Monte Cristo Egg Rolls w/ Wasabi Mojo

This recipe is slightly adapted from an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives from the Food Network. I saw these on the 'Funky Finds in Flavortown' episode and they were inspired from the North End Caffe located in Manhattan Beach, CA. I saw these and immediately knew I had to have them. I've had the traditional Monte Cristo sandwich which is a ham & swiss cheese sandwich, battered like french toast and deep fried. Yummy, but riddled with guilt.

Dish from the show - Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

These egg rolls have the ham, cheese and fried components of a traditional Monte Cristo - but get a little twist when you add in kalua pork, cabbage, seasme seeds and now fried in an egg roll! It also has a bit of Asian flare with the ginger, teriyaki, etc. These are served with a spicy, sweet and creamy wasabi mojo sauce.

I served this dish tonight with a roasted corn, asparagus & shitake mushroom salad. Click here to get the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Egg Rolls:

• 2-3 cups of kalua pork - recipe here
• 10 slices of Berkshire ham
• 5 slices of Swiss cheese cut in half
• 10 egg roll wrappers
• 1 cup roughly chopped napa cabbage
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 egg + 1 tsp water (whisked)
• Deep fryer or dutch oven
• Oil for frying - I used a special blend from Crisco

Wasabi Mojo:

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tsp shredded or finely minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp wasabi powder
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Egg Rolls:

1. If your Berkshire ham has any excess liquid, be sure to dry it out on paper towels first so there is no excess liquid in the egg rolls
2. Pull one egg roll wrapper from the package and position it where one of the corners is facing you, so you see a diamond shape. 
3. First lay 1 piece of Berkshire ham, then one of the half slices of Swiss cheese, then about 2-3  tablespoons of pork, top with cabbage and sesame seeds. 
4. On the top corner of the egg roll, the one farthest from you - using your finger, dip into the egg wash and spread egg wash about 2 inches down the left side and 2 inches down the right of the corner...along the 'V' to allow the egg roll to seal nicely and keep the ingredients in the wrapper. 
5. Pull bottom corner (closest to you) of wrapper up over ingredients, and tuck all ingredients into a tight tube like shape. 
6. Fold side corners into the middle. 
7. Continue to roll the egg roll away from you, slowly, keeping it tight until you reach the corner furthest form you with the egg wash tip. Roll until you have no wrapper left and the egg wash portion is now sticking to the rolled/filled portion. 
8. Set in shallow pan and keep covered with a towel until complete.
9. Continue steps 8 & 9 until all filling and egg roll wrappers are used. 
10. Place pan, covered with towel in fridge for 20 minutes.
11. In deep fryer or dutch oven, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Be sure to have a oil thermometer so you can test the oil. Set up a 'dry station' with paper towels on a cutting board to let the egg rolls rest once fried.
12. Once oil is ready, put 4-5 at a time into the oil. Cook for 4-5 minutes turning a few times if needed to ensure even frying and color on all sides. 
13. Once the egg rolls are turning a golden brown, pull from oil and set on paper towels to dry. 

Wasabi Mojo:

1. This is easy! Mix all wasabi mojo ingredients into a bowl until thoroughly incorporated. 
2. Place in fridge for 30 minutes. 
3. Splash with a bit more terikayi sauce if you wish - it looks nice when you do that. :) Serve with egg rolls!

Ingredients for Wasabi Mojo

Step 1: Mixing all Wasabi ingredients

Egg Roll Station

Steps 2 & 3: Assembling ingredients on wrapper

Steps 4, 5 & 6: Rolling and folding in side corners

Fry station

Step 8: Egg Rolls in pan - just before fridge

Step 13: Egg Rolls just out of fryer 

Egg Roll cut diagonally to show the yumminess!

Loaded Potato Skins

SUPER BOWL XLVIII! I probably will get in trouble for using a trademarked term like 'Super Bowl'...but companies can't even say 'Big Game' anymore. Seriously guys - no-one cares. Anyways, I doubt this blog is making waves nationally among the NFL commission so I'll just continue with the post. The Super Bowl is here and we are ready!  Since the KC Chiefs didn't make it past one game in the playoffs (what a tragic game that was - damn Colts), I am not too interested in the game itself. but, I have a food blog so obviously I am in it for the food and I work in marketing/advertising so I too am in it for the TV spots. 

Our close friends invited us over for a small Super Bowl gathering, and we were asking to bring a dish. Potato skins are a pretty cheap appetizer and they are easy to make. They look like they took a lot of effort, and of course are gooey, cheesy and delicious! If are attending any sort of party in the future, this is easy and yummmmmy. 

