant to try at first, is a fried egg.  Give it a try, you won’t be sorry!  Opting out of the fried egg (not a talent I posses) I instead piled high romaine lettuce, a thin slice of tomato, and a little red onion.  To this I added some Swiss cheese, mayo, and ketchup.  Avocado slices would have been good too.   Good thing summer is just beginning!

Ingredients

Makes 4 burgers

• 1 Lb Ground Turkey
• 1 egg
• 1/4 Cup bread crumbs (remember, instant oatmeal works too!)
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper ( if you don’t like heat, then by all means, leave out)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon Stir-fry sauce/soy sauce
• 1/2 Sweet onion, finely diced
• 1 Garlic clove, minced

 Directions

1. Heat grill. 
2. In a medium sized bowl, add all ingredients and mix together with wooden spoon or your hands. 
3. Form into 4 equal sized patties (about 1/4 lb each). 
4. Place on grill over medium heat and cook, flipping once, until internal heat reaches 165°F (no longer pink in the center).
5. Remove from grill and let rest for a few minutes. 
6. Build your sandwich and enjoy!