Cupcake Lasagna

This idea was suggested to us by a friend, and it turned out so incredibly tasty and easy to make that we're now thinking of having a party dedicated entirely to dishes made in cupcake tins.  Think about it: cupcake chicken pot pies, cupcake lasagnas, cupcake berry pies, cupcake strawberry summer cakes... it would be magical.  But enough of that...

Our cupcake lasagnas were made with sauteed vegetables, but if you are a carnivore you can add ground meat, or any other fillings you prefer.  The idea is simple enough: sauté some veggies, grate some cheese, and layer your fillings between gyoza wrappers (similar to wonton wrappers, except they are round).




Ingredients
1 package gyoza wrappers
1 small container parmesan cheese (grated)
1 medium package mozarella cheese (we used aged cheese but you can use fresh if you like)
1 jar marinara sauce or homemade marinara (about 24 oz)
1/2 yellow onion, diced small
1/2 medium eggplant, sliced very thin and diced into 1 inch strips
1 cup diced crimini mushrooms
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, diced
fresh basil
olive oil
Italian herbs (rosemary is great)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cupcake tins

Sauté the onions and eggplant in olive oil over medium-high heat until both are tender.  Add mushrooms and garlic and continue to stir and cook until the vegetables are soft and slightly browned.  Season with rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prepare your cupcake tins by coating them with a light layer of olive oil or unflavored cooking spray.  Drop a small dollop of marinara in each cup.  Press a gyoza wrapper into the cup, pushing down until it fits snugly into the bottom of the cup and the sides of the wrapper curl inward.  Top with grilled veggie mixture, shredded mozarella, and more marinara (remember not to overflow the cups).  Seal the cup with another gyoza wrapper, tucking it in as you did with the first.  Top with a dab of marinara and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375 until the gyoza wrappers are browned and the lasagna is bubbly.  Remove from the tin with a spoon, and top with a curl of basil.  Enjoy!

Panzanella

There is no better way to enjoy summer produce than this!  Panzanella is an Italian salad traditionally made of stale or crusty bread and tomatoes.  This simple dish is refreshing and flavorful.  We made our panzanella with ingredients typically found in caprese salad - fresh mozarella and fresh basil.  Because this is such a simple salad, the quality of the ingredients is what makes or breaks the taste.  Go for the good produce on this one (maybe check out your local farmer's market?)

Ingredients:
4 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
3/4 c. bell peppers (we used red and orange), cubed
1/2 a red onion, finely diced
1 package fresh mozarella, drained and cubed
1 c. fresh basil leaves
1 loaf crusty bread (French or Sourdough will both work)
1 clove garlic (chopped in half or in thirds)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper

After dicing the tomatoes, peppers, onion, and mozarella, combine them in a large serving bowl.  To cut the basil, layer the leaves flat on your palm like sheets of paper and then roll up the stack of leaves.  Use kitchen scissors to snip the roll of leaves crosswise into little curls.  Add basil to the bowl.

To prepare the bread, cut it into 1- or 2-inch cubes with a serrated knife.  Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add a few tablespoons of olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic.  Sauté garlic in the olive oil; before it browns, remove the garlic pieces from the oil (this way the oil is garlic-scented, but the garlic does not burn).  Fry the bread cubes on medium-high heat until brown and crispy.

Add the bread cubes to the serving bowl and toss with the salad.  Season the salad with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.  Allowing the salad to rest for 10-30 minutes before serving gives the flavors a chance to combine.

Restaurant Inspired: Black Bean Wontons with Lemon Cilantro Pesto, Corn Salsa and Prawns

Welcome to our first blog post!

Way back in December, Kristin and I had lunch at a pub in Seattle where we tried an amazing black bean ravioli with prawns and cilantro pesto, and this is our attempt at recreating it.  It turns out black bean ravioli is hard to come by, so we thought we'd make our own using wonton wrappers from the grocery store (which are cheap and delicious).  We also added a little twist by making the cilantro pesto extra lemony, complementing the prawns.  The whole meal turned out fantastic, and we highly recommend trying it out yourself!  It might seem complicated, but each of the steps is actually very easy.  If you do give any of our recipes a try, please let us know how they turned out!

P.S: we're working on getting better at paying attention to measurements, sorry for the approximations this time.

Ingredients:

Black Bean Wontons:
1 package wonton wrappers
1 can black beans, drained
a few tablespoons Parmesan cheese (we used slivered rather than grated)
salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro Pesto:
about 2-3 heads of cilantro, removed from stems
juice of 1/2 a large lemon or 1 small lemon
1/2 cup slivered Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
1 clove garlic

Corn Salsa:
3 roma tomatoes, finely diced
1/3 red onion, finely diced
1 cup yellow frozen corn, defrosted and drained (use fresh if in season)

2/3 lb Prawns or Large Shrimp

To make the corn salsa, simply combine diced tomatoes, diced onion, and corn in a bowl.  Salt and pepper to taste.

To make the cilantro pesto, combine cilantro leaves, garlic and parmesan cheese in a food processor.  Add sufficient olive oil to coat the cilantro.  Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Process until blended to a nice pesto texture.  Pesto is pretty subjective, so taste it and feel free to adjust measurements based on what you prefer.

To make the black bean wontons, mash black beans and parmesan together in a mixing bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.


Place about 1 tablespoon of bean mixture in the center of each wonton wrapper.  Moisten 2 adjacent edges of the wonton wrapper with water, and fold the wrapper over so that the wonton makes a triangle.  Seal and crimp the edges of the wonton wrapper with your fingers.

Fry wontons in a large frying pan in oil over medium-high heat, until both sides are browned and crispy.

While the wontons are cooking, preheat the oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with a single, even layer of prawns, and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Bake for around 10 minutes (depending on size of prawns), until the prawns are opaque and pink throughout.

Top black bean wontons with lemon cilantro pesto, corn salsa and prawns, and enjoy!