Ham and Arugula Shortcrust Rolls

I’m always coming across new food challenges to participate in. It helps me be keep my recipes varied, because I get new ideas of things to make! In my internet sleuthing, I found The Pastry Challenge. The idea of the Pastry Challenge is to make a pastry item that meets the monthly theme. This month’s theme was anything, which really is a nice way to start this since I haven’t been doing much baking lately.

I decided to use the first time back into pastry baking to be a dinner item – this is a shortcrust wrapped up with ham, arugula, mustard, and parmesan cheese. It was a great choice. I added just a bit too much water to the dough, but all-in-all, delicious!

Ham and Arugula Shortcrust Rolls

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp red chili powder
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/ 8 tsp ground black pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp ice water
2 tbsp honey mustard
5 slices honey ham
1/3 cup arugula

Directions

1. Sift the flour, chili powder, salt, and pepper together. Put into a food processor and pulse several times.
2. Add the butter and pulse into a course meal is formed.
3. Add the 1 1/2 tsp cheese and pulse several times.
4. Add the egg and pulse several times.
5. Add the water 1 tbsp at a time and pulse until the dough comes together.
6. Shape into a ball and wrap in seran wrap. Refrigerate for half hour.
7. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Smear with mustard. Top with ham, arugula, and 1 tbsp parmesan.
8. Roll into a wrap, starting on the long side.
9. Put in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
10. Preheat oven to 375. Cut the dough into slices. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

* makes about 9 rolls

Honey-Mustard Chicken and Mustard Mashed Potatoes

 

This is the last meal of my 25th year being on the earth. Tomorrow is my 26th birthday. How do I celebrate my birthday? Do I get a cake? Do I spend the day doing lots of fun things? No, no. I get to write a 5,000 word essay. As of this moment, at 10:46 p.m. I have 546 words written. I have to turn in this 5,000 word essay Monday night. I will be doing a lot of writing tomorrow.

But don’t get me wrong. I haven’t entirely been procrastinating. I wrote a 10 page paper today. I started it last night (after trying to type it all day but only getting a few words typed, I went to bed.) I just managed to stack the worst finals schedule ever this semester. I’ll be done by mid-next week. Then I have hearings at work. I’m really looking forward to my break and baking cookies.

The honey I used in this recipe was from my September Foodie Penpal box. We finally finished off the other honey we had in the house, so it was time to make use of the honey from Sara! The combination of the sweet honey and the savory mustard, bacon, chicken, and mushrooms was perfect.

Also, who would have thought of putting mustard in mashed potatoes? It’s delicious. I’m giving you both recipes.

Honey-Mustard Chicken
(source)

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp light corn syrup
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 slices of bacon, cut in half
1 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350. Rub the chicken breasts with salt and garlic powder. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet. Brown for 4 minutes on each side.

2. Combine the mustard, honey, corn syrup, mayonnaise, and dried onion flakes. Remove half of the sauce and set aside.

3. Place the browned chicken in a baking dish sprayed with Pam. Top with honey-mustard sauce. Place bacon slice on top of each piece of chicken. Toss mushrooms over the chicken and cover the whole dish with cheese.

4. Bake for 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the bacon is crunchy. Serve with reserved honey-mustard sauce.

* serves 2

Mustard Mashed Potatoes
(source)

Ingredients
3 medium red potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp margarine
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 20 minutes, until tender.

2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in with the potatoes and mash until smooth.

* serves 2

* shared with Sweet Treats & Swanky Stuff Saturday and Weekend Cooking

Wrapped Tilapia and Warm Sweet Potato Salad

This fish recipe was originally intended to be made with salmon. Salmon however is not my favorite of fishes. I find the flavor too powerful for my palette. I do like fish though, but I prefer the white fishes. Tilapia is one such fish that suits what I like in terms of fish. This recipe was shared with me by emilytgs24 at the recipe swap I participate in on myfitnesspal.

It was easy. I made it on a Monday night, my busiest day of the week where I’m running between class, work, and then class again. I barely have time to eat on Mondays, but this dish not only was done before I needed to run out the door, it also tasted like more time was spent on it than actually was.

With the dish I served a warm sweet potato salad. Sweet potato is my absolute favorite food (along with spinach). The fish and the sweet potato paired together perfectly and made a great dinner.

Wrapped Tilapia

Ingredients

4 tilapia fillets
8 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper

Directions

 1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Cut the fillets in half, lengthwise.

3. Mix the mustard and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Set aside.

4. Take 2 sheets of phyllo dough and put one on top of the other. Place both the halves from one fillet on the dough, close to one edge. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper. Place 1/4 of the mustard mixture on the fish and then roll in the phyllo dough, making sure all the corners are tucked in.

5. Place on a cookie sheet and spray the phyllo with Pam. Bake for 20 minutes.

* serves 4
* 182 calories per serving

Warm Sweet Potato Salad

Ingredients
1 1/2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 russet potato, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp light mayonnaise
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 slice bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
1/4 red onion, finely chopped

Directions

 1. Place the sweet potato and russet potato in a pot. Fill the pot with water until the potatoes are all covered. Put over high heat and boil for 20 minutes. Cook until they are tender. Drain the potatoes.

2. Meanwhile, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, Balsamic, turmeric, green onion, bacon, and red onion. Stir the sweet potatoes and potatoes into this mixture, making sure to coat well.

* serves 3
* 190 calories per serving