Bruschetta- Recipe

Overall Rating: 5

He said: 8. I've been eating this girl's food for a minute now and this simple dish is BY FAR my favorite. The first time she made it I honestly had ten before the meal was even finished. THERE IS EVERYTHING TO LOVE ABOUT THIS ISH: toast, cheese, prosciutto, roasted tomatoes and greens. The roasted tomatoes are good enough to eat by themselves (I practically ate two whole tomatoes while she was prepping/not paying attention). I know she loves me when she makes this food.

She said:  5. This has become one of my favorite recipes; since first making it for Kevin last Tuesday, I've already made it two other times (once for myself, and the other for my family and Kevin's). I'm a big fan of bruschetta (I'll often times order it as my meal), so I was thrilled to find my own bruschetta recipe that others really seemed to enjoy. Olive oil and garlic are two of my favorite things to cook with, and there are a lot of both in this recipe. The roasted tomatoes are to die for, and the rosemary makes the kitchen smell delectable. The appearance is also great, I love the colors and the bite-sized pieces. It's relatively easy to make, using many ingredients that you may already have. Filing this one under my go-to crowd pleaser recipes.

Price: $

Level of easiness: Easy

Good for: Big groups, friends, family, appetizers, parties, dinner dates

Would we make it again?: Heck yes

Date tried: 3/2/2011

Recipe adapted from: http://susikochenundbacken.blogspot.com/2010/07/bruschetta-with-rosemary-roasted-pum.html?showComment=1299540930323

Notes: I tried them once without the prosciutto (Kevin ate it all), and while it was still good, it's definetly not 5 star-worthy, so be sure to include a good prosciutto.

Kev's big mouth impatiently sneaking bruschetta before dinner.

We first tried this recipe alongside an Italian sausage pasta (recipe here) and red wine (awesome Spanish wine from Trader Joes, La Granja). Great combo.

Bruschetta with Rosemary, Roasted Plum Tomatoes, Ricotta, and Prosciutto

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil (the more the better, for dipping bread in while waiting)

2 large garlic cloves, minced (I tend to add more, no such thing as too much garlic)

2-3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 large plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise

12 1/2-inch-thick diagonally cut baguette slices (each 3 to 4 inches long)

12 tablespoons ricotta cheese, divided

6 thin prosciutto slices, cut in half crosswise

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup baby arugula

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Stir 6 tablespoons oil, garlic, rosemary, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in large bowl to blend. Add tomato quarters and stir to coat. Let stand 5 minutes. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Lift tomatoes from marinade and arrange, cut side down, on prepared baking sheet (reserve marinade for toasts).

Roast tomatoes until skin is browned and blistered and tomatoes are very tender, about 35 minutes. Cool tomatoes on sheet. Maintain oven temperature.

Meanwhile, arrange bread slices on another rimmed baking sheet. Brush top of each with reserved marinade (including garlic and rosemary bits).

Roast bread until top is golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool toasts on sheet.

Spread 1 tablespoon ricotta cheese on each toast; sprinkle with pepper. Fold prosciutto halves over and place on ricotta. Arrange 2 tomato quarters atop prosciutto. Whisk lemon juice and remaining 1 teaspoon oil in medium bowl to blend; season with salt and pepper. Add microgreens (or baby arugula) and toss to coat. Top bruschetta with greens. Arrange on platter and serve.

Baked French Toast- Recipe

Overall Rating: 3.65

He said: 3.5 This dish definitely has potential but I think where we might have dropped the ball was in waiting too long to bake it. We (a.k.a. she) made it friday night for the next morning but we arrived at our destination too late in the day to justify baking french toast so we put it away for Sunday morning. If you're serving a finickey eater (like my brother) be sure to negotiate the sogginess issue as the middle of this dish tended to be a bit eggy. The redeeming aspect of this dish was the DELICIOUS praline topping via (my side mistress) Paula Dean that was rich enough to substitute for the maple syrup (which I used just for good measure). If this had not been a community dish and we were not feeding 7 other people I would have definitely gone back for 3rds/4ths/5ths/etc...

She said:  3.8 This was relatively easy to make, and seemed to please the crowd. We were heading up to the mountains for the weekend, and I wanted something easy to pop in the oven, and to feed a group of people (kids AND adults). I did alter it a little bit, as Paula Dean isn't the healthiest of cooks {whatevs}, but most of it remained the same. See recipe below.

Price: $

Level of easiness: Easy

Good for: Big groups, brunch, families, friends

Would we make it again?: Heck yes

Date tried: 2/19/2011

Recipe adapted from: Paula Dean http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-french-toast-casserole-with-maple-syrup-recipe2/index.html

Recipe adapted from Paula Dean, but altered (photo via):

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf French bread
• 6-7 large eggs
• 1.5 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt
• Praline Topping (see recipe below)
• Maple syrup (I didn't add it to mine, but Buddy the Elf Kevin did)

Praline Topping:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.
• (this recipe makes more than enough to cover the entire casserole; I didn't use all of it)

Directions:

• Slice french bread into 17-20 slices, apx. 1-inch each. Fill a buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish with the slices in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. 
• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and then wisk until blended but not too bubbly.
• Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices (This is really important!).
• Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Notes:

Make sure that you cut the bread into thick slices, or else the casserole will be watery (thicker slices will soak it up). The next morning before putting it into the oven, spread the liquids around to ensure that all of the bread is covered, and that it's not swimming in juices. Don't underbake, or it becomes soggy.

Enjoy!