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Our Journey Begins

Published on by Twiins in the Kitchen24 Comments
 
Toasting to our first night in Rome, April 2018 at the Piccolo Abruzzo Ristorante, Rome, Italy

Welcome & thank you for joining us.

We are identical twin sisters Teresa & Barbara, who grew up on Long Island, New York and now happily reside in North Carolina.  We were born 6 minutes apart…Barbara arrived first, which would only be relevant if our parents were King & Queen; which they were not, but she never misses an opportunity to remind me! 😂

Italian food is our heritage and cooking has become our passion. Now that we are both retired we rediscovered our passion for cooking. Here you will find our favorite family recipes that have been handed down for three generations along with some new favorites that we hope you will enjoy as much as we do.

About Teresa: After retiring as the controller of a construction management firm, my husband Jack & I moved from the Village of Northport, NY to coastal North Carolina. Our children & grandchildren still reside on Long Island and we go back as often as we can to see them. When not cooking, I still pursue my love of creating fine jewelry in gold, silver, and gemstones along with golfing with friends and playing Mah Jongg.

About Barbara: After just retiring as the Credit & A/R manager for a food supplement company, I accompanied Teresa on the day she moved at the suggestion of my husband Gary. We could write a book on the hilarious adventure during the long ride down, but that’s another story! I fell in love with the community and called Gary to tell him “we” bought a new house in NC! He thought I was joking but 11 months later we moved into our new home. He’s a keeper after 48 years… Our children reside on Long Island and southern California.  I also enjoy creating jewelry when I have the time; however, I’m just not as passionate anymore about jewelry making as Teresa is.

 

Did you try our recipes? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or Tag @twinsinthekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #twiinsinthekitchen.

 

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Greek Chicken Souvlaki with Yogurt Honey Mustard Sauce

Published on by Twiins in the Kitchen4 Comments
 

Greek Chicken Souvlaki with Yogurt Honey Mustard Sauce

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy

When I was working, we frequently ordered lunch from a wonderful nearby deli that made the best chicken souvlaki. Whenever I went out for Greek cuisine, it was their souvlaki & tzatziki sauce I used as a comparison. This recipe is delicious, easy to make & definitely worth including in your dinner rotations. Enjoy! 😋 😋

Ingredients

  • 2  chicken breasts
  • 200 g brine
  • 1/2 English cucumber, diced
  • lettuce chopped
  • 2 large onions, thinly sliced & carmelized
  • grape or cherry tomatoes, chopped
  • Kalamata olives, sliced
  • Feta cheese, small block (crumble into large pieces)
  • 6 Greek Pita Breads (click on the link for delicious homemade recipe)

Ingredients For the Chicken Brine:

  • 550 ml water
  • 1/2 of a lemon
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 bunch parsley
  • 1/2 Tablespoon dried thyme
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 35 g course salt
  • 2 cloves of garlic with skin on, crushed
  • 1 Tablespoon peppercorns

Ingredients For the Yogurt Honey Mustard Sauce:

  • 4 Tablespoons Greek yogurt, full fat
  • 1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 1 Tablespoon juice of 1 lime

Directions

For the Chicken Brine:

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Add all the ingredients for the brine in a medium saucepan. Stir & bring to a boil. Remove from heat once it comes to a full boil and set aside for 1 hour.
  3. Strain into a bowl once completely cooled. Discard all but the liquid.
  4. Chop the chicken into small bite-size pieces and add to the brine. Soak for 30 minutes but no more than 1 hour.

Cooking the chicken on skewers:

  1. Remove chicken pieces from the brine and drain well.  Dry off completely with paper towels. All the moisture needs to be drained.
  2. Thread the chicken onto wooden skewers that have been soaked in water. Add a drizzle of  EVOO onto a very hot griddle, place skewers of chicken onto hot griddle and brown on all sides, about 3-4 minutes.
  3. Once browned place the griddle with the chicken skewers directly onto the center rack in the oven for 5 minutes. (Make sure your griddle is oven-proof, if not place on tin foil)
  4. At the same time, place the prepared Greek Pita Bread on the bottom rack after drizzling the pita bread lightly with EVOO. Season with salt & pepper. Bake 5 minutes.

