Never, Ever From A Box

If you had asked me as a child or young adult if I liked macaroni and cheese, I would have said no. My mother, like so many working mothers, used that blue box.



I am a cheese freak, and I never felt that the box stuff was cheesy enough.

When I was in my twenties, I discovered Velveeta Shells and Cheese. It was cheesy enough and pretty good. Anyone who turns up their nose at Velveeta is a poser. It has a place in American food history, if for nothing more than queso dip. It is wonderfully delicious chemical concoction that makes parties special.



I experienced a total revelation the first time I had homemade mac and cheese. It had a custard base made with evaporated milk and bread crumbs on top. It was wonderful, but lacked the smooth cheesiness I craved. The cheese was not evenly distributed throughout the dish.

One day I stumbled upon a recipe from Southern Living that began with a bechamel and became a luscious cheese sauce poured over elbow macaroni before being topped with more cheese and baked.

Classic Baked Mac and Cheese

1 (8oz) box elbow macaroni
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour (all purpose)
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1 (8oz) block SHARP cheddar cheese divided.

Prepare the pasta and keep warm.

Melt butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium low heat: whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes until thick. *Gradually whisk in the milk and cook whisking constantly, 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk in the salt and peppers then add one cup of shredded cheese and stir or whisk until melted. It becomes thick (slightly) and creamy. Add to the cooked pasta and mix together.



Spoon pasta mixture into a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish and top with remaining cheese.



Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly (I think mine was bubbly after 15 minutes then I turned off the oven and let it sit for another 5). Let it stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

*Raise the temperature to medium/medium high.

A little more food porn?



This has become my go-to recipe. While making it today, I had a bit of inspiration, so don't be surprised if a variation of this recipe shows up some time in the future.

Meyer Lemon Tart

On a recent trip to Trader Joe's, I picked up a bag of Meyer Lemons. They sat in the fridge, waiting patiently to be used, but I had neither the time nor desire to work with them until today. A day off. A day off with nothing else to do. No shopping, no meetings, nothing. So I pulled up Martha Stewart's recipe recipe for a tart.



If you've never had a Meyer lemon, they are a cross between a mandarin and a lemon, and the filling is much milder and sweeter than a typical lemon curd. It's hard to tell from these photos, but the color is a golden yellow, much different from a plain lemon.



The crust is good enough to eat alone. Seriously, it's that good!

FOR THE CRUST
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt
1/4 teaspoon finely grated Meyer lemon zest
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make the crust: Whisk together flour, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the lemon zest in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers until dough begins to hold together.
Stir together 1 tablespoon water and vanilla, then mix into dough. Shape dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Using your fingers, press dough evenly into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch* fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Freeze for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

FOR THE LEMON CURD
2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest, plus 1/3 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Make the lemon curd: Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Whisk in lemon zest and juice. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, 1 piece at a time.
Pour filling into cooled tart shell. Bake until filling is browned, slightly puffed, and set, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely.**

*I only have a 10" tart pan, so I increased the crust by 1/4.
**I didn't let it get brown on top, but instead used the discarded egg whites to make a meringue. I spread it on top of the cooled tart and then ut it under the broiler until the meringue was a perfect shade light brown.



And the final product....

Bolognese

I always wanted to make a true bolognese. I found Martha Stewart's recipe and bought the ingredients. I got a knife sharpener for Christmas and it made my knives a pleasure to work with.



Just look at that mise en place!

Here is the recipe I used:

FOR SOFFRITO
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (2/3 cup)
2/3 cup minced yellow onion (1/2 medium)
2/3 cup minced carrot (2 medium)
2/3 cup minced celery (1 rib)
FOR SAUCE
1 pound ground beef, such as chuck or sirloin
1 pound ground pork
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 cups whole milk
5 sprigs thyme, tied into a bundle with kitchen twine
1 to 2 fresh bay leaves
1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, pureed (with juice) in a blender (or through a food mill)
6 to 7 cups Basic Chicken Stock
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
DIRECTIONS

