Cookin' Some Stuff: Broccoli Habanero Mac and Chee

After my last few low-effort attempts resulted in a greasy, straight-out-of-a-Velveeta ad homemade mac and chee, I decided to switch it up tonight and try a more mild and balanced cheese sauce instead of just tossing the sharp cheddar in with the hot noodles along with a stick of butter and stirring them until the three become one. Also I saw some habanero peppers after I grabbed the broccoli at the goddamn Jewel on Montrose and Broadway so I upgrayedded and added a new ingredient to the old stand-by. Check it out:

Ingredients
1 lb. pasta (I used rigatoni this time)
5 oz. Tillamook Sharp Cheddar (sliced and diced)
1-2 handfuls Mexican blend cheese (anything mild will do, but I used this because I had it around the house)
3 crowns broccoli (maybe more, maybe less)
2 habanero peppers (diced)
2 cloves garlic (diced)
1/2 cup milk (maybe more)
2/3 stick butter (maybe more, maybe less)
1-2 Tbsp. Coarse black pepper
1-2 Tbsp. yellow mustard

A couple minutes after I started boiling the water, I began slicing up the cheese into small rectangular towers, although any small shape will do, and placed a little over a half a cup of milk into a separate pan and put the stove on low to let the milk warm up. Then I added the sharp cheddar and stirred a little bit while I chopped up the garlic, peppers and broccoli.

So in saucepan one you start with the milk and get it warmed up, quickly add the sharp cheddar, let it melt and yellow the milk, add mustard and pepper whenever, then about 2 minutes before the pasta is set to be done, add the shredded cheese.

Peppered cheese sauce cookin'!

In a separate saucepan a few minutes after the pasta has started cooking, combine butter, roughly half of your broccoli, garlic and habanero and cook on medium, occasionally stirring and turning the brocc.

That haba-brocco-nero stuff

All three pans should be done around the same time. When the pasta is done, quickly drain it, put it back in the big pot, add contents of cheese pot and broccoli saucepan, stir and serve.

Roll that beautiful mac and chee footage

Add meat and/or Sriracha sauce as preferred.

It ain't Grandma Mae's Mac and Chee, but it's still damn good, and that's a very special thing.

Cookin' Some Stuff: Lentil Vegetable Stew

Not sure why, probably some mixture of poverty and the distant resonance of a voice reminding me to temper my excessive drug use with some nutritious food, but since I've been in Chicago much of the cooking I've done has been in the south Asian style, one that is easily compatible with vegetables, garlic and ginger. After a long hiatus from cooking due to funky work hours and general life disarray, I return today with a new recipe that, seven bites in, I'm pretty proud of: lentil vegetable stew.

Ingredients:

2 cups red lentils
1-2 bunches kale
1 head broccoli
1 yellow onion
1 head of garlic
1-2 fingers ginger
2 cans pinto beans
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
long squirt of mustard
squirt of sriracha
(seasonings always approximate)

Begin by cooking the lentils (30 minutes) along with half of the available cumin and curry powder and all of the salt.

With lentils cooking, chop the onion, kale, broccoli (diced), garlic and ginger (minced).

Add olive oil to bottom of large stew pot, add the onion and the remaining spices, let cook a few minutes on medium-high then add the veggies, garlic and ginger, cook a few more minutes.

The lentils should be about done by now. Add them to the stew pot along with the pinto beans, and enough water to make it sort of stew-y (maybe a cup) and, if you feel like it, some more curry powder. Also add mustard and sriracha. Cover and turn down to simmer, let simmer 5-15 minutes until it looks good.

Eat, enjoy.

Cookin' Some Stuff: Mac and Chee

One package macaroni
One 8 oz. package Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar, shredded
One stick butter
One half Pound Bacon
2-3 tbsp yellow mustard
Coarse black pepper to taste (I use A LOT)
One broccoli crown (optional)
3-4 cloves of garlic (optional)
1/4 cup milk (optional)


Cook bacon, let cool, chop into bits

Cook Macaroni

Sautee Broccoli with garlic while macaroni cooks (optional)

Once macaroni is cooked and drained, add butter and mustard and, little by little, cheese and black pepper. Stir continually until cheese and butter have melted. Add milk if you prefer a juicier consistency.

Eat and enjoy.

Add sriracha for kick.

Cookin' Some Stuff - Chicken Soup

In which I write down my recipes so that I don't forget them, whether or not they are good.

1.3 lbs chicken breast
3 small russet potatoes, diced
2 small red potatoes, diced
6 carrots, pieced
1 bunch kale, sliced
1 ginger root, minced
1.5 cup red lentils
1.5 heads of garlic, minced
1-2 tsp. black pepper
1-2 tsp. cumin
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of crushed red pepper
squirt of sriracha
pot covering of olive oil
1 box chicken broth
some water

Cut chicken into small pieces, place into pot with olive oil, nutmeg, red pepper, some black pepper, cook for a minute or two.
Add chicken broth, potatoes, cumin, ginger, lentils, cover with water
Bring to boil, then drop to simmer, squirt sriracha,
Add carrots and garlic, simmer another 10-15 minutes.
Add kale, simmer another 20-25 minutes
Eat and enjoy.

Cookin' Some Stuff - Semi Indian Veggie Stew Paste

In which I write down my recipes so that I don't forget them, whether or not they are good.

3 potatoes, chopped into small cubes
1/2 head cauliflower, broken into manageable pieces
3 carrots, quartered and chopped
1 can pinto beans
6 cloves garlic, cut in thirds
two fingers of ginger, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
ground pepper to taste
squirt mustard
squirt sriracha
1/4 cup butter


Cover bottom of pan with water and some olive oil, add potatoes, cook a few minutes, add cauliflower, add pepper and some cumin and curry, cook a few minutes, add carrots, cook a few minutes, add ginger, cook a few minutes, add garclic, cook a few minutes, add beans and the rest of the seasonings, simmer for another 30-40 minutes until potatoes are soft.

Eat.

Cookin' Some Stuff: Chicken Noodle Soup

Yo people I made a pot of chicken noodle soup today while the NCAA basketball games were on. I make CNS a few times a year, and the recipe is always different so I decided to blog it out and, who knows, maybe even perfect it someday.

Here's how it all went down:

BTB's Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients
1 lb chicken (more or less, but get the package closest to a pound. This time I used 1.05lb)
3 carrots
5 small potatoes
a few celery stalks
half a bunch kale
ginger root to taste (I recommend about a TBSP)
Chicken broth
1 clove garlic
rosemary, black pepper, nutmeg (if you dare)

Put stove on high heat

Fill bottom of pot with water, enough to cover the chicken and then some
Add dash of pepper, dash of nutmeg, dash of rosemary in water
Cut chicken into little pieces
Add chicken, simmer a few minutes

Add vegetables (chopped into small pieces) should top water, let sit for a minute

Add broth, 2 big boxes
Add ginger

Let boil 30 minutes covered

Add garlic, chopped into tiny pieces
Add more black pepper

Continue boil another 30 minutes or so
Add some water if you feel like it

Add egg noodles, 6-8 clumps of them*

EAT IT

Results

I didn't love it as much as some of the past recipes, but so far so good. I usually use more ginger, which has been overpowering in the past, I guess I need to lock down my amounts.

*my pot isn't quite big enough to hold all that so I cooked the noodles separately, ate a couple bowls to relieve the pot, then made some more noodles and added them in.