Lobster, Bacon & Mac N’ Cheese…A Graduation Party to Remember!

Lobster Mac N’ Cheese baked in a bubbling cheesey sauce of Smoked Gouda, Vermont Cheddar, Mozzarella with dry sherry topped with bread crumbs and thick pieces of Boar’s Head bacon will certainly be a dish to remember at your graduation party!

It was so nice to see Ryan and Teresa on the “CT Style” set this week at Channel 8 WTNH. They are always so up beat and fun to work with not to mention ready to dive in to what ever cooking projects I have up my sleeve!

So on CT Style I wanted to show you guys a great make ahead “go to” recipe for mac n’ cheese. This Mac N’ Cheese recipe is amazing all on it’s own but add in some lobster, dry sherry and Boar’s Head bacon and watch out, you may need to make an extra tray because this ones going quickly! This mac n’ cheese is made with 3 cheeses Smoked Gouda, Vermont Cheddar and Mozzarella giving this dish a warm underlying flavor thats to die for. This recipe is simple and straight forward with no extra steps giving you layers of flavor throughout.

I’m excited for you guys to try this lobster mac n’ cheese and I know you’ll be excited to serve it to your guests for what ever celebration you have coming up! You may want to try some other crowd pleasers like Best Crab Cakes Ever, Panzanella, Berries in Dreamy Cream, Pavlova, or Baklava!

Granny’s Perfect Perogies!

Perfect Perogies thru and thru, from the tender yet slightly chewy dough to the silky potato filling flavored with crispy onion and cheddar cheese in a decadent BUTTER SAUCE that’s to die for…you better not miss this one!

Making Granny’s Perfect Perogies with my friend Kathy, her mom Irene and daughter Reilly is what being The Traveling Epicurean is all about! Tradition, passion and a scrumptious family recipe that’s been in their family for generations. You don’t have to be from Polish descent to incorporate this worth while tradition into your family holidays.

These perogies or polish dumplings have a paper thin dough made from flour, eggs and sour cream giving them a rich flavor and texture with a perfect amount of chew. We filled the perogies with a creamy potato mixure made with cheddar cheese & crispy onions. The crispy onions get caramelized in the butter sauce offering up an intense flavor that really puts them over the top! You will find yourself going back for another spoonful while creating these melt in your mouth bites. Oh my goodness, wait until you try your hand as these you’ll be hooked after the first bite.

This Granny’s Perfect Perogies show was initially to be published about a month ago but there were unforseen circumstances with my internal Mac HD. My hard drive disappeared one morning as I was getting ready to watch one last run thru of my edited show! So, I want to give kuddo’s to Genius Bar in New Haven because they are truly amazing and were able to recover the clips…Hallelujah! I hope you enjoy Granny’s Perfect Perogies II as much as we did taping it!

Here are some other delicious dishes you may want to try like my Homemade Pesto, Panzanella or New England Clam Chowder and lets not forget the Chocolate Meringue Pie for dessert!

Perogie Dough Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Perogie Potato-Cheese Filling & Butter Sauce Ingredients:

