When I was young my grandparents would take my sister and out to dinner once in a while as a special treat. The menu had items like Lobster Thermador, Beef Wellington, Steak Diane and Flounder Florentine. I never got brave enough to order any of them, they seemed exotic and there was too much of the unknown factor going on.

Many years later, I’ve had the pleasure of trying them all. I’ve noticed that these dishes have fallen out of the restaurant favorites, a bit passé. But that hasn’t stopped my love for them. When some flounder caught my eye at the market, I knew exactly what I wanted; Flounder Florentine, but a more updated version.

What exactly does Florentine mean? You may have seen it as Eggs Florentine or Quiche Florentine, along with some other varieties. According to About.com it is:

“In the culinary arts, the word Florentine, or the term à la Florentine, refers to a recipe that is prepared in the style of the Italian region of Florence. “

That still doesn’t offer a very clear answer! What ‘In the style of Florence’ means is that a main such as eggs, meat or in our case fish, is cooked on top of a bed of spinach. In America, we’ve taken the definition a bit more loosely and often refer to things cooked with spinach as ‘Florentine’ like Quiche or in this case the risotto.

Risotto was something I never heard of as a child, it was something I discovered later in life. Risotto isn’t difficult to make but it does require a fair amount of attention; a lot of standing at the stove and stirring liquid in a bit at a time. Who has time for that? Rather than stir, stir, stir I baked it and added the flounder on top. The bonus, I only dirtied one pot!

3 ounces pancetta, diced

2 tablespoons butter

2 shallots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

½ cup dry white wine

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup Arborio (risotto) rice

3 cups fresh spinach, chopped

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

4 flounder fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper

Toasted bread crumbs

Heat oven to 425°F. In a Dutch oven or large deep frying pan cook the pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove pancetta and drain on a paper towel, set aside. Add butter to the remaining pancetta fat, sauté shallots until they are tender, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute. Add rice, salt, pepper and nutmeg, cook until rice is lightly toasted about 5 minutes. Add wine to deglaze pan. Stir until the wine is mostly absorbed about 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in spinach and parmesan.

Cover pot and transfer to the oven, cook for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and reduce heat to 350°F. Carefully place seasoned flounder fillets on top of risotto, recover and place back in the oven. Cook for an additional 15 minutes or until the flounder is done and the rice is creamy. Top with toasted bread crumbs and pancetta prior to serving.

You can read more recipes and ramblings at The Kitchen Witch, or follow on Facebook and Twitter@TKWblog.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of The Kitchen Witch. All rights reserved by Rhonda Adkins.

Valentine’s Day is a wonderful excuse to make cookies to share with your sweetheart! I found the little Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts and thought they would be ideal for a Valentine treat. You have chocolate, a must for the holiday and peanut butter, my favorite combination.

They were disappearing so fast that I had to hide a few so I could grab a photo, yes they are that good!

I will be bringing the goodies for the 1st grade Valentine’s party and I know for sure that these peanut butter cookies will be a big hit. My son has 16 kids in his class, which is considered large for our small town school. Sugar-high school parties are the best when you are a kid!

Rather your Valentine’s Day is celebrated with dinner out or like us at home with the kids, these cookies are sure to make everyone smile a little brighter.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Valentine Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 22 Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts (unwrapped)

Cooking Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Add peanut butter, mixing until combined, beat in brown sugar. Add vanilla and egg, continue to mix until well incorporated. Add flour and baking soda, mixing until well combined.

Scoop onto a greased or lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake 10-12 minutes.

Immediately press one peanut butter heart into each cookie. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet until completely cooled.

Store in an airtight container. Yield: 22 cookies

Enjoy!

Miss

Get more great recipes from Miss at http://www.missinthekitchen.com

Who said you can’t have pie before dinner (besides mom)?  In the spirit of contradiction, may I present to you: BBQ pie.

This is the perfect appetizer for any get-together and adds a festive appeal to an otherwise uneventful table of carrot sticks and tortilla chips.

What you’ll need:

1lb of your favorite shredded BBQ

1 small onion diced

1-2 cups of BBQ Sauce

1/2 of a large red pepper diced

1/2 cup of chopped sweet potatoes (canned is fine)

1 ear of corn

2 1/4 cups of cornbread mix

2/3 cup of Milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°

Grab a skillet, lower heat to simmer and mix in BBQ, BBQ sauce, red pepper, onion, and sweet potato.

Cut the corn off the ear of corn and add that to the mix.

Place spoonful of cornbread dough into muffin tins.

Bake cornbread for about 2 minutes, then take out of oven and add a large spoonful of the meat mixture to each muffin tin on top of the cornbread dough. Press the spoon down making a little cup for the mix.

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

You can get extra crafty with the appetizer and place in cupcake stackers.  Snack table identity crisis.  The celery might need counseling.

