Brie and Pear Grilled Cheese

I fell in love with a panini similar to this at a restaurant in Memphis years ago…. So now I always try to recreate it at my annual grilled cheese party.

Whatcha Need:

• Sourdough bread

• Brie

• Pear (I prefer the red or brown ones)

• Honey

• Arugula

• Butter

Whip it Up:

1. cut Brie in slices (about a centimeter thick)

2. Thinly slice a pear

3. Warm up a pan on medium high heat, add a 1/2 tbs of butter or enough to melt and cover a pan

4. Lay down two slices of sourdough, flip after 30 seconds

5. Top one side with Brie, the other with pears then cover with a lid till the cheese starts to melt *don’t rush this, heaven forbid you burn your bread

6. Remove lid, drizzle one side with honey and a pinch of salt

7. Then close the two slices together and press a little with a spatula, make sure both sides are nice and toasty then remove from heat

8. Separate and add a healthy handful of arugula

9. Done! Dish it up

TikTok Feta Pasta without the TikTok and Pasta

This is the infamous TikTok feta pasta meets our favorite dish at Caet Restaurant in Jackson, MS. Daniel’s only complaint was that there wasn’t more, so….

Whatcha Need (ps this was shared among 2, so double it if you’d like leftovers or have to feed more people):

• 1 head of cauliflower

• 1 carton of broth

• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes

• 1/3 of a block of feta

• drizzle of evoo (I recommend a flavored)

• salt and pepper

• oregano

• thyme

• Italian seasoning

Instructions:

1. In a pot ideal for boiling water, pour in you broth and set the burner on medium-high. Also set your oven to 400F. While that’s coming to a boil, wash your cauliflower, trim off the stems and a tiny little bit off the bottom of the stalk, then chop the head in half then the halves in half until you have florets. Gentle place in the boiling broth for 15 minutes, making sure they’re all or mostly submerged.

2. In an oven safe dish, Pyrex containers are great or even a pie pan, pour in your washed cherry tomatoes and place the feta block in the center. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, Thyme, and Italian seasoning. Give it a little shake and set aside until the oven is preheated and the cauliflower’s 15 minutes are up.

3. After 15 minutes of boiling, carefully place the florets on a sheet pan, spaced out - COVID style ;) might as well save the broth for a soup - waste not want not

4. Assuming at this point your oven is preheated: go ahead and put the sheet pan with the cauli and the tomatoes feta dish in the oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes or until the tomatoes have blistered and the cauliflower has browned a bit.

5. Plate with the tomato/feta atop the cauliflower!

King Cake

WOO! Mardi Gras - best holiday of the year. This recipe is adaptable from two different recipes I found online. Can be made vegan or nonvegan.

Whatcha need:

• 3 1/2 C all-purpose flour

• 1 package of active dry yeast

• 1 C almond milk (sub real milk, if you’re into that)

• 1 t salt

• 2 eggs (sub 2 flax seed “eggs” 2T flax & 5T water)

• 4 T unsalted butter (sub vegan butter)

• 1/4 C sugar

filling:

• 2/3 C light brown sugar

• 1/2 of a package of cream cheese or vegan cream cheese (4oz)

• 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon

• 4 T unsalted butter sub vegan butter or coconut oil (softened)

• 1 C chopped pecans

icing:

• 1 C powdered sugar

• 1 T almond milk (or real milk, whatev)

• 1 splash of vanilla

• purple, green, gold sprinkles

Whatcha do:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the milk and sugar. Heat over medium until the mixture just begins to bubble around the edges. You want it to be about the temperature of bath water around 100-110 degrees. Any hotter and it will ruin your yeast. Take off of heat, stir in the yeast, and set aside for 5 minutes to let the yeast activate and bubble a little.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add in 3 cups of the flour and the salt. With the mixer on low, pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

3. Add in the vegan egg replacers and continue to mix on low until a shaggy dough begins to form.

4. Slowly mix in the remaining 1 cup of flour and then slowly add in the butter, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix until just combined.

5. Put on the dough hook and leave the stand mixer running to knead for about 8 minutes on low speed. You can also do this with your hands if desired. Every couple of minutes, stop the mixer, taking the dough off of the hook, reposition it, and restart the kneading on low speed. Once done kneading, the dough should be elastic and neither sticky nor wet at all. If it’s a bit sticky, add just a touch more flour in. I never need to do this step but just in case.

6. Form the dough into a ball and place it into a large, well greased bowl. Turn the dough a few times so it’s very lightly coated in oil all around. Cover bowl and let sit in a warm spot for 1 1/2 hours. It should roughly double in size. The results are a thick and rather dense dough.

7. When the dough is nearly done rising, making the filling by simply mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, cream cheese, pecans, and vegan butter. Set aside until ready to use.

8. Once the dough is ready, roll it out into a rectangle that is roughly 20 inches x 10 inches. Spread the cinnamon filling along half of the dough and then fold the dough over the filling (see photos above).

9. Cut dough into three long strips (again, see photo above) and braid the dough from one end to the other. Stretch the braid out a bit so that it is once again roughly 20 inches long. Wrap the braid into a circle and form the 2 ends together by pinching them to seal the circle.

10. Transfer the cake to a well greased baking sheet (round is ideal), cover, and let rise for 45 minutes.

11. When the cake is nearly ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the outside is a nice golden brown color. Let the cake cool completely (even overnight if desired) before icing it. Once cooled, you can hide the plastic baby inside the cake by gently tucking it in from the bottom.

12. To make the icing, simply whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until well combined. Pour the icing evenly over the cake using a spoon to spread it out.

13. Finally, if desired, sprinkle the cake with the traditional green, yellow, and purple sprinkles immediately after icing it.