Spaghetti Squash Al Forno

One of my running buddies has been asking me to post a vegetarian dish.  I try to weave all veggie dishes into our meal rotation occasionally but I don't have a large arsenal of them.  I was watching one of my favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives the other day and featured on the show was Earls Drive Inn, located in, Chaffee, New York.  The head chef at Earls, cooked a vegetarian dish that I had to try.  It's spaghetti squash and any kind of vegetable combo you can think of, mixed with marinara sauce, piled back into the shell of the spaghetti squash, topped with fresh mozzarella and baked in the oven.  The result looked amazing!  The episode I saw this cooked on was called "Twists and Traditions".  You can experiment with the veggies included in this dish, be creative!  Dena, this ones for you!

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
2 cups of uncooked fresh broccoli,  chopped into bite size pieces
1 cup of mushrooms
1 cup of onion, chopped
1/2 of a carrot, peeled and chopped
1 half of a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup of zuchinni, chopped
1/2 cup of egg plant diced
1/2 cup of yellow squash, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh asparagus, chopped into bite size pieces
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of wine
fresh mozzarella cheese
1 jar of marinara sauce.  

Cut the spaghetti squash in half length-wise.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Place the spaghetti squash in the boiling water and boil for 15 minutes or until tender.  Remove the squash from the water and remove the squash from the shell with a fork, reserving the empty squash shells and the shredded squash for later.  The squash should resemble spaghetti, hence the name spaghetti squash.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Heat the marinara sauce in a separate pan.  Add the onion to the olive oil and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, carrot, bell pepper, yellow squash, zucchini and saute for 10 minutes.  Add the wine, and cover.  Cook until the vegetables are almost cooked through, about 10 more minutes.  You still want them to have some bite to them.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the spaghetti squash and half of the marinara sauce.  Spoon the mixture back into the reserved spaghetti squash shells.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with the remaining marinara sauce and enjoy!

Rotisserie Chicken Chili

One of my running buddies, Thad McLaurin, who I credit for getting me connected with my running group, writes a blog called RunnerDudesBlog.  It's a fantastic blog about running, fitness, nutrition and exercise.  He has interviewed pillars of the running community, Olympic athletes, authors, and me.  I'm not sure how I finagled my way onto his blog but I'm honored to provide a recipe for RunnerDude and his readers!  If you love running, want to take up running, or just want a great recipe for Rotisserie Chicken Chili, check out his blog. 

RunnerDude!

Thad also operates a very successful fitness company in Greensboro, NC called Runner Dude's Fitness.  If your in the market for some personal training, running advice or nutrition consulting (you might need it if you read my blog), give him a call. 

Now go make some chili!  Thanks RunnerDude!

Real Maryland Crab Cakes!

One topic that seems to come up repeatedly at the Manry family dinner table (the grown up table) is what our "death meal" would be.  In other words, if you were going to die tomorrow, what would your last meal be.  Yes, it's a dark topic, but it's always a fun discussion.  My wife would definitely choose crab cakes, and I think I might be right there with her.  I'm not talking about the horrible "Maryland style" crab cakes that every restaurant claims to have here in NC, but real Maryland crab cakes!  Most of the crab cakes that you get outside of Maryland have more filler than crab and they are deep fried.  They are basically fried bread with a little bit of stringy crab mixed in. 

I admit, Maryland natives are a very proud people. We tend to think very highly of our home state in all regards but especially its cuisine (and we're right).  Some of the best crab cakes in Maryland come from Faidley's located in Lexington Market in Bal'mer, (Baltimore for you non-Marylanders).  The following  recipe is an attempt to duplicate Faidley's crab cakes.  They use Jumbo Lump crab meat in their crab cakes.  This is extremely hard to find outside of coastal cities.  If you can find it, and have the money, buy it.  It makes a huge difference in the texture of crab cake.  In this recipe, I'm going to use backfin because it's readily available and it was on sale.  By the way, Faidley's uses backfin crab meat as their "filler" to bind the jumbo lump crab meat together.  I use crushed saltines.  Winner Faidley's.  If your ever in Charm City, and want a true Baltimore experience, pay a visit to Lexington Market.  Get some Faidley's crab cakes for lunch, and for dessert, get some Berger Cookies (also located in Lexington Market). 

Crabbie Patties!

