Month: July 2016

I was staying over at my Grandma and Dziadzi’s house (Dziadzi means grandpa in Polish) and I decided to make breakfast pizza in the morning. You can put different toppings on your breakfast pizza but I put eggs, extra sharp cheddar cheese and bacon. Here’s what you need to know.

Ingredients

Dough (home made or store bought)

Cheese of your choice

Any toppings you would like

Method of preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cook your eggs (scrambled with milk, salt and pepper)

Start making your bacon not cooked all the way though (the bacon will finish cooking when you put the pizza in the oven)

Get a large circle pan and cover it with cornmeal. Cornmeal makes the dough not stick to the pan.

Flatten your dough and put it in the oven for 5 min at 350 degrees

Spread eggs on the crust, top with bacon and cheese.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes

Finally, I had a joke to tell you about pizza but it was too cheesy! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

 

Yes, I said MEATBALL three times.  No, it’s not National Meatball Day but I would love that. I said it because I am making a meatball that has three meats.  The first time I made these meatballs was not too long ago at JWU Camp.  I am eating them tonight in a hoagie roll as a meatball sub.  Delicious.  You could serve them with pasta or by themselves with sauce.  There are endless “pastabilities.” Do you want to learn how to make them?  Keep reading below to find out.  It makes 24 meatballs.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. ground pork

1 lb. ground Italian sausage

2 cloves garlic minced

1 large onion minced and sautéed (I have a habit of leaving it in big…chunks don’t do that)

2 eggs

8 ounces heavy cream

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon fresh oregano

Enough salt to taste

Enough pepper to taste

2 ounces vegetable oil for pan

Method of Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Combine ground meat, onions, eggs, bread crumbs, cream, and herbs and a large bowl.

Shape into meatballs

Heat a sheet pan or hotel pan in the oven that has been lightly oiled

Add meatballs carefully

Place in a preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, or until browned and a thermometer reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last weekend I went to Charleston and Kiawah Island in South Carolina.  We had dinner at the best place ever.  I’ve been there once before.  How did I find out about it?  It’s easy, my dad goes on trips all the time for work and we get to meet him so once when we went to Charleston he took us to an amazing restaurant called the Swing and Swine. It is amazing. What did I get you ask? The appetizer I had was something you might think is a bit weird, but it’s SO good…pig ears. Yup, pig ears. They were wrapped with lettuce and coleslaw. The reason why they wrapped it together was because the pig ears were so so spicy so it added coolness to even it out. I got pork belly (I got it last time too). It’s like meat made in heaven. The fat of the pork belly melts right in your mouth and it’s so tender. The macaroni and cheese is so good!  Would I recommended this place? Yes! I would tell all of my viewers to go there.  It’s the best BBQ in Charleston.

Hi, I just finished JWC (Johnson and Wales Camp) the dish I’m going to tell you about is lasagna.  The lasagna was definitely in my top 5 recipes. It would make a amazing diner you could a haed of time and warm it up the next day. Here’s what you need to know and how to make it.

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds Italian sausage

4 quarts of marinara sauce

4 pounds pasta sheet

2 pounds ricotta cheese

6 quarts water mildly salted simmering at 190 Fahrenheit

4 tablespoons Olive oil

Method of Preparation

Browning the sausage

1. In a medium size sauté pan, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Brown the sausage. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Set aside.

Boil the pasta

Preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit

1. Spread a thin layer of sauce in a 2 inch hotel pan or smaller sized casserole pan.
2. Add one cup of salt
3. Spoon ricotta cheese and sprinkle with some of the cooked sausage and some of the Parmesan cheese
4. Ladle 6 to 8 ounces of sauce on top of the cheese and sausage
5. Begin again with a layer of lasagna and continue as above until all the ingredients are used up ending with the Parmesan
6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to to 35 minutes. If the cheese on the top hasn’t melted place pan under the broiler briefly.
7. Rest at room temperature for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy with a side of garlic bread and if you want to get really crazy put cheese on it.

