Skewered to Death

It has been a while since i've had the time and photos to update our meek little blog here. What better theme for a comeback than death by kabob night?

Simple intention and intense execution are good descriptions of the evening's events.
While we merely asked that folks would bring a kabob item, everyone went out of their way to make something at least a step up from the classic arrangements expected.

As seen in the plate photo up top there were several pleasantly surprising combinations. I may not get all of them right but i can stand to be corrected later.

My kabob: portabella wrapped with rubbed flat iron steak

Kitty kabob: a crazy ass meatloaf like item (which was very tasty)

Jay kabob: spicy marinated chicken with zucchini squash

Sarah kabob: shrimp with roasted beet and onion (also pan seared halloumi bites)

Patty kabob: marinated pork and peaches (that shit was the bomb), sweet potato kabobs

Beth kabob: brussel sprout garlic clove and new potato

Chavis: strawberry stracciatella ice cream - no skewered, obviously.

also Matt made couscous for folks to pile their kabobs on which worked out well. Gavon dutifully manned the grill, suffering singed fingers and possibly black lung as a result. But it sure was tasty! Thanks, Gavon!

Here is a photo or two of the insanity....



ravaged by fiends!



is kitty pouting? wtf?

Cat Burger

In honer of Catarina Blivblaflop's birthday we gave her the stick of choosing this week, allowing her to grill up some tasty burgers for us! MMM MM! Everyone pitched in and we had an amazing meal of course. (no pun intended) Sarah and I arrived around 8:30ish and chatted amongst Matt, Chavis (our gracious weekly hosts) and the others for a bit when out of nowhere a juggernaut of shenanigans burst in, bellowing with intoxication! It was the mustached Gavon with Kitty and Sparky! "RRAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

We managed to get them settled down to a steady simmer and turned up the drinking to even thing's out. Then it was down to business!

As for the plate shot up there, you can see a totally dope pimpburger, some crazy potato salad and baked beans.

The potato salad was an adaptation of a Bobbie Flay recipe. We followed it to a tee besides doing half sour cream and half mayo, but then i threw in 4 ounces of shredded cold smoked salmon to satisfy my desire to make it overblown.

Mesa Grill's Southwestern Potato Salad

1 1/2 cups prepared mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chipotle pepper puree
1 large ripe tomato, seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 new potatoes, about 3 to 4 pounds, cooked, drained and sliced 1/2-inch thick

Combine all the ingredients, except the potatoes, in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Place warm potatoes in a large bowl and pour the mixture over potatoes and mix well. Season again with salt and pepper, to taste.
(then let edog do wtf he wants with it!)

Kitty had pillaged many an innocent marketplace to find halloumi, a squeaky cheese from squeakalotopuss. (kitty, please elaborate more on this!) and came through with killer apps! (i will allow her to explain when she gets a chance)


YUM! SQUEAKTASTIC!




i still have a couple things to add here.



Lime Tart

For dessert I whipped up (literally) an incredibly easy lime tart. This dessert is one of Matt's favorites and it is ridiculously easy, so I make it often, and now you can too!

Ingredients:

• 1 14 oz. can of condensed milk
• 8 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 4 Tbsp of unsalted butter (also at room temperature)
• the juice and zest of 2-4 limes (depending on how tart you want it)
• 1 cooled graham cracker crust (recipe to follow)

Procedure:

• In a food processor, blend cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
• Pour smooth and creamy mixture into a cooled graham cracker crust and chill for at least 4 hours.
  

*Substitute 2 large lemons in place of the limes for an equally delicious lemon tart!

Graham Cracker Crust (makes enough for 1 9in. pie crust)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 c. of graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 c. of sugar (white, brown or combination of both)
• 6 Tbsp of melted butter

Procedure:

• Blend crumbs and sugar(s) with a fork.
• Stir in melted butter until evenly mixed.
• Pour mixture into tart pan or pie dish and press firmly along the bottom and up the sides.
• Bake at 360 degrees for about 8 minutes.
  

*Feel free to experiment with this. I've added more/less sugar, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, nuts, etc. As long as you use at least 6 Tbsp of butter and bake it long enough it has always held together for me. The more sugar and butter you add and the longer you bake it (avoid burning!) the crisper the crust will be.

Grill Hard Or Die!

Hmmm... What lovely weather we're having. Hmm... it sure would be nice to grill outside for a change after the brutal ice pelting kansas(basketball champions bitch!) winter...
Anyone else? Eh? Sure. Ok then. We're in agreement then. Let's do it.

