Good, but not great mac n' cheese...

Creamy Mac and Cheese at Sunday dinner

If there is one thing I love is a great mac and cheese...its creamy, its cheesy, it is one of the ultimate comfort foods.  It accompanies southern meals with the greatest of ease,but it can still stand on its own as a meal unto itself. 

When it came to helping with Sunday dinner this past Sunday, I thought...what would go better with ribs than mac and cheese.  I decided to turn to Williams-Sonoma Comfort Foods, page 172... "Creamy Mac and Cheese". 

Here are the pictures and the results of what I made...

Ingredients for Creamy Mac and Cheese

The ingredients are pretty simple, as you can see in the photo above...milk, macaroni, cheddar, fontina, flour, butter, dried mustard, salt and pepper. 

Creamy Mac and Cheese

The picture above is after preparing the roux, adding the milk, the cheeses, the spices and of course the macaroni.  The sauce came together quickly.  At this point I was still sure that this would be the greatest mac and cheese ever; the sauce was creamy and everything tasted great.

Creamy Mac and Cheese

This is what the Creamy Mac and Cheese looks like topped with bread crumbs and taken out of the oven.  I had used Trader Joes Parmesan Toasts to create the bread crumbs.  I'm still feeling good about the recipe at this point.

Creamy Mac and Cheese

This is the Creamy Mac and Cheese at dinner.  It looks like the picture in the book...its good, but I have to admit; it tasted better before it went into the oven.  After coming out the oven and slightly cooling down by the time we ate...it just seemed dry to me, like the saucy goodness had baked right out of it.  I really liked the sauce and I plan on trying the recipe again, maybe adding a bit more cheddar and forgoing the whole bread crumb baking thing which I don't think it needs.  I will be trying this with in the next week or so, so stay tuned...I will post the recipe at that time with the changes I have made to it. 

Enjoy the foods of your labor.

The Frittata...

Potato Cheese Frittata

 Tonight was another frittata night in our house.  The easy eggie goodness, is popped into the oven giving me room to do other things on top of my barbie size stove.  It was suppose to be omlettes, with fingerling potatoes and asparagus.  I could not figure out for the life of me how to put three large skillets on the stove top at one time....I may be able to put 2 skillets on there at once, but 3...its just not happening.  So, instead I fell back to the trusted frittata in order to make space to get the asparagus sauteed.

Well, the frittata has been my fall back for awhile.  One morning, I decided that I would make a Spanish tortilla (eggs, thinly sliced potatoes).  I looked at recipes...I even got out the two skillets similar in size in order to flip the thing.  I don't know what came over me while I was frying up the potatoes...fear of flipping the thing...or maybe it was the fact I didn't want the whole thing to end up in the floor when I tried to transfer it from skillet to skillet.  What ever the case, the Potato Cheese Frittata was born.

Potato Cheese Frittata

For printable recipe, please click here

8  Eggs

2  Tbsp Heavy Cream

6-8  Golden Potatoes, thinly sliced

5 Tbsp  Olive oil

2 C  English Cheddar, grated

Salt/Pepper

Preheat over to 350.  In an 11 to 12" skillet, over medium heat add the olive oil, add the potatoes to the oil and season with salt and pepper.  In the mean time, while the potatoes are frying.  Whisk the eggs and the heavy cream together, add half of the grated cheese to the egg mixture, set aside.  Stir the potatoes in the skillet, when they are tender but still firm, add the egg mixture over the potatoes.  Make sure the mixture covers the potatoes evenly.  Let set over medium heat for a few minutes, top with the rest of the cheese and place in the oven for about 20 - 25 min or until done in the center.  Let set for a few minutes after removing from the oven, serve and enjoy.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Potato Cheese Frittata

Potato Cheese Frittata

So guess the moral of the story is don't fret, make a frittata instead.

Enjoy the foods of your labor.  :-)

Farmhouse Grits...

Farmhouse Grits

Breakfast...its what's for dinner.  If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE breakfast/brunch at any time of day.  I am not sure where my love affair began with all things breakfast; maybe it was from my mother serving it for dinner...waffles covered in butter and syrup, sausage/egg/potatoes fried up to perfection, stuff topped with eggs because it completed the dish (enchiladas should ALWAYS have an over easy egg on top...trust me).  This was a somewhat normal occurrence in our home and one that I can't get enough of now; however, I have had friends gasp at the thought of dinner for breakfast...GET OVER IT, its deliciousness times 3.

