Here I have some repurposed leftovers. I had the polenta and BR in the fridge from the previous night, so I thought I'd dress them up for lunch. The polenta was made by boiling and constantly stirring coarse cornmeal. I let it set up in a shallow round dish, then cut into triangles. I fried the leftover triangles on both sides in a hot pan, then garnished with some fresh parmesan cheese.
Kyle and I were hungry the other night but didn't know what to make. We did know that we needed to go grocery shopping. We ran out to the store and realized we wanted fish. To our delight there was some delicious cod on sale and we knew we had a shitload of potatoes back home about to go bad. We took that cod home and got it ready. Above is some potatoes and a tool. Yes. Tools. We have evolved. This one is for fries. Below you can see what we did to those potatoes with that tool. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. That's a lot of fuckin' potatoes.
As you can see below its a good thing we had so many. Those bastards turned out golden awesome. Just look at those chips. Golden fuckin' goodness. Makes you jealous, don't it? Sea salt on those bitches too.
Here's the fish all prepped. We let it slip into something a bit more comfortable. Flour, then egg, then flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. The egg, as per house rule, was mixed with paprika.
And here they are golden delicious. Much like the chips, a source of envy. Perfectly juicy and flaky on the inside.
We finished cooking with just enough time for me to pack a lunchbox for work. I squeezed out some tartar sauce and ketchup in there cuz I wasn't sure what we had at work. Wonderful. Excellent lunchbox dinner. You should be so lucky.
Omg, Enchilada Night at the Maxwell. We threw together the leftover steak from the other night and some veggies. Jenn cooked it up with like a whole fucking bottle of enchilada sauce. Amazing. Then we dumped an entire bag of cheese. Kraft may want us to use half a bag, but fuck them. I've never heard anyone say anything was too cheesy (except for maybe my karaoke but I still think I'm solid gold on the mic). Amazing dinner. I can't wait to do this again.
Here's an overhead view. These things were fuckin' huge! I don't know why we made so many and I know even less of why I ended up with two of them on my plate. I topped them with refried beans to start. The rice wasn't my best. I have to relearn my rice timing and ratios for this goddamn electric stove. I cooked it up with a bullion cube, peppers, onion, and some other shit I can't remember. Just the usual.
Here's a picture of the dinner table set for us to start. We put out chips with guacamole and lots of rice and refried beans.
The last bites with some guacamole. Excellent choice. I couldn't believe I made it through two of these bad boys. Kyle finished just after me. It was intense. Jenn wussed out and only had one. The second didn't last long in the fridge before someone snagged that bitch. The consensus at the Maxwell is that this was the largest and best dinner we've collectively made. They were so amazing. Gotta love enchilada night.
America's Test Kitchen, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. You help me make the winningest risotto cakes on Earth. We at the Maxwell (my new apartment) have been struck with a terrible conundrum. We all love to cook as much as possible. Almost as much as we love interesting beers. Why do these two facts cause a problem? Because we can't fit shit in our fridge. The fridge is constantly overflowing with exotic beers, fresh ingredients, and tupperwares stuffed to the brim with wonderful leftover goodies. Luckily for me, while flipping through my favorite cookbook (supplied by Diane and Larry), I discovered a wonderful recipe for risotto cakes. Just my luck, Jenn had just made a killer risotto earlier that week. I took the opportunity to pounce on that tupperware like a crackhead on a dollar. Using my recently honed onigiri (japanese rice balls) making skills, I molded the risotto and stuffed them with provolone cheese. I then dipped them in beaten egg (which I had intended but forgotten to lace with paprika as per Kyle) and then rolled them in bread crumbs which I had mixed up with cracked pepper. I tossed them in some heated oil to deep fry untill golden and then baked them a little after draining excess oil.
Here's a picture of all the happy little bastards sitting on the plate together before the first cut. I was thinking about squirting some lemon juice on them but maybe next time. This time I was too damn hungry. Jenn and I cut right in and enjoyed ourselves a wonderful snack. As the cookbook said, after making these badboys, you will forever be making extra risotto just in hopes of leftovers. We at the Maxwell wholeheartedly agree.
While drunk in a Manhattan bar after a trip to the Guggenheim, Erin and I were discussing the challenge. Here's what we came up with. Tuna tartare with chopped vinegar soaked zucchini topped with a poached (because I wasn't sure about raw) quail egg. The plate is rimmed with tonkatsu sauce and dollops of spicy kewpie mayonnaise and garnished with zuchinni peel (as per Kyle's bitching). I have never been able to plate dishes for my life so trust that it tasted better than it looked. Erin agreed.
I started with fresh sushi grade tuna I had gotten at the asian market on rt 18. I badgered the hell out of the guy because neither of us could find a common language but eventually we agreed it was in fact fresh sushi grade tuna and that we are both fans of giving thumbs up. I guess we all speak the international language of The Fonz.
Here is the chopped zucchini sitting in vinegar. I did that just for some extra taste. We then rinsed the zucchini and incorporated it with the tuna.
I couldn't get the water spinning fast enough so the eggs poached a little wispy but they were still good. Not quite as good as a raw egg yolk sitting on your tartare but I wasn't 100% sure about these quail eggs so I didn't want to chance it.
Erin spent most of the time snacking on these spicy wasabi crackers and cherry tomatoes I picked up at the asian grocery while getting the tuna. I eventually convinced her to chop up some zucchini and tomatos together for a cracker topping. Here's her rebuttal to my dish. She incorporated leftover tuna. It was miles better than what I made.
She also topped these suckers off with some spicy kewpie mayonnaise leftover from my dish. These little bastards were increadible. Perfect spice to match the coolness of the zucchini and the tuna. I think she beat me. Not afraid to admit it.
