• Pastere – Pasta Squares

    When I was growing up, every time I went to my grandparents house, there would be a snack of cold congealed cubes of pasta with an eggy flavor that was sometimes flecked with pepperoni. Based on the adjectives I used to describe it, you could probably imagine that I wasn’t super fond of it. The rest of my family seemed to love it, so I always felt left out. We called it Pastere, but I can’t find any evidence of such a thing existing on the internet. This 4th of July, when I was asked to bring the Pastere to the picnic, I decided I would make sure that I made something I would like too! Armed with my grandma’s handwritten recipe I got to work.

  • Parmesan Baked Beans

    As with most families these days, I have some vegetarians in mine. Being the conscious cook, I decided to try and make a vegetarian version of baked beans that would be so delicious that no one would miss the pork or even realize something was different. I based the beans off a hearty Italian tomato sauce, and added every non-meat based version of umami I could think of. Within 5 minutes of getting to the annual 4th of July party, my vegetarian aunt reminded me that she hates beans. Oh well! These beans were worth it anyways.

  • Nacho Burgers

    I have a little confession for you guys. I suppose I could have started back up a week ago. I finished my work. Handed it in. But instead of getting the old blog-train cranked back up, I spent the past week at the beach eating dishes like this crazy Nacho Burger. Do you guys blame me? It feels really good to dust off the old cobwebs though (I almost forgot my passwords to log in and post!) I am a little worried however that some people may have moved on, since almost 2 months is like 5 internet-years, so any likes, tweets, or general passing along of this post would be greatly appreciated!!!

  • Bluth Family Cornballs

    If you don’t want to travel all the way to Mexico to get a cornballer on the black market, you can just make this tasty snack in any deep frying situation. I assume that the cornballs in question are similar to a hush puppy, so that was the approach I took making this recipe. They came out great and were a fun app for our little Arrested Development party. Yo soy loco por los cornballs!

  • Corned Beef Hash and Egg Sandwich

    My two favorite breakfasts are either corned beef hash, or eggs benedict. I had leftover corned beef, as we all do right now, so I decided to sort of combine the two breakfasts, but in sandwich form, and without the fussy hollandaise sauce. It took me like 10 minutes to pull this together, and it was a perfect hangover remedy yesterday morning.

  • Papadum Nachos with Tandoori Chicken

    When you go to a mexican restaurant, they bring you free chips and salsa to enjoy. When you go to an Indian restaurant, they bring you free papadum with chutney to enjoy. This similarity got me thinking, why not make some loaded nachos with all Indian ingredients instead of Mexican. So that’s what I did!

  • Chicken Habanero Meatballs with a Mango Dipping Sauce

    Speaking of birthdays, people came over to my place this weekend for mine, and I wanted to make a little snack for everyone to eat before we went out. My first idea was meatballs, but when I eat a few of my normal meatballs, I end up with garlic breath and heartburn all night, and I didn’t want that for myself or any of my guests. Instead I whipped up this new spicy variety. Light with chicken and pork instead of beef, less garlic than normal, a little habanero to get the blood flowing, and instead of the heavy red sauce, a simple puree of mango to dip in. They were a big hit, and didn’t bog anyone down for the long night ahead.

  • Crispy Cheese Gnocchi with Spicy Ketchup

    It makes sense to dip your gnocchi in ketchup since gnocchi is made of mostly potato. But these weren’t just any gnocchi, they were marbled with a sharp cheddar, and perfumed with a splash of truffle oil. And it wasn’t just your ordinary ketchup either, it was fortified with some garlic and olive oil, and spiked with a nice hit of sriracha. These cheese gnocchi were nice and crispy on the outside, but extremely delicate and soft on the inside and exploding with flavor on every bite.

  • Breakfast Nachos

    There is a traditional breakfast dish in mexico called chilaquiles which basically is soggy breakfast nachos. I decided to make my own version of breakfast nachos, but shred any sense of authenticity and just make them my way. They came out way better than I expected, and I would recommend this dish to anyone, especially next time you happen to be hungover. I could imagine this being served for 15 bucks at your local uptight gastropub brunch.

  • Pierogi Lasagna

    Lasagna with flavors inspired by pierogi – noodles layered with mashed potato, sour cream, cheese, and bacon