This originally was going to be a simple dog and brat chill fest with maximum oral meat wang penetration enjoyed by all, but edog was a crazed ruthless maniac with his own insidious plot to marinate and grill over five pounds of flat iron steak medium rare!
wtf?

pimp slap!


As usual edog's wild idea was combined with the experience and poise of his beautiful woman friend sarah, who started off the marinade formula by declaring that equal parts saki and soy sauce would work as the base.

lets say it was:

one cup saki (cheap)
one cup soy sauce
five cloves of garlic
an equal(to the garlic) amount of fresh ginger
3 heaping tablespoons of wasabi powder
one experienced drizzling of sesame seed oil

mix the saki and soy

chop and puree the garlic and ginger

whip them together

add wasabi to taste

drizzle in the s. s. oil

yay. marinate for 24 hours.

Aside from all of that nonsense, this is what we all were able to plate up with:


Very nice. There in the middle is a kraut covered dog quadruple sandwiched between beet salad, germen moustached potato salad, fertig killer cole slaw and the steak.

Now the crazy part is that after all of that, including sangria, we had THIS!

Totally Rad Awesome Cake with Bodacious Icing and Stuff!


PUT UP YOUR RECIPES HOMIES!

...ahh yes..


Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

1 large head of cabbage (or a mix of green and red), shredded
4 oz-8 oz blue cheese crumbles, depending on stinkiness and your taste
1/2 bunch scallions, sliced

Mix the above together in a giant bowl and refrigerate while you make the dressing:

1/2 C cider vinegar
1/2 C light oil - canola, vegetable, whatever
1 t. celery seed
1 t. salt
2 T sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix dressing ingredients together and toss with cabbage mixture about 1 hour before serving. The vinegar will wilt the cabbage a bit, so toss it last minute if you like the cabbage super crunchy, or toss earlier if you like it softer.

Stinky Pee

What is stinky pee? That's a good question! To be specific it is urine that emanates an unpleasant odor. Now some folks might go on a tirade about the relativeness of "stink" being in the nose of the inhaler, but for our purposes we are going to make the statement that eating asparagus makes one's urine have a very distinct and powerful odor. In our collective opinion that odor is stinky.

SO... since we love asparagus and it recently became in season, it was time for stinky pee. We made a dazzling collection of asparagus containing dishes!

My lovely female companion Sarah and I got us started with some killer apps.

philo wrapped asparagus with herbed goat cheese and tender love. (Sarah can elaborate)


Asparagus-goat cheese puff pastry yummies

This is dead simple to make. Buy a box of puff pastry, i.e. Pepperridge Farm, from your grocer's freezer (note: I intended to make phyllo-wrapped yummies but darned if those boxes don't look alike in the freezer), thaw it out according to the directions on the box. Meanwhile, let your little log of goat cheese come close enough to room temperature so that you can mush whatever flavorings you want into it. I used lemon zest, basil and black pepper. Take your asparagus and cut them into about 2"-3" spears.

When that's done, cut the pastry into squares about 2"x2". For each yummy, smear about 1t. goat cheese in the middle of the pastry, top with asparagus, and pinch the opposite ends of the pastry square together. You can even use egg wash to ensure a perfect seal. Bake at whatever temperature and for however long Ye Olde Pepperidge Farm says ye shall.



of course the Edog has to fatten up the crowd with maple dijon glazed asparagus bacon daddies! HOLLA!!!


TO MAKE THESE THINGS REQUIRES:

A WHOLE LOT OF PATIENCE AND TACT

A LOT OF ASPARAGUS

ONE PACKAGE OF YOUR FAVORITE BACON

ONE BOTTLE OF CLASS A DARK MAPLE SYRUP

ONE JAR OF HIGH END DIJON MUSTARD

ONE PACK OF TOOTHPICKS

PREP:

soak the toothpicks in water for about ten minutes before preparing the daddies.

slice the bacon into half strips. remove the bigger pieces of fat with a badass chef knife. (really go to town with trimming them up) trim to taste.

cut the top three inches of each asparagus branch off and pile them in a bowl.

mix equal parts maple syrup and dijon in a small dish. (this all depends on how many daddies you are preparing.)
now...

EXECUTION:

carefully wrap the half bacon strips around each 3" asparagus top. you need to cover the whole thing so we found it best to "barber shop pole" wrap them at a 45 degree angle from top to bottom. (if that doesn't make sense, just wrap 'em however)
use the soaked toothpicks to secure each end of the bacon to the asparagus.

