Week 21: French

I've never been especially interested in French food.  I realize that I probably use many French inspired techniques and recipes when cooking, but this challenge might be the first time I've ever sought out a specifically French recipe.  I'm not sure how authentic it is, but according to the website I found it on, it's a traditional dish, titled French Leek Pie.

It's very simple to put together, it's mostly leeks and gruyere cheese.  Unfortunately it didn't slice up very well, because it was absolutely delicious! I served it with a simple green arugula salad with a homemade dijon dressing.  It was the perfect Saturday brunch after a long bike ride.  

Week 20: Rice

Rice! Considering how much rice I eat, I figured the real challenge this week should be to cook something that really included rice as an ingredient rather than just a side dish.  I first planned to do a rice pudding, and then found an intriguing recipe for rice pudding muffins. Yes, that's right.  This week I made almond rice pudding muffins.

A few pictures of the process (and proof there's rice in it!):

Following the addition of cream, milk, butter, almonds, dried cranberries, and other ingredients I'm sure I'm forgetting:

Here's a shot of the filled muffin pan, each muffin is garnished with toasted sliced almonds: 

And finally the finished product:

The muffins are certainly tasty, I love the almond and cranberry flavor together.  I can definitely taste the rice, though it's subtle.  My only minor complaint is the result of my own error, instead of using slivered almonds I used sliced, and the slices are just a little bit big on the inside.  Oh well, I'm sure we'll have no trouble polishing them off. 

Week 19: 5 ingredients or less

This week, our challenge was "5 ingredients or less".  It was left pretty open aside from that, and I saw submissions ranging from basic french bread to salads and full meals.  I chose to do a complete meal. According to the rules oil, butter, salt, pepper, and water don't count towards the ingredient total, so with that in mind I made it in with exactly 5 ingredients!

I made a peppered loin steak with a pan sauce, garnished with shaved paremsan cheese and served with fresh spinach and rice.

My 5 ingredients were:

• White Rice
• Loin steak
• Spinach
• Parmesan cheese
• Beef broth

I also used salt, pepper, and olive oil.   

Week 18: Salad

My original intention for this week was to replicate a delicious dish that they recently took off the dinner menu at my Grandma's retirement community: a cherry tomato and fresh mozzarella salad with basil and a balsamic reduction.

Unfortunately, that was before I inherited 1.5 pounds of french green beans.  So I searched the internet until I found a recipe that used most of the ingredients I'd bought for my tomato salad, plus green beans and minus anything I didn't already have in the house.

The result is an Asian Green Bean salad courtesy of the Food Network with cherry tomatoes, basil, toasted peanuts, and a homemade sesame vinaigrette.

  

Week 17: Something from childhood

When I saw this week's theme, I had to laugh thinking back to my most memorable childhood meals. It's well known among my family that my dad wasn't a particularly involved cook, and my favorite dinners were probably the ones I ate on the designated "picnic towel" in front of a movie about seals, eating cheese, crackers, nuts, and raw broccoli dipped in french dressing.

I do however have some nostalgic childhood food memories, and the recipe I chose to recreate this week was always a favorite from summertime visits to upstate New York. It is a traditional chicken and rice casserole, courtesy of my Grandfather's Aunt Bess.  I learned this week that it's considered a "true casserole" straight from the 1950s, distinguished by the fact that the rice goes in raw and it all cooks together.  

Be warned though, there's nothing particularly photogenic about raw chicken on floating rice slathered with cream of chicken.  Here goes anyway...

Right before the casserole goes into the oven, after the addition of Lipton's onion soup mix, Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup, and the curry (the purported secret ingredient):

And last but not least, dinner is served... Complete with a side of frozen peas on vintage dinnerware!

              

Week 16: Asparagus

I was a little wary of this week's theme, since I absolutely love asparagus just roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Luckily, this recipe takes that same roasted asparagus, mixes it with a few tasty friends, and results in an incredible salad.  This is definitely one of the best dishes I've made so far this year. This recipe (and the tablecloth, serving dish, napkin, and utensils....) are all courtesy of my Aunt Maggie, who will now be serving as my weekly food stylist.  =)

Here's a quick "before" picture, when the asparagus is just about to go into the 450 degree oven.

And the final presentation, which includes the following: grape, pear, & cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, red onion, grated parmesan, and a delicious homemade dressing.  

Week 15: One pot

This was one of the first weeks where I decided first what I wanted to cook, then figured out how to make it fit the challenge. This week's challenge was one-pot cooking, which "by definition, includes all essential ingredients in one pot. Any recipe that requires the cook to 'prepare pasta separately' or 'serve with bread' doesn't fit the bill".  I've been craving the Carlsbad Tavern's green chile mac and cheese for quite a while, so I scoured the internet to find a highly-reviewed one-pot mac and cheese recipe.  It wasn't as easy as it sounds, most recipes had horrible reviews.  I finally found something and adapted it to incorporate the green chiles and the right type of cheese.  Here are two photos of the process, which uses just enough water to have most of it evaporate while the noodles are cooking:

And a photo of the final product, which I garnished with pancetta left over from last week's submission and thinly sliced green onions.