Yogurt Honey Mustard Sauce:

  1. While the pita bread & chicken are warming, combine all the ingredients for the yogurt honey mustard sauce in a small bowl.

Serve:

On a large serving platter, place the warmed pita bread and serve the chicken souvlaki with chopped tomatoes, caramelized onions, lettuce, feta, kalamata olives, and the yogurt honey mustard sauce. You can also try it with tzatziki sauce in place of yogurt honey mustard or combine both together.

Notes: Homemade Authentic Greek Pita Bread is by far the best tasting you can have and it’s so easy to make yourself…really! Give it a try.

Recipes adapted from Akis Petretzikis.

Cooking Greek Chicken Souvlaki on the griddle
Greek Pita Bread with Chicken Souvlaki

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Delicious Homemade Chicken Gyros & Tzatziki Sauce

Published on by Twiins in the KitchenLeave a comment
 

Delicious Homemade Chicken Gyros

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Very Easy

This gyro recipe is the best homemade gyro recipe we’ve ever tried. The yogurt marinade creates the most tender & flavorful chicken with a wonderful blend of warm Mediterranean spices. Gyros (pronounced euros) are a Greek dish typically made with chicken, pork or lamb and served on warm Greek pita bread as a sandwich with tzatziki sauce. I didn’t start cooking these until 5:30 pm so I had to tell my husband Gary to have some patience! We ate around 7:45 pm and he said they were worth the wait! 😋

Ingredients

For the Chicken & Gyro Fixings

  • 1.5 lb chicken tenders
  • 1 Tablespoon EVOO
  • Tzatziki sauce (see below)
  • 1 English cucumber, diced
  • grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • Kalamata olives, sliced
  • 1 green bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 small red onion
  • Feta cheese, small block (crumble into large pieces)
  • 6 Greek Pita Breads (click on the link for delicious homemade recipe)

For the Chicken Marinade:

  • 1 cup plain yogurt (I used Cabot Greek whole milk yogurt but reduced-fat or fat-free Greek yogurt will work too)
  • Juice of 1 large lemon
  • 2 Tablespoon EVOO
  • 3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
  • Pinch of black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher salt to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • pinch cayenne pepper, optional

For the Tzatziki Sauce:

  • 1 English cucumber, peeled, grated & liquid squeezed out
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/3 large clove garlic, finely grated
  • 3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoon EVOO
  • 2 cups Greek yogurt
  • pepper to taste
  • 1/4 bunch dill finely chopped (optional)

Directions

For the Chicken Marinade:

  1. In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients for the marinade. Mix well.
  2. Add the chicken tenders and coat well.
  3. Cover & refrigerate at least 1 hour.

For the Tzatziki Sauce:

  1. Using a cheese grater on the large blade side, grate the cucumber.  Put in a bowl and add a pinch of kosher salt and 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar. Toss together and set aside to release the liquid.
  2. In the meantime, combine the yogurt, 1/3 of garlic clove (grated), 2 Tablespoons of remaining white wine vinegar and 2 Tablespoons of EVOO. Mix until creamy and well combined.
  3. Place the shredded cucumber into a clean dish towel and squeeze with your hands to release all the liquid through the towel. Add the strained cumbers to yogurt and discard the liquid.
  4. Add salt & pepper to taste.
  5. Mix in the optional chopped fresh dill. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the Chicken Tenders:

  1. In a non-stick large skillet, heat 1 Tablespoon EVOO until hot but not smoking. Shake off excess marinade and place into skillet with tongs.
  2. Cook on medium for 5 minutes without touching or moving them. Using tongs, turn chicken over and cook another 5 minutes. When done you may leave the chicken tenders whole or cut into small cubes if you prefer. Place in a bowl for serving with the other gyro fixings.
  3. Preheat oven to 350ºF. While the chicken tenders are cooking, warm up the pita bread by placing them on a large cookie sheet (ok if they overlap a little) then lightly drizzle with EVOO. Heat for 5 minutes.
  4. Spread 1 or 2 Tablespoons of Tzatziki sauce on the pita bread, add 1 or 2 chicken tenders or cut up chicken, sliced bell pepper, tomatoes, red onion, Kalamata olives, cucumbers, and feta cheese.
  5. Wrap stuffed pita in a little foil to keep the juices from falling out and enjoy!