Heat butter and oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until butter starts to sizzle, then reduce heat to medium. Add pancetta, and cook until golden and fat has rendered, about 2 1/2 minutes. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and cook, stirring often, until just beginning to brown around edges, about 10 minutes (adjust heat if mixture is browning too quickly).
Add beef and pork and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and separating meat with the back of a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes. Once meat is completely browned, pour off any excess fat. Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring to intensify sweetness.
Pour in wine and cook, stirring to scrape up browned bits from bottom of pot, until liquid has evaporated, 6 to 7 minutes. Add 1 cup milk and cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes (don't worry if it appears slightly curdled, it will smooth out again). Add thyme bundle and bay leaves, and then pour in tomatoes and 6 cups stock. Season with 1
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook, partially covered, 3 to 3 1/2 hours, skimming the fat from the surface with a ladle periodically. If at any time the sauce appears too dry, add up to 1 cup more stock as necessary. The finished sauce should have the consistency of a loose chili. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup milk and season with salt and pepper, as desired. If not serving immediately, let cool completely before transferring to airtight containers. Refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months; defrost in the refrigerator before using.

This is Mario Batali's recipe:

6 Ragu Bolognese Recipe by Mario Batali ­
RAGU OLOGNS
For the Meat Sauce:
1/4 cup xtra Virgin Olive Oil
2 talepoon utter
2 medium Onion (finel chopped)
4 ri Celer (finel chopped)
2 Carrot (finel chopped)
5 Garlic clove (liced)
1 pound ground Pork
1 pound ground Veal
4 ounce Pancetta or Sla acon (run
through the medium hole of the
utcher' grinder)
1 ; 4 1/2-ounce tue of Tomato Pate
1 cup Whole Milk
1 cup Dr White Wine
1/2 cup Parle (leave picked and
chopped)
For the Pata:
Salt
1 1/2 pound Freh Taglietelle
1/2 cup frehl grated ParmigianoReggiano
(plu more for garnih)


1 For the Meat Sauce:
2 In a 6- to 8-quart heav-ottomed pot, heat the olive oil and utter over medium heat until melted.
Add the onion, celer, carrot, and garlic, eaon with alt, and cook until the vegetale are tranlucent ut not rowned,
aout 5 to 7 minute.
3
Add the veal, pork, and pancetta, increae the heat to high and rown the meat, tirring frequentl. Cook for 10 to 15 minute,
or until the meat i dark rown and the fat ha rendered out completel. There will e a hallow pool of fat in the pan. Thi i
deirale.
4
3/8/2016 Ragu Bolognese Recipe by Mario Batali ­ The Chew
http://abc.go.com/shows/the­chew/recipes/ragu­bolognese­mario­batali 2/2
Similar categorie: Ingredient, Pata, Coure & Meal, Dinner, Pizza & Pata, Cuiine,
Italian
Add the tomato pate and cook it in the fat for 2 to 3 minute, or until the color i rut orange. Add the milk and cook until
almot completel reduced.
5
Add the wine and ring jut to a oil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and immer for 2 to 3 hour. Seaon the ragu with
alt, remove from the heat, and let cool.
6
7 Sauce can e tored in an airtight container for 1 week in the fridge or frozen for up to 6 month.
8 For the Pata:
To erve, ring a large pot of alted water to a oil. Cook pata 1 minute hort of the packaged intruction. Drain, reerving
pata water for auce.
9
In a large aute pan heat aout 1 1/2 to 2 cup of auce over medium. Add the cooked pata and aout a 1/2 cup of reerved
pata water. Stir to coat pata.
10
11 Add 1/2 cup of Parmigiano and 4 talepoon of olive oil. Stir until cream. To in the chopped parle.
12 Serve and garnih each plate with a generou amount of frehl grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Can you see a difference? I kept thinking that it could use garlic. And perhaps the 6 to 7 cups of chicken stock?!

The sauce was bland and watery



and I have a couple of quarts in the freezer.

I think that I will add some tomato paste and garlic to it when I heat it up, but next time, I will try Mario Batali's recipe.

Valentine Sweets

I decided to make heart shaped marshmallows for my Secret Pal for Valentine's Day but could not find my heart shaped cookie cutter, so I went to Walmart early yesterday morning. While there, I remembered that I needed gelatin, which took me into the baking department and I had a sudden urge to make truffles.