"""""the best way we found to do this is to slowly turn the toothpicks as you penetrate the asparagus stalks.
that way you won't split them"""""

lay the raw daddies out in an oven pan.

preheat your oven to 400 degrees (f)

put the pan in the oven once it has heated.

bake it for 10 minutes and check the crispness of the bacon.

continue baking for 3 to 5 minutes at a time until the bacon is crisp.

once the bacon is crisp, pull out the pan and glaze all of the asparagus bacon daddies heavily with the maple dijon mixture.

return the pan to the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until the glaze browns and crisps over the bacon.

allow the daddies to cool a bit.

eat them.





Don't forget about the dynamic duo PatCat with amazingly delicious asparagus maki!


Matthew Armstrong came through with a main dish of scrumptious grilled pork chops layering a bed of al dente asparagus which took the load off those worried about getting full from asparagus alone, although i don't think anyone has ever left a 62 meet hungry in the past. (not much asparagus to be seen here, but it is indeed beneath the meat flaps.)


Jaysus with some wicked risotto stinky pee style!


I can't figure out what happened but somehow i missed getting a shot of Kitty's pure side asparagus dish. Farts!! You can see a bit of it on the top of the plate shot at least.


My pee smelled so bad after this that i actually couldn't tell what good or bad smells were anymore!

help me touch this up yall, thanks!

next week...... Grill Off!!!

L8.

edog.


Asparagus-goat cheese puff pastry yummies


Risotto Alla Primavera

Velvety risotto shows off the flavors and textures of young spring produce.
INGREDIENTS
6 1/2 cups (about) vegetable broth
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 8-ounce onion, chopped
1 medium leek (white part only), sliced crosswise into thin rings
2 stalks green garlic, chopped, or 1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups arborio rice or carnaroli rice 1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup 1-inch pieces thin asparagus
1 cup freshly shelled small peas or petite frozen peas (about 1/4 pound)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for serving

PREPARATION
Bring broth to simmer in medium saucepan. Cover; keep warm over low heat. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, leek, and garlic. Sauté until wilted and almost tender, about 6 minutes. Add rice; stir until rice is translucent at edges but still opaque in center, about 3 minutes. Add wine; simmer until almost all liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 1 minute. Add broth 1 cup at a time until rice is about half cooked, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding next and stirring often, about 9 minutes. Stir in asparagus, peas (if using fresh), and parsley. Continue adding broth by cupfuls and stirring until rice is almost tender, about 6 minutes longer. Add peas (if using frozen). Cook until rice is tender but still firm to bite and mixture is creamy, about 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Add 3/4 cup cheese and 2 tablespoons butter. Stir until cheese and butter melt. Season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing additional cheese alongside.

Beverage of Champions!

In honor of KU's insane, seizure-inducing NCAA Finals victory over Memphis last night, I thought it would be appropriate to post a drink recipe inspired by my boo Sherron Collins, who brought KU back from an impending loss with less than 2 minutes to go.

Sherron Collins (a more athletic version of a Tom Collins):

Shake together 2 parts white rum, 1 part lemon juice and sugar syrup to taste. Pour over ice. Insert a straw into the glass and slowly pour 1 part blue curacao down the straw so the blue settles to the bottom. Top with a splash of soda and a cherry.

VARIATION: The "Wrath of Kaun" is the same drink, only vodka is substituted for the rum. Sasha says "Da!"

Recipes courtesy of Dustin Kinsey of Bourgeois Pig.

Slide and Fail

We referred to it as "fast food night", which ended up being a trip to KFC and White Castle. Matt came up with the idea to make "Famous Bowls", everything you would want at KFC piled into a single bowl for convenient consumption. Mashed potatoes, corn, chicken, gravy and cheese coming together to form a whopper of a dish. They turned out awesome of course. Chavis covered the potatoes, corn and cheese while sarah and i took care of the gravy and chicken, which we double breaded and deep fried in her totally kickass fry daddy as well as in her totally kickass pan. MAtt was able to convince the people at KFC to give him 12 empty authentic "famous bowls" as well!


One of our favorite comedians Mr. Patton Oswalt coined the term "Failure Bowl". We came up with "victory Mounds", "Glory Bowls", and a smattering of other ways to refer to these abominable creations. Here is more on that:



Kitty had a hankering for sliders, which she nailed to a tee with authentic prep work and execution. Notice the holes in the patties! It's mad tight!



Matthew decided on fries to be his line of work. They were perfect for snacking before, during and after this insane victory. We decided to take a picture of the Crisco! OMG WHOA!!



And...... Oh snap! It's part 2 of our 62 part series, "Stuff in the Trash Can!" tatoe skins!! Wooohooo!



