Name: Grilled Naan Bread Pizza with Grape Tomatoes & Basil
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 4 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: canola or vegetable oil for the grill; 4 naan bread rounds; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 4 ounces mozzarella, grated (I used fresh but you could also use low-moisture); 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved; 1/4 cup chopped or julienned basil

Grilled Naan Bread Pizza with Grape Tomatoes & Basil

May 30, 2018

If you are like me, you can’t get enough grilling in the summer. What better way to hang out in the great outdoors, keep your kitchen cool, and get great tasting food? Grilled naan bread pizza is an easy crowd pleasing weeknight dinner!

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Who’s Responsible for the Grill?

I used to fall squarely into the trap of “men grill and women cook in the kitchen”. I just started grilling last summer, after almost 16 years of marriage. One day I just decided that it was summer and I wanted grilled food and since Philip’s schedule is too crazy for him to do much grilling I was going to have to do it myself!

Our grill went kaput at the end of the summer last year so we just got a new one. Cook’s Illustrated recommended the Weber Spirit E-310, but since it is just the two of us we decided that we didn’t need three burners. We went for the two-burner Weber E-210 instead and it has been great so far!

Grill All the Foods!

Speaking of Cook’s Illustrated, I got an America’s Test Kitchen book, Master of the Grill, to help me with cook times and ideas for the grill. I am sure that you will see me refer to it plenty of times over the summer! I have been putting everything I can think of on the grill. I make it a goal to never turn on my oven from May to October because it is so hot here. Grilling helps me accomplish that goal (I occasionally break the rule if I need to bake something in a pan that is too big to fit in my countertop oven).

Grilled Naan Bread Pizza

Costco sells giant packages of naan bread in the bakery section for just a few bucks and I love the stuff (if you happen to think ahead, though, this is an amazing recipe for homemade naan bread). I prefer it to storebought pita bread for dipping into hummus, and of course it is amazing with homemade curries (this butter chicken from HalfBaked Harvest is one of my personal favorites).

One of my very favorite ways to use this naan bread, though, is grilled naan bread pizza. I mean, what’s not to love about something that is (a) pizza; and (b) thrown together in less than 10 minutes on the grill? As in, you literally assemble it on the grill? Mine has grape tomatoes and basil, but you can customize this anyway you want.

Tips for Perfect Grilled Naan Bread Pizza

Don’t grill too hot! I preheated my grill to medium and honestly, I could have turned the heat down a little bit more and been in good shape
Get your ingredients ready before you put the pizzas on the grill. Once those bread rounds hit the grates, this is all going to go very quickly! I like to put everything in individual bowls and transport them on a cookie sheet to the grill.
Use plenty of oil! I clean my grill with a brush once it gets hot then I oil the grates with a wad of paper towels held on long tongs. Then I oil the naan bread too!
For extra non-stick insurance, use foil or parchment paper. For foods that might easily fall apart or that have toppings, I like to put a little square of foil or some parchment on the grill. The food will easily lift off of that without leaving behind half of your dinner!

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Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

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Mary

Yield: 4 servings

Grilled Naan Bread Pizza with Grape Tomatoes & Basil

10 minPrep Time:

4 minCook Time:

14 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

canola or vegetable oil for the grill
4 naan bread rounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces mozzarella, grated (I used fresh but you could also use low-moisture)
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped or julienned basil

Instructions

Preheat the grill to medium heat for fifteen minutes. Use a grill brush to clean the grates. Hold several paper towels folded or wadded in long grill tongs. Dip the paper towels into the canola or vegetable oil and thoroughly oil the grill grates.
Brush both sides of each piece of naan bread with olive oil. Place 4 sheets of aluminum foil or parchment paper on the grill and place a piece of naan on each piece. Cover and grill for two minutes.
Flip the naan bread rounds. Divide the mozzarella and halved tomatoes among the naan rounds. Cover and grill for an additional two minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Use a large grill spatula to carefully remove the pizzas from the grill. Top with the basil, slice, and serve.

