Spaghetti

Before I start I do apologize for not having progression pictures on this post. The kitchen was intense on this night but yet another great meal came out of Ross Barr.

From top to bottom we start with a chicken roll-up. Butterflied chicken breast rolled with fresh mozzarella, diced tomatoes and basil; I used panko breading with a few herbs to coat the chicken. Slices of the roll-up rested over spaghetti tossed in a roasted tomato pesto cream sauce. Traditional basil pesto that I added roasted tomatoes to; I simmered that pesto in heavy cream for about 15 minutes to yield a creamy sauce. And that’s pretty much it. I really enjoyed this dish.

Empanadas

Empanadas! This was a quick and easy recipe taking no shortcuts on flavor.

Fillings for empanadas range from pork to beef and I’ve even seen a few seafood empanadas. I chose to go with a chicken and potato empanada

After roasting yukon gold potatoes and chicken thighs I diced both sautéed red peppers and onions and there’s my filling.

Safe to say this is when I took a detour from the traditional approach. Instead of making my own empanada dough I used puff pasty. I love the light flakiness of puff pasty and since I baked my empanadas instead of frying them this dough was best.

I made a sriracha aioli using mayo, garlic powder and sriracha (a Thai hot sauce with a big flavor)

CHOPPED!!!!

One of my favorite shows on food network is Chopped. Four not so famous chefs compete by making meals from a mystery basket of ingredients. The thing I love about this show the most is how they’re able to transform the ingredients into these unbelievable dishes. With all that said, I decided to give the mystery basket a try!

As you see we have french fries, cranberry juice, Italian sausages and balsamic vinegar. And here we go.

First thing I did was dice the fries and heat them up in a sauté pan, adding diced tomatoes and parsley to help with color and flavoring. Once my potato mixture was heated through I set it aside to let it cool down and them added an egg as my binder. From there I rolled my potato mix out into a nice flat sheet. The next step was to remove the the sausage from the casings. The sausages were well seasoned so I didn’t add anything to them I simply made a layer of the sausage on top of the potato mix. I rolled it up and baked it off. While that was going I started to reduce my cranberry juice and balsamic vinegar into a sauce.

The toughest part of this was naming the dish. So what we is a Italian sausage potato roll up with a balsamic cranberry reduction. I definitely would’ve won that round.

My Ultimate Chicken Club

Recently my meals have started getting extravagant in presentation and difficult in preparation. With this meal I wanted to take it back to the almighty sandwich yet with The Ross Barr flare.

This sandwich had everything I could dream of. Starting with my foundation over the past few months I’ve started to drift away from traditional sandwich bread to upgrade to fresh bread from a bakery. I wasn’t able to make my own pesto but buying a jar of it has to suffice until I get a brender, taking a couple of scoops of pesto mixed with mayo and we have pesto-mayo my spread of choice. With every meal I try to follow the simple rule of one starch, one green and a protein; with respect to that my green of choice was spinach and I doubled up on protein with a chicken breast and a fried egg. I cut and added ground black pepper to fresh mozzarella. Last is my favorite veggie-fruit tomato. A sandwich stacked this tall wouldn’t fit in a panini maker so I grilled each side. The grilling helped with two things, first to melt the cheese and add those beautiful grill marks on the bread.

The Ross Barr goes to Bosnia

This entire meal is dedicated to my friend my PIC Tea Hadzic. Without even asking for her help she has done so much for the establishment of The Ross Barr, the least I could do is make a traditional Bosnian meal in honor of her. Tonight I prepared a shopska salad and cevapi on pita with ajvar, onions and kajmar. I can easily say I don’t have the best knowledge of Bosnian food and I was a bit nervous going into this meal but everything came out better than I could’ve imagined.

Through research I found out that cevapi is a very popular Bosnian dish. After tonight I can see why this meal is so beloved. Once I took my first bite I had to call Tea just to tell her how amazing it was. Ajvar is a roasted red pepper spread and kajmar resembles a mix between cottage cheese and sour cream. I threw a few red onions to top it off and that sealed the deal!
I am very proud of how my shopska salad came out. A picture perfect plate that taste as good as it looks. When I first saw this recipe I told myself “maybe I choose my own dressing.” I couldn’t have been more wrong, this salad is full of so much flavor on its own dressing wasn’t needed. I will definitely be making this salad again within the next week.