Notes: Homemade Authentic Greek Pita Bread is by far the best tasting you can have and it’s so easy to make yourself…really! Give it a try.

Gyro recipe adapted from Suzy Karadsheh. Tzatziki Sauce recipe adapted from Akis Petretzikis.

 

 

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Authentic Greek Pita Bread

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Authentic Greek Pita Bread

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Very Easy

Have you ever noticed the big difference between Greek Pita Bread from your grocery store and the ones served in a Greek restaurant? Whenever we eat gyros or souvlaki at a Greek restaurant we always remark how good the pita bread is. Store-bought brands just don't cut it! We decided to try making our own when we came across what looked like an easy recipe. As it turned out the recipe was very easy and after making them we were hooked! No more store-bought for us. This recipe makes fluffier, more tender & much more flavorful pita bread and you'll never want to go back to store-bought again! There are so many uses for pita bread. Whether to scoop up an appetizer dip like hummus, tzatziki or eggplant spread or to be used in place of sandwich bread for gyros or souvlaki, they will definitely stand out and delight! 😋

Ingredients

  • 160 ml whole milk, room temperature
  • 80 ml water, room temperature
  • 1 tsp granulated sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons EVOO
  • 2 tsp dry yeast
  • 320 g bread flour (aka Hard flour due to the higher protein content)
  • 1 tsp fleur de sel
  • 1½ tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon EVOO, for frying
  • salt & Pepper

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, yeast, water & milk. Set aside until the mixture starts to froth, about 5 minutes.
  2. In a larger bowl, combine the flour, salt, and chopped fresh thyme leaves. Stir well.
  3. Add the EVOO to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
  4. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture a little at a time. Make sure each batch added is well incorporated before adding more.
  5. Transfer mixture to a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 4-5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth.
  6. Brush a large bowl with a little EVOO then add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest 40 minutes until it doubles in size.
  7. Place a flat non-stick griddle pan over medium heat. Let the pan get hot.
  8. Lightly oil your work surface then press on the dough to remove the air and cut it into 6 equal size pieces (or as close to equal as you can).
  9. Using a rolling pin,  roll out a ball of dough to a circle about 7-8 inches in diameter. (Mine came out a little rectangular so I went with it!)
  10. The griddle or pan will be hot enough now. Place the first pita bread directly on the hot griddle and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. Once they start to puff up, use tongs to flip over and cook 1-2 minutes. You will have nicely browned or charred bubbles. Remove from heat and place on a serving dish. Continue cooking the remaining dough balls, 1 pita bread at a time until finished.
  11. Sprinkle with chopped thyme before serving.
  12. Serve warm with chicken gyros, souvlaki, hummus, or tzatziki sauce.

Notes: While the first pita bread is cooking, roll out the next one so it’s ready to go in the hot pan as soon as you remove the cooked one.

Recipe adapted from Akis Petretzikis.

Roll out each dough ball into an 8″ round.
Place rolled out dough on medium heated griddle
Greek Pita Bread, not exactly round but oh so delicious!
Greek Pita Bread, tomatoes, chopped cucumber & green onions.
Greek Pita Bread with Chicken Souvlaki

 

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Mediterranean Steak Bowls, Gluten-Free

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Mediterranean Steak Bowls, Gluten-Free

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Very Easy

I was looking in my freezer to see what I could make for dinner without having to go the market. I found 2 small NY strip steaks that I defrosted for Gary to grill on the barbeque. I had most of the other ingredients for this delicious and healthy dinner. The best part...it's served all in one bowl. You can make this with what you have on hand, including chicken, beef, or lamb for the protein. The yogurt dressing is wonderful and blends all the flavors together. I could eat this dish every night of the week...it's that good. Give it a try.

