Buffalo Cupcakes? Really?

I love to cook, but I've never been a big baker, probably because I'm not a huge sweets lover. I would much rather have a plate of cheeses for dessert than a triple layer chocolate cake.  When I make a trip to my local cupcake shop, I usually choose carrot cake, since it's not overly sweet.

A couple weeks ago before the super bowl, a friend tweeted me a recipe for buffalo chicken wing cupcakes, since she enjoys my Required Chicken Wing Dip (which was required for her baby shower...).  At first I was scared by the concept, but wanted to see how this would turn out.  The recipe called for full sized cupcakes with a huge chicken wing placed on top, but I'm a functional eater - I'm not going to eat a cupcake where I have to take something off to eat.  Also, I thought these would be better as a mini cupcake, given it's not your typical cupcake, as well as being the perfect size for a party. 

While not a typical cupcake, they are quite delicious.  It's like a spicy cornbread.  The cake itself holds some heat from the 1/2 cup of hot sauce (which I had used wing sauce, which had already been cut once with butter), so you can tweak the amount of hot sauce to your liking.   The blue cheese buttercream frosting helps balance the heat, so you get that sweet and savory mix.  Since there is no chicken in them, my vegetarian friends can enjoy the taste of chicken wings without the meat, which is why I took "chicken wing" out of the name of my recipe.

I took these to a super bowl party, and bite size was definitely the way to go, since everyone had the same reaction...."Buffalo Cupcakes?   Really?" Really.  And delicious. 

Buffalo Cupcakes 

Makes 36 mini cupcakes

Cake:

• 1/2 cup hot sauce or chicken wing sauce (Frank's Red Hot) - cut the amount of hot sauce to your liking.
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat, heat hot sauce and butter until butter is melted. Add the blue cheese and mix periodically until blue cheese is melted. Remove from heat and mix in the sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg.  Once the hot sauce mixture is cool enough to touch, mix the sour cream mixture into the hot sauce mixture. In another small bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda. Fold the flour mixture into the hot sauce mixture. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Blue Cheese Buttercream Frosting:

• 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Mix blue cheese on high speed until smooth. Add the unsalted butter and mix on high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Slowly mix in the powdered sugar until fully combined. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Required Chicken Wing Dip

I am an appetizer freak.  Specifically, a dip freak.  I love dips - dunking veggies, chips, or bread into a mass of gooey goodness makes my tummy happy (and my waist line expand, but whatever....).  I always like making them, but there is one that entered my recipe repertoire that has become required at parties.  Seriously, people have told me that I cannot enter a house without bringing this dip.  In fact, effective immediately, I am changing the name of this dip.


Buffalo Wing dips have been showing up on more and more menus over the past few years.  Now, being from the city where the wing gets its namesake, we NEVER refer to them as Buffalo Wings. First sign of an outsider.  They are Chicken Wings, or more simply, Wings.  So to take the wings, hot sauce, and blue cheese and transform them into a dip makes for a delicious party appetizer, without the need for a wet nap(kin).


I received this recipe from my Mom about six years ago. I've tweaked it a bit, but always brings rave reviews.  It's a little more cheesy and messy, but better than anything you'll get in any restaurant.  In fact, I'm waiting for the chicken to cool to assemble said dip for my New Year's festivities tonight.  My ride won't even let me in the car without it.


Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Required Chicken Wing Dip


1 - 8 oz package cream cheese, softened (I usually use low fat cream cheese)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 
1 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce (for that Buffalo authenticity....) - alter to your desired heat level.
1 jar blue cheese dressing (found in produce department, not salad dressing aisle) - again, true Buffalo authenticity. Substituting ranch dressing is frowned upon.
1 package shredded Monterey Jack Cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread cream cheese along bottom of 9x13 casserole dish.  Toss hot sauce and chicken in bowl until chicken is well coated; layer on top of cream cheese.  Layer blue cheese over chicken, and top with shredded cheese.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.  Serve with bread, tortilla chips, or celery.

