Pasta with Goat Cheese and Tomatoes

The week I left for Thailand was a very busy week.  I had a full fridge, but also a busy social calendar.  As I was preparing to leave Friday morning, I took a look in my fridge and thought, what a waste.  I had gorgeous tomatoes, goat cheese, fresh arugala, herbs.... so many things that would clearly not make it to the other side of being gone for 11 days. 

So I did what any self respecting person would do.  I cheffed and froze.  Cheffed and froze. Which means that I threw together a pasta dish I had been meaning to make and I literally put everything else into the freezer.  Herbs.  Cheese.  Ricotta.  Leftovers.  In it all well.

It's awesome being single and getting to make judgment calls like this. 

With everything packed and ready to go for Thailand, I whipped out the i4 and got to work on a recipe I had been drooling over at The Chubby Cook.  I haven't met Scott, but I consistently drool over the amazing creations that come out of his kitchen.  And his food photography is top notch.  Head over there and prepare to get hungry.

Pasta with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Argula (as adapted from The Chubby Cook)

• 1 box rotini or other pasta which will catch the sauce
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, rinsed and dried, or four medium size tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 ounces goat cheese
• 2 cups loosely packed arugula
• Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper

See what I am talking about here?  These tomatoes were gorgeous and just asking to be cheffed up.  It would have been a crying shame to let them go bad.  If you can't find cherry tomatoes (neither Trader Joes, nor Shaw's had any!), you can go with four or so really good looking tomatoes.  When sliced, try to retain the juices, this is a key element in making the sauce. 

You know the drill - heat a tablespoon of EVOO in a pan.  Once it's hot, add in the tomatoes.  Keep these moving around the pan so they don't burn.  The juices will start to loosen out of the slices and the tomatoes will begin to soften. If you're using cherry or grape tomatoes, some will start to burst.  Cook about six minutes and add in the garlic for another few minutes.   There's no science to it, so feel it out.

Now it's time to add in the goat cheese.  You're going to go from red to pink almost immediately.  I didn't need any extra salt, but it did definitely need some fresh ground black pepper.  Depending on how thin your sauce is at this point, add your reserved pasta water to achieve desired consistency.  I didn't need any at all.  Remove from heat and add in argula.  Stir to wilt it a bit into the sauce.   

Take your pasta in bowl, add in the sauce.... and

SERVE! 

 I topped with a bit of parmesan. And at 9 o'clock in the morning, right before I left on a 20 hour trip to Thailand, I ate a bowl of this. Awesome. It's fresh. It's light feeling. It's tasty and I can't believe how fast it all came together. I packaged the leftover into tupperwares and into the freezer they went. You know, along with the rest of the goat cheese, ricotta, herbs...  I then quickly did some dishes, wiped down the kitchen and plopped on the couch for a moment of peace before heading off on the vacation of a lifetime.

Grilled Beer & Cheese Sandwich

WARNING: This recipe may cause a dance party to occur in your kitchen. I challenge you to find the hyper-linked music video.

I was raised in Wisconsin, and I'm a huge sucker for CHEESE. I also don't mind a beer every now and again, in moderation of course. It leads to karaoke moments like this.

When I stumbled upon this recipe in Wisconsin Cheese Talk, I knew that I had to make it IMMEDIATELY.

I followed this recipe to a T.

First you have to make the bread. Don't worry. It's really easy, BUT if you don't want to make it from scratch, there are packets to buy from places like Tastefully Simple.

Ingredients for the beer bread:
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup sugar
12 oz beer
3 tablespoons butter

Preheat your oven to 350. Mix the baking powder, flour, salt & sugar. Add the beer. Stir. Shift the formed dough to your loaf pan. Melt your butter and pour it over the dough.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool the bread.

Next, start making the delicious sandwich!

The ingredient sizes really depend on how many sandwiches you intend to make.

Ingredients for the sandwich:
Onion slices (to your preference, but for one sandwich I used about 1/3 cup)
A dash of oregano
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Black pepper
Medium sharp Cheddar cheese
Fontina cheese
Dijon mustard
A olive oil & little butter

Start by slicing the onions. On medium head, add a drizzle of olive oil, the sliced onions, and some oregano to a frying pan. Throw in dashes of salt-n-peppa and Worcestershire sauce. P.S. I really struggle with pronouncing Worcestershire. Here's how you say it. Remove the onion mixture from the pan. Make sure that the pan is still greasy.

