Foodgeek Blog

I’ve started making dinner for my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and myself on Monday nights.  I’ve tried to vary the menu up from week to week, and last Monday my brother gave me an easy opportunity to continue to do so.  We were sitting, eating a fairly rockin’ pork roast I had made, even if I say so myself, and he said, “Next Sunday I’m going to give you four random ingredients, like they do on Chopped.”

I was thrilled, as this was what I’d been trying to get them to do all along.  It’s fun for me, because I’m an improviser, and it works out because I don’t do great with giving them ingredient lists far enough in advance for the shopping to be convenient for them.  Anyway, Sunday night I got my ingredients:

• Tomatillos
• Duck sauce
• Rice pudding
• Cinnamon pita chips

I crushed the pita chips, seasoned them with cumin, garlic powder, and black pepper, and used them to make a crusted chicken breast dish.  It came out pretty well, although if I make it again I’ll use a food processor to crush the chips rather than a meat mallet.  The large chunks didn’t stick extremely well. I’ll also use less cumin, and move the oven rack upward a notch halfway through the baking to get a crunchier crust.

I made some garlic mashed potatoes.  No magic there, other than simmering the garlic in the milk and butter before adding it to the taters.

I used the rice pudding to make some drop biscuits.  I found a basic drop biscuit recipe and used a combination of the pudding and milk to make the batter.  They were ok, but if I make them again I’ll add some sugar.  I left it out because the pudding itself was sweet, but the biscuits came out a little salty tasting.

I had been going to use the duck sauce and tomatillos to make a sort of tapenade for the mashed potatoes.  I chopped the tomatillos and simmered them in the duck sauce, and found it to be a little too tart.  Once I added brown sugar, though, it swung to the other end of the flavor spectrum and became too sweet for the potatoes.  Instead I used it as a glaze for some carrots I cooked in the microwave.

All in all, I’d say it came out pretty well.

Right now I’m sitting at one of my favorite Berea restaurants. Cornerstone Brewery is home to excellent sandwiches, burgers, fries, and delicious beers which are brewed in-house.

I’m having a new one called Wallace Wheat. Lots of flavor. It definitely rivals Holy Moses as my favorite wheat ale. I’m waiting on my Californian chicken sandwich. Roasted red peppers, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, and provolone.

I went to a local Mexican place with a friend and his kids for dinner tonight and had a lovely meal. The service was fantastic (this is something many Mexican restaurants have in common, I’ve found) and the food was excellent.

I had the Fajitas Texanas, which is basically a combo fajita plate including chicken, steak, shrimp, and sauteed onions and peppers. It is served with rice, beans, and a guacamole salad. Mucho delicioso!

One of our Thursday night gatherings (which have now moved to Fridays) was a mac ‘n cheese themed evening.  Not one of the healthiest of our gatherings, but certainly one of the most delicious.  There were of course traditional mac ‘n cheeses, but other such fun options as Havarti ‘n Ham, Chicken ‘n Broccoli, Asparagus ‘n Pasta, and others that are escaping me at the moment.

My contribution was a Bacon Cheddar Mac ‘n Cheese.  Shredded cheddar cheese, milk, sour cream, and butter made up the cheese sauce.  (I didn’t measure, sorry. )  The pasta I used was medium shells.

What gave me trouble was the question of what to put on top to get all brown and wonderful. Inspiration came from a close friend and fellow foodie:  Hash browns.

In general I’m not one to give myself too hearty a pat on the back when it comes to my culinary creations.  That said:   Holy.  Freaking.  Crap.

I can’t really take credit for it’s deliciousness, though, as I don’t see how any combination of pasta, cheese, sour cream, butter, bacon, and potatoes could possibly be bad.