Mac and Cheese Toast

 

Leftover mac and cheese?  Fry it up!  I have wanted to make this since I first saw the Good Eats episode air back in 2002.  Well, here we are in 2013 and I finally got around to it.  Let me tell you, I should have tried it sooner and I am tempted to make some mac and cheese just to cube it up and fry it the next day.

 

Mac and Cheese Toast

An Alton Brown application
Printable recipe

Ingredients
Leftover baked macaroni and cheese, refrigerated for at least overnight
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 egg beaten with 2 ounces water
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Oil for deep frying, preheated to 375 degrees

Directions
Cut refrigerated macaroni and cheese into bite size pieces, about 1.5 inches. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece through the flour and tap off excess. Dip in the egg mixture and then coat with the panko bread crumbs. Rest the cubes for 5 minutes so the crust can set. Carefully drop into the oil and fry until golden brown, 3-4 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and rest for 2 minutes before serving.

Alphabet Soup

As I was ladling my first batch of homemade chicken stock into freezer bags, I realized what I should make with it first.  Alphabet soup.  I couldn't think of a better meal to highlight the flavor of the stock, all while enjoying one of my favorite childhood comfort foods.

I simply cooked the alphabet noodles in the chicken stock seasoned with a little salt.  Once the noodles are cooked, I ladled the soup into bowls and finished it with a pat of butter.  A little freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top is a nice touch as well.  A delicious bowl full of memories. 

The chicken stock was more delicious than I could have hoped.  There was a wonderful chicken flavor and it was very filling and satisfying.  A perfect meal to enjoy my chicken stock for the first time.

Pasta, pasta, and more pasta

Knowing I have a penchant for pasta, my Uncle Lee thought of me when he came across an illustrated pasta identification guide on the internet. He found this link as the result of a web search for "Elicoidale Medio", a type of pasta that had been marked down at Big Lots:

http://www.molpasta.com/catalogo2006.pdf

The link opens a quite large PDF document, so I provided a couple screen shots of what is inside.

Most of the document is in Italian, so I used an online translator to see what the text of the document says. As it turns out, the document is a brochure of sorts, displaying the different pasta dyes or presses this company sells to make different pasta shapes. The first part of the catalog shows pictures of the pasta shapes in their actual size, while the last few pages contains an index of the names of the shapes.

It is a nice reference guide to the different cuts and shapes of pasta. I never knew there were so many! I did, however, notice one glaring omission to all the pasta shapes this company provides. You guessed it, no ditalini. Oh, the humanity!

Parmigiano-Reggiano

It's no secret that I am a fan of pasta; and I seem to have passed my love of it to my son. When I was young, my grandparents always had freshly grated Parmesan cheese for us to add to our pasta. For whatever reason, I always passed on adding it; I just preferred my pasta without it. I remember everyone else piling on the grated cheese by the spoonful while I was content to eat mine plain. It wasn't until years later that I would appreciate the cheese and savor every tasty bite.

As I've mentioned before, pasta with a little Parmigiano-Reggiano and olive oil might just be my favorite thing to eat. Ari is following right along in my footsteps, though I think he may like the Parmigiano-Reggiano better than the pasta itself, as evidenced by the chunk he bit off the wedge in the above picture.

Whenever we have pasta, we have to watch him to make sure he doesn't eat all the cheese. We usually keep the cheese on the table with a grater, but have had to leave it in the kitchen as of late because the boy just can't get enough. I guess there are worse foods he could be hooked on, but that cheese is so pricey, we like to use it in moderation. But hey, at least he has good taste.

A Salty Boil

One of the best tips I could give anyone in terms of cooking pasta is to salt the water the pasta will be cooking in before adding the pasta. I felt compelled to write about this because I have had a number of pasta dishes lately that were quite bland and would have benefited greatly from properly seasoned pasta.

So, why add salt to the water in the first place? Salt should be added to the water because every element of a dish should be seasoned. The salt adds a slight saltiness to the pasta that enhances the flavor considerably. Cooking pasta in salted water means that the pasta will absorb some of the salt and therefore not taste bland. This can't be fixed later by salting the pasta after it is cooked or adding extra salt to the sauce; this would just result in a bland pasta with a salty exterior.

