Pineapple Marinara

That is sage on top...I love pineapple and sage :)

I got a brand spankin new pressure cooker for Christmas, a Fagor Duo 8-Quart to be exact. I have been busting to try it and I finally settled on making this delicious Pineapple Marinara sauce for my hawaiian pizza (which I will post in the coming days). Pressure cookers have been around for a long time, but they are starting have a resurgence now do to their new safety measures (they won't explode in your kitchen anymore) and lots of new publicity from major cookbooks and TV shows. Pressure cookers are back baby! The beauty with pressure cookers is their ability to cook anything at a higher temperature. You see, any food product contains water and the boiling point of water is 212°F. So, therefore, nothing can be cooked past that temperature while it contains water. You can put a steak in an 800°F, but it will never pass 212°F, unless of course you completely dehydrate it. Pressure Cookers can get us around that barrier. Whenever you raise the pressure you essentially raise the boiling point. The Fagor Duo 8-Quart is one of the best on the market and can reach full pressure of 1 Bar, or 15 psi, which essentially increases the cooking environment to 250°F. Given this advantage, you can cook whatever it is your cooking 70% more efficient and given the increased temperature, you can get a lot more depth of flavor. I highly recommend everybody having a pressure cooker in your home, not only are they extremely versatile, but extremely efficient. They are definitely worth the cupboard space!

Ingredients

• 2 cups yellow onion, large dice
• 1 cup carrots, medium dice
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• 3 cups pineapple, medium dice
• 1/2 cup prosciutto, diced
• 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes 
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• Salt, to taste

Directions

Add the onion, carrot, garlic, pineapple and prosciutto to the bowl of a food processor and mince. Work in batches if they don't all fit. 

Add the olive oil to the base of the pressure cooker and saute the minced vegetables over medium heat until the onions turns translucent, about 4 minutes. 

Stir in 1/2 the can of crushed tomatoes, reserve the rest for another use. Pressure-cook at a gauge pressure of 1 bar/15 psi for 45 minutes. Don't start timing until full pressure is reached.  Once 45 minutes has passed, depressurize the pressure cooker. Blend sauce with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with EVOO and salt to taste.

Lasagna

Did you know that Lasagna may in fact be British and not Italian?? The Forme of Cury is the oldest cookbook written in English. It was compiled about 1390 by the master cooks of King Richard II. Researchers studying it made a surprising announcement in 2003 - the book contains a recipe for lasagna. The dish, called loseyns in Old English (prounounced "Lasan"), consists of noodles rolled as flat and wide "as paper," cooked in broth, layered with cheese, and baked. This recipe predates any Italian reference to the dish, which leads to the surprising conclusion that lasagna may be British. You learn something new everyday! :)

The recipe for Loseyns in The Forme of Cury

Ingredients

• 2 containers (15 oz ea.) ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 4 oz. diced prosciutto
• 2 jars of your favorite sauce or sauce recipe below
• 1 lbs ground beef
• Lasagna noodles, fresh or dry
• 1/2 lbs Mozzarella, shredded

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

In a small saute pan, saute prosciutto until crispy, about 5 min. In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, pepper and prosciutto; set aside. 

In a large saute pan over medium heat, brown ground beef. Add in your jar sauce of choice and let simmer until your ready to assemble lasagna. If you're using the sauce recipe below, disregard that last step and follow the directions there. In a large pot, boil salted water and cook pasta noodles as per box directions. I usually buy store bought fresh lasagna noodles, you can usually find them in the cooler section. Cooking time for fresh is about 4 min, cooking time for dried about 10-12 min. 

In a 13x9 inch baking dish. Spread about 1 cup of the meat and sauce mixture on the bottom. Top with lasagna noodles, then add 1/2 of the ricotta mixture and another cup of sauce; top with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese; repeat. Top with remaining noodles to cover, add another cup of sauce and top with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. 

Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove tin foil and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until bubbling. Let stand for 10 min before serving. Garnish with fresh basil. 

Sauce Recipe (optional)

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 lbs ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions

In a Dutch oven, cook ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. 

This is a great red sauce in general, you can make a large batch of this and can it or freeze it for quick meals. 