Spread some Dijon mustard and cheese on the bread. Add the onions. Put the sandwich pieces together. Try not to spill the pieces, and shift the sandwich to the frying pan. Grill until browned on both sides.

Eat and be merry!


**BE SURE TO CHECK My Kitchen, My Sanctuary THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. LOOK FOR DETAILS ON AN EXCITING GIVEAWAY FROM CSN STORES! They have over 200 online stores where you can find everything from great cookware to kitchen appliances and cutlery to modern dining room furniture. More information will be revealed this week.

A Minnesotan Christmas Eve Meal

I have had free reign on my cooking creativity for quite a few months now.  My sous chef (slash dining companion) has an adventurous palate and an open mind - a quality that rates extremely high on my list.  He may give an honest opinion, but at least he'll be open to guinea pig status.  (In turn, I promise takeout if my food sucks.)

So my mom sent me an email a few weeks ago saying she didn't have any good ideas of what to make for Christmas Eve meal at her fiancee's house.  I automatically jumped at the chance to design a menu.  Visions of stuffed mushrooms, simply simple sweet potatoes, rosemary bread rolls and the like danced in my head.  I had an extravagantly delicious meal mentally planned... and then I was brought back down to earth.  Mom informed me that mushrooms were not liked and sweet potatoes were not preferred.  This was my Minnesotan family, and unfortunately adventurous palates are not part of their personalities.  So I was tasked with designing a menu that I felt proud of while suiting the rather bland taste buds of my family. 

Enter the dilemna of chefs trying to cook for a group of people.  I'm not the first to encounter such a challenge, nor will this be my last.

I enlisted my mother as a trusty sous chef (and dish washer) and away we went:

• Slow Roasted Turkey and Sausage Apple Stuffing 
• 12 pound Turkey was slow roasted at 325 degrees for 4.5 hours.  Slow roasting requires less basting than higher temps.  I stuffed the turkey with the stuffing, and put the rest into a casserole dish - it went in with the turkey for the last 30 minutes.

I was busy cooking, so I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but I can assure you my turkey and stuffing looked semi similar to this one.  (Righhhhhhhhhhhtttt...)

• Buttermilk Parmesan Mash Potatoes 
• I made these as is.  Although I would have preferred to use a potato masher to make these, my mom's fiancee didn't have one.  Against my will, I was forced to use a beater to mash the potatoes.  Use extreme caution - over beating potatoes with a mixer/beater can result in potatoes that have the consistency of glue.  Also, be sure to use warm milk - it keeps the potatoes from getting too starchy.  Milk can be room temperature or simmered before adding to potatoes.

• Broccoli Au Gratin with Parmesan Toasted Breadcrumbs 
• our Burnsville Cub Foods didn't have Gruyere cheese, plus I thought it might be too much for my family's limited palate, so I used a mixture of grated parm and mozzerella.  I used a considerable amount more than the recipe called for as well - probably a cup.  I also toasted the breadcrumbs in a skillet - melted butter, add breadcrumbs, small amount of grated parm, keep it moving.  Added a delicious crunch. 

Excellent stuffing making an appearance in the background.

• Spicy Green Beans 
• this was my favorite dish.  Probably because it was so clean (my mom tells me I eat clean, and after this Christmas feast, I feel like crap and totally believe her).  I added a PINCH of crushed red pepper and sauted with the garlic.  This added a perfect amount of kick - not overbearing, but enough flavor. 

• Holiday Mac 'n' Cheese
• created from a mix of this and this.  Basically, I made a Roux (mix of flour and mix, whisked well) and I whisked the heck out of it until it was boiling, then continued to boil and whisk for about two minutes until it was thick.  Once it was thick, I removed from heat, added a ridiculous amount of medium cheddar, mozzerella and a chipotle jack.  (In a Kelley world, I would have used a blue, a gouda, and other exciting cheeses, but again, MN family - God love 'em.)  Then I had my mom earn her keep, put some back into it and stir away until then were melted.  This was my most disapointing dish.  After Marry Me Mac 'n' Cheese, this toned down "safe" dish just didn't make me want to marry myself.  Actually, I probably wouldn't have even made out with myself drunk at a skeevy bar.  Regardless, my  mom liked it and she was happy, so all was right in the world.