Notes

Prep time includes active time to top the pizzas while they are on the grill.

https://chattavore.com/grilled-naan-bread-pizza-with-grape-tomatoes-basil/

Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole with Ham, Cheese, and Broccoli

May 9, 2018

Loaded with ham, Cheddar cheese, and broccoli, this Instant Pot breakfast casserole (or strata, if you will) comes together so quickly and is a perfect one-dish meal for breakfast or brunch…but no one will judge you if you eat it for lunch or dinner, either!

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Breakfast Casseroles are the Best!

Raise your hand if you love a one-dish breakfast?🙋🏻You guys know that I love my grandmother’s Christmas egg soufflé. When I set out to make an Instant Pot breakfast casserole, I knew that I wanted it to be even easier than that one, which is saying a lot.

I decided to go with ham instead of bacon or sausage, since it doesn’t need to be precooked. Combined with sturdy bread cubes (I went with tangy sourdough), smoked Cheddar (though you could certainly use regular), broccoli, and eggs, this breakfast casserole – or strata – took about fifteen minutes to throw together after dinner. I covered the dish with foil and stuck it in the fridge overnight.

This is a seriously simple “pot-in-pot” meal. Just pour a little water in the bottom of your Instant Pot, add the trivet, and set your baking dish or soufflé dish in a little sling made out of foil. A few minutes under high pressure and you have a perfectly baked egg casserole that is 100% customizable (don’t like broccoli? Leave it out! Prefer pepper Jack? Go for it! This breakfast casserole is your oyster!). Also, let’s take a quick second to address the elephant in the room: that broccoli is not pretty. I promise it was delicious and it wasn’t mushy!

For real, you guys. You can have this Instant Pot breakfast casserole however you want it. And trust me…you want it!

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

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Mary

Yield: 4-6 servings

Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole with Ham, Cheese, and Broccoli

15 minPrep Time:

35 minCook Time:

50 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

4 cups cubed sturdy bread (such as sourdough, ciabatta, or French baguette)
1 cup finely chopped broccoli
1 cup diced ham
1 cup Cheddar cheese (I used smoked Cheddar)
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

Combine the bread cubes, broccoli, ham, and 3/4 of the cheese in a large mixing bowl. Pour into an 8-quart soufflé dish or other round baking dish.
In the same bowl (there is no need to wipe it out first), whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour over the bread mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate overnight.
When ready to cook, pour 1 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the Instant Pot. Place the trivet in the Instant Pot. Make a foil sling by folding two 20-inch pieces of aluminum foil into thirds to make two long strips. Place the foil strips perpendicular to each other on top of the trivet.
Place the casserole dish into the Instant Pot on top of the foil sling. Fold the ends of the sling over so that they are not hanging out of the Instant Pot.
Place the lid on top of the Instant Pot and make sure that the pressure release valve is set to sealing. Select the pressure cook setting and set the time for 25 minutes. When the cook time is up, turn the Instant Pot off or unplug it. Allow the Instant Pot to depressurize naturally for 10 minutes then turn the pressure release valve to venting to release the remaining pressure.
Carefully use the aluminum foil sling to remove the casserole from the Instant Pot. Remove the foil and allow the casserole to stand for ten minutes before serving.

https://chattavore.com/instant-pot-breakfast-casserole-with-ham-cheese-and-broccoli/

Pimento Cheese Biscuits

May 1, 2018

Pimento cheese biscuits are just about as southern as you can get. They’re soft and fluffy and take approximately 2% more effort than a regular biscuit to make. They’re a great way to use up leftover pimento cheese (is that a thing?!?!?)!

Can you think of two foods that are more Southern than pimento cheese and biscuits?

I really can’t. Funny thing is that of course neither were invented here in the southeast part of the U.S. but certainly no one reveres these foods nowadays like we do around these parts.

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a bowl of pimento cheese biscuit dough with a pastry blender

A bowl of unmixed pimento cheese biscuit dough

Can you get any more southern than pimento cheese and biscuits? Pimento cheese biscuits are the perfect way to use up leftover pimento cheese and they are great ANY TIME of day! | Recipe from Chattavore.com #baking #southernfood #pimentocheese #biscuits

Pimento cheese is one of those foods that I cannot keep in the house if I don’t want to be constantly dipping a cracker or a pretzel or a tortilla chip or just a spoon into it every. single. time. that I open the refrigerator. And biscuits…well, they’re my typical Sunday morning breakfast. Nothing better than biscuits with some Kerrygold.