• 1- 5lb. bag Yukon Gold potatoes OR Russet potatoes , peeled & cut in 1/2  …use your fav!
• 2 sticks butter
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 small sweet onion, finely chopped
• 4 oz. cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Chop up 4 oz. of cheddar cheese and fine dice 1 small onion
2. Add Cheese and onion to 2 sticks of butter in a medium sauté pan and begin to melt
3. Bring to a low simmer and cook until cheese is melted and onions get to be rust in color and set aside but keep hot
4. NOTE: The cheddar cheese won’t melt into a smooth sauce but will be very soft for melting into the potatoes when you add this to the mixer bowl along with the milk
5. Peel Yukon potatoes and slice in 1/2
6. As you finish each potato place into a pot of salted, cold water
7. Bring potatoes to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes, you may need to turn down heat so as not to boil over
8. INPORTANT: SAVE the WATER from the potatoes when you drain then for making the dough
9. Drain Potatoes and add to mixing bowl
10. Add 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 finely ground pepper
11. Then add in 2/3 of the butter-cheese-onion mixture
12. Turn mixer on med/high and blend until creamy
13. Set aside the remaining butter/cheddar sauce so as to pan fry the boiled perogies at the end
14. For the Perogie Dough:
15. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl
16. Add in sour cream and milk, then whisk until combined
17. Add this egg mixture to the flour and mix until the dough begins to come together with a spatula
18. Then knead until smooth by hand
19. Now roll out with a rolling pin until paper thin rooling from the center out
20. Next, cut out 5″ rounds
21. Begin to fill with a heaping tbsp of potato filling in the center
22. Fold dough over to make half moon shape and pinch the open edges to seal, see show
23. Drop 8 perogies at a time to boiling salted water
24. When the perogies float to the top they are done …Version I – Boiled only
25. Go thru all the stuffed perogies boling them first
26. Version II – you can pan fry them in the butter sauce that you previously set aside
27. They are amzing either way…enjoy!

CT Style Making Authentic Greek Baklava with Ryan Kristafer & Sarah Cody for Easter!

A cooled honey syrup poured over a hot out of the oven Baklava is the trick to flaky phyllo dough layers! Honey dripping Baklava for your Easter celebration is what was on the menu in The Bender Kitchen yesterday! What fun I had making this decadent dessert with Ryan Kristafer and Sarah Cody on CT Style. They were troopers diving into this foreign recipe with me and even though there was a lot going on they tackled it. The humor that filled the set from Ryan and Sarah as we scrambled to get thru all the steps of making the Baklava was undeniably my favorite part! The chemistry between all of us is priceless.

This rich dessert is made with layers of buttered phyllo dough, ground walnuts with cinnamon and cloves, baked and then a COOLED honey syrup is poured over the HOT Baklava right out of the oven! Did you notice the words I emphasized here? A completely cooled down, room temperature honey syrup is the trick to a flaky Baklava. The end is the most exciting part of making Baklava, pouring the cooled honey syrup over the hot Baklava when it comes out of the oven and hearing that sizzle!! You can see this first hand on my Traveling Epicurean FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/thetravelingepicurean/.

This recipe couldn’t be any more authentic coming from my dear friend Maria who’s many relatives still live in Greece on an island called Kalymnos. The honey Maria uses in her Baklava coming from Kalymnos has subtle hints of fresh herbs. Her relatives send her this amazing honey from Kalymnos where the bees are thriving off the wild herbs growing on the mountainside of this Greek island. I like to use wild flower honey in my Baklava but thats the beauty of this recipe, you can use your favorite whether its clove, wild flower or orange blossom honey.

Even though I don’t have relatives currently living in Greece my great grandmother, Louise, was born on the Greek Island of Crete. She met my great grandfather, who was from Italy, on the boat to Ellis Island when they were 15 years old. It’s wonderful to have such an incredible recipe as this Baklava to celebrate my heritage.

Greek Baklava, best when made the day before makes it perfect for holidays when there’s so much to prepare. It’s great to get one amazing dish out of the way. You will love how forgiving the phyllo dough is when you make your Baklava. The recipe is easier then you think!

You may want to make some scrumptious sides for your Easter dinner like Creamed Spinach or Creamed  Onions, Panzanella Salad or appetizers like New England Clam Chowder or a Mediterranean Layered Dip.

CT Style “Big Game” Show with Ryan & Teresa!

What a blast in The Bender Kitchen today with Ryan Kristafer & Teresa Dufour making my #1 viewed YouTube cooking show, “BEST BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP EVER!”, at 83,000 views and climbing!  It was a special day there because Teresa is back after her 4 month maternity leave.

Not only was it fun on the set at WTNH, Channel 8 in The Bender Kitchen but Billy Blanks for Tae Bo was in the house also. Of course, I had to take a couple fun action shots.

