Oaxaca cheese

In Skillets: Cheesy Sage Baked Rice

April 22, 2013 | 17 Comments

Well look-uh here, finishing up Skillet Week right on Earth Day… it’s almost like someone, you know, got their planning on!

I do find my skillet to be the most environmentally responsible tool that I have in my kitchen, mainly because it will last my lifetime and hopefully that of my cookin’ babies.

It also takes nothing more than natural oil and a clean, reusable cloth to maintain, and doesn’t emit anything other than delicious foodstuffs, unlike the toxic fumes that can be a byproduct of cooking with certain types of nonstick pots and pans.

So what better way to celebrate Earth Day tonight than by preparing a succulent cheese and rice casserole in your eco-friendly cast iron skillet? (Answer: there isn’t one.)

Filed Under: Side Dishes Tagged With: baked rice casserole, cheddar cheese, garlic, green onion, Monterey Jack cheese, mozzarella cheese, Oaxaca cheese, recipe, sage, savory

In Skillets: Spring Pea Quesadillas

April 18, 2013 | 13 Comments

Let’s face it: quesadillas are all kinds of messy. Which is why they’re the perfect candidate for skillet containment.

You could bake your quesadillas on a baking sheet. Sure, you could do that.

But let’s just sit for a spell, talking of skillets, and then see if you want to bust out that baking sheet. We’ll see…

Filed Under: Main Courses Tagged With: English peas, garlic, green onions, leek, Monterey Jack cheese, Oaxaca cheese, quesadillas, recipe, savory, shelled sweet peas

Butternut Chorizo Pizza

October 30, 2012 | 17 Comments

It has been my experience that being married to an Italian person requires a significant amount of time spent discussing pizza.

Prior to meeting A., I mistakenly believed that pizza was just the product of a very simple equation:

dough + sauce + cheese = pizza (The End.)

Oh, sweet mother of a pizzaiolo, how wrong I was.

First, you’ve got your Crustology: thin, thicker, thickest and baked in a pan, crispy, bubbled, or flavored (sacrilege!).

And the crust really can make or break a pie: it’s the vehicle for your goodness so it needs to be strong enough to travel well. But it can’t be so assertive as to steal the spotlight away from the toppings, right? Sì, signora.