Stuff I've made: Mushroom stuffed mushrooms

Don't ever go cliff diving with a guy named Cliff. Too many cliffs...

That's how a radio commercial I hear on my favorite station goes. I wonder what the announcer would have to say about today's recipe. Stuffed mushrooms can be done with just about anything. Crab meat. Italian sausage. The works.

And, when you get a chance to buy huge mushrooms like the ones I got at the local Costco, well, the only thing you should be doing is stuffing them. For this recipe, you are going to need:

• 16 large white mushrooms
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 3 tsp. salt - divided
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. dry sherry
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. bread crumbs

Separate the stems from the mushroom caps, careful not to break the caps. Put the mushroom caps into a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, 1 tsp. salt and pepper. Arrange the mushroom caps cup side down on a broiler pan.

No, you aren't broiling them - mushrooms give off a lot of water when they cook. Turning them upside down allows them to drain when they cook, and the broiler pan prevents the mushrooms from sitting in that water. Place them in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes to precook them before the stuffing process.

Next, dice the reserved mushroom stems.  While you are doing this, place the diced onions into a pan filmed with olive oil and saute on medium high until translucent. Add garlic and diced mushroom stems, and the 2 tsp. of salt. As the mushroom stems cook, they will also give up a lot of water, so be sure to stir the pan to ensure the water evaporates. When the pan looks dry, add the sherry and stir until it is nearly evaporated.

Add the parmesan cheese and the bread crumbs and stir to combine. Remove the mushroom caps from the oven, flip them cap-side up and spoon the mixture into the mushrooms.  Sprinkle with the reserved bread crumbs and place the pan back under the broiler to brown the tops.

Mushroom in mushrooms?  You betcha, and are you going to enjoy them.   Happy eating.

Remove the

Stuff I've made: Shrimp Scampi

There are so many dishes that I used to think of as just way too complicated to make at home. Recipes that probably should just be left to the pros. Shrimp scampi used to be one for me.

But, not anymore. In fact, I just made a tomato-infused shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta for the family tonight. Not only wasn't it difficult to make, it almost runs into the realm of quick weeknight dinner.

The best part about shrimp nowadays - regardless of where you are in the country (no, you don't have to see the sea for this), the packaged frozen variety are always available and ready to go.  For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. anchovy paste
• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp. capers
• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 c. dry white wine (Pinot grigio works very well for this dish)
• 1 tsp. butter
• 1 lb. cooked angel hair pasta

 In a skillet, film the bottom of the pan with olive oil and heat it over medium high heat. Once it's warm enough, add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes thyme and anchovy paste.  No, this won't smell fishy - the anchovy paste adds a deeper, richer flavor to the final sauce. Saute these items together for three or four minutes, until the onion has had a chance to soften and become translucent.

Dice up your tomatoes. I used to struggle doing this - mashing the tomatoes all over the cutting board, until I discovered the key to working with these babies - a sharp knife. Your knife should be sharp enough to pull directly through the fruit as you cut it. Like this...

I'll get more into knife sharpening later.  Dice these tomatoes and put them - seeds, peels and all - along with the capers into the saute pan with the other ingredients. You want to cook the tomatoes down until they soften up and release most of their juices.

Next go the shrimp. They only need two or three minutes to cook, so move quickly at this stage. While they are cooking, add the wine to loosen up the sauce and add flavor. Stir this around until the shrimp are just opaque, but before they curl up into little rubber balls.  You know you have gone too far then!

While this is going on, of course, you have cooked your pound of angel hair pasta in salted water, drained it and put it into a pasta serving bowl. Good. Once it's there, simply toss the shrimp and sauce into the bowl and gently to mix everything up.  If you want to add some green for a garnish, add some sliced scallions or parsley to the plates before serving.

This stuff goes great with some crusty bread, a salad and a glass of the same kind of wine you used in the recipe. Happy eating!

Stuff I've Made: Guacamole

Tonight, we are going to visit our friends Bob and Pam and their daughter Caroline. The best part about visiting Bob and Pam is that they love food just about as much as we do - which makes for some awesome eating adventures.

We are going off the board tonight and making Mexican food. While Pam is making the majority of the dinner, she assigned me the guacamole. Sure, I could have gone out and bought some stuff from the store, but it's so insanely easy to make, that would be a total waste.

The key to guacamole is - of course - avocados. For this recipe, I am using two types. First is the Haas - it's the smaller dark-green avocado. These babies mash up beautifully, making a great base for the guacamole. The other is a locally-grown Florida Green avocado. They are firmer than the Haas ones, so I handle those a little differently. Here's the recipe:

• 1 seeded and minced jalapeno chile
• 6 Haas avocados
• 1/2 c. diced red onion
• 2 plum or Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced.
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• Juice of two limes
• 1 Green avocado

The first thing I did was put on some gloves to work with the jalapeno... the first time I worked with one and didn't, I was reminded how sticky the capsaicin is when I rubbed my eyes after dinner. Ouch. I take out the seeds and the ribs to keep the heat down, and dropped that into the mixing bowl.

