Croque-Végétarien & Croque-Monsieur

So, you know how there really wasn't much winter this year?

Its been like, November (but without the rain), all winter long.

We're so spoiled by it...  Because this year, any time it goes below 35 or is rainy, we're all 'ew, gross!  couch!  comfort food!'

Since our honeymoon in Paris was quite rainy and chilly, one of the newer additions to our 'ew, gross! couch! comfort food!' repertoire is the Croque Monsieur.  While in Paris there was more than one night where the sightseeing got in the way of the marathon dinner events that we planned for many of the nights and, as a result, we ended up at Cafe Le Depart-St. Michel more than once...  While it wasnt much more than our equivalent of a 24 hour diner, it was open 24 hours (important to NYers who are used to such things) and close to our hotel(s) to boot, so it worked.  And this cafe's croque végétarien was one of the best I had while we were there...

This version is my favorite of all of the ones I've had since leaving paris (admittedly, there havent been that many, but this one is good, i promise!) and will probably become my new standard, not to mention a regular part of the 'ew, gross! couch! comfort food!' rotation.

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Croque Végétarien & Croque-Monsieur

courtesy of me, as adapted from Ina Garten

Click here to import recipe directly into Pepperplate

6 slices good white bread

1 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 c warm milk

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Pinch nutmeg

3 oz Gruyere, grated
3 oz Emmentaler, grated
1/4 c freshly grated Parmesan

Dijon mustard

2 plum tomatoes, sliced

For Croque-Monsieur:
1/4 lb jambon de Paris

***

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Toast your bread in the oven on a cookie sheet - 5 minutes on the first side, then 2 minutes on the opposite side. Set aside.

In a small saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter and then add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for ~2 minutes.

Slowly pour the warm milk into the pan with the butter/flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened, about 3 - 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the salt, pepper, nutmeg and stir.

Add in 1/4 c of the Gruyere, 1/4 c of the Emmentaler and all of the Parmesan and stir until cheese has all melted. Set aside.

Spread dijon mustard on all of the bread.
On half of the bread, lay out tomatoes on a single layer.
If desired, add a couple of slices of ham on top of the tomatoes. (croque monsieur)
Top the same slices with the remaining Gruyere and Emmentaler, about 1/3 of the total cheese on each.
Top each 'loaded' slice with one of the dijon-only pieces of bread.

Top each sandwich with about 1/3 of the bechamel (cheese sauce)

Bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes.

Switch your oven to broiler and broil for 3 to 5 minutes (depending on how close your heating element is to your sandwiches) or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned.

Serve hot.

Broccoli Mac & Cheese

When the weather starts to cool off, everyone's thoughts (mine included) turn to apples and pumpkin and maple syrup. However, when mother nature decided to skip the whole cooling off period a week or so ago and go straight to RAINY & COLD, I couldn't help but skip the normal cravings and move straight to comfort food.

Most people will agree that there really is no better comfort food than mac & cheese but for those who arent looking to fatten up for their winter hibernation, the comfort we seek in mac & cheese can quickly turn to distress when trying to get dressed in the morning and finding out that none of your clothes fit anymore because you've been eating a little too much comfort...

This leaves you with a dilemma - stop eating the warm comforting hug that is mac & cheese and keep that slammin' body or eat all the comfort and embrace the fatness?

I'm here to give you a 3rd option - do both.  and do it without sacrificing the stuff that makes mac & cheese the yummy goodness that it is...

Now, this recipe makes me feel a little bit like a mom who's trying to sneak vegetables into her kid's meal but really, the broccoli is a bonus, not a secret we're hiding under a layer of cheese (though that's how my mom got me to eat it as a kid...) and actually adds to the dish.

And you don't have to be on a diet to like it.  It doesn't taste like diet food!  I promise you, this mac and cheese tastes just as good as many other versions out there.  The bonus is that the vegetables are already built in, so you don't feel like you have to make a side in order to have a complete meal.

It's a pretty versatile dish.  While the recipe below uses high-fiber pasta and reduced fat cheese, that's not really the calorie-cutting key - its much more about the fact that there is equal weight of pasta and vegetable soaking up all of that cheesiness.  I highly recommend playing around with it and coming up with the version you like best.  I'm already planning its successor as we speak ;)

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Broccoli Mac & Cheese

courtesy of skinnytaste.com, with modifications by me
Click here to import to Pepperplate.com

12 oz high fiber pasta (we used Barilla Plus elbows)
12 oz fresh broccoli florets, any large pieces roughly chopped

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup diced onion
1 tbsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves if you aren't cheating and using the pre-minced stuff)

1/4 cup flour

1 cup vegetable broth

2 cups 1% milk
1 tbsp garlic chili cholula sauce

8 oz (2 cups) shredded reduced fat mexican cheese blend
salt and fresh pepper to taste

1/8 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs

***

Lightly grease a large casserole dish and set aside

Preheat oven to 375°

Prepare pasta in accordance with package directions for al dente pasta.  Include the broccoli in the water with the pasta for about 7 minutes  (this was al dente cooking time for our pasta, so everything went in together.  If you are using a pasta with a longer cooking time, just throw the broccoli in when there is 7 minutes left...)

