St Patrick's Day Twists

 Corned beef and cabbage along with soda bread are traditional St Patrick's Day dishes.Yet it's time to change it up a bit. Shake up tradition with delicious spins on these foods and others.

Corned beef sliders are a better choice than just the slices served with cabbage. You can added cabbage, just shred it. Sauerkraut can also work well here or sauteed cabbage. This is just sauteing the leaves in a mix of olive oil and butter>Leave out the salt when seasoning because the corned beef is salty as is. What rolls should you put the filling on? Hawaiian rolls are good. Their sweetness counteracts the saltiness of the corned beef and the sauerkrauts' tanginess. Regular slider rolls work too.For a fun St Paddy's Day brunch try a conred beef strata. This is made not with cabbage but tasty layers of spinach and cheese.It's like a savory egg custard with layers of corned beef ,spinach and cheese. If you want cabbage to go with it. then think a light coleslaw .If you want a quicker meal then air fry the corned beef and cabbage. Doing such will also give the meal a light crunch too.

Most home bakers will be baking a loaf ro two of Irish soda bread tomorrow. Any homemade loaf is tasty but how about changing it up a bit? Try the recipe as muffins. THis makes for a great side to the corned beef and cabbage or perfect on their own with butter as a light dessert afterwards. You could also try Ballymaloe brown bread which is an easy dense loaf and slightly different than soda bread. The New York Times Food section published the recipe on Wednesday and it's an easy bake that requires just yeast, water and molasses mixed in with whole wheat flour and Kosher salt. THis is perfect for those next day sandwiches too. Colcannon that wonderful mix of mashed potatoes , spinach and garlic can also benefit from a twist. Try fried colcannon balls for a tasty spin. Add a center of sharp cheddar for a flavorful side or hors d'ouevre. They're formed int balls and dipped first in egg and then breadcrumbs. Use panko if you want,.

Update these St Paddy's Day treats with new spins. The result is tasty alternatives that make the meal sing. They're fun and perfect for a day of celebrating.

A Schnitzel With Kick

 Everyone loves Weiner schnitzel and who wouldn't? It's a a delicately flavored veal coated in bread crumbs and then fried. Yet imagine it with a kick - a splash of vodka that makes it even better. Yes, this is not the traditional staple of Vienna anymore. It's been elevated to another level.

Chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the one behind this transformation and he wrote about it in yesterday's New York Times Food section.He developed this recipe for his San Mateo California beer garden Wursthall. This is more of a fusion restaurant than a truly German one. Chef Lopez Alt also serves chorizo and Korean hot chicken sandwiches. Yet he shines at the Teutonic dishes. He cooks the schnitzel in the same way that Harold Dieterle did at his late and much lamented restaurant Manhattan restaurant Marrow. Chef Dieterle cooked pounded duck breasts in a puffed crust, a German method known as soufflieren that coaxes the breading away from the meat. The meats then becomes well insulated by a layer of air while the extremely hot fat cooks the crust to a delicate crispness that's also rich in flavor. Yet Chef Lopez-Alt adds vodka - about a quarter of a cup of the eighty proof kind. It's brushed on both sides of the meat before breading. Doing such evaporates any water making for the puffiest crust ever. It's not unlike British chef  Heston Blumenthal's recipe for his fish and chips which also has a lighter crust. Chef Lopez-Alt also does this for his tempura recipe.

Yet the other ingredients in schnitzel should also be top notch. You can use veal but also consider center loin pork chops too. Just keep pounding them until smooth and then whack with the back of a knife after pounding for more texture. The next ingredient is the flour. Chef Lopez-Alt says stick with regular flour used for baking. It's the eggs that are added that can be controversial.Some say they should be lightly beaten.Other  like You Tuber Kein Stress Kochen recommends beating the eggs until they're completely smooth. You can also add oil to them as the editors at Cooks Illustrated, Keith Dresser and Steven Dunn do. There should be four to five in the batter. Then there are the crumbs that make up the crust. They should be finely milled to hold in the moisture. The canned ones should do fine. You can use panko but they have to be ground to produce a finer, more floury type texture. What should the schnitzel be fried in? Oil and plenty of it.The pieces have to swim because it can be bad if they touch the pan.The crust will stick and burn onto it. You can use clarified butter but peanut,canola and even rice bran work. Just swirl the meat constantly in it for evenly cooked and browned pieces.

The perfect schnitzel has the perfect kick - vodka. This ensures a puffy crust that is the dish's signature along with an even more delicious flavor. Try it for a truly tasty Viennese delight.

The Joy Of Portabella Mushrooms

There is a threat of meat shortages. May steak lovers are worried about that , afraid they may not get a juicy bite. However they can go the vegan steak route. Try portabella mushrooms. They're the perfect sub in and much more humane alternative to a T-bone.