Song of the Recipe

I've been in love with Incubus for awhile now and seeing that this is a Food blog, I figured the title would be appropriate :)

Stuff Chicken Breasts wrapped in Prosciutto

I have had lots of inspiration in my culinary career and some of my best ideas have come from the places I have worked. I don't think there is a better way to learn how to cook, then by working in great restaurants. Working at Alto Italian Restaurant in Lemont, PA was my first fine dining cooking experience and this is where I got the inspiration for this dish. Chicken breast stuffed with a Asiago Cheese and Sun dried tomato stuffing wrapped in Prosciutto on top of basil pesto spaghetti. Bon Appétit!

Ingredients 

• 2 Bakery Rolls, cubed (I used rosemary rolls from Wegman's, delicious!) 
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil 
• 4 Chicken Cutlets 
• 2 Cups Asiago Pressato, Shredded 
• 1 Cup Sun Dried Tomato, Diced  
• 8 Slices of Prosciutto 
• Box of Spaghetti, or make your own 
• 8 oz. Jar of Basil Pesto, or make your own 
• Fresh Parmesan, for Garnish 
• Fresh Parsley, diced for garnish
• Chicken Brine (optional; recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Toss the cubed rolls in the olive oil and coat evenly. Spread the cubes evenly over a baking sheet and bake in oven for about 15 min or until golden brown and crunchy (note: if you’re feeling lazy,you could always use store bought croutons)

Take your chicken breasts and put them in either a large zip lock bag or in between some parchment paper. Pound out the chicken from the center outward using a heavy-bottomed skillet or mallet. Be firm but controlled with your strokes, try to get the chicken as thin as possible without destroying it. 

Chicken Breasts thinly pounded

Lay the chicken breasts bottom side up and first lay a layer of croutons and then sprinkle with the diced sun-dried tomato and shredded asiago. Then, start at the bottom, pointed end of the breast, wrap and roll the breast over the stuffing. After you have rolled each breast, wrap them with 2 slices of Prosciutto, making sure to cover the whole breast. (note: the prosciutto should aid in keeping the breasts together, if need be tie some kitchen twine around to help secure them)

Chicken Breasts w/ stuffing

Wrapped with Prosciutto

Put the stuffed chicken breasts in a baking dish and bake for about 30 min or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165°F.

With 10 or so minutes left for the chicken,bring a pot of salt water to a boil and add in the pasta cooking until Al Dente. Drain the pasta and toss the spaghetti with the basil pesto. Remove chicken from oven, slice it, plate it on top of the pasta and garnish with parmesan and parsley (note: Using a vegetable peeler to grate the parmesan gives you thin, sliced chunks of parmesan).

Final Product

Looking to kick up your chicken for any meal?? Try this delicious brine!

Ingredients

• 1 Quart Water
• 1/4 Cup of Diamond Krystal Kosher Salt (International Section of most grocery stores)
• 1.5 Tsp Whole Peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 4 Bay Leaves
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 Lemon
• 1/4 Bunch of Parsley 

Directions

Makes 1 Quart

In a medium sauce pan bring water to a bowl. Add in remain ingredients, stir and continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and let cool down completely and transfer (lemon, garlic, everything in the pot)  to a container or 1 quart mason jar and refrigerate. 

Whenever you are ready to brine, just put your chicken in a large zip lock and pour the brine in so that the chicken is completely covered and let sit for about 2 hours or up to 12 hours (note: Brining can make your food taste great, but over brining can lead it to be very salty so experiment with your brining times). 

Kitchen Word of the Day

Brining: In cooking, brining is a process similar to marination in which meat is soaked in brine before cooking. Brining makes cooked meat moister by hydrating the cells of its muscle tissue before cooking, via the process of osmosis, and by allowing the cells to hold on to the water while they are cooked, via the process of denaturation. The brine surrounding the cells has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells, but the cell fluid has a higher concentration of other solutes. This leads salt ions to diffuse into the cell, whilst the solutes in the cells cannot diffuse through the cell membranes into the brine. The increased salinity of the cell fluid causes the cell to absorb water from the brine via osmosis. The salt introduced into the cell also denatures its proteins. The proteins coagulate, forming a matrix that traps water molecules and holds them during cooking. This prevents the meat from dehydrating.