Birthday Weekend Project

Though I could have the “perfect” excuse from Uncle Sam, my past weekend gourmet cooking project went on as planned - in a way.  Thanks to my husband’s 4x birthday.  I did manage to make him a gourmet meal on Sunday as his special pro-birthday gift.  I originally planned to make him a chocolate cheesecake, beside the gourmet meal, instead of a store-bought birthday cake.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), I had to abort that plan due to the fact that a “Hollywood” star might be born to the family.   Who’s that?  Well, let me explain that in more details later.

Weeks ago, I came across a recipe with an amazingly beautiful and intriguing photo of the finished product.  I instantly decided to take it upon myself and make an attempt to make it.  The recipe is called Inside-out Eggplant Parmigiana.  Judging simply by the picture, it could be a one of those very complicated recipes.  However, once my mind is made up for doing something, nothing (or no one) could get in my way.  There was an ingredient I was not familiar with but I know I could substitute it with something I was familiar with.  After all, the exact though to myself was: if I could just present half as beautiful as what’s shown in the photo, I was sure I would have impressed my husband far more than he had ever expected.

The unfamiliar ingredient in the recipe was arugula.  I knew it’s a plant but had no idea what kind of plant that was.  So, I substituted it with spinach.  I tried to look for some cold, fresh mozzarella cheese from a deli section of a grocery store but had no luck.  So, I bought a package from a refrigerator section instead.  I found the biggest biscuit cutter in the house to cut circles out of those square-shaped mozzarella slices.  The cut-out cheese circles matched perfectly with the sliced eggplant circles.  As to the tomato sauce, I have to be honest.  I didn’t make it from scratch even though that's what the recipe asked for originally.  I had a jar of regular tomato sauce.  So, I just dressed it up with a few sprinkle of finely chopped fresh cilantro and onion.  I let it simmer on low heat with a lid on while I was prepping for other things (you do want to make sure the tomato sauce was covered with a lid while cooking on a stove unless you don’t mind red or orange stains all over the stovetop).  The key is: the longer the tomato sauce is cooked, the better it would taste.
  

 

The actual cooking process was honestly not as complicated as I suspected originally.  All I had to do was to follow instructions step-by-step and stack ingredients up one-by-one in the correct order.  However, I did miscalculate on the portion of pancake mixture and ended up making more pancakes than slices of eggplant.  So, instead of making a 3-level eggplant tower with one piece of pancake as the foundation, I made it into a 2-level one only.  I very much wish I could have enough eggplants to top the tower but oh well...next time then.  I named it Eggplant Bungalow instead of Eggplant Tower as you can imagine why.  I have to say though.  The pancake foundation had turned out to be extremely successful.  It looked and tasted exactly like what I had planned for.  The “Bungalow” impressed the hell out of my husband in every possible way: look, smell and taste.

  

Now, back to the story about having a possible “Hollywood” star in the family.  Actually that was me - or lest I have tried.  I went to casting calls for an extra in the upcoming Iron Men 3 last Saturday, which was my husband’s birthday.  One of my girlfriends told me about the opportunity and which was specifically looking for someone who has Chinese descent.  I couldn’t pass up the rare opportunity so I went.  I had to wait 4 long hours for my turn just to submit my application form and glamour shot (which I took it at one of those funny photo booths in the mall because I was so unprepared and went without a photo of myself).  Nevertheless, those 4 long hours I should have used it to make a birthday cheesecake.  In easing my guilt, I bought the birthday boy a 6-inch (smallest) chocolate mousse cheesecake at the nearby Cheesecake Factory at a hefty price, $20.  I can't buy him the biggest one for it could have cost me at least $60.  Though the cheesecake was small, at least he’s the only eating it.  Both Ms. Lola the cat and I are allergic to chocolate. 

I did promise him a homemade cheesecake for our upcoming 6th wedding anniversary.  I mean it’ll be a $60 one.

The Ultimate Magical Rings

There are two beauites of this recipe.  The first one is its simplicity. 

Crescent roll dough is the ultimate foundation for creating this recipe.  By simply gazing at the photo, one might think it's too complicated to make.  However, it is actually one of those very simple yet gourmet type of dishes.  I spent most of the prep time in to chopping ingredients into fine pieces.  Otherwise, it was all about following steps and applying one ingredient one at a time.  The only tricky thing about this recipe, for me, was to figure out how to open that darn can of dough.  (Don't laugh because I know for sure I wasn't the only one.)  The first time I tried to open one of those suckers, the dough, with no warning given, bursted out on one side of the can like a volcano eruption.  Thank God I eventually figured out the opening "secret" and no more unwanted lava to collect.

  

The other beauty of this recipe is its flexibility.  The fact that I can actually create so many different recipes based upon its fundamental one.  I can substitute the original recipe with different types of meat or veggies.  I can adjust the portion size of the recipe by increasing or decreasing the amount of dough, depending on how many "starving ghosts" I need to feed at the time.  This recipe can be served as breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.  It can even serve as a dessert by substituting it with sweet ingredients.  This recipe is like a chameleon.  It could effortlessly blend into our unique situation and state of mood at any given time. 

There is one good tip for this recipe.  If you have one of those pizza stones, use it for this recipe.  It will be much easier to bake and yield much better result. 

So far, I have made two different recipes (see photos shown below).  One I called it Bacon and Cheese Magic Ring.  The other one I called it Chicken and Cheese Magic Ring.   A seafood one and a dessert one are in the making, as soon as I finalize the ingredients.  Stay tuned.

Bacon and Cheese Magic Ring

Chicken and Cheese Magic Ring