Here's the skinny on the loaded potato skins:

INGREDIENTS:

• 10 small - medium sized russet potatoes (makes 20 skins)
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
• 5 strips bacon
• 1 large bunch of fresh chives
• 1 small tub low fat sour cream (not fat free, that stuff is truly without flavor)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Scrub the potatoes well and set out to dry completely. Do this at least 2-3 hours ahead of time. 
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
3. Poke holes in the potato with a fork.
4. Place potatoes in oven directly on the rack. Bake for 50 minutes and test for tenderness with a fork. Fork should enter and exit potato easily. 
5. While potatoes are baking, cook the bacon until crispy, and crumble into small bits. While the potatoes are baking you can also chop the chives. 
6. When complete pull from oven and let cool. Turn oven off.
7. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise.
8. With small spoon, scoop out about 1/2 inch of flesh to form a little trough within the potato. You can keep the flesh and make a small amount of mashed potatoes, or discard. Your call.
9. Place the potatoes trough side down onto a baking sheet lined w/ foil.
10. Melt butter in small dish in microwave. 
11. With skin side up, brush half of the butter across all 20 of the potatoes. 
12. Turn oven on high broil, and broil until skins begin to turn crispy and slightly darker brown - probably no more than 1-2 minutes. Keep a close eye, its very easy to burn food on broil. 
13. Pull baking sheet from oven, turn the potatoes so the flesh side of the potato are right side up. 
14. Brush the rest of the melted butter on the trough sides and place into oven on high broil setting for approximately 1-2 minutes until edges of the flesh start to turn brown and crispy.
15. Pull from oven and fill each trough with the crumbled bacon first, then top with cheddar cheese.
16. Place back in oven on low broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.
17. Pull from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes. 
18. Top with sour cream and then chives. 
19. Remove from baking sheet and place onto serving platter.  

Eat and enjoy!

Step 4: Baking the potatoes

Step 7: Slice potatoes in half

Step 8: Scooping out potato flesh to make room for toppings

Toppings: Cheese, sour cream, bacon & chives

Step 15 & 16: Potatoes filled with bacon and cheese - broiled 

Final product 

The full spread!

Bruschetta (Cooking Class)

I mentioned all the details of a recent cooking class I attended in my initial post about potato gnocchi, but to give you the quick 'skinny', Chef Alex Staab is a local Kansas City chef who taught us how to make gnocchi, two sauces, and bruschetta at a local commercial kitchen. It was not only delicious, but a very fun, wine-filled, and educational evening. If you live here in KC and want to attend any classes, search his name at Eventbrite. 

This bruschetta recipe is not only very simple, but its bursting with flavors - I especially love the tangy lemon, zesty garlic and the spicy pepper notes from the arugula. It is definitely a crowd pleaser. As soon as we had our bruschetta in hand, the room fell silent. I've never tried a bruschetta with red peppers to replace the tomatoes, but it was an excellent idea to switch it up and surprise the tastebuds.

Onto deliciousness....

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 loaf farm-to-market bread cut into 1/2 inch slices (we used ciabatta)
• 3 large red bell peppers
• 2 lemons
• 3 balls of mozzarella cheese
• 2 cloves of garlic peeled
• EVOO
• 4 cups of baby arugula
• Sea salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Roast the 3 red peppers on a grill, open flame, or in oven until completely black - I mean 100% black on outside. Pull from heat and set into a bowl, cover with saran wrap until ready to use. 
2. Drizzle the slices of bread with olive oil - on both sides. Grill until thy are nice and charred, but not burnt. Like toast. 
3. While bread is still hot rub garlic onto both sides of the bread
4. Peel the black skin from the peppers, having them super black makes them easier to peel. Remove all seeds and chop into small 1/2 inch pieces. Place pieces into large mixing bowl.
5. To the mixing bowl add the lemon zest from both lemons, the juice from the two lemons, about 2 tbsp of EVOO and about 1 tsp of sea salt.
6. Crumble the mozzarella cheese into the bowl so its in pieces no larger than 1 inch
7. Mix all ingredients in the bowl and test to see if more salt is needed. 
8. Top each piece of bread with a heaping pile of the bruschetta mixture.

Step 2 - Grilling ciabatta bread

Step 3 - Rubbing garlic on bread

Step 4: Peeling & cutting red peppers

Step 4- Cutting peppers and cheesin' up for the camera

Roasted red peppers cut and ready for mix

Baby arugula

Step 5- adding zest, lemon and salt to red peppers

Step 8 - After mixture has been tossed Alex is placing on ciabatta bread

FINAL PRODUCT!