I mean, unless it’s pimento cheese biscuits with Kerrygold.

Pimento cheese biscuits are a great way to use up leftover pimento cheese, but if you, like me, do not know the meaning of the term “leftover pimento cheese”, then by all means make some (here’s my recipe) or buy it especially for this purpose. I promise, pimento cheese biscuits take only about 2% more effort than regular old buttermilk biscuits.

The tricks to making perfect pimento cheese biscuits:

Good ol’ Southern flour made with soft white winter wheat. White Lily is always in my pantry and Martha White will work as well. If you are not fortunate enough to have grocery store access to this, this thread from Chowhound recommends using half all-purpose flour and half cake flour.
Make sure that the butter and the pimento cheese are cold. I take them out of the fridge right before I make the biscuit dough.
I always use full-fat buttermilk to make my biscuits, but if you don’t have it you can use heavy cream, half and half, or milk (preferably whole milk).
Fold your biscuit dough to get flaky layers better than any remade biscuit ever thought about having!
I used a biscuit cutter to make pretty biscuits for pictures, but I usually just use a knife so I don’t have scraps that have to be reformed. This makes the most tender biscuits!
If you like crispy bottoms on your biscuits (I do) preheat the pan while you preheat the oven. Even better, use a cast iron skillet or a stoneware pan to bake the biscuits!

So – next time you have leftover pimento cheese (I’ll take your word that this is a thing) or just want to combine these two ultra Southern foods, pimento cheese biscuits are the ticket!
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Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

Mary

Yield: 6 biscuits (can easily be doubled)

Pimento Cheese Biscuits

15 minPrep Time:

15 minCook Time:

30 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 cup/5 ounces/ 150 grams all-purpose soft white winter wheat flour (such as White Lily/Martha White) OR 1/2 cup/ 2.5 ounces / 75 grams EACH regular all-purpose flour and cake flour
¼ teaspoon/1 gram baking soda
2 teaspoons/10 grams baking powder
1/2 teaspoon/4 grams salt (kosher salt weighs less than table salt so if you are measuring in teaspoons you will need ¾-1 teaspoon)
3 tablespoons/1 ½ ounces/ 40 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup/2 ounces/60 grams cold pimento cheese
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use full-fat) OR same amount heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I highly recommend using a small cast-iron skillet or a stoneware pan to get crispy bottoms. If you are using one, place it in the oven to preheat as well
Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
Use a pastry blender or your fingertips to cut the butter and pimento cheese into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You don’t want the largest pieces to be bigger than peas.
Add the buttermilk a little at a time (the measurement is approximate because I don’t ever measure…I just pour a little bit, stir, and pour more until I get all the dough to stick together). Stir after each addition until everything just comes together into a cohesive dough.
Turn the biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it out into a rectangle then fold into thirds like you are folding a letter. Repeat that twice, then pat it out and cut into 6 pieces or use a biscuit cutter (I used a biscuit cutter to make these look nice for the picture, but usually I just cut them so that I don’t have to handle the dough too much).
Place the biscuits on the preheated pan or a baking sheet so that they just touch. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/pimento-cheese-biscuits/

Crispy Flour Tortilla Tacos

April 17, 2018

Crispy flour tortilla tacos take me back to my childhood, when I ALWAYS ordered Taco Light on family trips to Taco Bell. Winning!

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Back to Childhood!

When I was a kid, Taco Bell was sort of like an exotic version of fast food. That was back before there was a McDonald’s on every corner and Taco Bells were pretty scarce. I mean, I’m sure that there were more Taco Bells in the greater Chattanooga area than I realized, but as far as I knew there were only two.

On Saturdays, I always went to the bowling alley with my grandparents to watch my uncle Bobby with his Special Olympics bowling team. Afterward, we’d stop at the Taco Bell for lunch. Every time we went, I ordered the same thing: Taco Light.

I don’t actually know when Taco Light was discontinued. I remember, though, going in and not seeing it on the menu. I was terribly disappointed and had to move on to something else. I never forget about the Taco Light, though. It was larger than a regular taco, double the meat plus cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes. Those were not the things that were important to me, though.

