Grilled Hawaiian Flatbread Pizza

One of my favorite types of pizza is Hawaiian. Unfortunately for me, most people, including my best customer (my wife) look at me like I have 6 heads when I talk about pineapple on pizza. During the summer I love making pizzas on the grill with store bought naan flatbread. This gives me the chance to try out different concepts because the naan comes in packages of 2.

Ingredients
Whole Wheat Naan Bread
Sliced Pineapple
Tomato Sauce
1 Quarter Inch Thick Slice of Deli Ham
Chopped Grilled Chicken Breast
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

As you can see, I've grilled both sides of each slice of pineapple

I put the sliced chicken, ham and pineapple in a pan to help get a good melding of the savory spices on the meats and the sweetness of the pineapple. I also added a little bit of bbq sauce to the mixture to make the flavors a bit more bold. When dressing the pizza, I added some leftover pineapple juice to the tomato sauce to thin out the sauce and make it a bit more thin. I grilled the naan on both sides, covered with toppings and grilled it for about 10 minutes on medium heat. I finished things up by putting the pizza under the broiler to melt the cheese. 

This pizza was delicious, and even my skeptical about pineapple on pizza wife enjoyed it!

Fresh from the Fellsway Garden!

We've got fresh zucchini so enormous they could make a BIG STEAK jealous!

Grilled Cuban Sandwiches

Grilled Cuban Sandwiches

It’s been quite a while, but Fellsway Food Treats is back online, and I’m sorry to have kept Chris Kennedy waiting.

I really love Cuban sandwiches. Nothing beats slightly sweet roast pork mixed with a sour pickle, melted cheese and a warm crunchy and soft pressed roll.

I don’t have an exact recipe for this one, but it’s not too complicated.

The basic ingredients are as follows

Pork Tenderloin

Sliced Deli Ham

Provolone Cheese

French Bread

Sandwich Sliced Pickles

Mustard (I almost puked when I wrote that. I hate mustard and prefer mayo on my Cubans, but out of respect for my tropical Comrads, I’ll stick to the traditional ingredients.

I prepared the Pork Tenderloin by rubbing it with a mixture of chopped garlic, pretty much every condiment we had in our cabinet and a small amount of olive oil.

I preheated the grill to about 500 degrees and grilled the tenderloin for about 5 minutes on each side until the internal temp reached about 155. Then I wrapped it in foil and let it set for 10 minutes.

Grill marks like you read about…. 

Here you can see my workstation I’ve got condiments and various accoutrements on every flat surface on the porch.

After giving the tenderloin some time to rest, I sliced it up with my electric knife and put it in the cast iron pan to keep it warm and crisp it up a bit more.

After grilling each piece of bread, I assemble the sandwiches butter the outsides of the bread and put the sandwiches on the grill and use a foil-covered brick to provide some weight and press down each sandwich.

Here is the delicious final product!

Spinach & Bacon Puff Pastries with Sun Dried Tomato Aioli

After a day of helping our friends move into their new house, Michele and I invited everyone to our house for a party. The plan was to keep things simple. We'd buy some beer, order some take-out and take it easy. Despite moving for 5-6 hours, I couldn't let the opportunity to cook for guests (and create a new blog entry) go to waste. I cruised around Pinterest for a bit on Saturday morning, and came up with these. Enjoy!

Spinach Puffs
2 10oz Packages of Frozen Spinach, thawed
6 Strips of Bacon, cooked and chopped
8oz Softened Cream Cheese
1 Package Store Bought Puff Pastry Dough
1 Egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook bacon strips and set aside. Drain spinach very well. I squeezed the liquid out through a kitchen towel. I was going to use cheesecloth, but Michele told me that it was unnecessary and that I should just use a towel. Combine drained spinach, bacon and cream cheese in a large bowl.

Unfold pastry dough onto lightly floured surface. Cut pastry dough into 3 x 1.5 inch rectangles. Place a marble sized amount of spinach mixture on one half of each piece of dough. Fold dough in half, pressing down all sides making what looks like a ravioli. Fold corners under and place corner side down on a pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place pastries on the paper with some space between each one. Crimp the pastries on exposed edges. Brush the top of each pastry with egg wash. Bake at 400 degrees until pastries are golden brown.

Sun Dried Tomato Aioli
1/4 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
3/4 Cup Mayonnaise
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Serve with spinach puffs.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I tried Buffalo Chicken Dip for the first time on February 3rd, 2008. I had just moved to Boston, and was at a Super Bowl party with one of my new roommates. The night didn't end well, so I've blocked out most of those memories. One thing I did remember, however, was that I tried the bold flavor explosion that is Buffalo Chicken Dip.

Months later, my then girlfriend, now beautiful wife gave me a Crock-Pot for Christmas. Soon after I made Buffalo Chicken Dip for the first time. I looked up a few online recipes, bought the ingredients and got to work. My Buf Chx dip has been the star of parties, family events, Fall Meat Night 2011, and was the inspiration for Gupta Media's monthly Dip Day celebration.

