No-boil Mac and Cheese with white truffle oil (slightly modified from p30 Bon Appetit January 2013)
This tured out pretty good. I think it may have been a bit too spicy for Shannon, though she still ate it, because I added jalapeno powder and cayenne. I did, however, forget to add the truffle oil. This did defeat the purpose. I guess I'll have to try this again (Shannon said so too). The quantity that it wanted me to use was slightly bigger then the pans that I had, so I ended up having to split it up into two smaller baking dishes. I did use extra bread crumbs and butter. So we'll do this again, with less spice and actually put in the truffle oil. I used Prairie Breeze.
Thai Chicken Curry (p30 Bon Appetit January 2013)
This was pretty easy to come together, other then having to take the extra trip to find the boneless skinless chicken thighs (come on Hy-Vee in Windsor Heights). I used green curry paste, because I couldn't find the yellow that they wanted (I admit I didn't look that hard). It was pretty good. Served over some rice for a nice meal. The herbs died in the fridge before they could make it on to the dish (cilantro looked gross).
Pan Roasted Brined Pork Chop (modified from p52 Bon Appetit January 2013)
Ok so maybe it's not fair to talk about how well this came together. I didn't have bone in pork chops, but I did have Berkshire pork that I got from Big Boy Meats at the New Bo City Market in Cedar Rapids (visiting for my Mom's birthday). I love the Berkshire taste, so adding that with the additional efforts to go through to make an extra good piece of meat. Woah mama. This really turned out good. Without the bone, the times were drastically shortened, but it still had a nice color and crust on it. I was very happy. I was originally going to make a full one for each of us, but I took out the second chop a little late, so it was still a bit frosty. So I guess I'll have to do this again next week.
The potatoes were a combination of whole milk, butter and Harbison (Brett recommendation . I then used the leftover butter in the pork pan, to cook some garlic and added that to the potatoes as well. It made for quite the amazing (though not the best for you) side. Oh...and wicked expensive to (the average food cost over the past year makes more and more sense).
I had a jar of apple sauce my mother made in the fridge, so I used that as well, along with some focaccia (I tried to buy something at La Mie, however the line was huge).
Excellent meal, just amazing over all.
Egg Salad with Sweet Pickles and Celery and Sriracha
I love egg salad from time to time, and this is one of those times. Yes yes, people have been using Sriracha to excess, but there is a reason why. It added a nice kick to the egg salad. It was a nice, easy quick meal. Good call, where ever I read that, good call.
Steak Mole with Cilantro
So, uh, this was skipped, I was recovering from a nap, Shannon was hungry, so I quick like made some steak sandwiches. I used the steak from Omaha's and they turned out ok, I've certainly had a lot better, but it wasn't as bad as the hot dogs and hamburgers. I still wouldn't recommend it.
Eggs on Toast with Chorizo
So I have this Chorizo Secco from Charlito's Cocina by way of The Cheese Shop. I bought it on the recommendation of Brett. I had sampled it once before and liked it so this is what I thought of. It was good. I think I'll do a dice and then do it with some scrambled eggs. That should be good too. The Chorizo Secco is delicious, the combination made for a great dinner too.