Buttermilk gravy (a far cry from the industrial goo that drowns the KFC Famous Bowls):

1/4C or thereabouts of leftover grease from frying chicken
1/4C or thereabouts of leftover seasoned flour from breading the chicken
3C chicken broth
3/4C buttermilk

Add flour to the leftover grease and cook for a few minutes. Slowly add the broth, whisking constantly to break up lumps. Simmer for a few minutes. Add more broth if it's too thick or simmer longer if it's too thin. When the consistency is right, add the buttermilk and heat through. Taste and adjust for salt & pepper if necessary. Serve on top of your favorite food pile.

P.S. I also think it would be delicious if you browned some onions in the grease before adding the flour. I meant to do that Wednesday but forgot, as you do.

The Kid's Table

This week we decided to make things that we enjoyed when we were children, oh so long ago, but with an adult twist. One might refer to it as comfort food kicked up a notch.
BAM! It turned out so awesome that i think we all ate ourselves into a stupor! (I know i did.)

what did we make? EVERYTHING!

As an appetizer/general finger food, "ants on a log" was made by myself(edog) and sarah. Of course the "original" ants on a log is celery sticks coated with peanut butter topped with raisins. No doubt we stepped it up by making our own cashew butter and topping them with dried cranberries! Holla!

we'd never done it before so making the cashew butter was crazy.

step 1: get a big ass can of salted cashews and chop them to hell with a food processor. Eventually you end up with a giant ball o' cash butter that bounces around and sounds like the apocalypse.


Then, after smearing it out you must drizzle oil into the hole on the top of the processor while pulsing it to smooth it out. The result is quite inrapturing!


add some sugar and of course you know what to do then:


As for the real meal we dined upon amazing renditions of beanie weenie, macaroni and cheese, chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and a lovely "Olive Garden" salad! You can see most of them in the plate shot up top. Jealous much?

INSANE stepped up beanie weenie with crazy andouille sausage and pork rib meat!!!
The chicken n' noodle and greenbeans were awesome and
Matt's amazing mac n' chee ruled MY world for sure!


also don't forget we enjoyed home made oatmeal creme pies courtesy of Sarah F.!




...also i can't help but retell the hilarious tale of matt's blundering of his first batch of mac. he accidentally added the wrong kind of milk at the wrong time and the result was:


keep it real!!!!!

(help me touch up this one yall_)

Chicken and Noodles/Green Bean Casserole
Kitty here!! My absolute favorite food as a child was mashed potatoes. EVERY dinner we had resulted in a Close Encounters of the Third Kind style mound of mashed potatoes covering at LEAST half of my plate. There were several menu items floating around the internet, but I chose chicken and noodles, because I love them, and green bean casserole, because Matt hates creamed corn.

Chicken and noodles are one of the food items I have made most in my life. I do not have a recipe and it probably changes a bit each time. I bought two entire, but cut up chickens and put them in a big ol' pot and added chicken broth until they were just covered. Grandma always used water, and I do that sometimes, but I had the broth around and figured it would insure a rich sauce.

I boiled the chicken (with a little salt and pepper) for quite some time (45 minutes?) making sure that all of the pieces were submerged. When all of the chicken was well cooked and falling off the bone, I strained all of the solids out and put Gavon on chicken separation duty. He tore it up into bite sized pieces which we added back into the pot of stock.

We had decided to make fresh noodles but use the food processor and pasta roller to help the job go a little faster and save our poor little lady arms (yes, Gavon, I just called you a lady). I pulsed 1 1/2 cup of flour, 1 tbs butter, two large eggs, and two large egg yolks, until it just formed a ball. We separated the ball into 4-5 pieces and Gavon ran them through the pasta roller 5 or 6 times on the widest setting. Once that was done, we rolled the sheets into a tube (well floured) and sliced them (sorta' like sushi) into about 1/3 inch wide pieces. Then we unrolled the pieces into noodles (Gavon did this like an autistic child, stacking them so very orderly into neat and uniform piles, then I tossed them into a messy pile with more flour).

We added the noodles to the chicken and chicken stock to cook (boiled them for about 20 minutes then turned the heat off). The sauce was a little runny, so I added some corn starch when we got to Mavis' house, but it could have used a little more. I like my C&N a little on the thick side. Anyway, all of this was served over mashed potatoes. Nothing special, just russets mashed with milk butter salt and pepper.

