frou-frou grilled cheese with bacon, apples and onions

is it fair to try to re-create at home something amazing you had at a restaurant? because i'm obsessed with "the harvest" grilled cheese from house in media. so, umm, i tried to make it at home with some (read: huge) success.

ingredients:

• 3 5x5 ciabatta rolls (i actually used 1 1/2 5x10s from trader joe's)
• 4 ounces sharp cheddar, sliced
• one apple, peeled and shaved into strips
• bacon, ummm, i think it was like 1/2 a pound?
• 1 medium sweet onion, sliced and sauteed in the nearly-clean bacon pan (oh, yeah)
• butter for greasing OR a panini press

prep:

• make your ingredients look like this:

(cooked but not ALL THE WAY to the point of crispiness)

actual cooking:

• put one side of the bread face-up on a lightly buttered largish frying pan or griddle
  

• add cheese, apples, onions, bacon and a little more cheese

• put the top on and press down
  

(maybe put a preheated cast-iron skillet on top. maybe. but best to slightly grease the bottom first. trust me.)

• cook until the cheese is ooey-gooey, or toss it in the oven after a brief grilling so it gets melty while you make the next one. NOM.

meatloaf for comfort

i've tried a few different methods for meatloaf (my mother-in-law does hers in a crockpot, i think my mom used to-- or still does-- add beans, mainly i just try to copy other people's recipes while dumbing them down to half-assed when at all possible.) and this is by far the easiest and best. it'so easy, in fact, that i made it last night after i had surgery on my arm. okay, THAT was a shameless, exaggerated ploy for sympathy. ihad an out-patient procedure at my dermatologist's office, but STILL. it huuuuuuuuurts.

ahem. meatloaf. i meant to make-ahead this one but after seeing saw vi on sunday i was reall in no mood to handle raw meat.

ingredients:

• ground beef (or "meatloaf meat") about 1 pound for every 4 people
• 1/2 a can of tomato paste for every pound of meat
• 1/2 a white onion for ever pound of meat
• 1/2 tsp italian seasoning for every pound of meat
• 1/2 tsp salt for every pound of meat
• 1 egg for every pound of meat

prep:

• dice onion in about 1/2 inch chunks
• preheat oven to 350*

actual cooking:

• combine ingredients (i use a mixer, ina garten uses a fork, you can feel free to use your hands, but, gag.)
• (if your meat is very, very lean, lightly grease the bottom of your small roasting pan)
• form into a loaf, wider than it is high
• bake for an hour

tres leches cake

oh, god, i've been planning, organizing, cooking and blogging these TWO meals for weeks. will anyone blame me if i just link to pioneer woman's recipe for tres leches cake? because it's the recipe i used, right up until i was supposed to make my own whipped cream. frosting that cake was the last thing i had to do in a fooding process that involved two spreadsheets, four grocery stores, a fish milkshake, inhaling mccormick's barbecue seasoning, hands and eyes burning with chili juice, a five am trip to a diner i'm still recovering from, ingredients i'd never heard of and a five-gallon spring mix salad i forgot to serve. so i used a can of whipped cream. sue me.

on that note: daddy.

ceviche

holy shit i fed my family raw fish. no kidding.

okay, it's chemically cooked or whatever but this is a big step for me: i touched it. to be perfectly honest, i was near tears the entire time, but uncle jim came through big time for me because the stuff still had skin and that was really more than i was prepared to handle. by the way, bill suggests that it is perhaps not encouraging to say things like, "i can't believe that's food" to the people you're cooking for. noted.

ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh key lime juice from fresh key limes that you juiced (or that your husband and brother juiced)
• 2/3 cup clam juice (from a bottle, THANK GOD)
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup matchstick-sized strips red onion
• 1 1/2 tbs fresh ginger (peeled)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 1/2 pounds cubed mahi mahi, tilapia or chilean sea bass fillet
• 6 tbs fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 minced aji chilis

prep work:

• juice key limes
• chop & measure everything
• peel, cube and mince
• seriously, everything

actual cooking (eh, it's relative):

• toss lime juice, clam juice, celery, a bit of red onion, the ginger and the garlic in the blender
• add a small handful of fish (1/2 cupish), 4 tbs cilantro & 1 1/2 tsp salt
• puree. a lot.
• strain the world's grossest milkshake into a glass bowl, pressing down on solids
• add the remaining fish, cilantro, salt, chili and red onion
• cover and chill for 2 hours, stirring occasionally

this recipe is both easier and harder than it looks. frankly, it's a whole hell of a lot of prep work, but then, it just sort of... happens. the fish was visibly cooked within an hour in the juice. (it was opaque, that's how we knew.)

