Mario's Weekend Cooking Challange: Spinach Torta via Hoboken!

Mario's Weekend Cooking Challenge is a new Facebook Group for people to get together, once a month and cook the same recipe, compare notes and discuss outcomes. It is put together by Mario Bosquez host of "Living Today" on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112 & XM 157

The first challenge recipe is "Spinach Torta via Hoboken. A recipe adapted from The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family”, by, James Beard award-winning author, Laura Schenone. Get the complete recipe here: Spinach Torta via Hoboken.

4 packs of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and completely squeezed of all liquid. I found placing the spinach in a cheesecloth and "wringing" it out complete the easiest way to do this.
A bar of cream cheese at room temperature, some eggs, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley, to taste.

To start, you want to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. In a 9" x 11" Pyrex-type dish, brush 2 tablespoons of olive oil on the bottom and sides

In a the bowl of a mixer, whip up the bar of cream cheese until smooth. Then add all the beaten eggs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, pepper and parsley.

Mix this well until smooth and thick.

Divide the mixture in half. Mix one half with the spinach. Evenly spread this spinach-cheese-egg mixture in the prepared pan.

Cover the spinach mixture with the remaining half of the egg-cheese mixture.

Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.


Let cool and serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Serves 10 to 12 as an appetizer or side dish. Also makes a great light lunch!

Breakfast To Go - Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel Sandwich

As most people know, we tend to rush out in the early morning on our way to work or school, skipping breakfast. I'm very much guilty of it myself. Then I discovered this easy to make breakfast sandwich from the cookbook, "Mad Hungry - Feeding Men & Boys". It combines eggs, bacon, cheese and a bagel in an easy to eat on the go breakfast and better than any drive-thru "McAnything" ever! Of course, ham or even thinly sliced turkey can be substituted for the bacon.

Helpful hint: To save time, when you buy bacon, cook the entire package at once, (line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, lay strips of bacon out evenly, bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, drain on paper towel), let cool, and wrap (3 slices at a time) in plastic wrap. Freeze and use as needed. 10 seconds in the microwave or a minute in a preheated pan and it's ready to use!

First, slice a bagel of choice (I choose asiago cheese). Butter the halves and toast them in a toaster oven or on a griddle. If using a regular toaster, butter AFTER you've toasted the bagel.

Heat a cast iron (or non-stick) skillet and place a tablespoon of butter. Crack two eggs in the pan, keeping them separated. As soon as the whites are set, break the yolks. Honestly, I've never been that great at frying eggs, so beauty is not important here!

I personally prefer my fried eggs to have completely set and cooked yolks, and a bit well done, so I do flip the eggs, but this is where you can cook them to your preference.

Place a slice of cheese (your favorite cheese!) on one egg and top with 3 slices of bacon. Place the other egg, yolk side down, on top of the bacon.

Lift the "egg pile" onto the bottom half of the bagel, top with the other half and lightly press together.

Serve immediately or wrap in parchment paper to eat on the go! Of course, you can add a little hot sauce or ketchup (YUM!)!

Spaghetti Carbonara -Super Quick Meal In Minutes!

Spaghetti carbonara is an Italian pasta dish based on eggs, parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, guanciale, and black pepper. The dish was created in the middle of the 20th century.

The recipes vary, though all agree that cheese (parmesan, pecorino, or a combination), egg yolks (or whole eggs), cured fatty pork, and black pepper are basic. Guanciale is the most traditional meat, but pancetta is also used. In the US, it is often made with American bacon. I used bacon in this recipe.

The first thing you want to do is get that pot of salted water boiling and cook your spaghetti.

In a large skillet cook the bacon until just crispy. Remove from the heat and drain off some of the fat.

When the pasta is ready, drain and add to the skillet with the bacon. Whisk together eggs, cheese and freshly ground black pepper in a bowl. Pour the egg mixture into the pasta and combine thoroughly. The residual heat from the pasta will cook the eggs.

Serve immediately with extra grated cheese.

This is another fantastic recipe from "Mad Hungry - Feeding Men & Boys" by Lucinda Scala-Quinn

Cakes Of All Kinds!!

Recently, I've been making cakes and enjoying every minute of it! I wanted to share a sampling of the cakes I've made over the past few weeks.