Ingredients

For the Bowls:

  • 1 lb. NY strip steak (may substitute with flank steak, sirloin steak, chicken breast or lamb)
  • 2 tsp EVOO
  • salt, pepper, garlic powder (to season steak)
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped to your size liking (about 12 cups)
  • 1 large cucumber, quartered & cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1/4 medium red onion, finely sliced or chopped
  • 1-pint cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
  • 1 cup hummus (I used Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus & added 1 clove finely minced garlic)
  • 1/2 cup crumbled fetta cheese
  • lemon wedges (optional)

For the Yogurt Dressing:

  • 1 cup plain yogurt (I used Cabot Greek whole milk yogurt)
  • 1 Tablespoon EVOO
  • 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 1/2 tsp dried dill
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 2 tsp fresh mint, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried mint)

Directions

For the Dressing:

  1. In a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup, combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk together.  Place in the fridge until ready to use. This dressing can be stored up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

For the Bowls:

  1. Preheat the grill to high heat (approximately 450ºF).
  2. Pat the steak with paper towels until dry. Brush steaks with EVOO then sprinkle with salt, pepper & a little garlic powder.
  3. When the grill is hot enough, place the steak on the grill for 3 minutes then flip and grill an additional 3 minutes for medium-rare or until an instant-read thermometer reads 140ºF.  Grill longer for thicker steak. Our steaks were about 1-inch thick before grilling.
  4. Remove steak from the grill and allow to rest for about 10 minutes. Slice thin against the grain.
  5. While the steak is resting, divide the chopped lettuce between 4 bowls. Top with sliced steak, red onions, hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese.
  6. Spoon yogurt dressing on top and garnish with optional lemon wedges.

Notes: In place of slicing the red onion thin, you can cut them into 1-inch pieces & place on skewers with the tomatoes. Grill for about 6-8 minutes, turning occasionally until tomatoes start to blister & onions are softened.

Recipe adapted from Jessica Beacom.

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Barbara’s Berry Cream Pie🥈

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Barbara's Berry Cream Pie

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Very Easy

If you ever paid a visit to Briermere Farms in Riverhead, Long Island then you know about their delicious pies. My favorite is their boysenberry! The tartness of the berries blending with the fluffy sweet cream filling is the perfect combination. Not being a pie maker I never heard of National Pie Day, which is celebrated every January 23rd. So, when the director of our Fitness Center sent a community-wide announcement about a pie contest to celebrate the event, I was intrigued. I decided to give it a try and make that boysenberry cream pie. I couldn't get fresh boysenberries here in NC so I decided to use fresh raspberries, blackberries, and canned boysenberries calling it Berry Cream Pie! I was thrilled with how it turned out. My husband Gary loves it and I'm happy to say my pie took 2nd Place 🥈 (Teresa's pie took 1st place🥇)

Ingredients

  1. 1 Sour Cream blind-baked pie crust
  2. 9-inch Pyrex pie dish

Berry Topping:

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 can boysenberries, reserve 3 Tablespoons of juice then drain well
  • 1 pint fresh raspberries
  • 1 pint fresh blackberries
  • 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Filling:

  • 1½ cups heavy cream
  • 1 (8 ounces) package full-fat cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (full fat)

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Stir in the fruit, reserved boysenberry juice, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Set aside and let cool.
  3. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, pour heavy cream into the bowl. Beat on medium until stiff peaks form. Transfer to another bowl.
  4. Replace the whisk attachment with a paddle attachment on the stand mixer. Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla into the stand mixer bowl and beat until well combined, approximately 2 minutes.
  5. Fold in the whipped cream and sour cream until evenly incorporated.
  6. Spread cream filling into your blind-baked, cooled pie crust. Top with the cooled berry topping and place some fresh berries on top. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Notes: You could also add strawberries & blueberries or whatever berries you love.

