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!