Remember, I'm making enough guacamole for a bunch of people, so you can adjust how much you make accordingly. I cut the Haas avocados in half and scooped the flesh into the bowl, followed by the red onions, tomatoes, salt, black pepper, cumin, chili powder and garlic.  Then, I turned to my potato masher (Sometimes, hand tools are the right ones for the job) and proceeded to mash the mix until the avocados were smooth and everything was mixed together.

Next up, I squeezed one and a half limes into the mix. Avocados do have a tendency to turn brown when exposed to air, but the acidity in the lime juice keeps that from happening. I stirred that in to the mix.

Finally, I halved and pitted the green avocado, peeled the skin off and then diced it into small chunks. Because these avocados are firmer, they make for a great change of pace texture wise. I stirred those in to ensure they stayed chunky, and took a sample.  This was a great time to add a little more salt and chili powder to taste, and squeezed the last half of the time to punch up the flavor.

Finally, I had to wrap in it plastic wrap while it was in the bowl, pushing the wrap down onto the surface of the guacamole to help prevent air exposure, and they threw it into the fridge. With an armed guard standing next to it.

After all, the kids love this stuff!

Happy eating. 

Stuff I made: Stuffed burgers

OK, I have to admit, I'm totally jacked. It's Friday night on Father's Day weekend, and I told the family it's time for some goodies.

Tonight, it's going to be stuffed burgers on the grill. It's an idea I saw on TV once - up in Minnesota, apparently the Juicy Lucy is a big deal. It's a burger stuffed with cheese on the inside.  Really cool idea.

My dad and stepmom sent me a gourmet burger kit from Williams Sonoma, with some fancy ketchup and mustard, and a special press to make these stuffed burgers. So, hey, why not? (By the way, thanks Pops and Peggy!)

Here's the recipe:

• 1.5 lb ground chuck
• 1/2 tsp. anchovy paste
• 1/2 tsp. tomato paste
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 c. shredded pepper jack cheese

In a bowl, mix the chuck, anchovy paste, tomato paste, soy, salt, pepper and egg. The anchovy paste, tomato paste and soy are full of glutamates, which really boost the meaty flavor of beef. Just mix this until things are incorporated, you don't have to beat it into submission!

Once mixed up, I press the meat into the base of the press and use the mold to imprint a depression into the bottom part of the patty. In goes a healthy scoop of cheese and then I then pile on the meat for the top and hit the top of the press. That kind of mushes everything down and seals the cheese inside.

I let them sit in the fridge for half an hour so they would firm up, and then onto a medium grill for 7 minutes a side. I don't like to flip them a bunch of times, so they only got one flip.  I also covered the grill so it would create more of an oven experience. I pulled them at about medium, and they were very juicy.

Sure, there was a little bit of ooozage, but the cheese stayed mostly inside. I put them on some French hamburger buns bought at my local Publix supermarket, and then topped them with some spicy ketchup, mustard, a slice of fresh tomato, sauteed red onion and sauteed mushrooms with sherry. A handful of oven fries and some grill roasted corn on the cob made for one great dinner everyone loved.

Happy eating!

A serious note about food safety

Just last week, we watched as Tropical Storm Andrea threatened west central Florida. As storms go, not a big deal.  A lot of rain, some not-too-powerful tornadoes.

But, this got me thinking about food safety. After all, if power to the chill chest goes out, how long can you keep your food?  Heck, forget emergencies - how long can you keep food out at a summer picnic?

At my day job as a public educator for hurricane and disaster preparedness, I do a monthly program called Prepare to Survive. And, it turns out that the current episode is on food safety and how to prepare food after a disaster.

It's only too convenient to put this up right now.  I hope you enjoy and learn a thing or two.

Happy eating.

Welcome to my food blog

Like I needed something else to do with my free time...

Hi, everyone, I'm Tom Iovino. I live in the Tampa Bay area and - wow - I love food. There's a lot to be said about it. And, I'm sure that there are probably dozens of food blogs out there you check out on a regular basis.

That's just fine with me.

I know I'm not James Beard. No Christopher Kimball. Or Julia Child - although I wish I could have been a spy...

Instead, I'm just a guy - a husband - a dad of two great kids - in a house where we love to cook and eat.

On these pages, I hope to document some of the great food adventures I have with my family. Maybe talk some cooking tools. Maybe talk some ingredients. Who knows?

Until then, happy eating!