Snooze 8-19-2011

I always try to get recommendations on restaurants from friends, because the best places are the places that only need to rely on word of mouth. I trust that most of my friends know my love of food, and wouldn't steer me wrong.  This is especially the case when I travel.  I mentioned to my friend Liz (who writes her own awesome blog called Lovely Life of Liz) that we were headed to Denver for the weekend, and asked her for some recommendations.  Liz lived in Denver for several years before meeting the love of her life and moving to Raleigh, so she was the perfect person to ask. She came through in fine fashion, sending me an e-mail with a list of things to see and do while in the Mile High City.  The one place on her list that caught my eye was one she said served great breakfast called Snooze.


When I travel, breakfast is always the hardest meal to come up with. I don't want to just jump into a chain coffee shop and grab a pastry, since I'll be hungry 90 minutes later.  I love a good sit down breakfast place - either a fancy brunch or a greasy spoon.  However, those places are so tough to find because they aren't on every corner (except for Buffalo, it seems...), or they aren't open on a weekday.  So our first morning before heading to Fort Collins for some beer touring, we decide to hit Snooze up for some breakfast.
We arrive at 9:30 on a Friday morning to the location near Coors Field, and there is a 30 minute wait.  On a FRIDAY morning.  First inkling we were in for something special.  They don't have a large waiting area, so everyone is standing around on the corner waiting for their name to be called.  There is a small stand of complimentary coffee and water inside the door for guests waiting for their table.  Once we get in, the place has a super 50's throwback diner vibe.  We sit in the last circular booth near the kitchen - it almost looked space age.


The menu has all sorts of delicious breakfast items - breakfast pot pies, breakfast burritos, and a slate of benedicts.  Since they are only until 2:30pm, breakfast IS their thing.  Their specialty is their pancakes - one more decadent-sounding than the next.   I usually do eggs for breakfast, but when in Rome....but had no idea what to get.  Then I see the Pancake Flight - three pancakes of your choice.  Yes, please.  The first I chose was a pineapple upside down pancake, and #2 was the sweet potato.  Then the winner was #3, which was a special - Ghiradelli white chocolate with strawberries and caramel bacon maple syrup.  Yes, it was was as good as it sounds - the sweet and savory made it unbeatable.  I don't know if I could have eaten all 3 of the same kind, so the flight is a way to get a taste of each without getting sick of one.  

MM got the ham benedict, as he is a eggs benedict connoisseur. The kicker was the Snooze Spuds deluxe which were served underneath the benedict, which are their basic home fries, and can top with whatever your little heart and stomach desires.  He went southwestern - green chile, caramelized onion, chicken sausage and ranchero sauce (which was served on the side, so you could add as much or little as you like).  They were a meal within itself.

This was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had, and Snooze will be a stop any time my travels take me to Colorado.  There are 6 locations - 3 in Denver, 1 in Boulder, 1 in Fort Collins, and 1 in San Diego. 


www.snoozeameatery.com

Green Bean Casserole Upgrade

Every year for the holidays, I made the holiday staple green bean casserole.  It's easy, but so processed - condensed soup, canned green beans, can of french fried onions you use only for this specific purpose. I watched Guy Fieri make homemade green bean casserole on his Thanksgiving special, and he made it look easy.  So this Christmas, I decided to make his homemade green bean casserole..  All I can say is WOW.  The mushroom gravy is packed with flavor and fresh green beans make a world of difference.  On top, I flash fried some shallots.  The recipe is a little high in calories with the cream, but will experiment trying to bring down by using skim milk as a substitute (and of course I used heavy cream first time out - it was the holidays, of course!)

Was it as easy as pouring things out of a can into a casserole dish?  Of course not.  But the effort was really minimal and the end product was 100x better than the recipe on the soup can.  This is immediately entered into my recipe book, and looks to be a holiday staple, if not a weeknight staple, for years to come.

Green Bean Casserole with Mushroom Gravy


Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound mixed gourmet mushrooms, such as shiitakes, creminis and oyster, cleaned and quartered
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth (I did use vegetable broth as a vegetarian option).
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
4 medium shallots, sliced and separated into thin rounds
1 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the green beans and cook until they just turn bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. (You don't want to cook the green beans through as they will cook in the oven also.) Strain and plunge the green beans immediately in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. When cool, drain and set out to dry on paper towels.

