Rushing Monday

      In the quest to crank out as many recipes as possible, I forced one upon the Spud for lunch today.  I made him the Chicken Club Sandwich, pg 188 for his lunchbox today.  He is the perfect person to experiment this on since he is the only member of this household that would eat the lemon- mayo spread on this. We are not Mayo eaters, so I am going to have trouble with these recipes that call for Mayo or Aioli.   I think it was a hit, but he complained that the bacon was too fatty... Is there anything such as un-fatty bacon?
       For dinner I ran really late today.  I marinated the pork this morning for the Char Siu, pg 478 but I got home so late we had to rush this along and buy our sides.  Char Siu is Chinese Roast Pork, and this proved to be as good as you can get in any chinese restaurant.  The Pork Shoulder Joe sold me was perfect for this dish.  I sped it along by cooking it the whole time at 400 degrees instead of 375 and then raising it to 400, but I really think it worked out just as well.  The trick to this recipe is basting often.  Either way it was quite good, and we had leftovers for lunches for tomorrow.  We cheated with the sides and stopped at the local chinese restaurant for Fried Rice and asian pancakes.. I would have liked to have made it with some bok choy and home made fried rice. I think this recipe could have worked really well on a grill too!

Steakhouse Night

  Yesterday I made my trip to the butcher to stock up on some meat for the next few weeks.  All I can say is that if you don't live near a small local butcher, then move where there is one or figure out how to speacial order through a good grocery store, becuase meat from the butcher is the best!  I go to Joe's Prime Meats in Hoboken, and I wish he had a website to post for him, because Joe is the best.  I love the butcher so much that Coco and Spud think I have a crush on Joe.  He's a realy nice guy, and I love his chocolate lab, Hershey, but I really do go for the meat, (and sometimes he even gets me fish).
     Among the many other things I bought which I will cook and write about in coming weeks, I bought 3 pieces of Filet Mignon.  Now I know many say what they want about if this is the best cut of meat or not, for flavor etc, but these were about the 3 most perfect pieces of meat I have ever cooked. I made Pan-Seared Filet Mignon with Merlot Sauce, page 428.  It was just wonderful.  The Merlot sauce is supposed to be made with Veal stock which I am sure would have been amazing, but I admit I didn't have the time, or the veal bones to make the stock ( although I am sure Joe would have hooked me up). I just used beef stock instead, and I think it still turned out pretty yummy. I followed Ruth's instructions for cooking the meat, and after years of trying, I have finally accomplished the perfect piece of meat.  I have always had so much trouble with beef that it keeps me fromm even cooking it so much.
     I accompanied my steaks with classic steak house dishes, Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots, page 559 and Creamed Spinach, page 578.  Both of these are very simple recipes, but the perfect sides for this meal.  The cleaned plates of my family were certainly all that needed to demonstrate they loved it.
     Lastly I finished it off with a classic cheesecake, which this recipe I almost overlooked because of the name. It is the Three Cities of Spain Classic Cheesecake, page 751.  It is named so for a now defunct coffehouse in Santa Fe ( I can only assume New Mexico).   To quote Ruth: " Although the filling only contains 5 ingredients, and is very simple to make, it delivers all the decandently, rich, creamy smoothness that has made cheesecake so popular."  It has that rich layer of sour cream on top, and I make the crust with Nabisco Ginger Snaps instead of graham crakers. It is inside in my refrigerator right now and it is taking every last ounce of will power I have to not go have a slice.
    Also to get a jump on my cooking for Rosh Hashanah on Friday, I made Chicken and Rice Soup, page 122, but sans rice.  I plan to use this homemade soup as the base instead of store bought broth in Chicken Soup with Almond Matzo Balls.  More to follow on the Matzo Balls, and Gefilte fish too!

