Giant Enchilada Fiesta

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 FTW

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.

Guest Post: Sean's Shepherd's Pie

So I decided that because my damn schedule is as busy as my girlfriends, it would be a nice idea to try to spend some time with each other to find a nice recipe and make dinner together. Being relatively inexperienced in the kitchen, I turned to Ben for some advice. I found a recipe for Shepherds Pie …

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 pound ground lamb (or substitute half with another ground meat)
• 1 cup beef or chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh or dry rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup milk (any fat content)
• Kosher salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil, then add the onion, carrot, and meat. Cook until browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Drain the fat and add the broth, tomato paste, and herbs. Simmer until the juices thicken, about 10 minutes, then add the peas.

4. Pour the mixture into a 1 1/2-quart baking dish; set aside.

5. Meanwhile, bring the potatoes to a boil in salted water. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes; drain.

6. Mash the potatoes with the butter, milk, and salt.

7. Spread them over the meat mixture, then crosshatch the top with a fork.

8. Bake until golden, 30 to 35 minutes.

I basically followed it all to a T except I added a good bit of Worcestershire Sauce while browning the meat, and I topped the mashed potatoes with shredded cheddar cheese. The only hangup we had was that my girl decided to add milk to the mashed potatoes after I had mashed them with heavy cream – she didn’t like all the cream…so we had some liquidy mashed potatoes on top but it basically baked itself into place in the oven.

I was very nervous about cooking something that I felt was going to be complicated – worried that it wasn’t going to turn out well and worried that I would scare myself away from cooking more often. It came out fantastic and I was thrilled with it…we both enjoyed it a lot. I’m really glad that it worked out well, because it proved to me that you don’t need to be an expert to successfully prepare a great meal. I’ll absolutely be trying to find some more things that we can do together. We’re going to try to come up with at least one night per week that we can make dinner with each other. It was a perfect way to spend a great night together…

Excellent Bowl

If you looked into the meat and potatoes type meal, you'd find hundreds of ethnic variations. I decided I'd make my own. It was kind of a bizzaro Shepard's Pie. On the bottom is mashed potatoes with garlic and cheese with peas mashed into them. Then I diced up some onion and cooked it with this ground beef style tofu I had. I put all the potatoes into the bowl and then hollowed out a little space for the meat and onion and then topped it with tonkatsu sauce. I was gonna use steak sauce but I figured the tonkatsu would give it an interesting fruity kick. It was an excellent combo. Definitely filling. After one bowl I felt like I couldn't move. Exactly what I needed on one of my nights off.

Component meal: bbq tofu, fiddle head ferns, kale, mashed yams

What I like to call a component meal is basically a bunch of things in little homogeneous piles on a plate. What I did here was some sauteed kale, steamed fiddleheads, bbq tofu, and mashed yams (not pictured) -- oh sorry. Sweet potoatoes!

I don't know why bbq tofu is so awesome. I used the primo sauce in my mom's fridge (living at home fridge access benefit) called Hoboken Eddies. Some of you should know what I'm talking about. Lately I have been really into doing triangles instead of cubes for tofu. Don't ask me why. I think it might just be really satisfying to do them this way. First, cut a grid in all directions so that you have little rectangular prisms, still composed in the original tofu block form. Then cut diagonally through the stacks in one direction, going through the corners of each square-face.

Tofu gets seared in a very hot pan, then sauced. I sauteed the kale in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Doesn't need much more than that. Fiddleheads are also delicious almost naked. Just steamed up with some lemon juice squeezed on top and then tossed. Mashed sweet potatoes are a great alternative to regular mashed potatoes because they are healthier and taste great without too much stuff mashed in, which is where the butter/margarine/salt intake can get out of hand. All that went in was maybe a dot of olive oil and a little fresh pepper.

guiness and melon

mmmm. what you're looking at here is a (semi blurry) photo of some half eaten dinner. so good.

what we did: we took some peanut sauce and pan-fried tofu and threw that on some noodles. ate it with really ripe canteloup from the farm stand up rt. 31 and some guiness. did you know that melon and guiness are really quite very tasty together?

peanut sauce:
so you might be thinking, 'man matt and vanessa, that peanut sauce looks mighty green!' and for truth, it is. that's cause we put cilantro in it! yum!
1/2 cup crunchy organic peanut butter
1 tbps soy sauce
pinch garlic powder
couple shakes dried red pepper flakes
couple shakes spicy chili sesame oil
heat it all in a pan until it's creamy. puree some cilantro into a pesto and throw that in too. add some water to thin it out and throw on the nooooooooooodles. CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP.

THE SOUP

Anyone who knows Meredith and me know our obsession with THE SOUP. The story goes back years. Ever since we both started coming to Rutgers, we've always had dinners together to celebrate stuff. Anything we can find we celebrate. The first was the fact that we were both there. We chose to go to Noodle Gourmet. Excellent place. I think most of my greatest college take-out memories are tied to Noodle Gourmet. Eat there. The first time we went I got a giant noodle soup. I'm not sure if any of you have ever had their noodle soup but that fucker is cheap and giant.