For the Green Bean Casserole, I used

6 Cups of chopped fresh Green Beans
8 oz of fresh Mushrooms, sliced
16 oz of Whipping Cream
2 tbs of Sour Cream
1 Tablespoon of Oil
1 Tablespoon of Salt
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon Basil
1 teaspoon Marjoram
1/2 teaspoon of Pepper
3 Cups of fresh Bread Crumbs (dried a bit in a very low oven)
1/4 Cup of freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese
A whole crap ton of french fried onions

For the onions, I soaked thin-ish sliced onions in milk while I was dealing with the chicken then drained them and patted them dry. I tossed them with some flour and deep fried them then sprinkled on some kosher salt. This may be the best thing I have ever eaten. I fried them until they were a pretty deep brown, but when I put them on the casserole in the oven, they burned. I would recommend either not frying them as dark, or just adding them to the casserole when it comes out of the oven.

For the casserole, I blanched the green beans for about 4 minutes, then shocked them with cold water. I mixed the cream, sour cream, spices, oil, and cheese in a sauce pan and brought it to a simmer. I removed it from the heat and mixed in the bread crumbs, then added it to the mushrooms and then to the green beans. Once all ingredients were mixed, I stuck the sucker in a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until it was warm and bubbly. This was AMAZING and you all have to try it. GO!!

Irish-ish

This week we chose an Irish theme as it was so close to St. Patrick's day. It turned into a delightful, if not particularly authentic, meal.

I (Kitty) wanted to make some sort of Irish Stew/Meat Pie. Caterina does not care for lamb in a stew, however, so I substituted beef. It ended up more of a Irish-ish stew with a puff pastry hat. I started by roasting some carrots (6 medium ?), one turnip, 1 1/2 medium onions and 6 cloves of garlic (all chopped) in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. I tossed them with a little oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

While those were roasting, I cut a rump roast (about 3.5 pounds) into 1 1/2 inch cubes and browned them with some salt and pepper in a couple of batches. When the vegetables were done, I combined them with the beef and a bottle of Guinness and just enough chicken stock to cover. I let the stew simmer for about an hour then added some corn starch to thicken it to a gravy-esk consistency.

I dumped the hole pot into a casserole dish and covered it with puff pastry, mixed up an egg wash and coated it then baked it at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. I will have to rely on Eric for photos.

snap a chow!!!


The whole concoction was quite delicious, but there are a few things that I would do differently, had I to do it over again. First, I allowed the pastry to sit inside the dish rather than overlap the edges. The gravy bubbled over the crust and prevented some of it from rising properly. It was still tasty, but a little soggy. Most of the recipes I consulted called for puff pastry, but I would like to try it with a nice pie crust or something a little more dense.

The only other change I would make would be to choose a fattier roast and simmer it a little longer, so that the meat would be more tender.

Also on the menu:
Eric - Brussel's Sprouts ('cause they're green, yo!)
Sarah F. - Awesome soda bread with leftover honey butter (which, given the opportunity, I would put on EVERYTHING)
Chavis - Date cake with whiskey sauce and whipped cream (Oh, what this woman can do with whiskey)
flism-cha!

Matt - Muscles cooked in white wine and Guinness, I think (I'm pretty sure these little shelled vaginas were Caterina's favorite)
Caterina - 3 Potato soup (I have been telling everyone I know about this soup. Oh my god, this soup)

here it is in an early stage, pre-dilled and buttermilked.
wheesh-pow!


I think that's it. Let me know if I'm forgetting anything!

-Kitty

Lambtastic!

I must share with you the amazing culinary feat that transpired over the weekend. Buoyed by watching hours of teamwork on ESPN, Eric and I put our brains together and pulled off maybe the best meal forever ever: lamb burgers!

I failed to take a photo of this masterpiece, but perhaps a lavish description will do the trick: glistening, half-pound lamb patties, cooked medium-rare, sitting on a bed of baby arugula and topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese made from goat's milk. All of this was encased in an onion bun. It's impossible to describe how awesome they tasted, but suffice it to say that it was a perfect balance of salty, sour, sweet and spicy. Food porn at its finest.

The best part is, the ingredients only cost us about $12.

Beggar's Banquet

ha HA! i deleted what matt wrote! my admin privs might have to be revoked! sorry this picture is small, it is too blurry to look decent full size.

so this week's theme, "beggar's banquet", had some severe monetary constraints. we were only allowed to spend five dollars on supplies for our dishes, which had to serve the whole crew. aside from that, pretty much anything goes if we already had it in the kitchen or were able to beg borrow or steal it. i chose to steal giant bags of precooked rotini from a certain establishment in which i work and use it to create pasta salad. (i also stole ham, black olives and pepperoni along with good olive oil from my roommate's side of the cabinet in my kitchen.)

sarah was quite fond of this easy to use precooked pasta.


there was also cole slaw, vegetable korma, lima beans with tomato sauce, cracker style whitebread, green beans and cottage ham with cornbread, broccoli casserole and butterscotch pudding.

i was told the broccoli casserole had funions crumbled on top. it was amazing.