On my recent trip to the Apple Orchard, we picked a few pints of raspberries! With those, I made a wonderful Raspberry Buckle! Not really a cake, this was very "cake-like", and chock full of plump raspberries, bursting throughout!!

The next cake was this amazing fragrant Lemon Cake! This cake was featured on The Martha Stewart Show, baked by Martha and Master-Baker John Barricelli.

The link provides the basic recipe for this cake, along with links to the icing, and easy Lemon Curd (the best part of the cake!), and be sure to follow the instructions in the introduction as well!

This last picture is a cake I was commissioned to make for the daughter of my sister's friend. It was a Sweet 16 birthday cake! This was a 2 tier cake, 12" chocolate bottom tier & 8" yellow top, covered in white fondant. The whimsical polka-dots and stripes are "edible images" that are available from "Lucks Cake Decorating Supplies",(Oops, didn't think to hide the seam before taking the photo!). The cake was finished with buttercream icing borders, and topped with a gorgeous spray of gum paste lillies!

The cake was a hit with the birthday girl and everyone else at the party!

Souffle Au Fromage

I've always been a fan of Julia Child, and who isn't? Anyone who has any remote interest in food, loves Julia Child! Just last year, I purchased "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking", the first book Julia Child wrote (actually, she co-wrote the book, but it's about Julia, right now!), and her most well-known book to date.

The book almost didn't get published as initial publisher Houghton Mifflin, rejected the manuscript for being too much like an encyclopedia. Finally, when it was first published in 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf, the 734-page Mastering the Art of French Cooking was a best-seller and received critical acclaim that derived in part from the American interest in French culture in the early 1960s. Lauded for its helpful illustrations, precise attention to detail and for making fine cuisine accessible, the book is still in print and is considered a seminal culinary work.

Since seeing the newly released film, "Julie & Julia", I felt inclined to start making recipes from this, somewhat intimidating, book! I decided on "Souffle Au Fromage" or Cheese Souffle. This is one of Julia's more popular recipes and one I've been wanting to try as I've never even tasted a souffle before!

Getting all your ingredients measured out for this recipe is very important!


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Butter the inside of a 6 cup souffle mold and sprinkle it with 1 Tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese. Now most American recipes for souffle often direct you to give the mold added height by tying a double strip of buttered foil or parchment paper around the souffle mold and removing it when it's done. According to Julia Child, this is nothing more than a nuisance, and not necessary.
In a heavy saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, slowly. Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour with a wooden spoon and cook over moderate heat until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without browning.

Remove from heat; when the mixture has stopped bubbling, pour in 1 cup of milk, that's been heated just to boiling, all at once. Beat vigorously with a whip until blended. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt, 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

Return over moderately high heat and boil, stirring with the whip, for 1 minute. Sauce will be very thick.

Remove the sauce from the heat. If you haven't done so already, immediately start to separate 5 eggs. Drop the whites into a bowl, add 4 yolks into the center of the hot sauce and beat in well, one at a time. Note, ONLY 4 YOLKS in the sauce, but save 5 WHITES!! Adjust seasonings at this point.

Add your egg whites to a clean mixing bowl with a pinch of salt and beat until stiff.

Stir a big spoonful of the beaten whites into the sauce.

Stir in 1 cup (minus 1 tablespoon) of grated Swiss cheese.

Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites. Be careful not to over-fold!! This is a very important step!

Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared mold, which should be almost 3/4 full. Tap bottom of mold lightly on the table, and smooth the surface of the souffle with the flat of a knife. Sprinkle the reserved tablespoon of Swiss cheese on top.

Set on a rack in the middle of a preheated 400 degree oven and immediately turn the heat down to 375 (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR FOR 20 MINUTES!!).

In 25-30 minutes the souffle will have puffed about 2 inches over the rim of the mold, and the top will be nicely browned. Bake 4-5 more minutes to firm it up, then serve at once.

A well baked souffle will stay puffed for about 5 minutes in the turned off hot oven. As it cools, it begins to sink. Therefore, there should be no lingering when a souffle is to be eaten.

To serve a souffle, puncture the top lightly with a serving spoon and fork--held vertically--and spread it apart for each serving!

Bonjour, Bon Appetite!