Set a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and vegetable oil. Once the butter is melted and the pan is hot, add the mushrooms. Cook undisturbed so the mushrooms sear nicely, about 1 minute. Add the thyme and garlic and continue cooking the mushrooms to achieve some nice color. Season with the salt, pepper, cayenne and nutmeg. Cook 2 to 3 more minutes longer, dusting the mushrooms with some of the flour as they release moisture. Stir with a whisk to incorporate the flour (just like making a roux) and gradually add in the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and add the sour cream and cream. Stir gently and cook over low heat until gravy thickens, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the blanched green beans to the pan and fold together so everything is mixed well. Spread out evenly in the pan. Sprinkle the green beans with the grated Parmesan and transfer to a roasting tray (to catch any spill-over). Bake until the casserole is bubbly and the top is melted and golden, 15 minutes.

Pour the vegetable oil into a deep skillet and heat to 350 degrees F. Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Toss the shallot rounds in the seasoned flour, then place in a strainer and shake off any excess flour. Fry the shallots in the hot oil in small batches until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt while still hot.

Top the green bean casserole with the fried shallots and serve.

Glenwood Grill

One night at my local watering hole, I was chatting with one of the regulars, who mentioned they worked at a nearby restaurant.  I hadn't heard of it, so one night we wanted to go out for a nicer dinner but wanted to try something new, we ended up at his restaurant - the Glenwood Grill.  While on the busy Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh, it is set off the road a ways, so unless you are in the shopping center at the grocery store, pastry shop, or spa, you wouldn't know this hidden gem is back there.

The chef comes from the highly touted Magnolia restaurant in Charleston, SC.  The menu is mainly seafood, with southern flair such as seafood and grits.  However, for the carnivores, there is rack of lamb and the house specialty Carpet Bagger - 2 - 4oz filet mignons served with parsnip mashed potaoes, parmesan fried oysters, cabernet veal reduction, over a bearnaise sauce. Everything my dining companions and I have had have been fantastic, and pricing is extremely reasonable.  Wine list is not extensive, but is moderately priced.

There is a hidden gem on the menu though.  On the a la carte menu, there is a 8 oz filet served with pimiento cheese on top, with the cabernet veal reduction.  I've seen blue cheese served a top steak, but putting a spin with this southern delicacy is nothing short of brilliant.  MM ordered it one night, and definitely won the best meal contest that night.  The best part?  $19 for one of the best filets I've ever had.  Bargain.  That's what makes this restaurant great - high quality food at reasonable prices. 

 What I like best about Glenwood Grill is the atmosphere - it's very metropolitan inside with a cozy feel.  Tables are close together, but each time we've been there, we've chatted up the adjacent table, and discussed our fabulous meals. For example, last time MM and I were in there, the gentleman sitting next to him ordered the lobster pot pie, and advised us we "couldn't go wrong."  Next visit, MM took his suggestion, and was not disappointed.  People come in dress clothes or in their NC State sweatshirts straight from Carter-Finley Stadium.  One thing is for sure - they know they're going to get a high-end meal without the high-end price.

Glenwood Grill

2603-151 Glenwood Avenue

Raleigh NC 27608

www.glenwoodgrill.com

Bella Monica

I loved Italy when I traveled there years ago, and can't wait to get back.  People see me and think I'm Italian with my olive complexion and dark hair, but I don't have a lick of Italian heritage (mainly German, with some Polish, French & Irish if you're wondering).  I married an Italian (well, he'll tell you Sicilian...).  So it's no surprise that I am a huge fan of Italian food.

Growing up in Buffalo, there were great local Italian restaurants over town, especially in North Buffalo, which is where many Italian immigrants settled.    When we moved to Virginia, MM and I tried to find good quality Italian, and nothing ever compared.  We did find places that were OK, but nothing that ever reminded me of the little Mom and Pop places back home.
When we moved to Raleigh, a co-worker of MM invited us for dinner and told us he was taking us to "the best Italian in town."  Although he is known to eat a meal or two or ten (football players never lose that appetite...), we were skeptical, since we had lived in Virginia for 6 1/2 years without finding great Italian.  We went to Bella Monica, which is tucked away in a shopping center, with only "pizza" on the storefront.  Really?  Best Italian?  One meal, and we were sold.  This is our go-to when we have visitors in town to try their deliciousness.