Butterscotch Pudding

I seldom think of puddings when it comes time to make dessert. I blame Jello for putting pudding in the same category as Lunchables (oh how I despize thee!), but that's a tangent for another day. Come to think of it, I guess I should blame Kraft, since they are both Kraft products, and if that's the case maybe I should blame our economic structure which fuels the proliferation of mega-corporations...never mind. I decided to make this for a few reasons: 1. I LOVE pudding; 2. I love David Lebovitz; 3. I had everything I needed at home, thus making it ideal for our beggar's banquet. Since I had to double the recipe I did have to invest in some more milk (half gallon and whole to be precise) and I did buy dark brown sugar instead of settling for the light brown that was already in my cupboard. The total investment, including tax had me well under our $5 limit, and it made a ton of pudding. This dessert was not only cheap but, when presented in individual serving dishes with a dollop of barely sweetened whipped cream, is pretty classy as well. I did not take any pictures this time, but I found the recipe on David Lebovitz's blog, so you check it out there!

Scavenged Pasta Salad (a.k.a. F-You Pizza Hut Pasta Salad)

1 giant bag of stolen pre-cooked rotini
1 C shredded stolen ham
1 C chopped stolen olives
1 C purchased chopped spinach
1/2 C leftover homemade pesto
1/2 C stolen olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 t salt
Leftover pine nuts and parmesan cheese for garnish

Toss the first 4 ingredients in a big, preferably pink bowl. Grind the garlic and salt together with a mortar & pestle until it becomes a paste. Combine the salt/garlic mixture, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and pesto in a small bowl and pour over the pasta. Toss! Sprinkle pine nuts and cheese on top if you so desire. Eat and gloat of your triumph over Yum, Inc.

COLESLAW!!

I don't know much that I can say about the making of the coleslaw. I really never liked it growing up, but have developed a taste for the non-creamy sort in my adulthood. I was worried that there was going to be a lack of fresh and crispy items, so I settled on this. Plus cabbage is tres cheap. I ended up spending $4.70 and had more than we could all eat in a week. I pretty much did this to taste and without a recipe.

1 head of green cabbage (shredded)
1/2 head of red cabbage (shredded)
9 tablespoons of cider vinegar
2 green peppers (diced)
4 medium carrots (shredded)
5 green onions (sliced thin)
4? Tbs sour cream (mayo grosses me out sometimes and I felt like the flavor needed to be bulked up a bit)
1 tsp-ish of celery salt (I thought I had celery seed at the house, but was out)
salt and pepper to taste.

Turned out....like coleslaw and I suppose that was the goal!

Goth Night

This was a seriously great dinner!

Although it was challenging to come to any conclusions as to what "goth food" actually was, i think we all did an excellent job with our interpretations. The soundtrack and discussions played well on the menu.

let's see...

looks like the beet bruschetta on top left next to the salad of evil, Jay's tainted taters on the lower left, short rib on the right, rare flank steak and artichoke heart skewers in the middle and the crusty rosemary loaf holding it all together on the bottom.

did anyone get a shot of the devil cake with bloody goo?

here is a nice pic of mine and Sarah's visually stunning "hearts and flesh skewers"
(marinated rare grilled flank steak and artichoke hearts with a vinaigrette drizzling of despair)


Ingredients:

1/2 C worcestershire sauce
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C red wine vinegar (I just used red wine)
1/2 C lemon juice
2 T dijon mustard
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T black pepper
3/4 t salt
1/2 oil (I used canola)
4 lbs of flatiron steaks (pork tenderloin is also good)
2 cans artichoke hearts
skewers

Whisk the marinade/vinaigrette ingredients together. Reserve about 1/2 C for drizzling later. Put meat in a zipper bag or large baking dish and pour the rest of the marinade over. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Heat a grill/grill pan to high. Remove meat from marinade and blot dry. Discard "spent" marinade or boil the bejeezus out of it it you want to use it as extra sauce. Cook the meat as you like it - we seared the flatirons for about 4 minutes on either side for rare. Let the meat rest for about 15 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain at a 45-degree angle. Wrap each artichoke heart with a slice of meat and skewer. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Assemble skewers in a visually appealing fashion and drizzle with reserved marinade. Ta-dah!


most of my shots didn't turn out too well but i did get a decent picture of chavis' crusty loaf!


