Feeding the Frat: Noodle Bowls

So I decided to try my hand at a "Ramen" bowl. But, since I didn't have any ramen noodles on hand, I substituted with glass noodles. 

Bowl composition: 

Ground pork - pan fried with ginger and garlic 

Scallions 

Slivered Fresno Peppers

Soft boiled eggs 

Glass Noodles in a  Curry Coconut Sauce

(Optional) Cilantro 

Ground Pork: 

Pan fry the ground pork (2.5 lbs) with 1 teaspoon of garlic, and 1 teaspoon of ginger, in 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil. 

Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

Add 1 handful of cut scallions.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Glass Noodles: 

Boil salted water. 

When water reaches a boil, add your glass noodles. 

Cook for 5-6 minutes. 

Remove noodles and place in an ice bath immediately to stop them from continuing to cook. 

Curry Coconut Sauce: 

Take 1 1/2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil. 

Add 1 teaspoon of ginger, 1 teaspoon of garlic and 1 cut small onion, cook over low heat until the onions caramelize. 

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Add Beef Broth (2x 32 oz. boxes).

Add 3 teaspoons of curry powder.

Add one can of coconut milk.

Bring to a low boil and allow to cook at least 30 minutes or until you are ready to plate your noodle bowl. 

The boys liked the bowls and as with most successful sibling evenings, dinner ended with sports, relaxation and a lot of laughter.

Appetizers: I'm putting out, but how much?

Appetizers don't need to be complicated. The cheese board I prepared has drunken goat cheese, Boursin cheese, gluten-free crackers, sliced honey crisp apples with a little bit of rosemary for just a pop of color. 

I normally decide how many appetizers I will be serving based on the number of guests I am having. One of the consequences of growing up in a large family is that I have a disproportionate understanding of how much food is actually needed for a group of adults who are not seven ravenous brothers. For example, I had a group of friends over one night for dinner and I was making my grandmother's raviolis.. unsupervised. 

I was a little nervous about how they would come out so I decided to make a back up dinner incase they didn't hold together, seems practical no? Two full sheets of lasagna, and a successful entré into the ravioli world later, my friend Jake was walking out with a full sheet of lasagna to take home. 

This made me establish some portion rules for myself. 

Appetizers: estimate that the longer they're waiting, the more they'll eat but start with about 5-7 bites per guest, per hour for individual hors d'oeuvres. 

Again, you need to be flexible based on what you're serving, so if you're serving chips and dip and you're expecting 6-7 people it's worth it to buy the second bag of chips because they're easier to snack on.  For a group of ten people I usually have three appetizer options. 

Dinner: if it's just the boys coming over for our sibling dinners [#FeedingtheFrat] then I estimate one and a half pieces of protein per person. You can get more technical and say with a more general guest list you should have 6-8 oz of protein per guest, but I just usually eyeball it. 

For the accompanying side dishes, i.e. vegetables, grains, and starches it depends on who you're eating with. Our family tends to try to avoid starchy carbs, so I try to serve more vegetables, usually about a "palm's worth" of cooked veggies per person. 

Desserts: Don't go crazy. While everyone loves dessert, unless there is something that you know is going to be fought after and hoarded (Grandma's zeppoles or my Apple Cake) you typically won't need a back up unless it is a celebration/holiday of some kind.

Alcohol/Beverages: whatever drink you're serving, a good guideline for a beverage estimate is two drinks, per guest, per hour. 

Even with these guidelines, you know your guests best. 

Always round-up your food estimates, if you're not sure. It's better to have leftovers for lunch than to not have enough food but if at anytime you feel like you're running the risk of not having enough- order a pizza. 

Pizza solves everything. 

Some of my favorite go-to Appetizer recipes: 

Zach's refried bean dip

Guacamole 

Shishito Peppers 

Empanadas 

Flat Bread

Roasted Chicken Breast with Mardi Gras Veggies: Fat Tuesday, Skinny Eats

Belated Happy Mardi Gras! 

Several of my friends use this period after Mardi Gras as a de facto diet, "giving up" many of the delicious indulgences in an effort to be summer ready. I am equally guilty of this and thus have been trying to clean up my act and my diet at the same time.

One of my absolute favorite dishes my grandmother makes is her roasted red peppers, which she usually serves with her extra thin fried chicken cutlets. 

Just of the thought of them has my tummy grumbling. 

[Crazily enough the store didn't have red peppers so I used the green ones. They definitely were less sweet than my grandmother's and so in the future I highly recommend sticking with the red.]

I wanted to see if I could replicate my grandmother's peppers and serve them with a leaner choice of protein. I had some of the boys over for dinner, as well as one of their beautiful girlfriends who brought the most delicious pastries and one of the most competitive games of Jenga... we had a blast!