You walk in, and during peak hours, is always a wait in their small waiting area.  If I have a downfall with Bella, it's that it's too small.  There are only about 20 tables inside (and I think I'm overestimating). It's an hour wait without reservations, and the bar area is usually full with people eating, so usually you have to wait outside, which is even difficult now since they've taken over the walkway outside for al fresco dining (or in winter closed in with heat lamps, but allows about 10 more tables).  The hosts are very accommodating to get you a glass of wine from the bar.  I would HIGHLY recommend not going without a reservation for dinner (they are on Open Table).  They are open for lunch which while busy, is not as crazy for dinner.  Regardless, it's worth the wait.


The base menu has several appetizers, salads, Italian classics such as Manicotti, Spinach Stuffed Shells, and Chicken Parmigiana, and some with a spin like Portabello and Sun Dried Tomato Lasagne and Chicken Balsamico.  The back of the menu is their neopolitan pizza and flatbreads.  (They have started a frozen pizza business, which offers gluten free options, and are available in various specialty grocery stores, including Whole Foods).

Where Bella Monica shines is their specials.  Their specials are recurring, and some only appear on certain nights.  The Eggplant Rollatini appetizer is only available on weekends, and is a staple order each time we go.  Fresh ricotta cheese wrapped in fried eggplant, smothered in marinara and topped with shavings of basil.  I could eat that as a full meal, but then I'd miss out on all the other specials.  When the Rollatini isn't on the menu, we get the Brussel Sprouts.  Yes, I said it - Brussel Sprouts.  This completely changed my opinion on this much-despised vegetable.  They are sauteed with pancetta in a sage brown butter sauce.  

Eggplant Rollatini

For dinner, Lobster Ravioli, Veal Chop Parmigiana and Mussels make frequent appearances.  In fall, pumpkin ravioli graces its presence on the menu, and it is a must. Served with spinach, pancetta, sage brown butter sauce and parmesan reggiano, it is the ideal fall meal.  Tuesdays are chicken fennel lasagna, which was the inspiration for my recipe (see Lasagna? Not so fast my friend. entry).  They do rotate their freshly made pastas, and have gnocchi, cheese stuffed rigatoni, and squid ink pasta.  

Lobster Ravioli

Veal Chop Parmigiana

I would be remiss if I didn't discuss dessert.  They have gelato, cannolis, and a personal favorite, a deconstructed creme brulee, which is served in a tiramisu-like format with flaky layers of phyllo. 


Everything the Monica family does is top notch, and keeps me coming back for more. With a reservation and an empty stomach.  


Bella Monica
3121-103 Edwards Mill Road
Raleigh NC 27612
www.belllamonica.com

Olive Oil Heaven

In years past, buying olive oil and balsamic vinegar was simply a guessing game for me - I'd just pick up a container at the grocery store, or buying the mamma jamma container at the warehouse store.  It never really mattered to me.  I didn't buy the best, but I didn't buy the cheapest either...just something serviceable.

That was until I found the Olive Oil store.  Olive oil stores have popped up throughout the U.S., and here in Raleigh, we have the Midtown Olive Press, located in North Hills - a growing trade area with trendy shops, restaurants and condos for those work/live/play types.  You walk in this small shop filled with tables set up with silver barrels of a variety of olive oils and balsamics.  There are your standard olive oils, oils infused with herbs like basil and garlic, and fruit-infused oils like blood orange.  The balsamics run the gamut from a standard 12 year aged dark balsalmic, to jalapeno white balsamic.  All oils and vinegars drums have spigots and can be tasted, as sample cups and fresh bread samples are available for tasting.  Recipes and suggested balsamic/oil combinations are available to expand your culinary horizons.

My eyes has been opened to this wonderful world, and subsequently, my pantry has now been stocked with several olive oils and balsamics.  My personal favorite is strawberry balsamic, which I eat with some goat cheese and fresh bread.  I could eat this as a dessert every day.   

The new items in my pantry help me experiment with different flavors to change every day dishes.  I encourage you to find your local olive oil store and explore. If you don't have one in your town, check the web - my store has a very interactive website with recipes. You'll never buy the 20 lb drum of olive oil at Costco ever again.

Midtown Olive Press

The Lassiter at North Hills

4421-205 Six Forks Road

Raleigh NC 27609

www.midtownolivepress.com