INGREDIENT: Cheese

Never know which cheese to use for your quesadillas, paninis, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, etc etc? I found this great list of types of melting cheeses to help you with that exact problem. (and with the previous post)

 Stretchy and stringy melters —

These are the cheeses we love on pizza, in panini, and stuffed into croquettes. They stay pretty much where we put them, without running all over the place, and they can form extremely long strings when pulled.

• Mozzarella(aged and fresh)
• Queso Oaxaca
• Scamorza
• Provolone
• String cheese
• Fresh cheddar cheese curds

Smooth and flowing melters —
This category claims the largest number of cheeses. Some are viscous when melted, while others have little body. These cheeses are great for making toasted sandwiches; topping soups or vegetable tarts; stuffing into vegetables; adding richness to baked pasta dishes; and folding into biscuit, scone, and bread dough. They also blend smoothly into other dishes, such as polenta, mashed potatoes, risotto, and soufflés

• Asiago 
• Cheddar 
• Emmentaler
• Fontina 
• Gruyère 
• Havarti
• Monterey Jack 
• Muenster
• Gouda 
• Blue cheeses(they melt around the mold)
• Soft-ripened cheeses like Brie and Camembert (the rind will not melt)
• Parmigiano-Reggiano

Nonmelters —
These cheeses can actually be grilled, fried, or baked; though they may soften when heated, they won’t lose their shape and flow. There are a few possible reasons that some cheeses don’t melt: The cheese might be extremely high in salt. Or it might be low or high in acid, or it might contain high levels of whey proteins (during the cheese-making process, whey is removed from most cheese).

• Halloumi 
• Fresh Mexican cheeses such as queso blanco, queso fresco, ranchero, cotija
• Indian paneer 
• Cottage cheese 
• Ricotta 
• Fresh goat cheese 
• Feta 

RECIPE: Grilled Cheese

If you're thinking, "HAH! grilled cheese!? That's the easiest thing ever... you put cheese on bread and put it in the toaster," you probably never had a decent grilled cheese in your life. Seriously. 

My mom used to do this for school because it was the easiest thing the could make for my lunch, and I was ok with this... until I made REAL grilled cheese (my dog was especially happy about this because he was the only one who ate them after I refused to)

Now grilled cheese is one of the most basic types of food, which translates in the culinary world to the biggest opportunity for creativity. There is no exact recipe, perfect type of cheese, bread, or ingredient. Allow this to get your creativity flowing and adding whatever random ingredient that pops into your head, or even what you have lying around the kitchen. Yet, there IS a definite technique that you definitely should use when making a grilled cheese:

MY USUAL RECIPE:

-Sliced Wheat Bread

-2+ types of cheeses of whatever I have in the fridge, usually: mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, gouda, cheddar, jack, or brie

-avocado, grilled onions and eggplant

METHOD:

1. Butter one side of your bread using room temperature butter. This allows the butter to spread more easily and make sure your bread gets golden and delicious. 

2. Add: ________, ___________, _____________, __________  on the NON-buttered side.

3. Add room-temperature SHREDDED cheese. By using shredded rather than sliced, your cheese melts easier which means your sandwich will be all gooey and delicious before your bread burns

4. Place the sandwich on the non-stick pan on medium heat. Make sure your pan is large enough for your grilled cheese, if not, it will be heated unevenly. 

5. After every flip, press down on your sandwich with a spatula to spread around all the cheese and make your bread toastier

6. OPTIONAL: To make sure the cheese is fully melted, I cut my sandwich in half on the pan and allow it to heat/melt for a little while longer.

SUGGESTIONS:

Here are some other additions to your grilled cheese: avocado, tomato, sliced meats, fresh herbs, fig, bacon, onions (fresh or grilled), jalapeño, arugula, eggplant, apples, mushrooms, ETC.


Enjoy!

COOL FACT: Chocolate

The melting point of cocoa butter is just below 98.6 degree F. 

This is how chocolate so wonderfully melts in your mouth.

Research has shown that allowing chocolate to melt in your mouth produced brain and heart rate activity that was simliar to - and even stronger than - that produced with passionate kissing

(hmm....)

http://nutritionfitnesslife.com/chocolate-fun-facts/

RECIPE: Bite-Sized Lasagna

Everyone loves lasagna, but no one really enjoys the countless hours of prep work and layering it takes to make such a simple dish! So here's a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY easy recipe for making mini lasagnas!

I simplified this recipe to make it faster, easier, and tastier than the long way! So in this case, take the shortcuts!

RECIPE:

40 wonton wrappers (4 per mini lasagna)

1 cup pasta sauce

1/2 lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1tsp salt/pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup shredded mix of mozzarella, jack, cheddar

1 cooked eggplant (chopped) 

10 large basil leaves

Fresh cilantro (for garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 475º. Saute the garlic until fragrant and soft then add ground beef with all dried the herbs (salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper flakes)

TRICK: one trick in making sure all the meat separates easily into small pieces- add a cup or so of water to the pan while trying to cut the meat into small pieces with your wooden spoon. This makes it much easier, and the water will eventually evaporate so it doesn't effect the taste of your food.

2. Add the pasta sauce (I use Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Pasta Sauce), but of course I can't just leave it at that, I've got to add my own special touch! So I add: fresh chopped cilantro, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, shredded parmesan cheese, and a tablespoon of truffle oil, and white wine when we have an open bottle in the house. These are just a couple things I throw in there, feel free to try a couple, or all! 