 

Rim Braiding with Bows before baking

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Teresa’s Banana Cream Bourbon-Caramel Pie 🥇

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Teresa's Banana Cream Bourbon-Caramel Pie

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Moderate

I always loved to bake & as a young bride baked many pies, cakes & desserts. I always chose the more difficult recipes as I loved the challenge. Since I hadn't made any pies for many years I almost backed out of our first community pie contest that Barbara so graciously entered us in. Let's just say I owed her, but that's a story for another time! My inspiration for this pie comes from a dessert our Dad used to make on some weekends while we were growing up. It was a delicious banana pudding & wafer dessert that he or Mom probably saw on the box of wafers or Jello pudding box. Wherever it came from we loved it. I'm excited to say my Banana Cream Bourbon Caramel pie took 1st place. {Barbara was sorry she talked me out of backing out because her berry cream pie took 2nd place!} 🤣🤣

Ingredients

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

 Whipped Cream Garnish:

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Bourbon Caramel Sauce :

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Bourbon
  • 1/2 tsp corn syrup
  • 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

  1.  In a medium saucepan bring milk and cream to a simmer.
  2.  In a large bowl whisk sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt.
  3. Add egg yolks one at a time; whisk until smooth (mixture will be very thick).
  4. Whisking constantly, gradually add the milk mixture to the yolk mixture.
  5. Return to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until thick, 2-3 minutes.
  6. Transfer to a blender and add butter and vanilla. Purée until smooth, 1-2 minutes.
  7. Transfer puréed mixture to a medium bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the vanilla cream pastry mixture. This will prevent a film from forming.
  8. Chill at least 2 hours or until set. This mixture can be made 1 or 2 days ahead and kept in the refrigerator until assembling the pie.
  9. Toast a handful of chopped walnuts in a small skillet until the aroma is released. Then add a tablespoon + of the caramel sauce and toss. Remove from heat and set aside to use as garnish.

Whipped Cream Topping:

  1. With an electric mixture, beat 1/2 cup cream and powdered sugar together until medium-stiff peaks form. Cover and chill.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce:

  1. In a medium saucepan stir sugar, bourbon, corn syrup, and 1 Tablespoon of water over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves.
  2. Increase heat and bring to a boil without stirring, cook, occasionally swirling saucepot until sugar is a deep amber color, 6-8 minutes. (you can use a wet pastry brush to push down the sides).
  3. Remove the caramel from the heat and whisk the remaining 1/4 cup of cream, butter, and salt. Let cool for about 5-6 minutes then whisk in vanilla. Let cool and set aside until ready to drizzle over pie at room temperature.
  4. Spread 1/4 cup vanilla pastry cream evenly over the bottom of the pastry crust.
  5. Slice bananas into 1/4 inch rounds and layer over the pastry cream. Top with 1½ cups vanilla pastry cream.  Arrange the remaining banana slices over the top. Top the bananas with the remaining pastry cream.  Garnish with whipped cream and caramelized walnuts. Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve.

 

 

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Sour Cream Pie Crust

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Sour Cream Pie Crust

  • Servings: 2 pie crusts
  • Difficulty: Easy

This recipe makes enough dough for 1 double-crust or 2, 9-inch single crusts. After testing so many crust recipes we found this recipe to be the most buttery, flakiest texture and best tasting in a homemade crust. We loved it so much we used it when we recently entered a local pie baking contest. We took 1st & 2nd place so we can assure you this crust is a winner! 😋

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt 
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream (do NOT use light sour cream)
  • 1 egg + 1 Tablespoon heavy cream, beaten together for the egg wash

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Cut butter into cubes and let sit in a warm spot for a couple of minutes after removing from the fridge.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar.
  4. Mix the cubes of butter over & into the flour, using your clean hands.  Squish the flour and butter together with your thumbs, fingers, and knuckles, making sure the butter coats all of the flour. Work the butter into the dough until you have what resembles a coarse meal with some flattened chunks of butter (Ok to have different size butter chunks). Using a fork, add the sour cream to the flour mixture & combine.
  5. Gather the pastry dough into a large ball. Divide the ball in half forming 2 disks.
  6. Work the dough until there are no cracks.  Don’t worry about overworking the dough. as this dough is different than typical pie dough.
  7. Sprinkle both sides of disks with a little flour than tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Once the dough is wrapped in plastic look for any cracks in the dough. You can smooth the dough and the edges with your warm hands to close any cracks. Chill both disks in the refrigerator for an hour or up to a day ahead.
  8. Remove the dough from the fridge, let sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature, to become easier to roll out.  If it still feels too stiff to roll out, hold your hands around the edges to soften.
  9. To roll out, sprinkle a little flour on a clean, flat surface along with the top of the dough. As you roll the dough, check to make sure the bottom is not sticking. If it is, lift it up & sprinkle a little more flour.
  10. Roll out to 12 to 14 inches wide, to an even thickness (approximately 3/16 inches)
  11. Place the dough gently in an ungreased, 9-inch glass pie pan.
  12. For a pre-baked pie crust, as we used in our banana cream bourbon caramel pie or berry cream pie, you will need to Blind-bake first. (Instructions below)

