Twisted Cheese Sticks Recipe

Here's a recipe I am entering in the "day of" cheese competition at the county fair:

Ingredients

2 cups flour, plus more for dusting

1 teaspoon  salt

¼ teaspoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

2 tablespoons water

¼ pound sharp California cheddar cheese, grated and warmed to room temperature

¼ pound California mozzarella cheese, grated and warmed to room temperature

6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, shredded

1 stick of butter + 3 tablespoons, warmed to room temperature

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon powdered garlic

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Grate cheeses in separate containers (do not mix) and set aside.

Mix together cheddar cheese, 1 tablespoon water and half the butter and set aside.

Mix together mozzarella cheese, 1 tablespoon water and half the butter and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl until well combined.  Divide dry ingredients in half. In the first half, add in the cheddar cheese/butter mixture and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the second half of dry ingredients with the mozzarella/butter mixture.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the cheddar cheese dough into a rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and mix in olive oil and powered garlic. Divide in half. With a pastry brush, brush the top of the cheddar cheese dough with half of the olive oil spread.

On another lightly floured surface roll out the mozzarella cheese dough into a rectangle of about the same size and thickness and place over cheddar cheese rectangle.

With a greased pizza cutter, cut the dough into 1 inch strips. Twist each strip and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush lightly with remaining olive oil spread. Top with parmesan cheese.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges just barely begin to brown.

Grilling Asparagus

This was a BBQ side dish recipe we used in a local grilling competition. The main dish was meat and this offered a good complimentary side. It’s a good way to get some greens on the plate and the asparagus carries the smoke of the BBQ really well.

Speaking of smoke, if you use a few smoking chips when you grill, it adds a whole new dimension of flavor.

For the record - we got first runner up in the competition.

BBQ Grilled Asparagus

Ingredients

1/2 pound of asparagus with tough ends removed

 (fresh asparagus preferred but frozen can be substituted – do not thaw first)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic

Toss all ingredients until asparagus is completely coated.

Place asparagus on pre-heated BBQ grill set to medium-high heat. Place the asparagus perpendicular to the grill grates in order to get the classic grill marks.

Grill for about 4 minutes or until grill marks appear. Flip and grill for 3 minutes on other side.

Asparagus should bend but not be mushy.

For an extra kick, shoot in a couple of drops of your favorite hot sauce while tossing. It dries on the asparagus and gives a surprise bite.

They say everything’s better with bacon. An easy variation on this dish is to wrap the asparagus spears with pre-cooked but flexible bacon and secure both ends with soaked toothpicks. You have to pre-cook the bacon to a soft level otherwise it would take too long to cook and your asparagus would be overcooked. Plus, a whole lot more bacon fat would drop down into your grill causing flare ups.

This is such a good solid, basic way to fix asparagus, it made its way into a Twitter recipe.

Simple Rosemary Lemon Roast Chicken Recipe

Roast chicken is one of the easiest and most popular ways of serving a whole chicken. Roasting a chicken goes back a long way and transcends food cultures. Rotisseries are useful but not mandatory.

Ingredients

1 Whole Chicken (about 3 pounds), cleaned, prepped and towel dried.

Zest and juice of one lemon

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all ingredients except for chicken and butter in a blender. Blend until smooth. Mix into softened butter. Rub half of butter mixture between chicken skin and meat. Use remaining butter mixture to rub on outside of chicken.

Place in oven a roasting pan to collect the juices.

Trying Something New

People have been trying new recipes since the year 1600 BC. Today, with access to all sorts of foods and cooking methods, there's no better time than to trying new dishes by going through new recipes.

The two elements of a well formulated recipe, the ingredients list and the directions, can be an art unto themselves. Put a bunch of them together and you get an heirloom cookbook that's passed down from one generation to the next.

The printing press had a huge impact on recipes in the 16th century and forward. These days, of course, the Internet has completely changed how recipes are created, recorded and shared.

But, even today, there's nothing like a hand-written recipe card to remember that a human being actually put effort into developing and recording a recipe.

It's the goal of this blog to bring and try and photograph and video new recipes. Let us know if we're able to do this and especially if you try out any of the recipes.