Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 (32 page)

BOOK: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2

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OLIVE GARDEN BRUSCHETTA

MENU DESCRIPTION:
“A traditional topping of roma tomatoes, fresh basil and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with freshly toasted ciabatta bread.”

Olive Garden’s recently redesigned bruschetta recipe improves on the Italian chain’s previous version. The tomato salad includes a little sun-dried tomato and balsamic vinegar, and it is now served in a separate dish rather than on the bread. Now the bread doesn’t get soggy. The tomatoes are finely diced before mixing with the other ingredients, and the ciabatta bread is sprinkled with a little grated Parmesan cheese before it’s toasted. Try to find a nice, chewy loaf of Italian bread for this dish—get the best bread in the store. The better your bread, the better your bruschetta.

3 firm roma tomatoes, finely
diced (about 1 ½ cups)
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons diced marinated
sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
I teaspoon balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
9 to 10 slices ciabatta bread (or
Italian bread)
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
cheese
pinch dried parsley flakes

1. Toss diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour.

2. When you are ready to serve the dish, preheat oven to 450 degrees.

3. Combine Parmesan cheese with dried parsley in a small bowl. Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet. Sprinkle a couple pinches of the Parmesan cheese mixture over each bread slice. Bake for 5 minutes or until the bread starts to crisp.

4. Pour tomato mixture into a serving dish (strain off the liquid), and serve it up alongside the toasted bread slices.

• SERVES 4.

OLIVE GARDEN SICILIAN SCAMPI

MENU DESCRIPTION:
“Large shrimp sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil with white wine, garlic and lemon.”

Once you have the onion, garlic and parsley all chopped up, this clone of a top appetizer pick at the Garden takes only a few minutes to assemble. Cooks at Olive Garden speed up the process by using what they call “scampi butter”—chilled blocks of butter with all the spices, garlic, and onions already in it—so that each serving is prepared quickly and consistently without any tedious measuring. When the shrimp is done, each one is placed on the inside end of five toasted Italian bread slices which have been arranged on the plate in a spoke-like fashion (you can also use a French baguette with the slices cut at an extreme angle). One shrimp is also placed in the middle of the plate, and the delicious sauce is poured over the top. I’ve included diced roma tomato here as an optional garnish, since one Olive Garden used it, but another location on the other side of town did not. As for the shrimp, use medium-size (they’re called 31/40) that are already peeled, but with the tails left on. Then all you have to do to butterfly them is make a deep cut (don’t go all the way through) on the outside of the shrimp where the vein was. As the shrimp cooks, they will curl and spread open.

2 tablespoons butter
I tablespoon olive oil
I teaspoon minced white onion
I teaspoon minced garlic
I tablespoon Chablis wine
6 fresh medium shrimp, butterfly
cut with tails on
I teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon minced fresh parsley
pinch salt
pinch ground black pepper
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon sliced canned black
olives

5 slices Italian bread, toasted

OPTIONAL GARNISH
½ diced roma tomato freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Toast the sliced Italian bread on a sheet pan in your oven set to broil, or in a toaster oven. The bread should toast for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until light brown. Arrange the bread slices in a spoke-like fashion on a serving plate then dance over to the stove to whip up the scampi.

2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan.

3. When the butter has melted add the minced onion and garlic. Make sure your heat isn’t up too high or the garlic may burn, and turn brown and bitter. When the onion and garlic have sautéed for just a few seconds, add the wine to the pan.

4. Immediately add the shrimp to the pan.

5. After you add the shrimp, quickly add the lemon juice, parsley, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper and cook shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing occasionally.

6. After a minute or two, when the shrimp is done, add the cream and olives. Cook for 15 seconds or so, then use tongs to place one shrimp on the end of each bread slice (the ends that are in the center of the plate), and place one shrimp in the center of the plate (not on bread). Pour the sauce from the pan over the shrimp and serve the dish with a diced roma tomato sprinkled over the top and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if that’s your thing.

• MAKES AN APPETIZER FOR TWO.

OLIVE GARDEN STUFFED MUSHROOMS

MENU DESCRIPTION:
“Parmesan, Romano and mozzarella cheese, clams and herb breadcrumbs baked in mushroom caps.”

Breadcrumbs, clams and three types of cheese are baked into white mushroom caps in this clone of a top pick from Olive Garden’s appetizer menu. Simply mix all the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl, fill the mushroom caps, sprinkle on some minced red bell pepper, cover the mushrooms with a blanket of mozzarella cheese slices, and bake. After 15 minutes you’ll have a great appetizer or hors d’oeuvre for 4 to 6 people—that’s twice the serving size of the dish from the restaurant.

⅓ cup Progresso breadcrumbs
(herb flavor)
¼ cup canned minced clams
(drain liquid)
I tablespoon shredded Parmesan
cheese
1 tablespoon shredded Romano
cheese
½ teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons chicken broth
12 medium white button
mushrooms with stems
removed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons minced red bell
pepper
2 to 3 slices mozzarella cheese
½ teaspoon minced fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Combine breadcrumbs, clams, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, and garlic in a medium bowl. Use your hands to mix everything together Add the chicken broth I tablespoon at a time and stir after each addition with a spoon. Keep the stuffing fluffy by not over stirring.

3. Fill each of the mushroom caps with 1 to 2 teaspoons of the stuffing (depending on the size of the mushroom). Keep the filling pretty loose but make the top surface flat to support the sliced cheese. Arrange the stuffed mushrooms in a shallow baking dish with the stuffing facing up.

4. Use a brush to dab melted butter over each mushroom. Add enough so that the butter trickles down the sides of each mushroom and rests in the baking dish. Pour any leftover butter into the dish, then scoot the mushrooms next to each other.