So I sit here wondering right now, "what will I be making for dinner tonight"...Farmhouse Grits.  Its cheesy; its got bacon; its got butter; its GOOD.  We had something similar at a restaurant in Portland, Oregon (The Screen Door).  Their grits were so good that I had to recreate the dish when I got home from our trip and I have been making it pretty regularly ever since.

Farmhouse Grits 

For printable recipe, please click here 

2 tubes of Trader Joe's Polenta

6 strips of Bacon

2 - 4 Tbsp Salted Butter

1 - 2 C English Cheddar

2 - 4 Tbsp Heavy Cream**

~1 C Milk

Salt/Pepper (to taste)

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Cut the bacon into pieces using kitchen shears.  Fry up the bacon.  Once it is crisp, set the bacon aside to drain in a paper towel.  Place the skillet back on the burner at medium low heat (keeping the bacon grease in it), add the butter.   After the butter is melted, crumble the polenta into the skillet.  Stir in the cream, the polenta should start to become creamy.  Start adding the milk gradually, the polenta should be very creamy looking at this point.  Stir in the cheese and the bacon.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate leftovers. 

**If you do not have heavy cream, a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream will work instead.

Farmhouse Grits

Farmhouse Grits - "Lets eat!"

So tonight, I will have a breakfast dish for dinner...tomorrow, I will eat my dinner for breakfast (I love leftovers).

Enjoy the foods of your labor.  :-)

Comfort in a bowl...

If I haven't mentioned...I'll mention it again...its FREEZING here.  Its not as bad as some places in the country, but gosh darn it...its cold for us (our winters are mild from the mid 30s to the 50s in temp).  So in order to keep warm I find I am cooking more...not sure if its the need to have the stove and oven going at all times or the need to eat something hot and melty.  The best of both worlds can be found in making chili and corn bread.  

In trying to figure out what to do for Sunday dinner I became convinced that something with a dumpling had to be made.   Chicken stew with biscuit dumplings on top??? No...there is no cheese in this.  Do I just make chili??? No...there is no dumpling in this...unless...wheels in head are turning, head is starting to hurt, idea forming...I could top it with a cornbread dumpling...genius had just occurred.  Then like divine intervention, an episode of Nigella Feasts  came on and she was making Chili con Carne w/ Cornbread (its like she was reading my mind).  I now had an idea of what to top my chili with...I will top it with cornbread and cheese, Nigella is a genius.  
 
I set about looking for the ingredients in the kitchen; I unfortunately was missing the proper amount of corn meal for her recipe in regards to cornbread...so I improvised.  Using a Trader Joe's cornbread mix and substituting milk for buttermilk, I prepared the mix as indicated and spread over the top of the chili I had prepared.

Chili

For printable recipe, please click here

2 lbs  Ground beef (85/15 is preferable)
2-4+ Tbs  Red Chili Powder (season to taste)
2+ tsp  Onion Powder  (season to taste)
2+ tsp  Garlic Powder (season to taste)
Salt (season to taste)
1+ tsp  Red Chili Flake  (season to taste)
3+ tsp  Cumin (season to taste)
About 1 Tbs  Flour
About 2+ cups Water 

Using a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat, brown the ground beef.  Season with the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, cumin, red chili powder and red chili flake  Once the meet is browned, add the flour to the meat, stir the meat around to be sure the flour is coating it (***be careful with the flour, use to much and it will taste pasty, use to little and the chili won't be thick).  Add the water and continue to heat through adding spices as you need them.  Serve warm with desired condiments (cheese, sour cream, cornbread, fritos, etc. etc. etc.).
 
***NOTE:  The seasonings are not an exact science, this is only a guideline to start from.  Chili powder varies greatly in heat and in taste.  I use the hot stuff that comes in a bag that is usually down the Mexican food isle of your grocery store (here, its not an isle...its a whole store...another reason I LOVE NM).  My mother uses Eagle Brand Chili powder.  I have used McCormick chili powder in the past (its what I could get at the time); it tends to be too bitter for my taste.   You can add oregano to the chili if you like;  I don't for my own, but my mother and sister do add copious amounts of oregano to theirs.  I tend to be heavier handed with my cumin...but that's again up to what you like.  Keep tasting it til its good for you.  This recipe is just a guideline for you to create something great for yourself, cook responsibly.   

After getting the chili stirred up, topped with cornbread batter and that topped with cheese; I popped the dutch oven in the oven on 400° for 25 min.  What came out of the oven was perfect cornbread topped chili as you can see below.  It warmed up the evening perfectly.

Enjoy the foods of your labor.  :-)

Chili before cornbread

Chili with Cornbread and Cheese

Getting ready to eat...I topped this off with a dollop of sour cream