Overall, I think I did pretty well.  My mom was a HUGE help.  I have always wondered why anyone might possible need a double oven... and yesterday I learned why they come in handy.  Sweet Baby Jesus.... I had a mild panic attack thinking of my 4.5 hour turkey taking up the entire oven.... how would I possible heat my other dishes?  But I tented the turkey after I pulled it out to keep the heat in and threw all the other dishes in the oven for 30 minutes while my mom's fiancee carved the turkey.  In the end, all was warm, all was cooked.

Success!

Stuffed Turkey Burgers

I think about food, oh, 97% of my day.  In the morning, I am already thinking about lunch... during lunch I am thinking about what I want to eat  for dinner.  Most of the time I dream about things I want to eat, like meatball subs, pad thai, steak and cheeses, etc.  You know, things that I could totally indulge in, except if I did it with any regularity, I would need an entirely new wardrobe.  Gotta stay at fightin' weight!

One afternoon I had a burger craving and the recipe below was born.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• green onion
• onion
• garlic
• soy sauce
• cheese
• egg
• bread crumbs

Start by chopping up some garlic, onion and some green onion.  You don't need much - this will be working into your ground turkey.

BEHOLD!  A mini food processor!  Santa Mom brought me this for Christmas last year and this was, very sadly, the first time I have used it.  I guess I was previously intimidated by it.... looked like a lot of clean up for minimal results.  In fact, this thing's blade had seen more action cutting my finger in moving it all around the last  nine months.  

In went the garlic, onions and soy sauce and down went the button.  AMAZING.  I can't believe I haven't used this thing before.  What a little powerful chopper!  Given my studio size kitchen, with extremely limited counter and cabinet space, this perfectly replaces a much larger food processor.  

Once you've minced and chopped, work into your ground turkey.  Add in some bread crumbs and egg.  These two ingredients will act as a binding agent to keep your burgers from falling apart.  Mix only enough properly mix.  Because of the lower fat count (than beef), ground turkey tends to get tough and dry out in cooking.  Form into very, very thin patties.  I used a spatula to press down and my fingers to properly form the edges.

Transfer your flat turkey patties to a broiler pan.  Cover with your favorite chopped cheese.  I used a manchego.  I love cheese, so I piled mine high.  You stuff a burger by stacking two burgers on top of each other and pinching the edges together, much like you might do a calzone.  Be sure to leave a bit of room around the edge of the burger like I did. 

A cheese free perimeter if you will.  :)

These are the final products - cheese goodness stuffed inside.  Broil on high, with a layer of tin foil covering them.  This will keep the burger tops from over cooking, but allowing them to cook all the way through.  I broiled them covered for 20 minutes, flipped for 10 and broiled them uncovered for another 10 minutes, until golden brown.

These babies went in between some low calorie sandwich thins, a side of steamed asparagus and some relish.  Instant weekday dinner!

Marry Me Mac & Cheese

Sometimes I get so inspired by an idea that I just can't fathom not doing it rightthatsecond.  I have limited patience.  I am impulsive.  I am okay with these traits and believe they should be embraced.  Especially when they lead me to the dish I am about to share with you.

Remember the fabulous picnic I had recently?  Believe it or not, not all of the cheese was consumed in the original picnic (that would have been a miracle).  I have had three blocks of cheese stankin' up my fridge for a few weeks now.  And believe me, when you live in 350 square feet, cheese stankin' up your fridge means cheese is stankin' up your entire studio.  It needed to be dealt with.  And since I value my pennies these days (meaning I would not throw it out), I went to the intraweb for some inspiration.  Once I came across a Mac & Cheese, I browsed several recipes.  I didn't find one that I thought fit perfectly, so I used them more as a guide.  I could not wait to get home and put my ideas to work.  So I didn't wait - I went home and cheffed it up over my lunch hour.  Impulsive much?

Marry Me Mac & Cheese

1.5 cups of Milk

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Flour

2.5 cups Soft Cheeses - cubed

1 Tbsp herbs

8 oz pasta shells

Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan.  Watch closely - the milk should not boil.  Make sure the pan is big enough to accommodate all the cheeses later on.  I splurged with whole milk because there's not anything even remotely healthy about this and whole milk makes things taste better because it's thicker.  

That's right kids - I'm living on the edge with my whole milk.  WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Somebody hold me back!

