On Saturday, NJ 101.5’s charming Dennis Malloy cooked up a feast for 100 of his fans at a cooking demonstration held at Mrs. G’s. He featured some wonderful halftime snacks, assisted by his friend Chef John Sowienski. Dennis assembled and cooked Stromboli, Cheese Steak Roll-Ups, Quesadillas and a Potato Volcano on Mrs. G’s Miele appliances. He told the crowd that John was his “sous chef”, which is “French for doing all the work”.
To start his stromboli, Dennis pounded out the dough into a rectangle with rounded edges. He said to keep the dough a little thick, since some of the ingredients have some oomph to them.
He layered provolone cheese over the pizza dough as he continued to regale the audience with stories of his visits to Italy, his Italian friends and his many cooking experiences. Next Dennis layered cold cuts over the cheese followed by slices of sausage and, finally, sautéed pepper and onions went on with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and garlic powder. (Dennis often takes the sausage out of the casing first and sautés that with the onion and peppers.)
To finish, Dennis stretched the end out a bit to allow for a larger flap for closing up the Stromboli. He said it takes a bit of engineering to roll up the whole thing. After the first roll or so, he brought in the edges and continued to roll up the filled dough. He placed it on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cut slits on the top, then brushed a bit of olive oil over. Dennis baked the first Stromboli at 450ºF for 20 to 25 minutes. He added that you can brush an egg wash on top before baking.
Dennis rolled out and filled a few more Stromboli, including one that he baked in the Miele Induction oven using their Master Chef controls. He selected Pizza, then Stromboli, and the oven was automatically set to cook at the correct temperature and time. It came out beautifully.
As a radio host, Dennis covers many subjects on his daily 4 hour show. As he cooked, Dennis effortlessly covered many other subjects while cooking. Here are a few:
Dennis loves fresh pasta. He buys P&S fresh pasta from Philadelphia.
Dennis uses extra virgin olive oil for all of his cooking. He just makes sure not to have the heat on too high when sautéing, because the smoking temperature is lower than other oils.
Remembering the pizza his mother used to make every Friday night, Dennis said he generally likes to keep his pizza toppings simple to taste the real flavor of the ingredients. He likes a fresh tomato sauce, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, some basil and a little mozzarella.
A vegetarian alternative to a meat-filled stromboli is a spinach and ricotta filling or broccoli rabe with a sharp provolone.
He shops for food everyday and cooks most nights for his family.
Dennis also made Cheese Steak Roll-ups in a snap. He sautéed sirloin tips with onions, salt, pepper and garlic powder and then drained the mixture. He spread goat cheese on tortillas and topped it with the steak mixture. (If he thinks someone may not like goat cheese, he calls it “Farmer’s cheese”, because it’s cheese and it’s from a farmer…with goats.) He rolled it up tightly and Chef Sowienski sautéed the rolls in oil for about 3 minutes on each side. They were sliced into small rolls and served with a marinara sauce.
Dennis finished up his demonstration with a quick quesadilla, filled with chopped, precooked Southwestern chicken breasts, cheese, peppers and onions, plus an interesting “Volcano Potatoes”. This last dish was made from cooked frozen steak fries, layered with cooked, chopped bacon and grated cheese to make a mountain shape. Dennis layered up the ingredients and topped the whole thing with more grated cheese and bacon. After baking at 400ºF for about 10 minutes, he served it with sour cream. It tasted like loaded poato skins, but was served like nachos. It would certainly be a popular snack during any big game.
Dennis closed out the almost 3 hour cooking demonstration by posing for pictures and signing autographs. Listen to Dennis weekdays at 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on NJ 101.5.
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