           

My cousin lives in Philadelphia.  I went to see her and I decided to take the Philly Cheesesteak Challenge.  What is the Philly Cheesesteak Challenge you ask?  I’ll tell you.  You taste a cheesesteak from two places.  One is Pat’s and one is Geno’s.  Geno’s won because of their flavor, style and awesomeness.

Last night I went to a restaurant in SouthPark called The Rusty Bucket.  I was going to order my usual (the bucket bites which is 4 sliders) and I should have.  But of course I chose the Philly Cheesesteak.  It was not as good as Geno’s.  Maybe my palate isn’t used to southern cheesesteaks per se.  Their service was great though and the restaurant was nice.  I would still recommended it to other people and I will be back.  They have a lot of great choices and I recommend the bucket bites.

I’m going to culinary camp at Johnson and Whales University.  It’s only Wednesday and I have done so much at cooking camp this week.  We’ve been making different styles of food.  Today I made jambalaya and crawfish.  Yesterday I made orange chicken skewers (which were too dry in my opinion), lemon aioli and an apple cole slaw.  I’ve also made ham and bacon buttermilk biscuits with incredible sausage gravy.

Chef Ray has been a great teacher.  He took us to his garden and we saw all the fruit, vegetable and herb plants he planted.  I tasted a leaf that tasted really sugary.  I think it could be a good substitute for making ice cream.  I saw the whole campus from a chef’s perspective.  On a scale of 1-5, i give this week a 5 so far.

Every great chef hits a bump in the road sometimes.  I hit a huge speed bump.  I was trying to make bread for my mom and dad’s dinner party.  My friend was over and helping me make the dough.  We were fooling around and we forgot to add the salt.  I figured that not adding the salt wasn’t that big of a deal but I was wrong!!!! It looked and smelled amazing but you can’t judge the bread by it’s crust.  It tasted like cardboard.  My little sister even threw her slice away.  Lesson learned and I’d love to try this again.  This isn’t my recipe.  I found it online.  Check it out below and DON’T FORGET THE SALT!

Ingredients:

3 Cups of bread flour plus more for dusting

1 tsp of active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp of salt (DON’T FORGET THE SALT!)

1 1/2 cups of warm water

Mix flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl.  Add the water and stir just until all of the dry ingredients are combined. The dough will be wet and shaggy (not like the guy from Scooby-Doo). Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 8-24 hours.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put the dutch oven inside the oven empty while it preheats.  Once the oven is at 450 degrees, put the dough in the pan and cover.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Take the cover off and bake for 15 more minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack.  Serve with butter or olive oil and herbs.

The dish I am going to tell you about in this post is a campfire favorite with my own personal twist. Today I was really in the mood for a S’more, but it’s 100 degrees down here in Charlotte. So what’s a guy got to do? Improvise of course! I give you the amazing  “S’more Stick.”

Want to know how to make this dish? Then keep on reading and be prepared to get blown away.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

1 pack of cinnamon graham crackers or normal graham crackers

2 Hershey’s Chocolate Bars

1 jar of marshmallow Fluff

1 pack of pretzel rods

Instructions:

Put the chocolate in a large bowl and melt it in the microwave (about one minute and 15 seconds) or on the stovetop in a double boiler. Get the graham crackers and crush them up. Dip the pretzel sticks into the fluff then drizzle melted chocolate over the fluff. Top them with graham crackers. Put them on a pan lined with wax paper and pop them in the fridge too cool. You should leave them in the fridge for about 5 to 10 minutes. The last step is to enjoy them.

Hi! Thanks for checking out my blog! I’m Christopher and I’m going to be your new favorite chef. I’m 11 years old and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. I might be a southern gentleman these days but I was born in Syracuse, NY and I love local food from both cities. I’ll eat almost anything and I love experimenting with food. Stay tuned for local restaurant reviews that both kids and parents will love and epic recipes from yours truly.