Best Food Recipes

Ingredients:

Coarse salt and ground pepper (6-inch)

1 package (8 ounces) manicotti cooked, drained, and cooled

2 containers (15 ounces each) part-skim ricotta cheese

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese

1 ounce dried mushrooms such as shiitake, soaked and drained, and finely chopped

4 cups Basic Tomato Sauce

Directions:

Cook pasta, drain, and cool. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, eggs, thyme, oregano, and 1 cup Parmesan. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir in mushrooms.

Using a plastic bag for filling, stuff cooled pasta shells (about 3 tablespoons ricotta mixture in each). Coat bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with 2 cups tomato sauce.

Line up manicotti in baking dish, and cover with 2 cups sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan. Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 ( 13.8 oz) roll Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust (Substitute 12 ounces of refrigerated pizza dough)

1/2 cup (120 grams) hummus

1/2 cup diced cucumber

5 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/8 teaspoon salt

Method:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Then, lightly spray 20 mini muffin cups with cooking spray.

Form pizza dough into a 14-inch by 12-inch rectangle (this doesn’t have to be exact, just close).

Then, use a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out 20 circles of dough. Press each circle of dough into the muffin cups. Now, use a fork to pierce the bottom of each pizza cup. Three to four pricks with a fork should do it. (This will help prevent the bottoms of the pizza cups from rising).

Bake pizza cups 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Transfer cups to a cooling rack then cool completely.

Once cooled, fill each pizza cup with a heaping teaspoon of hummus, and then top with a few pieces of cucumber and a tomato quarter.

Finish with a light sprinkle of salt.

For the Elderflower Syrup

4 cups water

4 cups sugar

20 elderflower heads

Skin and juice of 2 lemons

For the Cake

1 cup sifted cake flour

1 1/2 cups superfine sugar

14 large egg whites (1 3/4 cups), room temperature

1 tablespoon warm water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For Serving

Whipped cream

Berries

Directions:

Make the elderflower syrup: In a heavy saucepan, combine water and sugar and bring to a simmer over high heat, stirring occasionally until simple syrup is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove the elderflower heads from their stems, discarding stems and placing heads in a large heat-safe bowl. Add lemon skin and juice to bowl and pour simple syrup into bowl, stirring to combine.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 2 days and up to 4 days. Strain syrup through a cheesecloth-lined sieve and discard solids. Syrup can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With a fine sieve, sift together flour and 3/4 cups sugar four times.

In the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, beat together egg whites and water until foamy. Add salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla; beat until soft peaks form. Increase speed to medium-high and sprinkle in remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat until stiff but not dry.

Transfer to a large bowl. In six additions, sift dry ingredients over meringue, folding in quickly but gently.

Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan with removable bottom. Smooth top with an offset spatula. Run a knife through batter to release air bubbles. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown and springy to touch.

Invert pan on its legs or over the neck of a glass bottle and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Carefully run a long offset spatula or knife around the inner and outer perimeter of the pan to release cake. Place on a plate, bottom side up; cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Serve each slice with some elderflower syrup poured around the base and whipped cream and berries on top.

Ingredients:

1 pizza dough recipe

1 bulb roasted garlic clove

4 tablespoons butter, softened

½ cup pizza sauce recipe

2 cups grated Mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Monteray jack cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 475º F. Sprinkle cornmeal onto a rimmed baking sheet pan.

Spread pizza dough onto baking sheet pan, forming a large rectangle. Remove roasted garlic from bulb and add to a medium bowl with softened butter. Cream together to make a garlic butter spread to spread over the pizza dough.

Spread pizza sauce on top of garlic butter mixture. Top with grated cheese and bake in the oven until crust has turned slightly golden around edges and the cheese has melted and become bubbly, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

Slice into 2-inch rectangular sticks and serve.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion cut into medium dice

1 large carrot cut into medium dice

1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus more for work surface

coarse salt and ground pepper

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 cups cooked chicken cut into

1-inc h pieces (1 pound total)

1 cup frozen peas

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 sheet frozen puff pastry thawed

1 large egg yolk

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add onion and carrot and cook until onion softens, about 6 minutes. Add flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is pale golden, has a slightly nutty aroma, and is the texture of cooked oatmeal, about 5 minutes.

Whisking constantly, add broth. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 8 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and cook 10 minutes. Stir in chicken, peas, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture among four 12-ounce baking dishes; refrigerate until room temperature, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll pastry to an 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 4 equal squares, 1 inch larger than dishes; with the tip of a sharp knife, cut vents into pastry. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water; top potpies with pastry and brush with egg wash. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Bake until pastry is deep golden and juices are bubbling, about 35 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (210 g) all-purpose flour (we use Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (280 g) vanilla yogurt (we used two 5.3-ounce tubs Yoplait Greek vanilla yogurt)

1 cup (200 g) sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups (5 ounces or 140 grams) sweetened flaked coconut

1 tablespoon grated orange zest (1 orange)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil

Glaze, optional

1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 tablespoon sweetened flaked coconut

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F (177 C). Spray a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13-cm) loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray (or use butter or oil).

Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Whisk yogurt, sugar, eggs, coconut, orange zest and vanilla in separate bowl.

Pour yogurt mixture into flour mixture. Stir with a spoon or spatula until just mixed. Add vegetable oil and fold into the batter.

Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick placed into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in pan for 15 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

To glaze loaf. Stir powdered sugar and orange juice together until smooth then drizzle over loaf.

Wait 10 minutes for glaze to set before serving.

Notes and Tips

We have also used a 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pan with success (in fact, since it is a little smaller, the batter domes nicely).