While pasta & broccoli are cooking, heat 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat.  Add onion & garlic and cook for about 2 minutes to soften.

Lower heat to medium-low and whisk in flour.  It will clump and get dry - dont panic.  Keep whisking for a minute or two until it is all incorporated and the mess looks golden.

Add broth, milk and cholula, whisking to incorporate.  Raise heat to medium-high and heat, whisking often, until mixture is bubbling and gets thick.  (This will take anywhere from about 5 - 10 minutes, depending on your definition of medium-high)

Remove from heat and stir in cheese, in batches, until it has melted and is well-incorporated.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pasta & broccoli into the cheese sauce and mix well to combine.

Pour the whole thing into your prepared baking dish.  Top with parmesan and then breadcrumbs.

Bake ~ 20 minutes and then turn oven up to 500° and bake for an additional 3 minutes to get the top a bit golden and crispy.

Allow to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Gougères

Have you had gougères?  I bet you think they're hard to make, what with all the puffy, cheesy, yumminess...

you are so wrong.

(if you havent had them, puffy, cheesy, yumminess pretty much sums it up...  and now you know you want them...)

Jordan and I were both, separately, first introduced to gougères at Artisanal...  (i'm pretty sure our marriage is based on a joint love of that place...)  But Jordan was the one who decided that he wanted to make them at home...  and i was all, 'knock yourself out, dude, but leave me out of it!'.

and so, one day, i came home to gougères.

That was a good day.

They were supposed to make more appearances but we never seemed to get it together at the right time, etc, so it wasnt until we went to Miette Culinary Studio and took the gnocchi class (a birthday present from him to me that we put off until after the wedding diets were over...) that they reappeared.  and i got to see, first-hand, just how not-hard they really were...

Fast forward another month when, for Christmas, i recieved the book that the entire food-blogging world had been talking about for 3 months - Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  Despite it being far from vegetarian-friendly and our over-abundance of cook books, it was one of the only things i actually asked for this christmas...  between the gorgeous pictures i'd seen while flipping through it, the glowing reviews of all things Dorie and especially this book, and our 2 week culinary adventure in Paris, i REALLY couldnt wait to get my hands on this book...

So imagine our amusement when the very first recipe in the book was for the one french thing we actually knew how to make!  Gougères!  ha!  we were thrilled to see that Dorie's recipe mirrored all the recipes we'd used prior (it made us feel smart & capable!!!) and it was just the motivation we needed to make them again.

Dorie gives great instructions at the end for how to pre-make gougères and freeze them for later consumption...  We havent gotten that far yet (though i've included the instructions for you below) but it really is pretty much the greatest thing ever to consider that you could make a big batch of these, store them in the freezer and then pop a few in any time you wanted the puffy, cheesy, yumminess that is gougères...

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Gougères

courtesy of Dorie Greenspan - Around my French Table with teeny modification based on instructions at Miette Culinary Stuido

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyère, divided

***

Preheat the oven to 425°.  Make sure rack is in the center.

Line a baking sheets with parchment

Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a boil in a heavy-bottomed  saucepan over high heat.

Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon or heavy whisk. The dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring—with vigor—for another minute or two to dry the dough. The dough should now be very smooth.

Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a bowl that you can use for mixing with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon and elbow grease. (we went with a hand mixer & wooden spoon combo at home but had done them with the mixer at Miette)

Let the dough sit for a minute, then add the eggs one by one and beat until the dough is thick and shiny. Make sure that each egg is completely incorporated before you add the next, and don't be concerned if the dough separates—by the time the last egg goes in, the dough will come together again.

Beat in 1 1/4 c of the grated gruyère.

Place the dough in a pastry bag (or, if you dont have one, in a gallon-sized ziplock with the bottom corner cut off just a bit).  Squeeze about 1 tablespoon of dough for each gougère, leaving about 2 inches of space between the mounds.  Sprinkle each mound with a couple shreds of gruyère.

Slide the baking sheet into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375°.

Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pan front-to-back to ensure even cooking.

Continue baking until the gougères are golden, firm, and puffed - another 12 to 15 minutes or so.

Serve warm, or transfer the pans to racks to cool.  (note:  yeah right - has anyone actually had them last long enough to cool???)


Storing (straight from Dorie)
The best way to store gougères is to shape the dough, freeze the mounds on a baking sheet, and then, when they're solid, lift them off the sheet and pack them airtight in plastic bags. Bake them straight from the freezer—no need to defrost—just give them a minute or two more in the oven. Leftover puffs can be kept at room temperature over night and reheated in a 350-degree-F oven, or they can be frozen and reheated before serving.

Gnocchi Mac & Cheese

If i'm not mistaken, this was my first home-cooked dinner as someone's wife.

failure - not an option.