Delicious Blue Cheese

Note about the cheese:  you want to use soft cheeses.  Cheeses that will melt well. Parmasean is not an example of this.  I used a gouda, a blue cheese and a Mobay.  Oh, what's that you say?  You don't know what Mobay is?  NEITHER DID I.  Despite growing up a second and a half away from Wisconsin, I don't know jack about cheese.  Especially not fancy cheese.  I stood in front of the cheese case at the Trader Joes for an extraordinarly unecessary amount of time pondering.  In the end, exhaustion won out and Mobay happened to be within reach.

Mobay... moldy crusts removed.

I WIN!  Even if on a technicality... 

Once the milk is near a boil - add flour and whisk.  Keep whisking.  Do not let sit.  If you keep whisking, the mixture will thicken up a bit and you want this.  Takes about a minute.  You'll know when it ready because it will be thicker and fluffier.

Now, reduce the heat to low and add in your cheese.  Keep stirring as the cheeses begin to soften.  Keep stirring until all the chunks are melted.  The blue melted first in my cheese, so my first tastes were sort of nervewracking... leading me to believe that I possible had created a lethal cheese combination.  But once it's all melted and smooth, take a taste.  Isn't that AMAZING?  Don't you at the very least want to date yourself?  I did.  Mine was so damn good, I would have proposed to myself right then and there.  I love cheese. And my genius self.

Step 1

Keep working it....

Exactly!

Pour over your shells of choice and into a glass baking dish.  I chopped up some bay leaves and threw in some rosemary and thyme.  Other good spices would be sage, but I didn't have any on hand.


Toss in the oven at 375 and bake for about 25 minutes until the shells have browned a little bit on top.  If you are out of time, you can make ahead of time and refrigerate until you're ready to bake.  Making it right away is probably better though as the cheese breaks down a bit if you cool and then reheat in the oven.  Don't get me wrong, it's still really good, but I have a feeling it is not QUITE as good as it would have been if made right away.

Divine.  Delicious. Easy.

Give it go!  This recipe is merely a guide - jazz it up with your favorite cheeses and herbs!  Such a major upgrade from the typical box cheddar stuff - but barely more work.


What cheese would you use to make your own version of Marry Me Mac & Cheese?

Transported by a smell....

The other night, a glorious smell wafted through my kitchen and it smelled something like this:

More specifically like this:

State Fair Cheese Curds.  It's a modern Christmas Labor Day miracle. 

And just like that, that smell transported me back to some of the greatest times of summers past.  The Minnesota State Fair is like something else, with it's carnie rides,  fried food stands, unique Food on a Stick creations, award winning farm animals, vendor booths and a HAUNTED HOUSE - it pretty much leaves nothing out.  And while you're eating your spaghetti on a stick, you can entertain yourself by the serious people watching.  This glorious fun fest lasts a solid 10 days leading up to Labor Day.  This fair means business.  Because I grew up with all of it's glory, I thought every state had a ginormous state fair where people come from all 50 states and foreign countries that are across ponds.

I learned very quickly that the MN State Fair is rare.  My first summer in Boston, I just assumed that there was a Massachusetts State Fair and that it was as big and as grand.  I asked people about it and imagine how shocked I was that some of them had no idea what I was talking about.  My soul sister W (who grew up in MI and understands a true state fair) informed me about the Big E and I thought I was in luck.  City Living, State Fair Summers - I had hit the jackpot in my move.

The Big E sucked.  It was the size of a postage stamp, the fried foods were all wrong and there wasn't a pickle on a stick to be found.  The rides consisted of some weak ferris wheel and merry go round and the fair goers were more sad looking than entertaining.  They did have beer and I think it was it's only redeeming quality.  I'm only exaggerating slightly. You're expecting steak and instead you get a slice of deli roast beef.  You would be disappointed too.

My trip home this summer coincidentally (right) coincides with State Fair Season.  I'm so excited!!  Cheese curds here I come.  Martha's has a cookie with my name on it.  There will be ice cream!  I can pay a dollar to drink all you can drink milk (but I won't because that's just asking for a lactose reaction) and if I wanted, I could stand in line for an hour to get a bucket of french fries (but I won't because they are soggy and overrated).  You guys know exactly what I am talking about.

And I will have to convince someone to ride this with me:

Obviously the best ride, EVER.

So thank you strange city smell for taking me home for a few moments.... I know you weren't actually cheese curds, but the tease was all I needed.  Isn't it amazing what smells can do to trigger memories? 

What are your trigger smells?