Blind-baking this pie crust

This recipe has more fat in it than a regular crust, which can cause the sides to slump. Having said that, we have successfully pre-baked this crust by layering extra dough on the edges of the pie rim, freezing the crust for at least 30 minutes first, lining it with non-stick heavy-duty foil then filling it with rice and baked it at 350ºF for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil and rice. Lightly brush with egg wash and place pie back in the oven. Bake until golden brown, approximately 30-40 minutes. Barbara used the extra pie dough to make a braiding all around the rim.,  Place the braiding or cutouts using egg wash to adhere to pie edge.  Teresa used 1-inch flower cookie cutters to make a flower rim.

NOTE: If you’re freezing this dough for future use, wrap again, this time with aluminum foil and freeze (leave in the fridge overnight to thaw before using).

Recipe adapted from Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes.

 

Rim Braiding with Bows before baking
Rim Flower Cut Outs after baking

Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or Tag @twiinsinthekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #twiinsinthekitchen.

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National Pie Day Celebration

Published on by Twiins in the Kitchen
 

All across America, January 23rd is National Pie Day and Brunswick Forest hosted their very first Pie Baking Contest to celebrate this national event!

Teresa & I are not known for making pies but I thought we should enter this local contest to challenge ourselves. Teresa even wanted to back out the day before the contest…she just wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to replicate a berry cream pie that Briermere Farms in Riverhead, Long Island is famous for. I had so many wonderful memories of their cream pies that I had to give it a try. Teresa, on the other hand, had no clue what she wanted to bake. She loved our father’s banana pudding dessert as a young girl so after I convinced her not to withdraw from the contest she decided she would make a banana cream pie reminiscent of that flavor only kicking it up a notch.

There were a total of 14 entries that were judged by professionals in the food industry. I am thrilled to announce Teresa’s Banana Cream Bourbon-Caramel Pie took first place…I took second place with my Berry Cream Pie (I should have let her back out!) LOL

We tested so many pie crust recipes and got the best consistency using a sour cream pie crust recipe from Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes.  It worked great for blind baking both of our crusts. This recipe gives you the most buttery, flakiest texture that we ever tasted in a homemade crust. It certainly is a winner!

Click on the links below for the crust and winning pie recipes.

Teresa’s Banana Cream Bourbon-Caramel Pie

Barbara’s Berry Cream Pie

 

                                                                    Sour Cream Pie Crust    Sour Cream Pie Crust    

 

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Fish Fillet Roll-ups with Stewed Tomatoes

Published on by Twiins in the Kitchen1 Comment
 

Fish Fillet Roll-ups with Stewed Tomatoes

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Very Easy

Who knew our Mom was cooking the Mediterranean Diet style long before it was ever acknowledged to be such a healthy way of eating? She used to prepare flounder fillets this way in order to disguise the fish so we would eat it. She was really onto something as we thought it tasted like pizza! I guess she fooled us alright...we loved it! Our local fish market was out of flounder but the cod looked great & was on sale so we adapted Mom's recipe using the fresh cod. If fresh fish isn't available where you live, by all means, use frozen and make sure you defrost it thoroughly & remove any bones before preparing. If your little ones don't like fish try telling them they're 'pizza style roll-ups' and give them a try. We won't tell!