I recently discovered how delicious air fried portabella mushrooms are. In fact, I'm now thoroughly addicted to them.I  don't know why it took me almost a year and a half to discover that they and my air fryer are a perfect match. Not only that , they're easy to prepare and cook up.I was kind of leery about washing them and the amount of dirt that would come out of them. That was wrongful thinking. Not much sand or grit comes out of them and washing them again is simple. It's taking a paper towel and wetting it.Wring it out thoroughly and then gently clean the mushroom top or cap. Some of the "skin" will rub off, Not to worry : this will happen. Then turn the mushroom over and clean the gills, those divisions under the cap. You can run warm water on them to get rid of anything between them. Again gently rub the gills clean. Use a fresh wet paper towel  for each one. You can then pat them dry again with a new paper towel. I usually leave mine  wet. The better to absorb the spices and oil.

You can leave the mushrooms plain however spicing and flavoring adds to them. I usually first brush both sides with olive oil.It's then a liberal sprinkle of both onion and garlic powder and a sprinkle of dried oregano. A light pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper can be added too. It's then air frying them on one side for eight minutes at 370 degrees F. After the first eight minutes, flip them over and air fry for another eight minutes at 370 degrees F. If you 're cooking a bigger portabella, then cook at 400 degrees F. Another idea is to stuff them with a variety of different ingredients. One recipe calls for cream cheese, frozen spinach and bacon along with Panko breadcrumbs and sliced cherry tomatoes. Keep in mind that these are baked and not air fried. They're  placed on a grease cookie sheet and put into a 400 degree F oven for ten minutes. A lusher version subs in crab meat for the bacon. You can also slice the mushrooms and put them in tacos and burritos for a fun bite.

Portabella mushrooms are the new steaks. They are delicious air fried  or stuffed, served with spices or crabmeat. Try them and be addicted to their delicious flavor and meatiness.

The Perfect Panko Crumb

Pereg has always been known for their variety of spices. Now they've expanded into bread crumbs.As with their other products, the panko crumbs are perfect for breading.

I decided to tr it on what else? Cauliflower. It was first parboiled,

It was then shocked in an ice water bath. while it was chilling - literally - I made the batter.It was the usual half cup water, half cup almond milk and three quarters of a cup of  flour. I also added a good dash of both onion and garlic powders.

These are onion and garlic powder.Then it was on the a dredge in the panko crumbs.

I decided to try the whole wheat. 

This is precooked. 

And afterwards. The crumbs stuck on  rather nicely.

The florets were crunchy and browned. I think in the future I'll try an egg wash before dredging. I also tried the sweet chili flavor too which added zing to the florets.

If you want a good crust on anything, then try Pereg's Panko breadcrumbs. They're the perfect coating to veggies, fish or meats. Try them and taste their crunchy goodness.

Sheet Pan Dinners With A Twist

One of the latest trends in home cooking right now is sheet pan meals. These are an easy cook and mix of the main meal and sides. Now there's another layer added to this - pasta. It gives a new texture and taste to a popular dish.

Melissa Clark decided to tackle this and write about it in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Any sheet pan meal is an easy make.It's just spreading out your desired ingredients on a baking sheet that's usually reserved for cookies and square  pizzas. She makes a roasted broccoli pasta. This is unusual in the sense that the main ingredient isn't a meat such as chicken or pork but pasta. Ms. Clark uses chiocciole , a  macaroni shaped kind, however, home chefs can also use fusilli or ziti.Using pasta does require the extra step of boiling it, but then it's really no different than boiling the wide noodles for lasagna. Vegetables are a must for any sheet pan meal. Broccoli is used because it roasts well,,with the florets becoming crispy. That and the pasta, which will become crisp too will pair nicely with the addition of fresh ricotta.The cheese will burnish and caramelize.Ms. Clark also adds a good sprinkling of Parmesan spiked breadcrumbs and lemon zest for more zing.

Even novice home chefs can create this tasty dish, perfect for a weekday dinner or weekend lunch.It does start off with a very hot oven. Ms. Clark recommends a 425 degree Farenheit oven Use a rimmed baking sheet. The broccoli is tossed with olive oil along with red pepper flakes, a pinch of sea salt  and cumin for flavor( you can swap out the pepper if it proves to be too spicy). Roast until tender and brown between eighteen and twenty-five minutes. Toss halfway through to make sure that all the florets are evenly cooked. The sheet pan is removed from the oven and it's time to turn on the broiler. At this point, the pasta should be boiled and then drained.It's also at this time that the
 breadcrumbs have to be spiced. Ms. Clark uses panko bread crumbs but I don't see why regular or homemade ones can 't be used. Toss the breadcrumbs with the grated Parmesan,  lemon zest and salt and pepper. The pasta and broccoli are then tossed together on the pan then dollops of  the ricotta is added..It's then sprinkled with the breadcrumbs , along with getting a generous drizzle of olive oil. Broil for about two to three minutes or until browned and crisped. It's served with a squirt of lemon juice. Other veggies such as cauliflower and eggplant can be subbed in for the broccoli  while Camembert can be used for the ricotta.

A sheet pan meal is an easy meal. Add pasta to make it special and tastier. It's a nice spin on a new trend.