When this recipe came across my tumblr dashboard, i immediately sent it off to Jordan.  No subject, no commentary, just an email...  Why?  because he didnt have a choice.  this would be dinner...

Now, we did make one compromise - you could be all fancy-like and make your own gnocchi, but we purchased gnocchi from our beloved fairway - a tricolor mix (you know, to make it healthy...) but you'll have to forgive us that one - you see, there was a mouse living in our house (many, actually.  they moved in while we were frolicking in paris...  damn squatters.) and we didnt want any extra food stuff anywhere...  and homemade gnocchi?  its messy...

see also: making excuses for laziness...

anyhoo - i'll declare this one a complete success.  so much so that i proceeded to tell everyone i spoke to for the next 3 days - "OH MY GOD, you HAVE to make this!!!"

my first dinner as a wife?  total WIN.

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Gnocchi Mac n' Cheese

courtesy of The Cutting Edge of Ordinary with minor modifications by me
Click here to import recipe directly into Pepperplate

1 pound tricolor gnocchi
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk (i think we used 2% but maybe it was skim, since thats what we generally have in the house...)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 heaping cup shredded Comte cheese, packed tight (you can use Gruyere, but the comte & gruyere were the same price and frankly, comte - which is basically france's version of Gruyere - is one of my favorite cheeses, so, duh...)
1/4 heaping cup shredded fontina cheese, packed tight
Salt and white pepper to taste
1/3 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano

***


Preheat oven to 375. 

Grease 1-1/2 qt shallow baking dish 

Prepare gnocchi according to package directions. Drain and place gnocchi in a single-layer in prepared baking dish.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour until it thickens and bubbles, then whisk in milk and Dijon. Continue to whisk mixture and cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.

Combine Comte and fontina, then add by the handful to milk mixture, stirring until melted before adding the next handful. Once all cheese is melted, season sauce with salt and pepper.

Pour sauce over gnocchi and sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano over top. Bake gnocchi until they puff and the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let gnocchi rest for 5 minutes before serving.


Serve with some veggies to balance out all of that cheese and, of course, some crusty bread & wine...

Heirloom Tomato Salad

I hate tomatoes.

ok, maybe hate is a strong word but, aside from salsa and pasta sauce, if asked whether i'd like tomatoes or not, i generally vote for not.

But its tomato season.  and tomato season + CSA share means it doesnt matter if you like tomatoes or not, you're getting them.  Two years ago, i learned to accept grape tomatoes in my life.  Last year, i learned to like green tomatoes in eggs (and recently had some fried green tomatoes prepared by ms. raspberry eggplant which were outstanding) but the regular old tomatoes and i still were not friends.

However, this year, the tomatoes are different.  Our farm is putting out so many heirlooms that one cannot keep up.  In the past, i would have maybe broken them down into sauce or given them away but this year, after reading that our farm's heirlooms were named 2nd best by New York magazine, i wanted to try to take advantage.  Now, a couple of weeks ago, the tomatoes we were getting were less than perfect and the meat eater and i were mostly opting to take some green ones to use in the aforementioned eggs.  however, this week - this week our tomatoes were so gorgeous that even i, the tomato hater, was impressed.

but you know, 4 lbs of tomatoes is kind of a lot...  so i took to twitter to ask the masses - what should i do with these beauties?

my friend Shari was the only one to reply:

my first thought was "cant eat so much cheese!  wedding diet!"

my next thought was, "hmm...  what if i can learn to like tomatoes so that i can up the tomato-to-cheese ratio?"

and then i went to the gym, just in case i couldnt...

but I also did a bit of reading on tomatoes and learned that i could avoid one of my chief issues with tomatoes by simply slicing & salting them to dry out some of the ick...  i figured that would help my cause and give me a much better shot.

i dont know if it was that these tomatoes are just THAT good, or if it was the salting or what, but i seriously LOVED last night's dinner.  it was so fresh and just yummy that i'd make it again and again.

which is good, because we still have another 2lbs of tomatoes...

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Heirloom Tomato Salad
courtesy of me, though i'm sure you can find this over and over again on the internet

6 cloves garlic, still in their casing
6 medium sized heirloom tomatoes
1/2 bunch fresh basil (leaves only) ~ 1 packed cup
8 oz fresh mozzarella
salt
pepper
~ 1 tbsp olive oil
~ 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

***

Preheat oven to 375°

Place garlic cloves on a piece of aluminum foil (or a baking sheet), drizzle with a teeny bit of olive oil, and roast for ~ 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice tomatoes ~ 1/4 inch thick.  Place slices on a doubled piece of paper towel. Salt & pepper the tomatoes (you can be fairly generous with your salt & pepper here) and place another doubled paper towel on top of the tomatoes and press down slightly.  Leave aside. (note:  i'm very tomato liquid adverse - i actually did this twice with a new set of paper towels and a bit more salt & pepper)

Tear or roughly chop basil leaves & set aside.

