Eggplant, Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

Thursday, September 3, 2009

I was feeling creative yesterday and wanted to do something with tomatoes. I wasn't in the mood for a caprese salad and I thought that eggplant would be a nice twist.

Eggplant, Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4" thick slices
2 tablespoons oilive oil
5 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, toss the eggplant in the olive oil, and liberally season with salt and pepper. Spread the eggplant out on a baking sheet, in a single layer, and roast for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack until room tempature.

Cut eggplant into bite size pieces. Add cut up eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella to a medium bowl. Drizzle bowl with balsamic vinegar and add Italian seasoning. Serves 2.

Enjoy!

The Unpizza

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Unpizza

This is one of our family secrets. This pizza is great because you can either eat it hot out of the oven or cold the next day and it travels well. The Fontina gives it a nice nutty taste and compliments the mozzarella and sausage. If you're looking for something different, this is the way to go.

The Unpizza

1 pizza dough

1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage - cooked and drained

6 eggs

8 oz. Fontina cheese

8 oz. mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp. Parmesan/Romano cheese

1 tbsp. Italian Seasoning

Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Cook and drain sausage on a paper towel.

Coat 8x8 baking dish with olive oil. Stretch dough over dish - leave about 4" of dough overlapping each side.

In medium bowl, mix eggs, Fontina, Mozzarella, Parmesan/Romano and Italian Seasoning.

Pour half of the egg mixture onto pizza dough. Add sausage and pour remaining egg mixture to dough. Fold dough to cover top and seal.

Bake for 20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Let sit for about 15 minutes and remove from baking dish.

Enjoy!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Are you sick of just regular meatballs and spaghetti? I wanted something a little different and played with my mother's recipe of regular meatballs. This is what I came up with. For the mozzarella, you can use boccaccini mozzarella (the little balls) or you can just buy fresh mozzarella and cut it into bite size pieces.

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

1 lb. ground sirloin

1/2 c Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 c parmesan romano cheese - grated

1 egg

2 tbsp grated onion

2 garlic cloves - minced

6 boccaccini fresh mozzarella cheese balls

Mix all but mozzarella in a large ball. Take about a handful of mixture and flatten it out in palm. Add mozzarella ball and form 'meatball' around cheese. You should have about 6 medium meatballs or 8 small meatballs - depending on the size you like.

Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat. Before adding meatballs to oil, wet hands with water and roll meatball with hands. I find this helps keep a tight seal and the meatballs are less likely to leak. Fry meatballs until brown and drain on paper towel.

Serve with spaghetti of choice and some sauce. Enjoy!