HOLLA!


"No Knead" Bread

This bread could not be simpler to make. This recipe was first published in the New York Times and has since been featured in blogs galore. The recipe is so simple and was such a success that I really think it's ideal for someone who has been wanting to try their hand at homemade bread, but is weary. The only thing you really need is a cast-iron pot with a lid. I found my Le Creuset 5.5 qt dutch oven to be ideal.

Ingredients:
3 c. bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1.5 c. warm water

Procedure:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl with a wooden spoon until just combined (it will look like a mess, but that's fine).
2. Cover and let rest for 12-20 hours.
3. After the long rest, the dough should look bubbly and slimy. Dump it out onto a well floured surface and with wet hands stretch chunks of the bottom of the dough to the top to form a ball that has a seam on the top.
4. Place the ball of dough, seam side down, back into a WELL FLOURED bowl and cover with a towel. Let that rest for another 2 hours.
5. 1.5 hrs. into the rest time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place your covered pot in the oven as well.
6. Once the 2 hours has passed, plop the dough into the heated pot, cover and bake for 30 min.
7. After 30 min. remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 min.
8. Remove from pot and cool on a cooling rack.
   

*This recipe yields one 1.5 lb loaf. Like I said this recipe is really simple, so I went ahead and made two loaves at once. I cooked them at the same time, but in two separate pots. I added fresh rosemary to one of the loaves and I highly recommend trying that and experimenting with other herbs.
-Chavis



OK, this took me a while to post. Sorry! I wasn't sure what to make, but I wanted to make sure that there was some sort of vegetable involved, so I decided to make a salad. I know, I know, not very dark, but I did find a recipe for a Pear & Cabrales Salad with Fig & Port Dressing from Fine Cooking. It called for endive and I wasn't really in the mood, so I used romaine hearts instead (much more goth, in my opinion). They maintained the hearty (no pun intended) crunchy feel without the bitterness. Also, I couldn't find the specific, Spanish, sheep and cow's milk blue cheese, so I used Gorgonzola. How can you go wrong with Gorgonzola, right?

The salad was:
Hearts of Romain (about 3)
2 pears, sliced about 1/8 inch
a simple vinegarette (1 part vinegar, 2 parts oil, about one tablespoon of prepared dijon mustard, 3 green onions sliced thin, salt, pepper)

Then all of that was tossed together and topped with a slice of Gorgonzola.

Now, the figs. I have never used figs or port, let alone figs IN port, but it looked bloody and decadent, so I gave it a shot. I warmed up one cup of port and soaked 6 dried chopped Black (so goth) Mission figs in it for two hours. The recipe called for pureeing the mix and then straining it and discarding the solids. These were the solids



So that all went well, but the recipe also called for thinning the fig port business with some water, which I did. Mistake. I think that it was the right consistency as it was. I wanted it to drizzle like a thick sauce, but after I thinned it, it was watery and dissipated when it hit the dressed greens. Other than that, it tasted great. There just wasn't a strong fig port taste. It just all melded together.

-Kitty

Only The Mind of Edog

alright guys, bear with me on this one...

it's called, "Feces Night". we of course all make really great tasting items that appear to be some form of feces to the naked eye. obvious choices, chili, bean dip, pudding, etc..

but! ...what's even more intense is that we would go OUT OF OUR WAY to make something that doesn't look like it to begin with appear to be feces as well! meatloaf turds!

...don't it git yer head all excited??!! wow, i am a messed up dude. wtf is my problem?

Thai Night

hello world. holla!

i just thought i would throw a post up to let everyone know that i'm here and i'm queer and i like to drink beer. i (and i believe everyone else) thought thai night was awesome and i think i may have a picture or two to share.

kitty was kind enough to take the first group photo.

i can't figure out why it won't show up rotated 90 degrees left. rats.



some plate shots




trippy pot o' panang pork


lettuce wraps


coconutty mango rice pudding with strawberries and such?


sorry about not having everyone's dishes up this time. i am late for work.

can't wait for wednesday!

Let's imagineer some themes

Ladies and gents, behold the Head Spa! It's a wonderous device with which to spa your head. It looks like an excellent piece of imagineering equipment. And the guy looks peacefully deep in thought, and that's my excuse for posting it. Let us peacefully ponder themes for future meals and pray for the day when we too may have spas for our heads.