Once garlic has cooled, remove from casing and chop up a bit.

Cut mozzarella into small bites.  (I used cherry sized balls and cut them in half.)  Set aside.

Once tomatoes have dried out a bit, cut into smaller, bite sized pieces (i got six pieces out of an average slice) and place in large bowl.

Add mozzarella and toss.

Add basil & roasted garlic to the bowl and toss.

Add olive oil & balsamic vinegar.  Toss again.

Salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with crusty baguette.

Note:  you may want to mix the roasted garlic, olive oil and balsamic together before incorporating them into the basil & tomatoes as you might find that this helps the garlic incorporate better.  our version had some very garlicy bits and other bits that were not as garlicy.  totally up to you which you prefer...

Mexi-night done right

so for like, 9 months, i've been going ON and ON to the m.e. (meat-eater) about what a fabulous cook i am. about all of these things i can make and how awesome they are. about how the kitchen and i - we're like THIS...

and for 9 months, he's mostly been cooking for me... there have been a few exceptions, but most of them not particularly exciting - i mean a salad is a salad - knife skills and cooking skills, while related, arent exactly the same...

anyway, on monday we were up in the poconos (10 pts if you know why) and on our way back, stopped at this awesome little farm stand... you know, because the produce from CSA isnt going bad fast enough as it is - and picked up some stuff, among it, corn. and i swore, up and down, left and right that i'd make my kickass corn & guac when we got home...

and then it was late. and i was tired. and no produce was prepared or put away and no dinner was made or even eaten...

thankfully corn can stand a night or two sitting on the counter... so last night, before i even got undressed from work, i went straight to the kitchen to begin the mexican flavor fiesta...
there would be corn & guac and there would be quesadillas...

since i've already told you about the corn and guac and how amazing it is, let me tell you about the super easy, super quick, baked quesadillias... (did i ever mention the time i was reading a menu and asked a friend what 'qway - C - delias' were? true story...) we'd gotten some jalepeno cheddar from the CSA a while back and really just werent sure what to do with it... i kept saying we should put it in something mexican cause we didnt think we'd like it plain, but the chance just kept passing us by... however, last night we FINALLY got our opportunity...

Note: so after months of not knowing what to do with that cheddar - turns out that it ROCKS all on its own. so much so that if its available at today's pickup, there's a good chance we're claiming it...

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Baked Black Bean Quesadillias
courtesy of me

2 large flour tortillias
1/3 of a can of black beans - rinsed
3 oz of jalepeno cheddar, either shredded or cut into small slivers/pieces

Preheat oven @ 350°
cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil
spray aluminum foil with non-stick spray

place one tortillia on greased foil
spread beans out to within about 1/2 inch of the outside edge
cover with cheese
place second tortillia on top of cheese and lightly press down

place in the oven for ~ 12 minutes or until cheese is melty
remove from the oven and, with the back of a clean plate, gently press on the top tortillia for ~ 20-30 seconds

let sit for another minute or two and then cut into segments

serve with salsa & sour cream (optional) and your favorite mexican beer.

because quiche is totally easier than grilled cheese

Last October i spent a considerable amount of time down with the family in Charlotte, NC... one of the days i was there, we headed out to a cute little cafe down in Davidson for lunch... a couple of us ordered sandwiches and two ordered quiche... when lunch seemed to be taking forever, someone remarked that someone 'had to go and order the quiche...' which caused me to comment back - 'quiche is easier than grilled cheese'...

hilarity ensued, as my family in no way believed that quiche was easier than grilled cheese... my take? sure, it may take longer to cook but i honestly believe that, if made using the simple ingredients found in the quiche they had ordered, it was less hands-on time-intensive... their take? "you think everything is easy..."

of course i was HELL BENT on proving them wrong and proving just how easy quiche could be... and i did. sure, we went the easy route - premade pie crust & pre-shredded cheese, but my claim of no more than 10 minutes hands on time proved to be pretty much on target - i think i had it in the oven in 7...

all that said? this isnt that quiche... this is typical 'me' food - meaning i take what starts off as an easy dinner and complicate it slightly... but i still maintain that quiche is easy to make - and hard to mess up...

I invented this combination last night due to the fact that, as a result of an insane schedule, the boyfriend (soon to be guest blogger) has been cooking for me nearly every single night and i really wanted to cook something good for him for once... but needed it to be fairly quick as that insane schedule will be raging on for at least another few weeks...

given that i had no idea what i was really putting together, i was pleasantly surprised by the results... and glad that i have this blog as a place to record the process as otherwise i never would be able to replicate it again...

