September 2009 Archives

This is one of thoes recipes I totally wish I came up with, but unfortunately I saw it in food network magazine a couple weeks ago. You guys may know that Ace of Cakes is one of my favorite shows on the channel. This was an article with Duff and Mary Alice's favorite tailgating recipes. Duff making savory food? Yes, and there was some pretty good other stuff in that article too, but the second I saw this Hoagie dip I knew I had to make it soon. It combines all the greatness of an Italian sandwich in small sized snack bites! I served it as an appetizer at my sisters engagement party.

The night before the big engagement party this weekend, we celebrated my sister Joanna's birthday. It isn't until next week, but since Allie was in town we decided to do it that night. A week or 2 ago, there was a cooking magazine laying around my house with the picture of a Boston Cream Pie on the cover. Jo had mentioned to me how good it looked, so I decided to make it for her. The problem was that the recipe in the magazine wasn't the best. After making the cakes and realizing they weren't as good as they could be, I abandoned ship and found a different recipe for the delicious cream in the middle of the layers. If you make this, use the cream recipe I have linked, and not the one from the magazine.

I thought I would have a post for you guys today, but have been really busy this week prepping for a party at my parents house. There are going to be 70 people here! We are celebrating my sister's engagement (which happened in Bermuda if you remember). I have never cooked for this many people (by far) and I am going to be going crazy today making tons of awesome stuff! Some are old favorites, but there are a few new things. Don't worry, you will hear all about it next week. But in the meantime, I knew I couldn't leave you guys hanging on Friday, especially since I didn't post Monday. Here is a quick drink we are making for the party this week.

It has been awhile since I posed a failure on here. On Friday during the dim sum party, we had one. It seemed like a great idea to start. Something like the taco roll we made in this post, but instead of taco, it would be like loaded baked potatoes. Instead of flour dough, we would use gnocchi dough! It seemed like a really cool idea, but in the end, the dough didn't come together properly. I think if there was more flour in the dough, it might have worked out! This is the last time Mandi will be on the site for awhile. She was in Boston for a wedding and very happy to hang out and cook with us since she has not had anyone to cook with out in LA.

On Thursday night, Kim wanted some comfort food, but my brain only started with the comfort concept of mac and cheese, and wandered into exotic Thai flavors. On Friday, Mandi and I were trying to think of ways to redeem ourselves with Kim and Rich by making something we could all enjoy a bit more, and was closer to the original comfort food idea. We went the opposite route, by STARTING with exotic dim sum, but filling them with comforting flavors. Mandi and I have done this once before, and it was one of the best things we have ever made! But we never tackled the famous steamed buns, the best of the dim sum family. For this night, we started with some of the dumplings we have made in the past, moved on to some steamed buns with shredded pork belly, and finished with dessert steamed buns!

Sorry about being a slacker so far this week, I had a hectic weekend and I am just settling down from it now! For today, you guys can check out battle 12 on FoodieFights, and come back here tomorrow for a full post.

Another idea for the name was "Bastard Curry Mac and Cheese" Because this curry paste is all over the place. You could consider it derived from a Thai red or green curry, but no curry paste I know of contains beets or tomato paste! A lot of people ask me why I don't use packaged curry pastes when I cook. It seems to be a perfectly acceptable ingredient, even among some Thai people I have spoken to. The reason for me is because after you make the paste a few times, you can really begin to understand the flavor combinations. Instead of just a long list of pointless ingredients, you can actually see the purpose of each ingredient in the recipe and change things to suit your particular needs.

Last night, some friends gathered for the new season of The Office and Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mandi and I came up with this wacky idea of a recipe (She is in town for a wedding) and cooked it as an experiment for the group. We both loved it, others thought it was good too, but a few didn't. I would say it had about a 50% success rate. Some said that the curry flavors were fighting with the cheese since cheese and curry normally don't go together.

3 Pies in a row? This is an over the top version of shepherds pie I made this past weekend. The idea was to combine the flavors of an end of summer backyard BBQ, pulled pork sandwiches, and shepherds pie. It was a complete success and I suggest anyone to try this update on an old recipe. My only complaint was that I didn't get to keep the leftovers!

Now that apple week is done, I give you a pie of a different kind. This is an appetizer my mom has always made in the past for parties. Steph was having people over so I decided to make one for that occasion. I also made a dip of artichoke and roasted red pepper.

How many people knew I would finish off apple week with an apple pie? Raise your hand. Yea, I felt like I HAD to do it, but I'm glad I did cause it was great! I used my mom's recipe, but she usually uses a store bought crust. I felt it necessary to honor the cap to apple week with a homemade pie crust. After this week, the Dr. will be away for awhile (cheesy, I know)

Day 3 of apple week is my favorite so far! I have been wanting to make sausages for ages! I make loose sausage all the time, but after having some of the best sausage of my life from Marlow and Daughters in Brooklyn a few weeks back, I decided it was time for me to finally case some sausages. So what that I don't have a meat grinder or sausage stuffer? This was originally going to be a duck sausage, but I had trouble procuring duck here in western MA. In fact, I couldn't even find sausage casing! After hitting a few stores and having flashbacks of searching for ingredients in Bermuda, I found a place. The problem was they only sold it in 2.5 lb increments for 35 bucks! Couple stores later and I was able to buy an ounce of the stuff for 50 cents.

Apple Cider is a hard drink in most parts of the world, but here in New England, it is just apple juice! Where I would draw the line personally, is that I think of apple juice as sweetened, more processed and also clear where as apple cider is just pressed apples and kinda murky. Legally in the US, you could sell either product with either name. Now that that little lesson is out of the way, I made some cider yesterday and it tasted amazing! I made it with a bunch of those fresh picked apples from yesterday. Val asked me where I went picking, the answer is Echo Hill Orchards in Monson, MA.  Everyone knows that fresh squeezed orange juice is better than from the carton, but you can't really squeeze an apple like an orange! How can I get at that sweet sweet juice?

The weather is already feeling very fallish here in western Massachusetts and it is making me happy about my choice to leave Bermuda. I really missed the seasons! Sweatshirts man, sweatshirts. When I was young, I would go apple picking around this time of year with my family. None of us had been in at least 10 years, but we randomly decided to go on a lazy afternoon this weekend. Needless to say, it's gonna be an apple-y week here on TFIMB. Sidenote: Chipotle is a main ingredient in this BBQ sauce, but it's also one of the 2 featured ingredients on this week's Foodie Fights. Check it out.

The theme of this week is do-overs, but you know Raaaaaaaandy doesn't steal jokes, he UPGRADES them! When I first made the timpano, I knew I would one day attack it again with a new level of intensity, and today I am proud to say that I did not hold back. The reason I made this is because when I first told nick I would be staying with him for a week, I asked if he had seen anything on the site he wanted me to make for him. Without hesitation, he immediately said "how about that pie thing that was filled with pasta?" I knew if I was going to make it again, it would have to be epic.

New York has been a bit of a free for all for me this week. I still have this Bermuda mindset where everything isn't right at my fingertips and I need to indulge while I can! This attitude has caused me to have a great week, but really hit the wallet. Literally one block from where I am staying is one of the Indian neighborhoods, and I have taken advantage of the restaurants a few times. The best part of the area though, has to be the crazy spice shop. They had EVERYTHING. Everything I could ever want! No more tour of 3 grocery stores to find the right ingredients! Nick took one look at the sparkle in my eye and realized that he would be waiting for me in the store for awhile.