Still on the table are Goth Night and Indian (Not India Indian but Indian as in whitey-stole-their-land Indian) Night. I also suggest Guilty Pleasures Night (stuff we love even if it isn't high-brow), Ina Garten Night (for the ladies), Cajun Night and Corned Beef-n-Cabbage Night.

-Sarah

Bangkok Nights

We're up!

So, it begins. On-line at least. We began this supper club with a horrifying experiment called "Cold War Thanksgiving" (which I'll let the girls talk about, since they have the grisly photos). Now it's grown into a fully documented weekly date.

It's how we pass our slow mornings at work. It's what we read about on Mondays and Tuesday nights, scouring the piles of cook books and legions of webpages at our use. We might as well have a record of the amazing dinners that we expose each other to every Wednesday.

So I guess I'll start.


Pork Panang with Basil

That's actually a picture of Chicken Panang, not mine from last night. But it's the recipe that I started from. We were feeding 10 people last night, so I had to made a pretty big batch. I started with about 5lbs of Boneless Sirloin Pork Chops. Here's what you'll need, per 1 lb of meat.







1 lb of Pork, Chicken, Beef, or whatever
1 Tbs Veggie Oil
2-3 tsp Red Curry Paste (it's just easier to buy)
1/2 cup of Coconut Milk
1/4 cup of Water
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
1 tsp Sriracha
Juice of 1/2 a Lime
1/2 Cup of Frozen Peas

This stuff couldn't be easier to make. Just trim the pork into bite sized pieces, cross grain is what I prefer. While you're doing that, heat up your oil in a good sized Dutch Oven until it moves easily. Put your curry paste in the oil and give it a quick stir to make it release it's aroma and get your house smelling good. When the red has broken down to look kind of like the picture, add your pork, Use long tongs to flip and move the pork around until it looks inviting.

Throw your water, Coconut Milk, Fish Sauce, and Sriracha in the pot. Let it come to a near boil, then reduce it to medium-low and simmer for about ten minutes. Juice your lime and and your basil. I wanted to fry the Basil first, but didn't get a chance so it got washed out in the sauce a little bit. Right at the end, add your peas and serve while they're nice and shiny green. Serve over steamed Jasmine Rice with plenty of sauce.

This also makes for amazing leftovers.

So that's it to blogging food? Easy. You guys log on, and play with it. I'll try to set something up so we have a bulletin board of sorts, so maybe we can abandon the mass e-mails every week? Give it a try, I think you'll like this system.

-m@

Tom Yum Goong Soup

With the weather being frightfully dreary and bitter for the past...oh I don't know...it seems like a lifetime now, soups have become a popular choice for one of the courses. Now, I can't consider a Thai meal authentic without tom yum goong, or I suppose I WON'T consider a Thai meal authentic without it because, frankly, it is my favorite soup of all time. Like most Thai dishes, it combines the perfect amount of every irresistible flavor (spicy, citrus, tangy and savory) imaginable to create a cure all for your woes and ailments. I think Caterina summed up the special qualities of this soup perfectly when she described it as her cure for the common hangover (lets just say this soup has an uncanny ability to "exercise the demons" still partying in your head...and colon... from the night before).

This soup if shockingly easy to make mostly because this is one instance where I take advantage of prepared seasonings. It is cheating, I know, and the soup really isn't difficult to make from scratch, but good luck finding kafir lime leaves when you need them. I highly recommend Por Kwan's tom yum paste (aka Hot and Sour paste) because it has come the closest to replicating the color and flavor that I've seen in Thai restaurants. Just use two heaping spoon fulls (no precise measuring necessary) per 3 cups of boiling water. Now, my favorite thing about tom yum soup is the flavor of the lemongrass and while the paste does provide that flavoring, I absolutely insist on adding more. This time around I was fortunate enough to find fresh lemongrass stalks, but I have used jarred in the past. If using fresh, just cut them into 2-3inch long segments and smash them much like you would when crushing garlic. Add additional ingredients starting with quartered onions, straw mushrooms (I'm not a mushroom connoisseur, so I occasionally just use whatever is cheapest), sliced green onions, and tomatoes cut into large chunks (I buy tomatoes that are on the small side and quarter them...remember to squeeze the seeds out as they are bitter and not very attractive floating around in soup). Once these ingredients have been added you can pretty much just let the soup simmer on the stove until you're ready to serve (just beware the the tomatoes will eventually disintegrate, as mine did, which doesn't effect the flavor any, you just won't have chunks of tomatoes anymore). Throw in the shrimp (with the shells on because shells = flavor), let them turn pink, which takes about 2 minutes and then bowl up.

-Chavis