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Confetti Quiche
Courtesy of me

1 par baked pie crust (~10 mins on 350° should suffice)
2 c shredded emmenthaler, divided

2 tbsp butter
2 shallots, diced

3 c loosely packed baby spinach

1 tbsp flour
2 plum tomatoes, insides removed and diced
1 small can no-salt corn (drained)

4 eggs
1 c half & half

salt, pepper, nutmeg

***

Preheat oven to 350°

Line pie crust with 1 c of the shredded emmenthaler and set aside

over medium heat, saute shallots in butter for about 4 minutes
add spinach and continue cooking until wilted.
turn off heat and stir in flour, tomatoes & corn

Spread mixture onto the emmentaler-lined pie crust. Sprinkle with nutmeg, if desired

In a separate bowl, mix eggs and half & half with a couple dashes of salt & pepper
Pour egg mixture into the pie crust (over the vegetable mixture)
top with remaining emmenthaler
top that with a couple dashes of salt, pepper and nutmeg, if desired

Bake at 350° for ~35 minutes
Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then serve

Dear Martha Stewart,

Hi Martha. How's it going?

You know, I've always been a Martha fan. own the cookie book. subscribe to some of the daily emails. even almost went to work for your company (albeit while you were *ahem* away...)

So the other day when yet another martha stewart mac & cheese recipe landed in my inbox, i thought to myself, 'self... you know all that CSA cheese you got? how you thought it was totally neccessary to order 24 oz of cheese at one time? well, self, this recipe will totally use up some of that! 12 oz of that! do it! make it!' and since i always listen to the voices in my head (when they are suggesting that i eat bad-for-me food) i printed out that recipe and headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things i didnt have. namely macaroni and panko... 3 cups of panko. even though that sounded like an awful lot of panko... but martha, you are an empire unto yourself. who am i to question?

so even as i worked - cooking the mac & making the cheese sauce - i just kept thinking - 3 cups? i must be reading that wrong... but no, i'd look at it time and again and sure enough, 3 cups. and then i'd think to myself... well she said 3 c of fresh breadcrumbs... is it possible that panko is THAT MUCH DENSER? and i'm all like, nah. just a different taste...

so anyway, i motored on and put it all together and poured that panko/butter mix over the top. over and over and over. it felt like i was my dog burying my bone in the backyard. or a kid in a sandbox. yeah, kid in a sandbox - lets stick with that one...

but martha, i had faith. faith in you and your copywriters and your commenters... it would be good. it would be fine.

and then i took it out. and lady, you need to hire new editors... because there aint NO WAY IN HELL that there should have been 3 cups of breadcrumbs - fresh, panko or otherwise - on top of that mac & cheese. NO WAY IN HELL.

i scraped off about 2 cups

and honestly, the mac & cheese was still fairly dry.

therefore martha, consider this my PSA... because now when people google 'martha stewart macaroni and cheese recipe correction' they'll end up here. instead of writing you letters telling you that you owe them $2.49 for all that wasted panko...

Sincerely,
Kristen at kitchenhell

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Macaroni & Cheese
slightly adjusted and corrected courtesy of me with original mistake from Martha Stewart

1 pound elbo macaroni
Coarse sea salt

6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cups shredded (12 ounces) sharp white cheddar cheese
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup panko



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water 1 to 2 minutes less than package instructions.
Drain, rinse with cool water, and place into baking dish (I used an 8x12. You can use something bigger or make individual portions - cooking times are listed at the end).

Meanwhile, heat 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add flour; cook, whisking, 1 minute.
Add milk, cayenne, nutmeg, and 2 teaspoons salt; bring to a simmer.
Cook, whisking, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 2 to 3 minutes.
Whisk in cheeses until smooth.

Pour over pasta; toss to coat.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter; toss with breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle over pasta.

Cover baking dish with foil. Bake until bubbling, 60 to 70 minutes for large dishes, 40 to 50 minutes for small. (check after 35 mins for individual sized dishes)

Remove foil; continue baking until golden, 5 to 10 minutes more.

trying to not raise chicks...

the eggs - they're taking over my life! i only get a dozen every 2 weeks...

listen to that again - a dozen every 2 weeks.

on one hand, i'm like, thats not that many! on the other hand i'm like, that would mean i eat one egg every day. which might not be as far off as you'd think but the problem is some of those eggs come from one of the local salad places (in the form of a sliced hard boiled egg in my salad) or from the diner a couple doors from my office (in the form of an "egg and cheese on a roll with ketchup")... which means i'd really have to eat more than an egg each day.

so i was looking at the eggs and thinking of how there was a new dozen coming tonight and it hit me - QUICHE! quiche uses eggs! lots of eggs! its the answer...

then i remembered that i had a nice little container of VERY expensive crab meat in my fridge that had been in there for a while and was going to go bad if i wasnt careful and use it soon... so crab quiche became the order of the night...

no, i didnt make the crust myself but whatever... it still counts ;)

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Crab & Corn Quiche
courtesy of me, adapted from Diana Rattray

1 pastry shell (9 inch), partially baked

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons shallots, minced

6 oz jumbo lump crabmeat
1 tablespoon flour
1 sm can white corn

2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded/divided
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
dash nutmeg


Have a 9-inch pastry shell partially baked.