Back to the Routine

     Well today it was back to school for the Spud and a full normal busy work day for me after a long weekend.  As a treat, I reprised for breakfast the Cheese Omelet again but made it as a 2 egg omelet this time, and I managed to get it out of the pan perfectly this time. Spud was thrilled and declared I had finally master better eggs than dad! I took that as high praises, since I have never mastered eggs.
     Keeping in the easy comfort food theme as we settle back to routine, I tried Ruth's version of Macaroni and Cheese, page 223.  This also was handy as I haven't made it to the butcher yet so we needed to be meatless! Personally I am usually a fan of the recipe on the Mueller's Macaroni box, with Velveeta substituted for cheddar.  Luckily I pretty much have that memorized from years of practice, because I am having a very hard time finding my favorite elbow macaroni standby. Since the old Jersey City Mueller's manufacturer sold the company to the American Italian Pasta Company, the pasta is just getting harder to find. The recipe is still available at  http://www.makesameal.com/home.asp?p=recipes.asp&r=172 and of course works just fine with any elbow brand, but it just isn't the same for me.  The Gourmet version is pretty similar actually, but it uses heavy cream and cheddar to make it very rich.   The cheddar makes the mac and cheese a little oily as it bakes, I still prefer Velveeta.  The twist I did like form this recipe though was the added Red Pepper Flakes. It gave a little kick.   What ever recipe you choose, it's mac and cheese, and its good no matter what.
     We we needed to add something green to this dinner, so I made the salad, Bibb Lettuce with Butter Dressing, page 130.  This salad isn't exactly quite what I would call healthy, because of the butter dressing, but it was easy and quite tasty.  Its very simple and just the slight lemony garlic flavor was wonderful.   And still we got in our greens.
   Well I am going to plan out some food and hopefully call in an order to Joe's tomorrow, so I can make some new and exciting things next week.
  

Catching Up

    Well I am back to my life as a mom, so I was off playing this week and not really cooking or blogging.  The Spud hated the Spinach Cheese Strata as his first breakfast home.  His feeling is that spinach has no business being with eggs, even though he likes both separately.  I personally am  finiding I can't eat eggs anymore.  Coco and I really liked it though, and it served as breakfast for a few days as it reheated nicely.
    Last weekend I also made Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies, page 689 which were delicious and fudgy, a perfect brownie consistency.  I don't like chips in my brownies so much though, and even though I used mini chips, they were still evident and it changes the texture.  Without them though, they would just be Double Chocolate Fudge brownies! 
    We didn't really eat out anywhere too interesting to blog about, so we'll just fast forward to today.....

Last Child Free Night

    Coco and I decided to eat out for our last night home together child-free.  We tried a new neighborhood restaurant  called the Clinton Social, 700 Clinton Street, Hoboken, NJ.  The first thing in its favor is that it is 2 blocks from our house. When we went inside as soon as I sat down I said that it reminded me a little of my favorite restaurant,  The Madison.  Both restaurants have nice size casual bars in the front with a few tables and tv screens, making it a really welcoming spot to have a drink before dinner.  They both also have alot of exposed brick and warm lighting.  After I examined the menu I noticed they also had in common a very nice mix of food from formal to casual.  These things put together, both these restaurants are the perfect spot for a cozy date night, out with a group of friends, or even a family dinner.  It turns out the things are all in common because they share the same proprietor.  We started our meal by sharing Goat Cheese Potato Pierogies with caramelized onions.  Three perfect potato pockets arrived, just the right size and pretty much perfect in every way.   Coco continued his summer of beef with a Rib Eye Steak served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Broccoli Rabe.   It was a perfect basic meal, but my rule when eating out is don't order things that can be easily prepared at home.  That said, I ordered the Braised Oxtail.  It was very similar to an Osso Buco with the tender meat falling off the bone in a delicious tomato based sauce.  It was served with Braised Carrots, cooked perfectly, and Potato Gnocchi.  There was a little too much parsley on the gnocchi for my taste, but otherwise a really nice dinner.  This restaurant will probably prove to be a regular hang out for us. I definitely plan to go back and try the Cassoulet of chorizo, garlic sausauge and duck confit!
         Conveniently, we were right across the street from the A&P grocery store where we stopped to stock up on some of the basics since the Spud is due in tonight and we have to prepare to get back on schedule by Thursday.  We didn't pick up anything too exciting, but I did buy the ingredients to make breakfast for tomorrow.   I just got finished preparing a Spinach and Cheese Strata, pg 655.  It is a perfect make ahead dish that can now stay in the fridge overnight and just be baked in the morning.  A Strata is basically a savory bread pudding.  This one is french bread layered with sauted onion and spinach,  gruyere & parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt and pepper and then an egg and milk custard poured over the top.  It will sit all night so the bread can absorb the custard and be baked in the AM.
      I hope everyone cooks something special for the long weekend!