My friend Karen had given me some Fiori Di Sicilia for Christmas and I decided to use it in the truffles. The combination of citrus and vanilla with the deep chocolate was lovely and reminded me of Terry's Chocolate Orange. I adapted a Pioneer Woman recipe for the truffles to intensify the chocolate flavor.



Chocolate Truffles with Fiori Di Sicilia

10 oz 60% cacao chocolate
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 tsp Fiori Di Sicilia
8 ox light chocolate melts
Sea salt


Place chocolate in double boiler over simmering water. As it starts to melt, add evaporated milk and blend until the consistency of marshmallow cream. Remove from heat and add Fiori Di Sicilia. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hour but up to 24. Roll into balls and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes. Melt chocolate and dip balls. Place on baking sheet and refrigerate.



I sprinkled sea salt on half the recipe while the coating was still liquid.





Packed and ready to go!

Drink A Bite to Eat at 10, 2, or 4

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Diet Dr. Pepper. I have reached a point in life, however, when I cannot drink it every day. But, at Christmas, I receive a bucket of my favorite beverage...cans and bottles in all sizes, and in the bottom was a four pack of old style glass bottles of regular Dr. Pepper.



I pondered this for a while. I used one bottle to braise a pot roast. And then, I found a recipe for Dr. Pepper Cake.

Dr Pepper Cake
Ingredients
for the cake:
1½ cup Dr. Pepper soda
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1¼ cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
½ cup buttermilk
For the Chocolate Topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cake:
preheat oven to 350F and grease a 13x9 baking pan.
combine the dr pepper, oil, butter, and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. bring to a simmer, mix well, and remove from heat.
add sugar, flour, and baking soda to the pan and mix well.
in a separate bowl, beat the eggs and buttermilk together. add a small amount of the hot batter to the egg mixture (a couple tablespoons) and mix well. then add the egg mixture to the batter and mix well.
pour into greased pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
while the cake is cooling, make the glaze.
Topping:
combine the butter, cocoa powder, and milk together in a saucepan over medium heat.
when the butter is melted and the mixture is combined, whisk in the sugar, ½ cup at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth.
pour over the warm cake.

A couple of observations: 1)the process is much the same as other chocolate cakes I've made before, but the batter is thicker than I expected and 2)you can taste the Dr. Pepper!

Also, the frosting took more milk...but that could have been my fault.



When all is said and done, it's a very moist, delicious chocolate cake.

Crackers

It's a cold morning in January and you're bored, what do you do? I made crackers.

There was a chain restaurant in the 80s that I loved to go to, I think it was Darryl's, that served a basket of homemade crackers on the table instead of a bread basket. I loved those crackers.

And who knew that they were so easy to make? Not me. But, I discovered that a friend makes the crackers used in the communion at church, and she assured me they were easy.

I went online and found this recipe on Cooks.com.

Saltine Crackers

2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt*
2/3 c milk
2 Tbs cold butter
1/2 tsp baking soda

Combine the dry ingredients, cut in the butter, then stir in the milk. Form into a ball and knead briefly. Divide dough into several pieces and place on a floured board. Roll very thin and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pierce with a fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

My first attempt was very tough, but then I discovered, as usual when a recipe fails, the fault lay with me. I used baking powder instead of baking soda. The second batch was excellent.

Creamy and Delicious

As a child, I loved bad weather days because my mother would make creamy tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Campbell's tomato soup, a gelatinous can shaped blob, diluted with whole milk and served with a american cheese on white bread toasted in cheap margarine...and I loved it.

I had never made tomato soup from scratch until I tried the Pioneer Woman recipe and enjoyed it. I made a few adjustments to suit my taste, and now I make it regularly.

Creamy Tomato Soup

6 tbs unsalted butter
1 medium sweet onion
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
64 oz tomato juice
3-6 tbs sugar, depending on tartness of tomatoes
3/4 cup (or more if needed) heavy cream

Melt butter in soup pot. Add onions and cook on low heat until translucent. Add tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil. Stir in sugar, tasting between each addition until bitterness is gone. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add cream and serve.



Served with a grilled cheese of sour dough bread, sharp cheddar and bacon, toasted in butter.

Oh, Mom, wouldn't you have loved it?