Saute shallots in butter until tender, about 2 minutes.
Mix in crabmeat, flour and corn.
Remove from heat and set aside.

Sprinkle 1 cup of the cheese in the pie shell.
Spread with crab mixture.

Beat eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg until mixed.

Pour into shell (over crab mixture).
Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese.
Press cheese so that egg mixture just covers it.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes (until top just starts to brown) at 350 degrees.

get the cheese...

i've learned a very important piece of information... the best part of a CSA is the 'additional items'... to join, one always has to opt for a veggie share but beyond that, you are free to add on or not add on... some of the things available from the Columbus Circle CSA are fruit, milk, eggs, honey, yogurt, cheese and some kinds of meat... when i signed up, i opted for vegetables, eggs every other week and honey 3times during the season... what i've since learned is GET THE CHEESE...

one of the benefits of volunteering to work a closing time is if there is a lot left over, you might get to take a little extra... through the miracle that is people being on vacation and therefore not picking up their stuff, i got to take home some extra produce and a small milk and a cheese... i was most excited about the cheese...

cut it open as soon as i got home and for some reason, was inspired to make an all-CSA salad because as good as the cheese was, for some reason i just kinda knew it would be best eaten in a salad. which is weird, i know, but it was true... it kinda rocked.

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All-CSA Salad
courtesy of the inspiration of the cheese

2 cups baby greens
1 hard boiled egg, chopped up
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 of a purple pepper cut into small pieces
2 carrots cut into small pieces
2 - 3 oz medium cheddar cut into small cubes

oil & raspberry vinager
salt & pepper

the directions are difficult... mix and enjoy

susan's revenge

last winter, i called my friend susan to get her chili recipe and had to suffer my usually-cynical friend gushing on about some guy...

fastforward a couple months and we are reminded why we are cynical and jaded...
yeah, you guessed it, he broke her heart...

to make matters worse, she was perusing my blog and ran across the entry dedicated to her gushy rants which served to only further depress... when she mentioned it, i asked her if she wanted me to take the post down, change the name, whatever... she said no, but we did need to come up with the anti-susan's-in-love recipe...

and what better comfort-breakup food than easymac with cut up hotdogs (you can decide if there's some symbolism going on there or not.)

susan's a vegetarian, so you will have to suffer thru tofu dogs, but i'm sure it would work just the same with regular hot dogs... hell, it was always good when i was a little kid!

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Susan's Revenge
courtesy of me & susan

1 container easy mac
1 tofu dog


Prepare easy mac according to directions on the container

cook tofu dog in microwave for 45 seconds

while cheese sause is thickening, hack veggie dog into a million little pieces

combine all in the easy mac cup

enjoy while watching High Fidelity - our choice for ultimate breakup movie...

downfall..

One of my "things" is that, in times of financial crunch, i splurge on food.. I rationalize that its food - its necessary and that it is not at all irresponsible to bring out the plastic for it...

this past month, i've been on a mission to not use the plastic - at all...
a week from now, this would be easy - the CSA distributions begin on Thursday and i expect to have more food than i know what to do with - but tonight was a challenge...

it was shaping up to be another night of angel hair with butter and garlic (nothing wrong with it - quick, cheap and yummy) but then i saw the gruyere sitting in my fridge, clearly thinking about sprouting some mold... $6 or so worth of mold... and in this financial crunch (i am nothing if not overdramatic) week, there was NO WAY i was letting that go bad...

originally it was going to be some ghetto-style mac & cheese but then i looked at the gemellis and their 12 - 15 minute cooking time and it seemed like too much... and then i saw the rice.

because if 12 - 15 minutes cooking time for gemelli is too long, its a much better idea to pick the rice, which takes 20 mins...

and then cheesy rice bake was born...

I was fully prepared for a 100% failure - but i wrote down the ingredients as i went along, just in case... lucky for me, this was an experiment gone right - i honestly wouldnt change a thing...

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Cheesy Rice Bake
courtesy of me

2 c water
1 vegan vegetable bouillion
1 tbsp butter
1 c rice

3/8 c gruyere, cut into 1 cm x 1 cm cubes (or smaller)
2 tbsp Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tsp ground flaxseed


For topping:
2 tbsp panko
2 tbsp Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tsp nutritional yeast
fresh ground pepper


Bring water, bouillion and butter to a boil
Add rice, return to boil and then immediately lower heat to super-low and simmer, covered, for ~ 18 minutes.

In the meantime turn oven onto 500° or broil.
Mix panko, 2 tbsp parmigiano-reggiano and nutritional yeast in a small bowl and set aside.

Return to rice:
Once most of the water has been absorbed, add gruyere, 2 tbsp parmigiano-reggiano and ground flaxseed. stir until cheese appears to be melted and is no longer distinguishable.

split rice & cheese mixture between 2 ramekins. Top each with 1/2 of the topping mixture and then pepper, if desired.
place in the oven (on a baking sheet) for ~ 5 - 6 minutes.

