The Most Amazing "Salad". Ever.

My favorite restaurant in Boston is Houston's.  I think it's now called Hillstone, but to me, it will always be Houston's.  Nearly four years ago, I went to dinner with a few coworkers and ordered their Thai Beef Noodle Salad.  I was probably trying to watch my weight, hence the salad order (even though any good calorie counter knows that salads are disguised  caloric terror attacks), but what came out to me didn't even contain a single piece of lettuce. 

Instead it had thai noodles.  And mango.  And avocado.  Juicy cherry tomatoes.  Delicious pieces of fillet - perfectly seared. Cilantro.  And was that Mint?  Swooooooon.  All mixed in a sweet dressing, with just the right amount of spicy-ness.  Every bite was an amazing flavor party in my mouth. 

I have never felt the need to order anything else from Houston's since.  Why bother?  I've tried their ribs, sushi, fish - but nothing will ever come close to their Thai Beef Noodle Salad.  This dish singlehandedly gets me in the door every time I think about having a fabulous meal out.  I have been there on first dates, birthday dinners, parents in town dinners, random weekday nights.... sometimes the craving call just needs to be answered.  Sometimes you just need to make up a reason to go and "celebrate".

The dish costs a $18 so it is clearly not an everyday purchase.  I have searched high and low for a copycat recipe to make at home.... and finally, I stumbled across it on Epicurious.com.

And it was pretty freaking amazing.  I share it's glory with you:

Dressing:

3 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha or similar chile paste
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons canola or grapeseed oil (I subbed vegetable oil with success)

Salad Ingredients:
1/2 pound filet mignon, cut into chunks
1 ounce Chinese egg noodles, cooked al dente
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
1 shredded carrot
1 diced mango
1 avocado
1/3 cup diced tomato
2 sliced scallions
2 tablespoons crushed peanuts
1/2 cup combination of chopped cilantro, mint, and Thai basil
 
This salad is a labor of love, as there is a ridiculous amount of chopping involved.  Best to have a sous chef with you in the kitchen to do some of the manual labor.  (Besides, then you have someone to help with all the dishes.  I am learning this the hard way.) 
 
Chop up all your salad ingredients, keeping in mind that precise measurement isn't all that crucial.  At the same time, throw a pot on the stove and chef up those chinese egg noodles.  I went to Chinatown to purchase mine, but if you can't find them, I think angel hair pasta would substitute as a "good enough".  Once they are cooked al dente, strain through cold water to chill.  Set aside.
 



A little work goes a long way in the prep of this dish.

  
Once all your ingredients are prepped, fire up either a hot pan or the grill and chef up some steak baby!  Simple is better here - some salt/pepper and high heat.  I like my steak medium rare.  Once the steak it ready, you're ready to make the final step:  The Dressing. 
 
Throw all your ingredients into a bowl.  Noodles should be light, cabbage should be plentiful.  Tomatoes, avocado, mangoes away to your hearts content.
 
Let the pictures do the talking......
 



The colors.  The freshness.  Yum.

  

 
This was worth every bit of effort and every dime spent in recreating.  Utterly Fabulous.

Here's a treat for you....

My podmate treated me to this scrumptious link today:

Food Gawker

This is like porn for us foodies.  Talk about inspiration and droolworthy....  Each photo is linked to the recipe/site. 

I love when things in life get efficient.

Browse and enjoy!

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?

Cookie Dough Brownies with Chocolate Ganache

My mom's giant family (of 11 brothers and sisters) has always know that my Aunt Geri was a fabulous baker.  During the holidays, each sibling was in charge of something and Geri's destiny was that of Dessert Lady.  As luck would have it, our giant family required not just one dessert, but many.  Geri would modestly come into my grandmother's house with three or four baked goods in hand every holiday.  The family was always excited to see what Geri had decided to bring each year.  Cheesecakes and chocolate and pies, oh my!  Because you didn't want to be forced to choose which one, many of us simple requested the Sample Platter, a sliver of each.

A two year breast cancer survivor, my Aunt Geri passed away in early August, devastating the entire family and those who knew her.  She had worked for 24 years at the local newspaper and after her passing, they dedicated an entire section of the paper to her.  Many of her colleagues wrote heartwarming tributes to her and it wasn't surprising that many of those tributes mentioned her talent for cheffing up deliciousness in the kitchen.  Monkey bread and cookie dough brownies were of the most mentioned desserts.

These items weren't regulars on the holiday dessert circuit and I haven't been fortunate enough to try any of these out of Geri's kitchen, but don't they sound good? A google search of Monkey Bread make my mouth water... and cookie dough?  Well, now that's a dessert after my own heart.

In honor of my Aunt Geri, I took cookie dough brownies to the kitchen.  It's not her recipe (doubtful she really even used them anymore anyways) and I jazzed it up a bit with a chocolate ganache topping, as I took the easy way to make them.

Geri is, and will be, greatly missed.


Cookie Dough Brownie with a Chocolate Ganache

Does this look too easy?  It is.  I cheated and took the easy way out.  Betty Crocker, don't fail me now.  If not limited by strange organics at Whole Paychex and limited variety at CVS, I would have probably gone with a richer box of brownie mix. Like a Betty Crocker Supreme- something that would fluffy up more.   It's city living and you make do with what you got at hand.


Prepare both the brownies and the cookies as directed.

This is me, practicing sheer willpower.  Cookie Dough is any form is like crack.  I'm an addict.  Guilty.  

The brownie mix goes into the pan - you should use a 9x13.  I used this small pan because I halfed the recipe.  Because having an entire pan of these in my house is detrimental to maintaining a figure that will entice gentleman folks to take me out on dates and woo me.  

With the brownie base, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough into the brownie batter, pushing down lightly.  Then pop into the oven.  I followed the temp directions on the brownie box.  Then I eye balled the baking, pulling out when the toothpick came out clean from the center.  In a redo, I would probably err on the side of undercooking next time.

These will need to cool before you make the chocolate ganache.

Now, chocolate ganache sounds fancy, but it's really easy to make.  Three simple ingredients:  chocolate, butter, cream.

Bag of semi sweet chips, 3/4 cup of cream, 6 Tbls of butter.  Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Melt the butter and stir until the point just before it boils.  You'll see the edges start to bubble.  Pour over the chocolate chips and fold and stir until the chips are melted.

Easy as that.  I wouldn't use light cream next time.  I don't know what I was thinking.  There's nothing even remotely healthy about these.   That's why they taste so damn delicious.

Pour the ganache over the brownie and let sit until the ganache firms up.  I left mine in over night and for breakfast the next morning, had this treat: