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Make it a Meal

11 Jan

Last minute one weekday night, mom decided she would stop by my apartment with her boyfriend, Rich, for a meal and to take my key so she could cat sit (thanks again mom!)  Luckily, I had enough in the fridge to make a meal for four.

I knew I had to make the Krispy Krack Kale since I’d been raving about it (I even had an extra bushel to send home with her to make her own!)  I also used the squash recipe that turned out so well last time.  We also heated up some pappardelle and put a butter/wine/shallot sauce on top.  I also had a smallish lemon herb roasted chicken in the fridge from Fresh Direct.

It was certainly a cobbled together meal, but it turned out delicious!  And I managed to have it all on the table in under an hour.  It’s nice to know that I can actually cook for more than two people!

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Failed Bread and Tuna Noodle Casserole

8 Jan

I was watching Chef Academy, again, and they made this bread that looked heavenly stuffed with cheese.  How do you get better than baked goods filled with cheese?  I had never made bread, but having made many a baked good in the past, I figured I could get some kneading practice in.  They made it look so easy.

Literally the next day I pulled up the recipe online and it seemed simple enough.  I was careful to measure well and concentrate on what I was doing (I’m usually a pretty hap hazard baker… I know… hand slap for me). I followed the first 2 directions:

For the Bread:

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, butter and yeast.

2. Stir in the water and mix into a soft dough.

As soon as I added the water (1 quart) to the flour (1 pound) I knew something was wrong.  It just looked too much like paper mache and not enough like dough.  I thought maybe the flour would thicken it so I mixed… and mixed… and mixed.  Soft dough was not to be had.

So I looked back and determined it was the flour to water ratio that was off and added more flour.  And I mixed and I mixed… and I added flour and I added flour… and this is what happened:

I couldn’t even make it into a ball.  I think by the time I had realized the ratios were off and added more flour, the yeast had already reacted (or something) and it was an EPIC FAIL.  On top of that, I noticed that the ingredients list sugar but it didn’t say anywhere in the recipe when to add the sugar.  It was at this point that I cursed Chef Novelli.

It was a sticky mess that made a mess of everything.

Including my pretty brand new Kitchenaid.  ::Pout::

So I had now had my biggest cooking fail since hermetically sealing a pot in college (WHOOPS!) and I still had to do SOMETHING for dinner.  Luckily yet another cooking show (Top Chef finale… I’m such a food television sucker) had me craving tuna noodle casserole and I had everything in stock.  So total change of plans and I had this assembled in less than 10 minutes and I was thinking to myself “why don’t I make this ridiculously easy casserole more often?”

Mmmm… layers:

It turned out decent, though a little plain.  I think I need to find a way to spice this up a bit.  And add roasted garlic.  Mmmmm.

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RECIPE
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Since the bread recipe was obviously ENTIRELY WRONG, I won’t reiterate it here.  I have a new bread recipe from my friend, Lillian, so once I succeed with that, I’ll post it.

TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

  • 1 (8 ounce) package wide egg noodles
  • 1/4 cup butter, cubed
  • 4 slices american cheese (I used shredded since it was on hand)
  • 1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs
  • Optional: Canned peas

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
  2. In a 1 1/2 quart glass casserole dish, layer noodles, butter cubes, 2 slices of cheese, 1/2 of the tuna, and 1/2 of the soup. Repeat the layering with the remaining ingredients. Top the casserole with bread crumbs. (ok… I didn’t layer… I stirred it all together… oops.)
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 15 minutes. (mine took some additional time)

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Homemade Tomato Sauce and Baked Tilapia in Wine and Shallots

7 Jan

I am inspired, quite often, by cooking shows. Especially the ones where they break down things and give you tips on how to make it scrumptious.  While I now absolutely hate Chef Academy for steering me wrong on making bread (more on that in a few days), at this point I did not hold such contention and decided to make a homemade tomato sauce.  I basically had almost none of the ingredients and only had grape tomatoes, but I figured it would still be good. I also added leftover mushrooms to the mix and it was delish!

I bought some packages pappardelle (my fave) and put the sauce over it. Scrumptious.


We needed some protein, so I went to the local fish market/store and bought Tilapia.  The fish guy said he prefers it backed with shallots and butter, so that’s just what I did (though I think I added some white wine as well).

This was just ehh.  The first was a little bland and the sauce just didn’t have caliber next to that tomato sauce.

The recipe from the show can be found here. I went without the star anise (this seems to be everywhere lately! wtf?) and vanilla pod and only had dried thyme and basil.   I also added it all the beginning (with WAY more garlic and a bit of tomato paste) and then let it cook down for about two hours.

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