What I cared about was the shell. Taco lights = crispy flour tortilla tacos. The shell was basically a taco-shaped version of the taco salad bowl. Per.Fec.Tion. Adult me had to figure out how to make them myself.
Frying a flour tortilla taco shell is not quite as easy as you might think. I had a few go-rounds when I was first testing this dish. All you need is some shallow oil, a pair of tongs, and a steady hand. To keep them from closing up too tightly for me to get the toppings in, I stuff paper towels in the shells while I finished frying.

I’ll be honest. These crispy flour tortilla tacos are not exactly Taco Light. The texture is a little different. I am sure that was some sort of magical food engineering sorcery. They’re close enough to perfect for me.

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Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

Mary

Yield: 8 tacos

Tacos in Crispy Flour Tortilla Shells

10 minPrep Time:

30 minCook Time:

40 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
?-¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)
pinch ground cumin
½ cup water
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
8 soft-taco/fajita size flour tortillas
4 ounces shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
sour cream
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes

Instructions

Brown the ground beef in a medium skillet over medium heat. Drain any fat. Add the cornstarch, chili powder, paprika, onion and garlic powder, salt, cayenne, cumin, and water. Stir and cook until thickened. Turn heat to low and hold over the heat.
Heat the oil in another medium skillet over medium heat. Line a plate with paper towels. Fold up 8 paper towels. When the oil shimmers, use tongs to hold the tortillas, one at a time, folded in half. Place into the oil, with the folded bottom first flat against the bottom of the skillet until brown. Turn and brown both sides. Place a folded paper towel into the fold of each taco shell and leave to drain on the paper towel lined plate until all the tortillas are cooked.
Fill the taco shells with the taco meat and top with desired toppings. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/crispy-flour-tortilla-tacos/

Cooking Rice in the Instant Pot

January 8, 2018

The Instant Pot is great for all sorts of things, but rice is one of my favorites. Here are my super-simple directions for cooking rice in the Instant Pot (video included)!

Rice is one of those super-basic dishes that most people seem to cook all the time as a side dish or as a base for a main dish. Truth be told, though, before I got my Instant Pot, I rarely cooked rice. I really can’t explain it…it certainly isn’t like it’s difficult to boil a little water on the stovetop, throw in some rice, salt, and butter, lid up, and let it simmer for a bit. For some reason it just seemed like a pain to me, which I know is completely ridiculous.

Cooking rice in the Instant Pot, though, changed my life. Well, that might be a little dramatic…but I love cooking rice in the Instant Pot and now I do it all the time. There is a rice setting on the Instant Pot, but I never use it. I find that when I cook rice using the rice setting that it gets a little gummy. You could definitely change the time setting, but I just use the manual setting (because that’s what I do for most things).

To get rice that’s just a little firm to the tooth, cook it for three minutes. If you like your rice a little softer, go for four minutes. This recipe is just for white rice, so you’ll need to up the time for brown rice (I’ll do a video on that later). For this recipe, you’ll use a quick release of the steam (turn the steam release handle from sealing to venting rather than letting the Instant Pot depressurize naturally).

Perfect white rice in the slow cooker is easy and (relatively) quick to make. It’s a pressure setting so you do have to wait a little bit for it to come to pressure, but it doesn’t take that long. All you need is water, rice, salt, and butter, and there you go – perfect white rice!

Be sure to comment below and let me know your Instant Pot questions and what you would like to see next on Chattavore!

Mary

Yield: about 2 cups rice

Cooking Rice in the Instant Pot

5 minPrep Time:

5 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 cup long grain white rice
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of salt (optional)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)

Instructions

Place all ingredients into the Instant Pot. Place the lid and set the steam release handle to sealing.
Press the "manual" button. Use the "-" button to set the time to 3 minutes for firmer rice or 4 minutes for slightly softer rice.
When the Instant Pot beeps, press the "keep warm/cancel" button to turn the Instant Pot off. Carefully turn the steam release handle to venting, standing away from the Instant Pot to avoid the steam. When the float valve drops, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

Notes

Amounts can be increased to make more rice. Just use equal parts rice and water and slightly adjust the salt and butter amounts accordingly.

https://chattavore.com/cooking-rice-in-the-instant-pot/