Grandma's cutlets while delicious pieces of perfection are not exactly diet friendly. 

As an alternative I roasted chicken breasts in chicken stock with parsley at 325 for about an hour. Halfway through I rotated the chicken on top to keep all of the chicken moist.

Thoroughly wash your peppers and remove any labels or stickers. Place your peppers on a baking sheet.

Since the peppers are going to be broiled, thus exposed to an open flame, make sure there is no paper on the peppers.

Set your oven to broil, rotate the peppers until all the skin is charred.

Check to make sure all sides of the pepper are charred. 

This one needed a little more time.

Once all the peppers are thoroughly charred, place all the peppers in a paper bag and allow them to cool. 

Once cooled, tear open the bag. 

I found that the bag absorbs a lot of the moisture during the cooling process and for the sake of easy clean up I always leave the "paper bag dumpling" in a bowl. 

The skin should peel off easily, use a knife to remove any stubborn skin, the seeds and the top of the peppers. 

Slice the peppers into slivers, and add to a large mixing bowl with garlic, salt, and olive oil. 

Allow the mixture to stand at room temperature until you are ready to serve. 

For the seven peppers I roasted, I used 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1/2 cup of olive oil and 2 cloves of garlic. 

I also served the several other vegetable sides with the chicken. 

Roasted Eggplant with cubed butternut squash, and onions. 

Fresh tomato salad.

Sautéed dandelion greens with eggplant and spicy red pepper. 

The boys came to dinner armed with flowers and wine. 

I have the sweetest brothers in the world. 

My favorites from one of my favorites.

We also had one brother join us via Facetime. 

His perfect attendance record remains technically intact. 

Sibling Dinner: Coconut Beef Noodle 'Stewp'

For last night's sibling dinner I made a curry coconut beef noodle "stewp."
Not quite a stew, not quite a soup. 

Before preparing the broth, mix the meat in the following marinade and allow it to sit for at least half an hour.

Beef with Marinade: 

- 3 lbs. stew meat

- 2 tbsp. cilantro

- Lime juice (1 lime)

- 1 tbsp. chopped garlic

- 1 tbsp. lemongrass paste 

- Generous amount of salt

Mix thoroughly and reserve on the side at room temperature while you prepare the broth.

Don't skimp on the salt during this step-
the salt helps to tenderize the beef.

Because I was pretty generous with the salt during this step, I didn't add any additional salt to the broth. So be sure to use your discretion when seasoning later.

Broth:

- Equal parts bone broth and coconut milk. 

(In my case that was 32 oz. of each)

- 2 cups of diced onions 

- 2 cups julienned carrots/spiralized carrots [you can use the carrot noodles that they sell in Whole Foods as an alternative]

- 3 tbsp. curry powder 

- 2 tsp. cilantro

- 2 tsp. ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp. soy sauce

- 3 drops fish sauce

- 2 tsp. safflower oil 

At the very last moment you will need:

- Thin rice noodles 

Caramelize the onions in the oil before adding the rest of the ingredients. Add the rest of the broth's ingredients.

Allow the broth to come to a simmer while you sear the beef in a separate pan.
Add the meat to the broth. 

Cook at a simmer over medium-low heat for one hour. 

Right before serving add the rice noodles (they only need about 3 minutes to cook). 

I served the "stewp" with several garnishes so the boys could customize each bowl according to their  taste. 

Garnishes: 

Shishito peppers 

Bean sprouts 

Napa cabbage with soy sauce and eggs

Scallions 

Avocado slices

Maple Pumpkin Pie with Rosemary Chestnut Crumble Topping

In keeping with the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and wanting to make something for my Grandmother's birthday I decided to try to incorporate chestnuts, a traditional Italian ingredient that my grandmother loves, with pumpkin pie. The challenge was my Grandmother has a bit of a sweet tooth so I wanted to make sure that I balanced a sweet dessert with a savory element, hence the rosemary.  

 I tried foregoing a pie crust, not a great idea.
While I was happy with the flavor of the pie, the consistency was a little difficult to serve.
I see pie crusts in my future when I make this again. 

Pie: 

1 1/2 cans of Pumpkin 

2 large eggs 

1 cup of heavy cream

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt 

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp. nutmeg 

Topping: 

1 cup of chopped roasted chestnuts

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick of butter (melted) 

1 cup of  unseasoned Panko (gluten free or regular) crumbs 

2 tbsp. chopped Rosemary

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg 

1/8 tsp. salt

Topping: 

Take a small bowl, add 1/4 cup of the melted butter and the chopped rosemary, allow the butter to infuse for 5 minutes. 

Add the chopped chestnuts to a pan, with the rosemary infused butte. 

Cook over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes stirring thoroughly.