-Happy Grazing! – Kat Cowley

Feeling friendly today? Do me an incredible favor and join my positive thinking/personal growth blog, Uplifting Reflections.  I have an eBook coming out that I would love to get in the hands of a certain publishing house and the more followers the better my pull! Thank you for the helping hand in advance! (Now eat some more BBQ J)

–

Chocolate Pretzel Bark

I have to confess, this recipe is not wholly my own. I found it via Pinterest and couldn’t resist. It came from Ezra Pound Cake, as soon as I saw it I knew it was for me. I don’t have much in the way of a sweet tooth, but I can’t resist the sweet and salty combo. I soon discovered why these little chocolate treats are also called “crack bark”.

I had a partial bag of mini pretzels languishing in my cabinet; they were moments away from becoming stale. It was practically an emergency, what? Food go to waste? Not in my household. It had to be destiny (or an evil plot) that I would find this recipe right when I needed to use up my mini pretzels. The recipe was ridiculously easy; the hardest part was waiting for them to set. I didn’t have any room in my fridge or freezer so I put them out in the garage.

While they were out there, I swear I found a zillion excuses to go out to the garage to get, er, something or other. I seemed to need something from the garage, oh, like every 10 minutes. Please heed my warning; if you make this you will not be able to stop eating it! Just remember, I warned you!

Recipe

Mini Pretzels, enough to cover the pan

1 Cup (2 sticks) Unsalted butter

1 Cup dark brown sugar

2 Cups (one 12-ounce bag) chocolate chips

Sea Salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 11″ x 17″ jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Set aside.

Cover the pan in a layer of mini pretzels.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and brown sugar. When the mixture starts to gently simmer and bubble, let it cook that way for 3 minutes. (Don’t stir.)

Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the pretzels.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Place the pan on a cooling rack, and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Wait for about 2 minutes, until the chocolate melts. Using a spatula spread the chocolate over the toffee. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Let the toffee cool completely, and break it into pieces. (To speed up the cooling process, you can place the pan of toffee in the refrigerator, freezer or garage.)

Let me know how it went for you!  And is it just me, or is everyone obsessed with Pinterest?!

You can read more recipes and ramblings at The Kitchen Witch, or follow on Facebook and Twitter@TKWblog.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of The Kitchen Witch. All rights reserved by Rhonda Adkins.

Feburary 14^th, Saint Valentine’s Day, a day for lovers to reconnect, to take time out of their busy lives and spend time together. It’s a holiday that embraces the couple; the young ‘rose glassed’ couple to the old ‘our love is comfortable’ couple.

Although there is no historical basis for this story, American Greeting’s reported to History.com that “onthe evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first “valentine” card himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer’s daughter whom he had befriended and healed. It was a note that read “From your Valentine.” Whether or not the story is true, I adore the sentiment.

How do you plan on spending your Valentine’s Day? A romantic dinner and movies? A weekend trip away? Personally I hate to go out on Valentine’s Day, the restaurants are crowded, and all the romantic places are inundated with guys trying to smooze up their ladies. Guess my husband and I, are the ‘our love is comfortable’ couple, we like to stay home.

Although we don’t go out on Valentine’s Day, we still like to make it special, a nice meal, a few drinks, maybe a romantic movie, just some us time…it seems like the best way to celebrate our (old) love. A drink on Valentine’s Day needs to special and certainly calls for bubbles! Plus the color needs to be utterly romantic…reminiscent of a heart and love. I’m going to share with you a bubbly cocktail that will delight any love, young or old.

Cosmo Kiss

2 ounces Cranberry Juice

Splash of Triple Sec or Cointreau

Squeeze of lime juice

Semi – Seco or other sparkling wine

Lime twist

Pour cranberry juice into a champagne flute, add a splash of triple sec and a squeeze of lime juice, top with semi-seco and garnish with a lime twist.

What if you don’t have anyone to spend Valentine’s Day with? What if you don’t care? Even if you aren’t spending Valentine’s Day with anyone, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy a cocktail on your own. Hey, if you’re on your own, you might as well have a cute little umbrella in your drink!

So for all you lonely hearts out there, here’s a cocktail for you. Good news is that Blood Oranges are in season right now. Fresh squeezed, that’s right, hey, you are alone…like you have something better to do than squeeze fresh blood orange juice?

Bleeding Heart

4 ounces of fresh squeezed Blood Orange Juice (2 to 3 oranges)

1 ½ ounces vodka

Blood Orange wedges (optional garnish)

Maraschino Cherry (optional garnish)

Paper Umbrella (mandatory garnish)

Fill a high ball glass with ice; pour in vodka followed by blood orange juice, stir to combine. Garnish with umbrella, blood orange wedges and a maraschino Cherry.

What cocktails do you love to love on valentines day?  Let me know!

You can read more recipes and ramblings at The Kitchen Witch, or follow on Facebook and Twitter@TKWblog.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of The Kitchen Witch. All rights reserved by Rhonda Adkins.