Serve hot.

*mom notes: you could probably leave out the flaxseed and nutritional yeast, if you want (or like my mom, have NO idea what those things are or where you would get them or why you would buy them...) you could also use another cheese... emmenthaler or fontina, or even a basic swiss would be similar. cheddar would be different, but most likely, still really good. You could also use any shredded italian-type cheese for the parmigiano-reggiano - i know i grew up with a lot of Pecorino Romano instead and i'm sure it would work just fine...

signs of summer, pt 2

Cherries.

Not until i moved to manhattan did i discover my love of cherries... I'm not sure why - my sister always ate them when we were growing up (and still does - by the lb-full!)

However, for the past 5 tax seasons, there were always 2 things i looked forward to once April rolled around - the end of the 7832687 hour work weeks and the beginning of cherry season...

In those years, i've learned a few things... dont buy them til the price starts dropping... not cause i'm being cheap, but because thats when they are best. and pick the dark ones - but not the soft, wrinkly ones... oh yeah, i totally pick them out one by one... i'm that girl.



I call this my 'french girl' dinner... a few years back, i read an article on differences between our eating habits and those of our much more sophisticated and THIN frenemies across the ocean - and it was this... they eat GOOD food... for that entire summer, i adopted a new food philosophy... full fat, full flavor, fresh fresh fresh.

and I'll have you know i lost weight eating things like the the 'french girl dinner'...

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French Girl Dinner
courtesy of me

1/3 of a freshly made baguette

small wedge of peppered brie

handful of carefully selected cherries


there really are no directions - tear that baguette, smear some brie on and be sure to wash those cherries...

sit, smile smugly and enjoy :)

diet : postponed

you know how most people get the stomach flu and lose weight?

yeah, not me.

immediately following said stomach flu, i decided to injest 1/2 lb of cheese. ok, fine, i gave the dog a bite or two, but mostly, that 1/2 lb was ALL me.

see, i was feeling a little sorry for myself. 2 of my best friends were up for the weekend so that we could celebrate my new position at work, enjoy a spa day and generally just have fun... but oh no, god decided to punish me for some unknown crime and give me some type of food poisioning or stomach flu instead, which lasted just long enough for me to miss out on all the fun.

anyway, normally when i'm feeling a little sorry for myself, i order up some grilled cheese. cause i rarely have regular old american cheese and bread in the house as i dont eat either often enough to justify it always being here... however, today i had to run out anyway and decided screw it, i'll buy myself the ingredients and make it for myself.

hrmpf. i'll show that stomach flu!

its weird - when i was a kid, my mom always made her grilled cheese in the oven, under the broiler. and i do have a special affinity for it made that way. but i also have a special affinity for butter and frying pans. and today was a butter and frying pan kind of day. partially cause i wanted butter, partially because i havent really figured out where the broiler is, exactly, in my oven (i dont know if the bottom pull out is the broiler or a storage drawer, so i just dont use it. i think its the broiler, but i feel dumb trying to figure it out. it makes me wonder why i'm willing to admit it here... anyway...)

i also decided to change it up a little and go for a triple decker... one of the places i frequently order from does this (sometimes - its hit or miss) and i really kind of like it in that gluttonous way...



its really not so hard to make the triple decker - and it really is a lot better - particularly when you havent eaten much in 24 hours...



but the shame isnt in the fact that i made it a triple - the shame is in the fact that i made it twice...

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Triple Decker Grilled Cheese
courtesy of me & moms everywhere

3/4 tbsp butter
3 slices white bread
4 slices american cheese (i used deli slices, but you can use kraft singles if you want. i wont judge)
more cheese for snacking while you are cooking (i will judge you if you snack on kraft singles)


melt butter on skillet over medium-low heat

eat a couple slices of the extra cheese

place all 3 slices of bread on skillet; let brown for about 2 mins

eat another piece of cheese. maybe share some with the dog.

flip one slice over when its just a bit tan

place one slice of cheese on the tan, cooked side

eat another slice or two of the extra cheese

in about another 30 seconds - 1 minute later, flip the other slices

place 1 slice of cheese on one of them
place 2 slices of cheese on the other one

eat one more slice of the extra cheese before returning it to the fridge

flip slice #1 onto the other slice with only one piece of cheese
flip the slice with 2 pieces on top of the sandwich you just made

cook the triple decker until cheese is melty, just about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

slice diagonally and serve

social responsibility...

when i was a kid, i was always told to clean my plate cause there were starving kids in africa...

ok, i'm lying. i was told to clean my plate 'cause i said so'...

regardless, i'm well trained. so there was no way i was letting all of the cheese from christmas go to waste... i'd used some in veggie chili (post to come) but knew the rest would turn if i didnt get on it and get something made...

since i've declared carbs to be 'winter produce' (you heard it here first!), mac and cheese seemed like my best option...