Turn off the heat (be sure to remove the pan from the burner) add all the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly, the topping should have a consistency similar to sand. 

Reserve for later. 

Pie: 

Preheat the oven to 350° F 

Mix the pie ingredients thoroughly making sure there are no lumps. 

Pour mixture into your baking dish/pie crust. 

Bake in the oven at 350° F for 60-70 minutes. 15 minutes before the pie is done cooking remove the pie from the oven and add the crumble topping. 

Let the pie cool thoroughly before serving. 

Netflix + Chocolate = Chill

My recent documentary binge has lead me to Netflix foodie heaven. If you haven't you need  to check out Chef's Table, Cooked, Somm, and Crafting a Nation. 


 "Chef's Table" hooked me within the first 20 seconds, needless to say, I powered through the six episodes in a way that only Dexter Morgan has been able to compel me to do before.

Each episode profiles a single chef [ Season 1: Massimo Bottura, Dan Barber, Francis Mallmann, Niki Nakayama, Ben Shewry, and Magnus Nilsson]. The show does a masterful job at making the viewer feel that they understand the chef, and their philosophy in a very personal way. Each of the chefs that were featured were so incredibly different from the others, each of them made a unique impression and at the conclusion of each episode I was forced to consider a different issue. Bottura challenged the norms that have been so often associated with Italian cuisine.  Barber posed the question of our own agency when it comes to our consumption of food and the responsibilities that poses. Mallmann in particular made an indelible impression on me. I've never seen a person so free, and so committed to the romanticism of their life. Mallmann says, and I'm paraphrasing here; "you don't grow on a secure path... growth requires work and risk.. in order to grow you need to be at the edge of uncertainty." Mallman emphasized the concomitant need for change and uncertainty in order to create growth. Nakayama presented with an incredible strength and showcased how important relationships are. Shrewry's narrative created a juxtaposition between the idea of success and what it actually takes and both he and Nilsson shared a sense of coming home at last. when they stopped trying to cook or force cuisine to be something other than it was supposed to be.  

I highly recommend it.

The final episode focuses on Magnus Nilsson and his restaurant Fäviken. Nilsson has created a restaurant with Fäviken that thrives on an intense Nordic authenticity using primarily local ingredients. 

The idea of seasonal cooking and the utilization of better produce was echoed by each of the chefs and has made me more conscientious about trying to source my produce as locally as possible.  
As Nilsson says, "a dish will never be better than your produce."

 I was excited to see Nilsson's name pop up in Saveur's Instagram feed along with the chocolate cake recipe listed here:

Ingredients

10 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing

¹⁄₄ cup plain bread crumbs

1 cup sugar

7 tbsp. natural cocoa powder

2 tsp. vanilla extract

^1⁄₄ tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 cup cake flour, sifted

Heat the oven to 400°.

Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter and coat the bottom and sides with the bread crumbs, discarding any excess.

In a medium bowl, whisk the 10 tablespoons melted butter with the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time and whisk until smooth.

Fold the flour into the batter until just combined, and then scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.

Bake until the cake forms a thin skin on top but the batter is still loose in the center, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a rack, let cool completely, and then chill for 1 hour. Unmold the cake and serve.

I decided to make this cake to celebrate my brother's birthday, needless to say, the cake got rave reviews. The only additional feedback the boys had was that this cake should always be served with a glass of cold milk. 

 I also didn't have unseasoned breadcrumbs available so I used Panko bread crumbs which gave a pretty nice crunch. 

If I were to make this recipe again, with the same pan, I would double the recipe. 

Taco Tuesday with Zach's Refried Bean Dip

Every other week I have my brothers over for dinner. They requested that we have tacos this week and I happily obliged. 

The boys love tacos. 

For one of them in particular, I'm looking at you L, I think tacos actually qualify as a food group. 

In order to make the meal a little special I made my mom's bean dip recipe, "Zach's refried bean dip."

This dip has been a staple in our house at almost every family party.
We never did learn who this Zach character is, but we owe him... big time.

It's not the most glamorous appetizer, but the ooey-gooey deliciousness cannot be denied. 

During dinner, the boys decided to add it to their tacos and a whole new level of scrumptiousness was discovered. 

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Zach's Refried Bean Dip: 

1 16 oz. can of refried beans

1 package of taco seasoning

1 8 oz. bar of Philadelphia cream cheese 

1 4 oz. can of diced jalapeños 

1 4 oz. can of chopped olives

1 8 oz. package of shredded Mexican cheese

[Optional: 1 8 oz. container of sour cream]

Mix all of the ingredients together. Pour into a baking pan, bake at 375° F until bubbling, usually about 45 minutes. I then like to broil it for a few minutes to get the top crispy. 

Serve with chips and enjoy! 

Or, as the boys did, add to your taco for an additional pop of flavor.