Fancy Macaroni

Adapted from TPW

Ingredients

4 cups Macaroni

8 Tablespoons Butter (Salted Butter)

2 whole Medium Onions, Cut In Half And Sliced Thin

¼ cups All-purpose Flour

2 cups Whole Or 2% Milk

½ cups Half-and-half

2 whole Egg Yolks, Beaten

Salt And Pepper, to taste

½ cups Grated Gruyere Cheese

½ cups Grated Fontina Cheese

½ cups Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook macaroni for half the time of the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

3. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet and then saute onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and soft. Set aside.

4. In a pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in milk and half & half, then cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Reduce heat to low. Add salt & pepper to taste. (Do not undersalt!)

5. Beat egg yolks and drizzle 1/4 cup hot mixture into the yolks, stirring constantly. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into sauce and cook for another minute.

6. Add cheeses and stir until melted. Add onions and stir. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed. Add cooked macaroni and stir to coat.

7. Pour into a baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sizzling and hot.

__________

My notes: I know you don't want to, but buy the good cheese. It's so worth it.

The onions may be offsetting, but there are few things better in life than browned sauteed onions.

Seriously, temper your egg. SERIOUSLY.

Oh hey, I'm back. With Zesty Garlic Chicken Wraps

No photo because I forgot to take one. Shaaame.

These were really tasty. My father ate two, which means they must be good or he was just really hungry.

Adapted from Crepes of Wrath ( http://crepesofwrath.net/2010/06/14/zesty-garlic-chicken-wraps/ )

Ingredients:

Marinade

2 chicken breasts, sliced into thin 2-inch long strips
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced

Sauce

4 cloves garlic, whole and peeled
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoons milk
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Wraps

4 soft tortillas
1 tomato, diced
1-2 handfuls of lettuce
1/2 cup cheese (your choice)

Directions:

1. Whisk together marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add chicken to a large ziploc bag, then add marinade. Combine, and let set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F. Add peeled garlic cloves to a baking sheet. Lightly bush them with oil. Cook for 5-10 minutes until golden and soft. Be careful because garlic likes to burn on the bottom, so rotate every few minutes.

3. While that cooks, mix together the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Take the garlic out of the oven and peel away any hard crusties, and smush the insides to make a sort of paste.

4. Cut up the lettuce, tomatoes, and any other things you like on your wraps.

5. Cook the chicken on a lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes on 375F. Keep some, but not all, of the marinade on the baking sheet.

6. Serve hot or cold on tortillas with the sauce and fixings.

Note: This recipe is time consuming. Do not attempt if you're short on time.

Grilled Zucchini.

So Zucchini is kind of this flavorless green veggie, right? Boring stuff. But much like tofu, it takes on the flavor of whatever you marinate it with or cook it with. So when I saw zucchini 3/$1.00 at a farmer’s market, I was like oh yeahhh.

Ingredients:
zucchini (It doesn’t matter how much since you can grill in batches. I used two large zucchinis.)
your favorite Italian dressing, up to 1 small bottle
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cut your zucchini into thick slices.

2. Marinate zucchini with Italian dressing(use it to your discretion, you want the zucchini to be covered but not necessarily saturated) in a bowl. Add fresh salt and pepper, but not too much. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 days.

Marinating for two days definitely gave the zucchini a very strong dressing flavor, sometimes too strong. One day is probably your best bet.

3. Before grilling, add a touch more salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat, turning the zucchini a quarter turn after two minutes, flipping after another two minutes, and quarter turning two minutes after that, until cooked. There should be grill marks on your zucchini before you turn it, because they indicate doneness(new word of the day) and awesomeness.

Pancake Soup.

I apologize for the lack of recipes, I’ve been busy and not cooking much.

To make up for it, I present a small slice of European heaven. Pancake soup. It’s more like crepe soup, because you would never put American Pancakes into broth. But this… this is delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/3 c. potato starch
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 c. club soda or other sparkling water
• About 4 cups beef broth
• Small bunch of chives, chopped

Directions:

• Sift together the flour, potato starch, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, mix the egg and club soda until combined.
• Add the wet mixture to the dry, whisking away lumps.
• Let set for about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, chop your chives, boil your broth, etc.
• Stir in a handful of chives into your crepe mixture.
• Heat a frying pan with 1 tbsp. butter, pour about 1/3 of a cup of the crepe mixture into hot pan.

• Note: make your crepes smaller than the pan, or else they are insane to flip over. Wait a while too, you want these to be flat.
• Cook pancake until lightly browned. Transfer to plate and roll them up, ala a cigar. Let cool and then slice into strips. They should be spongy and difficult to cut. Makes about 6 pancakes.
• Add about 3/4 cup of beef broth to a soup bowl, then a heaping of pancakes. Garnish with some more chives, and enjoy the magic.

Tri-Color Pasta Salad

I made this tonight to go with dinner. It's simple, great for picnics, and totally tasty! It's been 80 here so I've been rejoicing in the heat by cooking summer food. It's not exciting by any stretch of the imagination, but it has FOUR ingredients!

Ingredients:
One box "Garden" pasta, aka Tri-Color radiatore
One block cheddar cheese, cubed (Vermont extra sharp if you can get it)
A handful of pepperoni slices
One small bottle of Kraft Zesty Italian dressing

Directions:
Cook the pasta a little past al dente. Strain and run under cold water for 2 minutes or until it's cold. Transfer to bowl. Add cheddar and pepperoni, stirring thoroughly. Add Zesty Italian a bit at a time. Taste test until it's strong enough. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes before serving.

This goes amazingly with food cooked on a grill.

I'm on tumblr now. It's much easier than blogspot, I think. It allows for more user interaction and submissions, questions, etc. I will continue to post my entries here, but I think it's much prettier on Tumblr!
http://teenagekitchen.tumblr.com/
http://teenagekitchen.tumblr.com/
http://teenagekitchen.tumblr.com/

Sensational Cinnamon Chip Biscotti

Biscotti is wonderful. Hershey's chocolate is wonderful. This recipe is wonderful. This is taken directly out of the "Hershey's Holiday Collection" Recipe book, which was given to me by the lovely Mardell.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup Hershey's Cinnamon Chips (or Chocolate chips if you can't find any) (divided)
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons shortening (Do not substitute)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 325 F. Lightly grease the cookie sheet.

2. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until blended. It will be lumpy and strange looking, but don't fight it. Baking never makes sense at first. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well and look at how smooth it is now. Dip your finger in because it has vanilla in it and it will taste lovely. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix. Gradually add to the butter mixture, beat well each time. Hold on the the mixer for dear life. In the end, give up and use your hands. Using a spoon or with hands, work 1 cup cinnamon chips and walnuts into dough.

3. Divide dough into four equal parks. Shape each part into a log about 8 inches long. Place on prepared cookie sheet, at least 2 inches apart; flatten slightly.

4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until logs are set and wooden pick inserted in center comes our clean. Remove from oven; let cool on cookie sheet for 30 minutes.

If you're my mother, this is the point you force me to cut one of the logs in half and eat it as is. It's delicious, but it's a cookie at this point, not the crispy sweet bread.

5. Transfer to cutting board, using a serrated knife and sawing motion cut logs diagonally into 1/2 inch wide slices. Place slices close together, cut side down on ungreased cookie sheet. (Essentially, both sides will be cut, so just do what you want I guess) Return to oven; bake 5 to 6 minutes. Turn each slice; bake an additional 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven; cool slightly. They should be hard and crispy. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Melt remaining cinnamon chips with shortening in the microwave; drizzle over each cookie.


These are served the BEST by dunking them into a glass of cold milk. (chocolate milk is the best)