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Leftover Mac & Cheese
adopted from Mark Bittman's Baked Macaroni and Cheese from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

1 lb macaroni - any kind except the long skinny ones

4 tbsp butter (3 tbsp & 1 tbsp)
3 tbsp flour

2 1/4+ c skim milk
1/2+ c ricotta cheese

1 1/2 c shredded cheese - cheddar & montery jack blend

1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp fleur de sel
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

3/4 c shredded parmesan
3/4 c panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400°

grease 9x13 baking dish with 1 tbsp butter & set aside

prepare macaroni, cooking 1 - 2 minutes less than the time on the box and immediately running under cold water when finished cooking. drain and set aside in a large bowl.

over med-low heat, melt butter. once melted, add flour and stir until bubbly and beginning to brown. add 1/4 c milk and whisk immediately. when smooth, add remaining milk, 1/2 c at a time, whisking each time until smooth.

once all milk is incorporated, stir in cheese and continue to stir until melted.

add the paprika, chili powder, fleur de sel and pepper and stir.

pour cheese mixture over macaroni and mix.

pour all of that into your prepared baking dish.

combine parmesan and panko and then sprinkle over top.

sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired.

bake 15 - 20 mins until topping is slightly browned.

allow to sit for 5 minutes (while you finish up your blog post) and then serve.

yeah, my food is on YouTube. your point???

when i first moved up to NYC and was still trying to get my bearings, there were a few things that instantly became comforts in 'the big scary city' - and most of them came from Fairway... either the hot food counter or the spin dip/baguette combo...

well, it must have been cold one day last month, because for some unknown reason, i decided that i needed to make the mother of all cold weather comfort food - mac & cheese. and i decided to base it on the recipe published as Fairway's. and i decided to wait for another fall-like day to publish it here. luckily for you, its raining and 60° in NYC today... fall, finally.

i got the book, Macaroni & Cheese, a while back but at the time, had no idea that they had the recipe for the since-discontinued Fairway Mac & Cheese - one of my good friends those first few months.

It was only after noticing some yummy pasta & cheese goodness on the cover of a Vegetarian Times that i even thought to pick up the cookbook (the VT recipe was like, lo cal or something. and what the hell is the point of making mac & cheese - 2 decidedly un-diet-friendly items - if you are going to try to dietize it???) and while flipping through, came across the Fairway recipe...

(for those either in or familiar with NYC, the book also has recipes from the Soho Grand, Chat n' Chew's and the Comfort Diner - non-NYers, i think thats the diner of final scene of Devil Wears Prada fame, but i'm too lazy to put the DVD in and look it up... But perhaps most surprisingly, they also have Norma's 'Chunks of Lobster Swimming in Cheesy Macaroni')

The cool thing about mac & cheese is that its another one of those things that, even if you mess it up and its bad, its still macaroni & cheese. and therefore, its still going to be good.

That said, I'd like to pretend that i looked at the ingredient list and came up with a few tweaks that i thought may improve the flavor/texture/color/whatever but the only differences between my mac & cheese and fairway's mac & cheese is that, once again, i cant read instructions... I guess i had looked at so many recipes that day that the shopping list got muddled... i could pretend that the differences were on purpose and go on and on about how this change made it creamier or spicier or more SOMETHING and really, none of you would ever know the difference. but the fact of the matter is they werent, and i have no need to make myself seem more important or talented than i already am.

my mac & cheese kicked ass. so much ass that i gained no less than 3lbs in as many days since i ate it for dinner every night. if the true test of a recipe is whether the leftovers are eaten or thrown away a month later after they are unidentifiable, well then, kids, we have a winner.

broccoli included in an effort to cancel out the inherent unhealthiness of it all. given those 3 lbs that i mentioned, i'm going to say that it didnt work...

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Fairway mac & cheese

96% taken from Macaroni & Cheese – Joan Schwartz

½ lb elbow or other macaroni of choice

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
½ c skim milk
½ c light cream
½ c heavy cream

½ lb shredded Wisconsin extra sharp cheddar (about 2 cups)
¼ lb shredded Comte (about 1 cup)

1 green onion, cut into small pieces
1/6th tsp nutmeg
3 – 4 dashes hot sauce

Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

1.5 tbsp plain bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350°. Generously butter 8x8 glass baking dish (don’t use the butter listed above, this is in addition)

Cook macaroni in accordance with directions, until al dente. Put in large mixing bowl.

In a medium sized sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat
Whisk in flour, eliminating any lumps
Raise heat to medium high and whisk in milk, heavy cream and light cream and allow to boil

Reduce heat back to medium and add cheeses.
Stir with wooden spoon until melted.

Mix in green onion, nutmeg and hot sauce.
Salt & pepper to taste.

Pour cheese mixture over macaroni, stirring to incorporate well.
Transfer to the baking dish, topping with bread crumbs, a sprinkle of nutmeg and a few twists of fresh pepper, if desired.

Bake 20 – 25 mins until bubbly and golden brown.

Allow to set 10 minutes before serving.