After that we spent a few years with Edo as our hangout before we eventually started celebrating at Saporo. That was a big leap for us and also the first encounter with THE SOUP. I can't remember what we were celebrating but we were there and decided to get the Nabeyaki Udon and some rolls. We could absolutely not finish that soup. Its not quite as big as the Noodle Gourmet soup and nowhere near as cheap, but the taste is infinitely better. Its like comparing a Kia and a Porshe. We've been hooked ever since. Any time we can we go sit and wait for that glorious pot to get set down between us where we delicately divy up the treasures burried within and setting atop those wonderful noodles and that flavorful broth.

Years later when I finally balled up the plate, this was the goal. Ever since we've been attempting to find others like it through our own cooking and through little eateries in the area. It's been a staple of my dutch oven cooking and my almost daily breakfast/dinner. Something about soup with an egg cracked into it is just the perfect breakfast/dinner combo I need to complete my day with the sunrise. Meredith has been getting on me forever to finally post one so last night with my extra time off work i finally decided to do so.

This was a quick one. I used a granulated bonito for the dashi with a little extra soy sauce and sesame oil. Once that was going I threw in two frozen dumplings and the miso. From there I added udon, seaweed, chicken, and dumped in a raw egg to poach in the soup. Thats always been my favorite part. Just before it was ready i threw in some kimchi. I've had it sitting around and I don't have many ideas so it went in. Just enough to sweat some of the flavor into the broth. I gotta tell you, its wonderful.

This kimchi will haunt me till the day I die. Or that day I move out and decide to not take it with me.

So, I made a pretty ok sandwich.

I opened the fridge around lunch time. Opening the fridge reminds me most of the time of cooking plans that didn't materialize. Like that basil that was on its way out because I wasn't getting stoked on the pesto I was supposed to make this week. So I told myself to get off my ass and make good.

Whole wheat bread from the fridge had to do. No time to bake my own, though it's easy enough. I like the No Knead recipe because who has time to really do the whole bread baking thing? It's surprisingly good for how little effort is involved.

I made a pretty standard pesto: basil, pine nuts, salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic.

The day before, I tried a new seitan recipe that requires baking rather than boiling. I really love this concept. I altered the seasoning a little (it is reminiscent of pepperoni) and maybe in the future it would be fun to do a stuffed version. I think there is also potential there for a veggie dog that is not just a bunch of extruded soy paste. (Another shortcut confession: I used vital wheat gluten flour rather than forcing the gluten out of wheat dough which takes 8796984 hours.)

Ugh boiled seitan. Talk about disaster stories. I challenge anyone to tell me that their boiled seitan was anywhere near baked in quality. Or even approached store-bought.
Anyway. Sauteed the seitan with some spinach that was turning in the fridge as well.

Bang. Sandwich. Stacked on some carrot matchsticks and sliced avocado. Then I ate it. It was fine.

In conclusion: Sammich challenge? Stuff turning in the fridge challenge?

Tuna!

Beware, this tuna melt contains awesome. I diced up some celery in that bitch and used some brie. You heard me, brie. Heated that mofo up. Then I done ate it. Had some beer too, ain't no thang. So good I made another later in the week. Check that one out.

Had a pickle too. Damn good. Back up off my sammich 'cuz I'mma eat it right up. Underneath that sammich I got a plate with a penguin on it. Go ahead an' get mad ya jealous ass, you can't have this penguin plate 'cuz I'm makin' another sammich on it.

OK, SO. not the best picture. but let me tell you about our cooking skillz. that's right. with a Z because we're THAT gangsta. so gangsta we ate this and watched NOTORIOUS! (I got techniques drippin out my buttcheeks , Sleep on my stomach so I don't fuck up my sheets)

OK, SO. this is what we got goin on: some brie action, surrounded by some deliciousness wrapped up in some fantastical tongue-gasms.

here goes:
1 package puff pastry
1 brie in the round (no wedges! you need those moldy bits to keep all the melty bits together!)
Whatever you have in your baking cupboard.

Actions: Thaw puff pastry. slap that brie in that puff pastry. put stuff on the brie. wrap that brie/stuff combo with pastry. bake until delicious.

we used some crushed pecans mushed with brown sugar/melted butter to make it a paste. spread this on top, then topped off with semi-sweet chocolate chips. DE LICIOUS. TWO WORDS. in retrospect, i wouldnt have put butter in the brown sugar, cause after reheating the brie the next day it got everything all soggy and pulled the oils out of the pastry.

seriously. who would have thought chocolate would mix in a most heavenly way with brie? NOT ME. I'M A CONVERT. YOU SHOULD BE TOO!