Cook-Off Recipes from Team #3

Team 3 - Brittney, Alex, and Marissa

 

 

Appetizer

Stuffed French Bread Orange Pizza Rustica

Dessert

Orange Cheesecake

Super Stuffed French Bread Orange Pizza Rustica

 

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach

1 loaf ( 2 foot long) french bread

1 Tablespoon extra- virgin olive oil (evoo) (once around the pan)

1 pound bulk sweet italian sausage

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 small orange (added for this recipe)

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 and ½ cups ricotta cheese

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

½ pound sweet sopressata, sliced thick from the deli, chopped

1/2 stick pepperoni, chopped (we omitted for the orange pizza) 
1 package ( 10 oz) mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 package ( 10 oz) provolone cheese, shredded 

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes


Defrost spinach in the microwave, about 6 minutes on high, wring spinach dry in a clean kitchen towel.

Split bread lengthwise and hollow it out.  Cut it in half across, making 4 shells for pizzas.

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add evoo, than sausage.
Brown and crumble sausage using wooden spoon. 
Add bell pepper, onions and garlic.  Cook 3 to 5 minutes, then add spinach. 
Remove mixture from heat and season with salt and pepper.  Transfer to a bowl.

Combine sausage mixture ricotta, parmesan, sopressata and pepperoni. 
Fill pizzas with the mixture and top with mounded mozzarella and provolone cheeses. 
Place on a cookie sheet and bake until cheese melts and bubbles and bread is super crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.
Top pizzas with oregano and hot pepper flakes.  Serve immediately, but snack all night! 


Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.

***Adding orange and other toppings are personal preferences.  We used fresh orange zest and orange for the topping of these pizzas.

 

 

Orange Cheesecake

These are the items we added or changed to make the recipe work for our needs.

 

1.) I cut the recipe in half and used a 6 inch springform pan,
 which I lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
2.) I added the zest from 1/2 an orange.
3.) I added 1/8 teaspoon of pure orange extract.
4.) I cooled the cheesecake in the oven for over 5 hours.
5.) I drizzled a chocolate glaze over the cooled cheesecake.
6.) I added candied orange slices for garnish.

For the cheesecake we used thedaringkitchen.com's recipe below...



Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake:

 

Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

 

Cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

 

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

 

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.