i hope at this point columbus was turning little flip-flops in his grave. otherwise all my hard work and squeeming was for naught.

lomo saltado

more from our ironic columbus day peruvian feast...


ingredients:

• 3 pounds frozen french fries
• 2 lbs beef tenderloin (i bought "stir fry beef" in strips)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• oil for stir frying
• 1 Tbs. minced garlic
• 1-2 thai red chile or fresno chili, seeded and finely minced (i could find neither so i settled for anaheim chilis-- that's near fresno, right?)
• salt
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 medium red onions, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise ½ inch thick
• 1 ½ lb plum tomatoes halved, seeded and cut into sixths
• 3 aji peppers, seeded and finely sliced
• 6 tbs soy sauce
• 4 tbs freshly chopped cilantro
• (steamed white rice on the side. yes, seriously, fries AND rice.)
  

prep:

• bake fries according to package directions, keep warm in the oven
• chop & measure everything
• toss beef with pepper, cinnamon, cumin and 1 tbs soy sauce

actual cooking:

• over medium heat, in your largest frying pan or wok, heat oil to cover the bottom
• saute garlic and chili for 2 minutes
• add beef and turn heat up to high
• season with salt and remove to a large casserole
• stir fry onion
• add salt & pepper
• add some vinegar and fry until evaporated, then repeat
• remove onion to casserole with beef
• repeat vinegar thing with tomatoes
• return beef and all to the pan
• add ajies and remaining soy sauce
• add cilantro and toss
• serve over fries (with rice)
  

leonardo celebrates columbus day with lomos saltado, pappas rellenas, sea bass ceviche and an inca cola or four. and promises that the meal reminded him of when he was "a wee baby."

pappas rellenas

sunday afternoon (at "italian time"-- which is NOT the actual, politically-correct terminology the mimer uses-- 1pm) we enjoyed an ironic native feast for columbus day. it was meant to be a peruvian feast, but apparently pappas rellenas is cuban and mexican tres leches cake was irresistible, but it was still ironic, damnit!


i remember eating something very like pappas rellenas the first time i went to a peruvian restaurant. i don't recall it being deep fried (nor were these, and that was a mistake) or spicy, but i was probably ten and it wasn't beef heart or raw fish, so i counted it a success.



ingredients:

• 8 large potatoes
• 1/2 finely chopped onion
• 1 finely chopped green bell pepper
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 tsp tomato paste (half a can?)
• 1 tbs vinegar
• 4 beaten eggs
• bread crumbs
• flour
  

prep:

• mince & chop

actual cooking:

• boil potatoes
• mash with 1/2 tsp salt (no fat or liquid) and allow to cool
• in a large frying pan, saute onions & green pepper until limpish
• add garlic, beef, remaining salt, pepper, cumin, tomato paste & vinegar
• cook until meat is done
• allow to cool
• okay, now, take a handful of potato and split it in half (i went slightly smaller than a tennis ball cause i don't have all day)
• flatten each half
• cup the palm of your non-dominant hand and lay one disc of potato in it
• add a spoonful of meat
• put the other disc on top and press into a ball
• repeat until the potatoes are gone (you might have leftover meat-- i did)
• roll each ball in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs-- at this point, you might enjoy enlisting the help of any uncles you have laying around while you move on to... another meal entirely (thanks, joe!)
• chill for a couple hours
• deep fry until golden or bake (sprayed with oil) at about 350* for a half hour or so

smack & cheese

to go with saturday's ribs, i made a classic mac & cheese, the way my mama taught me when i was about eleven. sure, i could use fancy cheeses or put bread crumbs on top, but the only alterations to this recipe i can get behind are 1) fresh ground sea salt & pepper and 2) more interesting macaroni than elbows-- mom uses whatever she's got, i like cavatappi or pipetti.

this is for a standard-sized batch, though i made double this over the weekend (in case of hungry marines, naturally).

ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• sea salt & pepper
• 1 quart milk (whatever kind you like is fine)
• 1/2 pound american cheese, torn into shreds
• 1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 pound pasta

prep:

• preheat oven to 350*
• shred cheese
• cook pasta according to package instructions

actual cooking:

• melt butter in a large saucepan
• add flour and whisk until combined (this is your roux)
• add milk and whisk until smooth (now you have bechamel!)
• add salt & pepper
• slowly add cheese
• pour cheese into pasta or pasta into cheese & combine
• pour the whole shebang into a casserole and bake until as brown as you like it