Whenever I'm asked for the recipe, I say "I've never made it the same way twice." which is true, but there is a general formula. Here it is:

5-6 Boneless Chicken Breasts

23 oz Bottle of Frank's Red Hot
16 oz Sour Cream

16 oz Cream Cheese 

2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

4 oz Crumbled Blue Cheese (Michele doesn't like Blue Cheese, but once it's melted it's not as noticeable, but definitely kicks up the boldness of the flavors)

Place chicken breasts in Crock-Pot with 1/2 cup of Franks Red Hot and cook on low 4 hours. Remove chicken breasts and allow them to cool a bit. Pull chicken apart and return to the Crock-Pot. Turn Crock-Pot to high and cook for 20 minutes. 

 

Add remaining ingredients and stir. If you'd like, add smaller portions of certain ingredients, save the rest , and then add more to suit your taste. Cook on low for an additional hour or 2, then set Crock-Pot to warm setting until guests are ready to enjoy!

Chef's notes

 - Preparing the Buffalo Chicken Dip as I have above, takes about 5 hours. If you're short on time, you can prepare in about an hour or less. Cook the chicken breasts in a pan, then pull apart with forks (DON'T CHOP!!!). Place all ingredients into the Crock-Pot and heat until melted.

- You can dip anything into this dip. I've seen people dip many things into this dish including tortilla chips, potato chips, pita chips even italian sausage! The absolute BEST thing to dip in BCD is a Fritos Scoops corn chip. If anyone says different... they're wrong. 

Chicken Meatball Patty Sandwiches

This recipe was inspired by Jeff Mauro, the Sandwich King's Fried Meatball Sandwich. I, like Jeff, think that traditional meatball sub sandwiches provide inconsistent bites. I also wanted to try a more lean version while keeping bold meatball flavors.

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan
1 egg
2 cups spinach
4 cloves garlic
1 large ball of fresh mozzarella
1 large loaf ciabatta bread
1 cup tomato sauce

Saute spinach with garlic and olive oil, set aside. Combine chicken, bread crumbs, parmesan,  egg in a bowl and combine. Create 4 equal sized patties

Brown each patty in a saute pan, 4 minutes per side. Place patties in oven safe dish with tomato sauce in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Slice ciabatta bread to match the number of patties, and then slice each piece in half. Spread spinach on bottom half of each sandwich. Distribute mozzarella slices evenly among top pieces. Place on baking tray in oven for 5 minutes.

Remove tray from oven, place chicken patties on each spinach covered half. Set oven to broil, place tray back in the oven until cheese bubbles.

Assemble sandwiches, cut diagonally. Enjoy!

Oreo Brownie Cookie Dessert Squares

My sister in-law Liz absolutely LOVES warm dessert, so I created this amazingly rich treat for her birthday. I got this recipe from our friend Molly and it came out great.

Here is the recipe:

Store bought brownie mix prepared as directed

Packaged cookie dough

Package Double Stuffed Oreos

Spread cookie dough on a greased baking pan. Distribute the Oreos over the cookie dough, then add the brownie mix on top of that.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for 20 minutes until the center of the brownie is fully cooked.

Slice into squares and serve with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Braised Short Rib Tacos with Spicy Corn Lime Salsa

This is the first meal I've made with the blog in mind. Hopefully my recipe writing and photo taking skills will improve over time. This dish was inspired by two different Food Network recipes for short rib tacos. This was my first attempt at short ribs, and they came out great! I can't wait try some new variations.

3lbs short ribs

3 carrots cut into 2 inch pieces

5 stalks celery cut into 2 inch pieces

½ yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ¾ cups red wine

8oz ketchup

salt, pepper, olive oil

Heat olive oil in a deep pot, add vegetables and cook until onions are translucent, roughly 5 minutes, add liquid ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Heat olive oil in pan on high, add half of short ribs and sear each side for 4 minutes per side.  Transfer seared short ribs into a dutch oven, cover with vegetable mixture and braise for 3.5 hours at 300. Remove short ribs, pull meat apart and discard fat and bones.

Salsa

1 ½ cups frozen kernel corn

½ yellow onion, finely diced

1 jalapeno, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 zucchini, diced

Juice of 1 lime

1 pinch, lime zest

1 tsp cilantro

 

Heat olive oil in pan on high, brown onions, garlic, jalapeno, about 4 minutes. Add lime zest, cilantro and zucchini and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl and add lime juice. Bring pan back to high heat, add a small amount of oil, add corn and cook until thawed, add onion mixture, heat on low for 5 minutes. Set aside for at least 2 hours before serving.

Heat tortillas; construct tacos with meat, salsa, and cheese to taste. Enjoy!

 

- post meal chef's note - Short rib sauce was good, but very rich, and not as spicy as I might have liked for a mexican type dish. In the future, I might braise with beer instead of red wine and added some heat.

First Post! - Past Dishes

I'm trying to practice and get a feel for the layout of the blog. Here are some pics from past dishes that I grabbed from my iPhone.

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger

Game Day Snacks

Herb Roasted Chicken

 Inverted Sausage Breakfast Sandwiches