3. Spray a muffin pan with a non-stick cooking spray, and place a wonton square on the bottom of the pan. Next add a spoonful of your meat sauce, place another wonton square on top, add the shredded cheese with a basil leaf and add another layer of wonton, on top of this add a piece of the chopped eggplant. Top it off with a little more cheese and a circle of provolone cheese (get sliced provolone, and cut small circles out). If you have more space, keep layering! [the more layers you add, the crispier the outside edges become, so if you would like, keep one layer out, and fold the rest in after each layer]

TRICK: eggplants are a pain in the butt to cook. You have to slice it in half, salt it, wait for it to drain, wash it, slice it, then fry it hoping you let it sit for enough time! So basically the best thing ever created that I use almost every day is frozen fried eggplants. YES! All you gotta do is microwave them for a couple of minutes and you have perfect fried eggplants every time. My dream come true! 

4. Place your mini lasagnas in the oven for just 10 MINUTES (or until the cheese melts and slightly browns). Take it out, garnish with chopped cilantro and THATS IT! 

Enjoy!

INGREDIENT: Truffles

As I was talking to my friends, I realized almost all of them have no idea what TRUFFLES are, so this being one of my favorite ingredients, I decided to educate you guys on it! And no, I am not talking about the chocolate truffles everyone is so fond of, I'm talking about the mushroom(ish) type fungus. This earthy, umami (savory), rich flavored fungus is known for being a culinary delicacy.  

Yes, I know these are not the prettiest looking things in the world, and you might be thinking... so what, it looks like a ball of dirt, but for a pound of these, are about $500-1000.Truffles are known as the diamonds of the culinary world, the most expensive natural food. Why you ask? These are grown wild, can only be grown in specific temperatures and conditions, and  most importantly, have to be searched for BY SPECIALLY TRAINED PIGS AND CERTAIN BREEDS OF DOG!


Now, back to biology class, (if any of you were awake for that class): the reason truffles are hard to be cultivated for mass production, is because they are grown by a symbiotic relationships between oak, pine, beerch and a couple other types of trees. If you don't remember what symbiotic means, here's a definition: (symbiosis) the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other. Now, America is trying to mass produce the black truffle, but France (the brighter of the two), restricts the production of the truffle in order to keep the price high. 


The most expensive type of truffle is the WHITE truffle:  



These truffles are around $2,000 per pound!! And the most expensive one sold was 1.6 pounds for $150,000!! The reason white truffles are more expensive then black is these are more rare, are only grown a couple months a year, and are exclusively in one part of Italy. Also, unlike the black truffle, you CANNOT cultivate them, so instead of being mass cultivated like regular mushrooms, these truffles have to naturally grown on their own under the leaf litter and soil of these trees!

Some really great places to try food that has truffle in it: 

Umami Burger: yes, I know its known for it's umami burger, but I personally thought their truffle burger was MUCH better than their most famous! 

The Six: located on Pico, near Westwood, has amazing amazing fries! What they did is they topped their fries with Parmesan and truffle. Absolutely delicious! 

One of the most delicious uses of truffle was our dinner in Dubai of our steak garnished with truffle shavings and a truffle sauce: 

Enjoy!

HOW TO: make a perfect burger patty

One big common mistake in making burgers, is not knowing how. But I bet your probably thinking, "pssht! of course I know how, you just stick it on the pan, wait till it cooks and then take it off." Well yes, technically you CAN do that, but I'm pretty sure your burgers don't come out as good as you want them to, and now your probably thinking I'm right (yes, I do read minds, its another talent we'll get into later). So I'm not here to give you a recipe to follow, but tips on how to cook your burger to perfection so you can make your OWN recipes (that you must share with the blog)!

Lets get started!

1. TYPE OF MEAT: Ever see that fraction on your ground beef and have no idea what it means? Well, those numbers are the beef to fat ratio, for example 90/10 is 90% beef and 10% fat, this is typically a REALLY lean type of beef that will make your burger turn out dry. What I recommend is 80/20 or 70/30.


2. PRE-COOKING PROCESS: If you have noticed, when you make burgers, the center rises, making your burger into half a sphere, well inorder to fix that so all your condiments don't roll off the burger, try making an indentation into your beef patty before cooking! (ingenius, huh?)

3. COOKING PROCESS:  Do Not Press Down On Your Meat. You will be squishing out allll the juice, the flavor and you will make your burger denser (not good)

• Before putting the burger on the pan, make sure the pan is REALLY hott, you need to hear it sizzle when the meat touches the pan. Leave it on the stove for 2-4 minutes on each side. COOK ON HIGH HEAT!
• Despite what everyone says, you can flip your burger however many times as you want, it doesn't ACTUALLY make a difference, but its your choice!

4. OTHER LITTLE TIPS: 

• The reason big leafy lettuce is placed between the bottom bun and the burger, is to prevent sogginess! 
• Make sure your beef patty is cold before you cook it, DO NOT handle it too much or the fat will melt from the heat of your hand and create dry burgers! So make sure you keep it chilly up until it hits the stove!
• DO NOT add salt to your patties until they are formed! Make your patties (if not store bought) and THEN add salt, if not the salt will dissolve proteins and take out moisture, not good.

Enjoy!

COOL FACT: twist ties

You know those cool little ties that hold the wrapper closed on loaves of bread? Well, those colorful ties, each represent a day of the week, signifying how fresh the bread is. 

Stores receive new, fresh loaves of bread 5 days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday), but that doesn't necessarily mean that they all get sold daily! Most stores follow the same coding system, which is in alphabetical order so it's easier to remember. So next time your at the store, don't forget to look for the freshest bread (you should ask them if they follow this system or if they have created their own, JUST in case)!

Heres the schedule:

Monday = Blue

Tuesday = Green

Thursday = Red

Friday = White

Saturday = Yellow

Enjoy!