Ingrediants:
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of Mayonaise
1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 pound of Crab Meat (preferably jumbo lump)
Saltine crackers (about 20, crushed up)
Old Bay
3/4 Stick of Butter

Cooking in Butter

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Pour the crab into a separate bowl.  Slowly add about half of the mayo/egg mixture to the crab meat.  Carefully mix together, you do not want to break up the crab meat to much, the lumpier the better.  Add about half the the crushed saltines.  Keep repeating these steps until the crab meat mixture is at a point where you can form patties out of it.  You might not need all of the Mayo/egg and Saltines.  Form the crab meat into around 8 thick patties (if you want larger crab cakes make fewer crab cakes, duh!).  Place the crab cakes on a wax paper or foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle the crab cakes with Old Bay and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 

Do you see any filler here? 

Remove the crab cakes from the fridge and now your ready to cook!  Melt the butter in a heavy pan, preferably a iron skillet over medium heat.  Carefully, place the crab cakes in the pan and cook in batches, for about 5 to 7 miunutes per side.  Be careful when you flip the crab cakes over so that they do not break apart.  When the crab cakes are done, they should be well browned on the outside

Now, put on the O's game, pour yourself a Natty Boh and enjoy Hun!

Homemade Bagles

Fresh Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

I was snowed in the house sometime last year and was extremely bored.  I cracked open a cook book and found a recipe for bagels. To me, bagels were always something that you picked up at the store.  They were usually chewy, and you needed copious amounts of butter and cream cheese to mask the bland taste of the bagels.

These bagels are awesome!  Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.  You can get as creative as you want with these bagels.  I've made blueberry, chocolate chip and strawberry, onion, cinnamon-raisin and several other variates of bagels with this base recipe.  This is based off a recipe I found in Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything. The only special equipment you will need for this recipe is a spray bottle, a food processor and a baking stone (optional). 

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of instant yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar or maple syrup
1/4 cups water

Place the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process for 5 seconds.  With the food processor running, pour the water into the feed tube.  Let the food processor run for about 30 seconds or until a dough ball has formed.  At this point, there should be a nice slightly sticky, easy to handle dough ball in the food processor.  If the dough is too dry, add a little bit of water.  If it's too wet, add some more flour.  Now remove the dough from the food processor and place it on a floured surface.  Knead the dough by hand for a minute or so. 

If you are going to add extra ingredients to your bagels, now is the time to add them.  While kneading the dough, work your favorite flavorings into the dough.  If you are adding fresh fruit, you may need to add some additional flour to the dough due the the release of the juice in the fruit.  My personal favorite are fresh blueberries!

Place the dough in a large non-reactive bowl and cover with a towel.  Allow the dough to rise for about 2 hours.  If you are not going to cook the bagels right away, you can place the dough in the refrigerator overnight, letting the dough come back up to room temperature before proceeding the next day.  What I usually do is set my alarm extra early, take the dough out of the fridge and then go back to bed!

Now it's time to practice your karate skills.  Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface.  Punch the dough ball gently so that it deflates.  Cover with a towel and let sit for 10 minutes.  Now it's time to make the bagels!  Break the dough in 8 to 12 equal pieces.  Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke a hole in each dough ball and then working from the outside, in, shape the dough into a bagel like shape.  Once your bagels are formed, lightly flour them, let them rest, covered with a towel, on your work surface, for 30 minutes.

Bagels in the hot tub

In a large pot, boil water.  Place your baking stone in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.  Drop the bagels one at a time into the boiling water but don't overcrowd them.  The bagels will drop to the bottom of the pot but they will surface in about 20 seconds or so.  Boil the bagels for about 1 minute per side then take them out and place them on a greased wire rack.

Post soak on the wire rack

If you don't have a baking stone, grease a baking sheet.  Fill your spray bottle with water and spray water into the oven.  Place the bagels on the hot baking stone or baking sheet and place on the middle rack in the oven.  After 5 minutes, spray some more water in the oven to create steam.  This is what will give the bagels a nice crispy crust.  Continue baking the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are browned.  Remove from the oven and place the bagels on a wire rack.  Spray them with water and allow to cool on the wire rack.  Now your ready to top them with copious amounts of butter and cream cheese and enjoy!

Some bagel flavor ideas:
Blueberry
Strawberry and chocolate chip 
Rosemary and Olive Oil
Cheese
Cinnamon Raisin
Sauteed Onion
Be creative, the options are endless!