The improtant thing I wanted to get across to everyone today on CT Style while showing you how to make “Big Game” food for next weekend is to make ahead! The Guacamole, Hummus and Drunk Blondie Bars with Bourbon Caramel Sauce can all be made one day ahead of the Super Bowl LII. This way you can relax and enjoy being with your friends and still get the well deserved praise of master chef!

Here are those make ahead ideas for Big Game eats next weekend and remember to get your wings and chicken tenderloins early because all the super markets run out by mid week! Have fun and enjoy! 🙂

Homemade Hummus, Drunk Blondie Bars with Bourbon Caramel Sauce,  Baked Beans, Best Buffalo Chicken Dip Ever! and Homemade Guac!

Good Morning Connecticut with Laura & Jocelyn Making Pesto

Today I had the pleasure of cooking on the “Good Morning Connecticut” show with Laura Hutchinson and Jocelyn Maminta. Showing them just how easy it was to make my gourmet pesto was exciting because it’s hard to believe something that tastes so delicious can be done in mere minutes.

Making a batch of homemade pesto goes so much further then you think. First of all, it can be frozen easily for future  dishes. Second, one batch can make numerous dishes. For example, it’s enough pesto for a pasta dish and a pesto butter log. The pesto butter log is really nice because you can cut off slices from the frozen log any time you need them topping grilled steaks, chicken breasts, or even pork chops oozing the melting basil, garlic and cheese all over creating a whole new level of yum!

The ease of being able to use a food processor to make my homemade gourmet pesto is a wonderful thing!  The pesto tastes the same and you still put all the love into it using good ingredients.  You can play with this recipe also when it comes to amounts like adding a little more Parmesan if it’s too thin or drizzling in a tad more olive oil if it’s too thick.  Making pesto is a very forgiving process…. just trust yourself and be sure to taste as you go along to see if you need to add a sprinkle more of salt and or pepper.

You may want to check out some desserts to go with your pesto dinner like my Saltine Christmas Bark with crushed candy cane, Death by Chocolate Meringue Pie, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies,  Chocolate Crackle Cookies or Crazy Good Candies Pecans.

 Ingredients for Pesto:

• 3 packed cups, 1 extra large pkg. or 2 medium pkgs. of fresh basil leaves
• 3/4 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
• 1 lg. garlic clove put thru garlic press
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• dash of Siracha

Directions for Pesto: 

1. Take the basil leaves off of the stems and place them into the food processor with the pressed garlic.
2. Begin to pulse while drizzling in all of the olive oil thru the top opening of the food processor.
3. Once you finish adding the oil you may need to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula if you see large pieces of basil leaves.
4. Pulse once more, then add the parmesan.
5. Pulse a couple more times to blend, taste and add salt and pepper and tabasco if you want a little kick to it.
6. Pulse once more to combine.
7. The pesto is ready to use.
8. Serve on PASTA and sautéed or grilled shrimp, fish, chicken, pork or steak!…mmm!
9. If you want to save the pesto put it into a plastic container and drizzle about 1 Tbsp of olive oil right on top, lay a piece of Saran wrap right on top of the new layer of olive oil so there isn’t any air touching (This will keep the basil from oxidizing and turning brown).
10. At this point you can either keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or put it into the freezer.
11. When you are ready to use the frozen pesto take it out the night before and let it thaw in the refrigerator.
12. Now that you have this delicious pesto you can easily make the Crostinis with Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto and Roasted Tomato appetizer.

Ingredients for Roasted Tomatoes:

• 1 lb. grape or cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• s&p to taste

Directions for Roasted Tomatoes:

1. Slice tomatoes in half, drizzle on olive oil and S&P and roast in a 400º oven for 15-20 minutes,
2. Be sure to check the grape tomatoes at 10 minutes so as to not over cook them…everyones oven cooks a little differently.