Copycat Recipes

I checked out Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Restaurant Recipes from the library last week. It prompted me to make multiple attempts at creating my own Olive Garden meals at home. I was somewhat successful in recreating the Zuppa Toscana and breadsticks, but the Alfredo sauce was less than desirable.

The first recipe I started with was the Zuppa. It's a combination of chicken stock, heavy cream (I used whole milk), cooked ground Italian sausage, chopped kale, potatoes and paprika. I omitted the red pepper flakes because the sausage I purchased was "hot" and more than spicy enough for me. The recipe goes together the same as most good soups, toss everything in the pot and let simmer for an hour. The results were excellent and could be a dead ringer for the version served at the restaurant. I was more than happy that I doubled the recipe so we could have it again the next night. **Note: The spiciness intensified overnight.

Of course I couldn't have "Olive Garden soup" without breadsticks. Wilbur's book doesn't have a secret recipe for breadsticks, so I hit the Internet to search. I found multiple versions that started with frozen bread dough. I also found a couple of posters claiming to be Olive Garden employees (or former ones) who said the bread sticks are nothing more than store bought sticks slathered in butter and garlic powder. I wanted to start from scratch, so I kept searching until I found a recipe at Visual Recipes. I tried out the recipe, but found it a bit flawed. Namely due to the shaping of the bread sticks prior to the first rising. So, I revamped it the second time around and came up with the following recipe. It's not exactly Olive Garden, but it's a close second.

Olive Garden Breadsticks at Home

makes 8 breadsticks

1/2 cup + 3 scant tbls warm water

1 tsp yeast

1 tbls sugar

1 tsp soft butter (I used Smart Balance spread)

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

Melted butter, salt and garlic powder for topping

Combine water and yeast. Let sit for a few moments as yeast activates. Add sugar, butter, flour and salt. Mix by hand or in stand mixer until dough is soft and kneaded. Allow to rise in oiled, covered pan until doubled, about 1 hour (indent in dough will remain if fully risen).

Punch dough down. Shape into log. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 4oo degrees during this time. Cut dough with a bench scraper into eight equal pieces. Roll with your hands into cigar shapes about 6 inches long. Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Place in hot oven, toward the top to avoid over browing on bottom. Bake for 4 minutes. Remove from oven. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake an additional 4 minutes, brush again with melted butter and sprinkle liberally with garlic powder. Return to oven and bake a few more minutes until just starting to get color on top. Watch the bottoms carefully to avoid over baking on the bottom of the sticks.

Of course I couldn't have Olive Garden soup and breadsticks without pasta, so I studied Wilbur's Secret Alfredo recipe. I also consulted the Olive Garden website, which lists their recipe for Alfredo sauce. I was scared off by the six jumbo egg yolks, so I went back to Wilbur's recipe. His version called for heavy cream, butter, garlic powder, black pepper and grated parmesan cheese. My fridge was devoid of both butter and heavy cream. I thought I could get away with using light margarine, 1% milk and a couple of tablespoons of flour. I was wrong. The resulting concoction was a bland, thick, floury sauce. Definitely not even close to Olive Garden. But, I decided that's ok. If I'm going to consume an ungodly amount of fat, calories and cholesterol from all the heavy cream and egg yolks, I'd rather do it at the restaurant where I don't know what's in my food.

I'll take the two out of three and keep the soup and breadstick recipes.

Blogging Catch-up

I haven't been finding much time to blog lately because, among other things, I've been too busy in the kitchen. With cooler weather and less summer activities to jam in, my kitchen has been working overtime. I've mostly been trying out recipes from other websites, but I've improvised a bit, too.

My favorite recipe at the moment comes from Smitten Kitchen. It's a super easy, basic, flavorful tomato sauce. It's so easy, it doesn't even require a real recipe and can be adjusted to accommodate any number of tomatoes that you have on hand. I use about eight medium size tomatoes. They're a combo of Early Girls and Beefsteaks from the garden. Drop the tomatoes into boiling water until the skin breaks or begins to look loose (about 30 seconds). Plunge the tomatoes into ice water to stop the cooking. The skins should slide off easily. Cut out the cores. In a sauce pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil and a couple cloves of garlic until fragrant. Squeeze in the tomatoes, breaking up with your hands. Add a splash of white wine and salt and sugar to taste. Allow to simmer until thick, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing tomatoes with a fork.

The sauce is so great because it has a variety of applications. I've been using it for another Smitten Kitchen recipe, Pizza Even Sweeter. I love how simply the crust goes together and there's nothing better than fresh mozzarella and basil with the homemade sauce and crust.

I also made a baked linguine with the sauce. I combined the sauce with hot cooked linguine noodles, adding just a touch of the pasta cooking water. I put the noodles into a baking dish and topped with slices of fresh mozzarella. Next, I cooked the pasta in a 350 oven until the cheese was bubbly and just beginning to brown. A nice twist on basic spaghetti.


I also made up a batch of Syrian Pita Bread from Food & Wine magazine to use for gyros. I wasn't super happy with the results, but I think it's due to Munchkin's attempt to help. While I had my back turned making tzatziki sauce, Munchkin climbed up at the counter and decided to help roll out the pita bread. Unfortunately, the bread was already rolled out and just finishing it's final rest before the oven. Some of it even ended up on the floor. By the time I got the rounds fixed, they had been over worked and became tough.

Our friends from Mommy & Me came over for lunch earlier this week. I made Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was a slow cooker recipe from All Recipes. I love tortilla soup and was hesitant to try a new recipe, but with over 700 reviews and a four-and-a-half star rating, I didn't think I could go wrong. I assembled the soup the night before, adding a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans and using raw diced chicken. I also an extra can of chicken stock. Cooking from the fridge with the raw chicken took the full four hours on high. I was a bit worried about making sure the chicken was fully cooked, but a check with a instant read thermometer proved it safe. It was the best Tortilla Soup I've had and got rave reviews from everyone.

My next project will be canning the large batch of jalapenos from the garden. DD's grown to like my homemade pickled variety better than the store bought kind. I've been told twice this summer that I would've have been a good pioneer. Maybe, but how would I have blogged about it?

Recipe Rant: Summer Vegetable Chicken Soup

A touch of a summer time cold prompted me to whip up a homemade chicken soup. With the garden over flowing with vegetables, it wasn't hard to be inspired. Even Munchkin enjoyed all the veggies in the comforting concoction.

Summer Vegetable Chicken Soup

1 tbls olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (I use Pacific Organic)
1 cup water
1 tbls flour
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
1/2 cup orzo
1/2 cup chopped green beans
1/2 cup chopped summer squash
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
chopped basil for garnish

Saute onion in oil until soft. Add carrots and continue sauteing until onions are start to become translucent. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chicken broth. Stir flour into water until lumps are gone. Add mixture to broth while stirring. Simmer, covered for 5 minutes. Add chicken and orzo. Simmer until pasta is almost tender, about 10 minutes. Add green beans. Cook 3 minutes. Add squash and cook an additional 4 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with basil.