Pizza's Turn to Cook

This one is a little late coming. I been a bit busy lately and by busy I mean lazy hihi! Don't worry though, because I been lazy I have quite a few things to post about.
This time it was Pizza's turn to cook for me and boy was I excited. It was Monday so I was working most of the day, but I would be home in time to watch her finish up the last bit of cooking. It was really nice to come home to babez cooking for me; very domestic like. It felt like something out of a 50's tv show: "honey, I'm home! What's for dinner?". So here is how the night went down. To start off, Pizza made a spicy sweet potato soup:

Serves 6
Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

¼ cup olive oil
2 large red onions, peeled and chopped
5 cups vegetable stock
2 large sweet potatoes, washed and grated
1 Tbs hot sliced peppers in oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
Salt, to taste

The Garnish
Smoked Gouda, thinly sliced
1 pinch paprika

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute for about 5 min.
2. Add the vegetable stock and grated potatoes. Stir.
3. Reduce heat to med-low once it starts to simmer. Add sliced peppers, paprika, cinnamon and salt. Stir.
4. Let it simmer until potatoes have softened, about 5-10 min.
5. Puree with any blender until very smooth.
6. Adjust consistency by adding a little water, if necessary



Pizza: "This soup was adapted from Michael Smith's Chef at Home Recipe. It turned out great! Other that the fact that grating sweet potatoes is labor intensive, it still was pretty easy to make. Not too spicy with a hint of cinnamon, without overpowering the main ingredient: Yummy sweet potatoes. The texture was nice, but could have used a little more water, barely though. The scent this soup gives off is so stimulating! I will definitely make it again."

Panda: "Omg! This soup is so delicious! I could have eaten the whole 6 servings in one sitting and if it weren't for the fact that she had made a main course, I would have. Just the right amount of spiciness and sweetness (helps that I go crazy for spicy food and looooove sweet potatoes!). The smoked Gouda is the perfect garnish. We mixed it in to the hot soup and it melted just enough that every spoonful of soup had a bit of Gouda in it and it was divine. I totally want to have this again... SOON!!!"

For the main, Pizza made:

Pennoni (or Manicotti) stuffed with Tofu Spinach

Serves 3

18 Pennoni shells (or more commonly about 6 manicotti shells)
1 package silken extra-firm tofu, rinsed and drained
¼ cup water
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
2 cups chopped spinach
¼ cup Parmesan

Topping
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 small red onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms
½ zucchini
½ green pepper
½ acorn squash
300g tomato sauce
½ tsp dried basil
1/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Cook pasta shells in boiling water until half done, about 6 minutes. Drain and run under cold water in strainer.
2. Combine tofu, water, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and spinach, use a blender until desired creaminess.
3. Stuff each shell with creamy spinach and place in a baking dish. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. For the sauce, heat oil in a medium skillet. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms, saute for 2 min. Add zucchini, peppers and acorn squash.
5. Stir in the tomato sauce, water and basil. Cover and let simmer for 10 mins.
6. Put the sauce over the pasta shells, cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.



Pizza: "This recipe is longer than it looks because of all the prepping, and is not worth the hard work. I had to use the tofu up since it was going to expire, but if I had to make this again I’d use ricotta instead and use different spices. I found it quite bland and wasn’t satisfied. I gotta say that it was a really healthy meal though! LoL"

Panda: "This main definitely was not my favorite. The veggies on top were delicious, but they would probably even be better alone. As pizza said, the rest of it was very very bland and if we were to make it again it would be seasoned differently. Not enough taste."

Lastly was the dessert. Pizza got Ice cream (Vanilla, half the fat, Hagen Daaz) and made a balsamic glaze mixed with strawberries to go with it:

Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients:
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 pints strawberries, hulled and cut length-wise into 1/4 inch thick slices (small strawberries can be halved or quartered)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
Whole pecans

Instructions:
Bring the vinegar, granulated sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the syrup is reduced by half (to approximately 3 tablespoons) about 3 minutes. Transfer the vinegar syrup to a small bowl to cool completely.

With a spoon, lightly toss the berries and brown sugar in a large bowl. Let stand until the sugar dissolves and the berries exude some juice, 10 to 15 minutes.

Pour the vinegar syrup over the berries
Divide the strawberries among individual bowls or goblets and serve immediately. Sprinkle with pecans and serve with vanilla ice cream.

(Source: DianasDesserts.com)
Makes 6 servings.




Pizza: "Balsamic vinegar is my favorite type of vinegar and I’ve never used it in a dessert. Once again, I saw Michael Smith used it on top of ice cream and have wanted to try it so bad. This was the perfect time to do so and when I went to the grocery store, I got worried the strawberries would look bad but they were just right. It was just perfectly sweet! Loved every bite!"

Panda: "This was delicious as well. A great finish for this meal. The syrup had this amazingly tangy sweetness to it that is to die for, I wanted more after it was done. And the cold, light flavor of the ice cream paired with it very well. The strawberries were perfect; Not overpowered by syrup but rather complimented by it. And the pecans... well who doesn't love pecans? They go so well with ice cream."

:) Panda