Gourmet Mac n Cheese

This recipe is taken from the Picky Palate food blog, which is super cute so check it out.

Chef Terrance Brennan’s Gourmet Mac and Cheese

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
7 ½ Tbs Butter, divided
¼ Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Flour
3 Cups milk
2 ¼ Cups gruyere, shredded
½ Cup mascarpone cheese
¾ Cup bread crumbs
¼ Cup Parmesan Reggiano, grated
salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil and add the elbow macaroni. Cook until it’s al dente, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.

2. While the macaroni is boiling, slowly melt 5 1/2 Tbs of butter over medium high heat in a medium sauce pan.

3. Add the flour, stirring, cook together for a minute or so. Do not brown the mixture; you want a blonde roux. Add the milk, whisking to avoid lumps. Bring mixture to a boil and continue whisking. Lower heat and simmer for about five minutes until it thickens.

4. While the milk is simmering, combine 2 Tbs butter and the bread crumbs, and melt together in a separate pan.

5. Add the Parmesan cheese. This adds another layer of flavor so it’s not one-dimensional. Just cook until the butter is melted. Remove from heat.

6. When the milk is ready, add the mascarpone cheese. Then add gruyere cheese and whisk it in, and as soon as until it’s melted, remove from the heat. This will happen quickly because the gruyere cheese should be grated and at room temperature.

7. Season with salt and black pepper and whisk to combine. Add the macaroni to the cheese sauce, mix it well, and when it’s nicely incorporated, spoon it out into a cooking dish.

8. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on the top, using your hands to pat it down to make sure it’s nice and evenly dispersed all over the surface. The topping becomes very crunchy when it bakes. Cook for about 35-40 minutes in a 350 degree oven until golden brown and bubbly.

Irish Fish Pie with Green Delight and Easy Asparagus

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs cod fish fillet
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Scone topping ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 stick butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 egg yolk

Directions:

Turn on U2 or any Irish music to get you in the mood.

Place fish filets in the bottom of a 9x5 pan.

Make a cheese sauce with the butter, flour, milk and grated cheese and pour over fish.
While this is sitting, make scone dough by mixing the flour with baking powder and pinch of salt and then work in butter as much as possible.

Add grated cheese and drop egg yolk into the mixture and add enough milk (it is a few tablespoons, add a little at a time) to make a workable dough.

Roll out to a thickness of 1/2 inch and cut into small rounds with a cup. Gather and reroll dough repeatedly until you get about 8 rounds.

Place these rounds on top of the fish mixture so that they just about cover the surface and then glaze them with a little milk.

Sprinkle some more grated cheese over them and bake at 450F degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the scones are golden brown.

Serve with Frank’s Red Hot if you are Mexican Irish

Green Delight:
Mix 1 pint small curd cottage cheese, 1 cup marshmallows, one small can of pineapple and 1 small can of mandarin oranges, a package of sugar free lime jello, and a few dollops of whipped cream to reach your desired consistency and chill.

Easy Yummy Asparagus:
Place asparagus on a plate with a little bit of water (a couple tablespoons), slice as much butter as you like atop the asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 5 minutes or so.

Haystacks

Beans: Cover about a pound and a half to two pounds of pinto beans with water up to at least three inches above the beans in a slow cooker. Cook on high for about 8 hours. The next morning the beans will be plump and ready to add flavor. Add ¾ tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon granulated garlic, salt and pepper to taste, 2 pinches of oregano, ½ spanish onion finely chopped , two cloves of garlic, two chopped tomatoes, handful of chopped cilantro, and bring to a boil.

Salsa: 5 Roma Tomatoes boiled until skins fall off or can be taken off easily with the fork (not an all day process). Stick in a blender and blend until smooth, throw in a serrano chili, a handful of cilantro, a couple cloves of garlic, salt and pepper to taste and lime juice to taste. (Viv tastes a lot)

Top tortilla chips with beans, cotija cheese, salsa, lettuce, chopped tomato, olives, avocado and ranch(made from the Hidden Valley Ranch envelope, no other way, it makes the recipe along with the salsa and the cotija).

Hit the Haystack!

Roasted Veggies and Sausage over Polenta

12 garlic cloves
4 bell peppers (mix and match your favorite colors)
mushrooms - halved
1 onion - quartered and cut into strips
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 pkg kielbasa sausage
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup polenta

Combine the garlic, peppers, mushrooms, onions, oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and the pepper in a 9x13 baking dish. Cook for 20 minutes. Add the sausage and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking, bring the stock to a boil. Add salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp if low-sodium vegetable stock is used). Gradually pour in the polenta, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the polenta is tender and pulls away from the pan when it is stirred. Note: the polenta will be pretty thick, so it doesn't really simmer. Mostly bubbles build up and explode, so lower the heat appropriately :) Once it pulls away from the pan, transfer it to a wooden board, smooth it to about an inch thickness, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes or until it sets up.

Cut the polenta into squares and top with the vegetable mixture.

Serves 4

Wanna Be PF Chang Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Adapted from Rachel Ray's Recipe:

* 2 cups, 4 handfuls mushrooms (no need to spend the bucks on the shitake)
* 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 pounds thin cut chicken breast or chicken tenders
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 inch ginger root, finely chopped or grated, optional
* 1/4 orange, zested (more if you like the orange. She called for a full orange)
* 1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
* 1 small tin, 6 to 8 ounces, sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
* 3 scallions, chopped
* 3 tablespoons hoisin, Chinese barbecue sauce
* 1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, core removed, head quartered
* 1-2 serrano or jalepeno peppers including seeds to spice it up
* Maifun Rice noodles fried up (see the video above)


Directions

1. Chop chicken and mushrooms into small pieces.

2. Preheat your wok to high.

3. Add oil to hot pan. Add chicken to the pan and sear meat by stir frying a minute or 2. Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two. Add salt and pepper to season, then garlic and ginger. Cook a minute more.

4. Grate zest into pan, add bell pepper bits, chopped water chestnuts and scallions. Cook another minute, continuing to stir fry mixture.

5. Add hoisin Chinese barbecue sauce and toss to coat the mixture evenly.

6. Your done! Fill your lettuce with the meet and top with the fried noodles.

Serves 4

*If you don't like to chop this isn't for you. There is mucho chopping. This wasn't as PF Chang as I wanted so I'll have to try another recipe. It was VERY good, just not Chang good.

**Viviana gave me the "snazzy pants" she commented on in the video. I'm sure you agree they are snazzy and add to the fun of Maifun noodle frying.