Ingredients

  • 2½ – 3 lbs white fish fillets (cod or flounder) fresh or frozen & thawed
  • 8 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4- 1/2 cup Italian Style Bread Crumbs (or gluten-free bread crumbs if gluten is an issue)
  • 2 Tablespoons dried oregano plus more for topping
  • 1 tsp sea salt, more or less to taste
  • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons or more Pecorino Romano grated cheese
  • EVOO to drizzle over fillets & casserole dish
  • 2 cans Stewed tomatoes with juice
  • large toothpicks to seal fillets while baking

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  2. Pat fish fillets dry with paper towels.
  3. Drizzle a little EVOO over each fillet. Rub the minced garlic on each fillet then sprinkle all seasonings starting with salt, pepper, oregano, bread crumbs, and grated cheese.
  4. In a 2 quart casserole, drizzle a small amount of EVOO on the bottom of the dish. Roll-up each fillet and place in casserole.
  5. Pour the stewed tomatoes over the fish roll-ups then place a large toothpick into each fillet to prevent them from opening. Sprinkle additional oregano, salt & pepper on top of the stewed tomatoes.
  6. Place in preheated oven and bake at 400ºF until fish flakes, about 20-25 minutes. Remember, these fillets are rolled up so they will take longer to flake.
  7. Remove from casserole and plate with your favorite salad and vegetable.

 

Lightly oil fillets & add minced garlic
add seasonings
roll fillets
top with stewed tomatoes
insert toothpick into each fish roll-up
Serve with salad & vegetable
Fish roll-up plated & ready to eat
Enjoy your first bite!

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Pasta Fasùl (Pasta Fagioli)

Published on by Twiins in the KitchenLeave a comment
 

Pasta Fasùl (Pasta Fagioli)

  • Servings: 6-8 as a main dish
  • Difficulty: Very Easy

Growing up in our Italian American household we could always count on one of our favorite meatless meals on a Friday night...Pasta Fasùl. Depending upon the region of Italy your family is from, you may know it as pasta fagioli or pasta fasùl (fazool). Our grandparents were from Naples and Sicily, which shared the same word for beans, fasùl. Technically this dish is a soup; however, we loved it best when most of the liquid dried up & was topped with lots of grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Our Mom always made this with small or medium-sized pasta shells; however, you can use any small pasta in your pantry as we did tonight. This is a very rustic meal but can be dressed up with the addition of any vegetable you have on hand, i.e. spinach, carrots, zucchini or escarole. To complete this meal, serve with a side salad. Give it a try on those nights you're pressed for time and let us know how you and your family like it.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. medium or small pasta shells or elbow pasta (we used ditalini as that’s what we had on hand)
  • 10 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 4 cans cannellini beans, do not rinse or drain the liquid
  • 1 cup prepared tomato sauce (preferably homemade or your favorite jar sauce)
  • 1 small can tomato paste plus same can filled with water to dilute
  • salt to taste
  • reserve at least 1 cup cooked pasta water
  • Pecorino Romano grated cheese for topping

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a Tablespoon of salt then add pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions. Before draining reserve at least 1 cup of the pasta water then drain pasta & set aside in a large bowl.
  2. In a large, deep skillet on medium heat add EVOO. Add smashed garlic & sauté a minute or two but don’t burn.
  3. Add the 4 cans of cannellini beans and stir well until they begin to boil. Lower heat to medium-low and add 1 cup prepared sauce & small can of tomato paste with a small can of water. Add a little of the reserved pasta water if too thick. Combine well and continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes.
  4. If you prefer a soupier pasta fasùl just add more of the reserved pasta water until it’s the consistency you like.
  5. Let sit for 5-10 minutes in a covered pot before serving.
  6. Top with grated cheese & garnish with fresh basil or parsley (optional)

NOTE: To make this meal gluten-free, just substitute any small-sized gluten-free pasta in place of regular pasta.

This dish thickens as it sits so if you want a thinner sauce, add more liquid in step 3-4 while cooking.

 

Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or Tag @twiinsinthekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #twiinsinthekitchen.

HELP OUR BLOG GROW! 

If you enjoyed trying one of our recipes, please give it a star rating at the bottom of the recipe page. This helps us our recipe get a higher Google ranking and will lead others to find and enjoy our recipes too. Thanks so much for your support!

 

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