So, how much salt should be added to the water? As a general rule of thumb, and what I have also heard from Mario Batali; is that the pasta water should taste like the sea. I even go as far as to season my pasta water with sea salt, another tip from Mario. I hope this didn't come off as being too preachy; I just wanted to get that off my chest and stress the importance of properly seasoned food. The dishes I had would have been saved by simply adding some salt to the pasta water. Thanks for reading.

The best thing I ever ate...

When Ari and I planted tomato seeds back in March, I had two goals. The first, I at least wanted one tomato to be produced from the batch of seeds; the second, to be able to make marinara sauce from my own home grown tomatoes. Well, I am happy to say that I have now achieved both of my goals. Well, I didn't really achieve the first goal, the tomato plants did that all by themselves; but I did make the marinara sauce on Friday.

Since we planted those seeds, I envisioned a meal consisting of fresh pasta and home-made marinara. The time was finally right as we had an abundance of tomatoes taking residence on our kitchen counter. On Thursday night, I prepped the tomatoes by quickly blanching them in order to remove the skins. I then crushed the tomatoes by hand and let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. I used about twenty tomatoes.

After work on Friday, I hurried home to get started on dinner. I shredded a couple carrots, diced on onion, and sliced a few cloves of garlic and sautéed them on a saucepan. Then, I added the crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, and some dried herbs. I brought the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer on the stove while I started on the pasta. The marinara had a lot of reducing to do, so I saved my final seasoning adjustments for when it was at the right consistency.

The meal came together rather easily, aside from the final fluster of cutting and boiling the noodles. I had a few hiccups with my normally reliable pasta roller, but that's another story. Once the marinara was at the desired consistency, I added a little olive oil and some red wine vinegar. I don't normally pat myself on the back, but I have to say that dinner was the greatest meal I have ever had the pleasure of eating. I think it was the freshness of all the ingredients that really set it apart. The marinara had a subtle sweetness to it unlike anything I have ever had. The noodles were so delicate and flavorful, I just couldn't get enough.

To my delight, the tomatoes keep coming and coming, and I am saving some for another batch of marinara. The twenty tomatoes I used was just the right amount to feed the four of us and the kids on Friday night. It was such a memorable meal; and simple, too. I can't wait to make another batch!

Pastaholic

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

The thing is, I don't see it as a problem. I just like to have an unreasonable amount of pasta on hand at all times. It will all get consumed, eventually. Only to be replaced by more pretty blue and yellow boxes. Ha ha ha!

I'm just surprised it all fits in my pantry; except the pasta machine, I keep it out on display.

Pasta is Fundamental

In a recent of episode of "No Reservations," host Anthony Bourdain said something that really caught my attention. He said, "Without pasta, the meal is a sin against God and everything that is good and decent in the world." He was visiting Venice and was dining in a small family owned restaurant. Oh, how I wanted to be there.

Recently, for some unknown, reason I have been asked several times what my favorite food is. What a question! How do I answer that? Sweet or savory? Is it something I have made? Could it be something my mother has made? Something I had at a restaurant? My favorite food? I don't know why, but it struck me as such a challenging question. Should I equate it with the entire dining experience, or just base it on taste itself?

After much deliberating, I finally was confident of what my favorite food actually is. Pasta. Simply pasta cooked al dente, with a drizzle of olive oil and some freshly grated parmesan reggiano cheese. For me, there is nothing better. Simple, yet delicious; and the Anthony Bourdain quote pretty much sums it up for me. Pardon me, but I have to get some water boiling...

Comfort food

I have been under the weather the past couple of days with a pesky stomach bug. I didn't really eat anything during my battle, but when I was finally ready to test the waters, I couldn't help but pull a box of ditalini out of the cabinet and dump it in some boiling water.

I threw in some olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little parmesan cheese, and I had a meal fit for a king. It was just what I needed and my stomach was not a bit upset after eating. The ditalini went so well that night, I whipped up some alphabet soup the next day.