Cevapi is best described as a Balkan grilled minced meat. The prep involved with this meal was pretty quick. The recipe for cevapi call for ground beef and ground lamb, diced garlic, diced parsley, half a medium yellow onion and finished with salt and pepper.

The word “salad” come from the Latin word “herba salta” or salted herbs. The shopska salad is without a doubt an amazing salad. I started with peeling the chopping one large cucumber, next I chopped two Roma tomatoes. Three tablespoons of chopped spring onions and green peppers added a nice depth of flavor. Last vegetable to show up to the party was fire roasted red bell peppers. Tossed everyone together and topped with crumbled feta cheese. I absolutely loved this meal!

Prijatno!

Indian Manhattan

I love putting my twist on a classic. Om my jean wearing days you’ll find me with a Sapphire and tonic at the bar but if the bowtie is on then my cocktail of choice is a perfect Makers Manhattan on the rocks no cherry.
The Ross Barr newest creation is the Indian Manhattan. The Indian inspiration comes from basil leaves muddled in the beginning. I packed the glass with ice, added Maker Mark and sweet vermouth. Finally I topped it off with lemonade and gave it a good shake. If you ever find your way down to The Ross Barr make sure you order one.

French Toast and HOMEMADE Whipped Cream

I don’t always eat breakfast but when I do I make sure it french toast.

Tonight started out just as a test run on making whipped cream. Who knew it would end up with such an amazing meal? French toast made with french baguette, the star of the show my homemade whipped cream and the always faithful duo of strawberries and blueberries.

I normally used traditional white sandwich bread when I make french toast, but after using this baguette I’ll never go back. I kept the seasoning simple with cinnamon and nutmeg. After letting each side soak for about two minutes we were set to cook.

Now on to my pride and joy. I’ve never made whipped cream before but from working in a restaurant I know there’s a big difference from when it’s freshly made versus out of a can. Like anything else I try for the first time, I researched making whipped cream on YouTube until I thought I had it. First time was a charm. Flavored with confectioner’s sugar and a dash of vanilla extract I have to say this was the best whipped cream I’ve ever had. Tonight was yet another successful night at The Ross Barr.

Strawberries Strawberries Strawberries

I have no clue where the urge the make chocolate covered strawberries came from but for two nights in a row it was strawberry mania.

This was my first time making chocolate covered strawberries and I did a pretty good job. Half on this plate were dripped in milk chocolate with white chocolate strips and opposite for the others.

On my second night I toasted coconut flakes (remember my coconut shrimp???? Mmmmmm) and for the chocolate I went with a mix of dark and milk chocolate for a richer taste.

Last Night…

This is not a blog to bash restaurants at all BUT I recently dined at Velocity 5 and I give their menu two thumbs down, Ok maybe not the entire menu. For an appetizer I ordered coconut shrimp and I have to say these were the worst coconut shrimp I have ever had. So I took it upon myself to redeem the name of coconut shrimp and here we go!

The coconut shrimp came out great! My only real problem was maintaining the temp of my oil when frying I don’t fry that much but this was the practice I needed. And my amazing mango-pineapple salsa that had mango, pineapple, jalapeños, cilantro, red onions and coconut milk

This was yet another labor intensive menu to prep. From peeling and deveining the shrimp to probably the most difficult part my mango-pineapple salsa.

I’ve had many different mango salsas. But it wasn’t until my great friend Breauna (also the reason I have this blog) told me about a mango pineapple salsa she saw with coconut milk. I took her suggestions and I let it inspire me from there.

I call her “Cosmorita”

Sex in the City goes to Mexico. Cosmopolitan is a pretty popular cocktail but most recently I’ve seen a rising popularity of Margaritas (within my generation). I took both and here we go: Cosmorita.

A traditional Cosmo has vodka, triple sec, lime juice and a splash of cranberry. with this twist I switched the vodka with a silver tequilla and added some sour mix to help remind the taste buds of a margarita. And VOILA!