Beer and Crab

   I had every intention of cooking tonight and then the call of the social won, as it usually will.  It's the last night before I get to be "mom" again, so I stopped for drinks. The Happy Hour special was Saranac Pale Ale at The Houndstooth Pub, 520 8th Avenue @ 37th St. NYC. A great deal at $5 a pint, so I had 2.
   A friend and colleague lives on the water on Long Island and became my new best friend when he brought me a dozen Long Island Blue Crab that he pulled out of his back yard. After I carried them in my back pack on the bus and they leaked out all over my clothes and bag, when I got home I steamed them up with a good douse of Old Bay.  One inch of water in the bottom of the pot brought to a boil.   Metal rack on the bottom and then just drop the crab in and cover with a good layer of Old Bay seasoning, put the lid on tight until they are turned an nice bright red.  They were mostly male but they were a little on the small side.  The meat in the claws was wonderful, I think the bodies were a little small still to be true peak.  Either way it took care of my summer long craving and got the Old Bay flavor in.  I opened up a bottle of Bavarian Barbarian Hammerin Ale that I brought back from Williamsport PA, where we did the beer tour and tasting last month.  It is a great beer and was a nice accompaniment to the crab.  Check out their website at http://www.bavarianbarbarian.com/.  
     With any luck I can get in one more crab fix before the season ends, but if not there is always next year......
     As to the Chocolate Shortbread I made last night, it was devoured today almost instantly at home and work, so I'll take that as being a hit.  The piece I had was wonderful!
  

Old Standby Night

     Tonight, I stuck to a few old standbys ( for me at least).  First, I would like to announce that my freezer is cleaned out.  Other than some bacon and Hebrew Nats,( the only hot dog allowed in this house) there is nothing left in the meat family. Currently occupying my freezer is chicken soup, stored ravioli fillings, pie crusts, wonton wrappers, hamburger rolls and Lean Cuisines , and of course the highly coveted Dark Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter cups that I just recently found again in the Hershey Store, Times Square. These are stashed with the vow to eat only 1 cup a week, and so far so good. Please also note the irony that I have hot dogs, and no buns, and hamburger rolls and no ground beef.
    So to use up my last packet of chicken, I made Parmesan Chicken, Page 356.  This is one of my favorite  chicken dishes, and I have 3 different variations I make, but I think Ruth's choice is my favorite because it's baked. I have made this quite a few times before. The secret to the flavor in this is the dijon mustard coating before it is breaded and parmesaned.  The other neat twist to it is that the bread crumbs are made from an English Muffin.  I happen to even have lowfat high fiber muffins in the house today, so this recipe ends up pretty healthy, no egg, healthy coating, and it's baked.  Of course there is no way around the parmesan in the coating, but I suppose you can cut back to keep the fat down. I admit tonight I cooked the chicken a little too long and it was a touch dry.  Normally this recipe leaves the chicken moist and juicy.  It still did not lack for flavor though.
    The side I chose was the Herbed Spaetzle on Page 241. It's the easiest way I know to basically make fresh pasta,  The dough takes 2 minutes to mix in a bowl and then you just press the batter through a colander into boiling water, and Voila! fresh pasta dumplings!  I tossed with the herbs, salt and pepper and a touch of butter, and tonight I tossed in some frozen peas ( pre-cooked in the microwave) as my vegetable. Dinner was done in under 1/2 hour. 
     And finally, in the effort to keep up with my recipe count, I tried my hand at something new.   We'll see how this goes, but I made the Dark Chocolate Shortbread, page 688.  I was actually out of Dutch process cocoa, and I tried Hershey's Special Dark instead.  This always makes a nice change in my favorite brownie recipe, so I figured, why not here?  It made the shortbread very dark, looking like an oreo cookie.  I am hoping I am lucky enough that it tastes like that.  It is still cooling so I will have to give you the update tomorrow. I will test it on my colleagues and give you the feedback.
     Since I am out of food, I am thinking a bean dish for tomorrow night.  I will be making it to the grocery store this weekend and will probably place a meat order too.   That said, I am open for recommendations or requests of what to cook for the next few weeks.
     Also, now that my son, the Spud, as we call him, is coming home and school is starting, now we begin the quest for lunch food.   I would love feedback for lunches that meet the following requirements: can be served cold, quick and easy to make,offers some variety, and fairly healthy /low fat. We hate to prepare lunch food in this house and the Spud ends up hating to eat it because it shows in what we prepare.  So watch for some thoughts on this to pop up here in coming weeks as well.