me make food

Chef Todd’s DVD page

97 minutes of new material in 35 chapters, lots of knife skills (my fave), and 55 minutes of his cooking coarse videos.

I am pretty excited to check it out. I have learned a bunch from Chef Todd’s videos and am glad to give a bit back by getting this DVD which I know I will learn from.

My brother had us over for fathers day and he made some cheesy bake taters with our meal and they were really good. I inquired about the recipe and this is what I got.

Boiled the taters until just done, I think it is ok to have them just a bit raw since you will be baking them again.

Melt butter and olive oil in a small pan with a good amount of garlic (chopped). You should be on low heat to just cook the garlic not brown it. You are just releasing the essential oils out of the garlic.

Add some milk or half and half to taters and mash. Add butter/oil/garlic mixture and mix.

Salt, pepper, and what ever other seasoning to taste.

then added Parmesan from a can and some cheddar cheese and mix well. Taste and re-season if needed. Put into a baking dish and cover top with more parmesan cheese from the can and bake for 30-45 minutes at 350.

He makes some really good stuff and we picked up a pork loin to go along with the taters. The pork loin I got was actually two that were the same as a PSMO and I carved them up into 4 hunks, 3 for later meals.

So this is the 3rd time I have made cheese straws, and the 3rd time I have over salted them

I did use a pasta roller which made it darn easy though.

The store had cheap shredded cheese so I went with it. Next time I will use a quality cheese. This will once again become topping for mac and cheese. Bread crumbs cannot even come close to browned cheese straws.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a food processor, add the butter, cheese, flour, salt and cayenne and process until a smooth dough is formed. Scoop it into a cookie press, fitted with a flat ridged tip. Pipe the dough in 2-inch strips onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. (Alternatively, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes and roll on a lightly floured surface into a 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Cut into smaller rectangles, about 2 by 3-inches, with a pizza wheel or sharp knife.) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to racks to cool.

It has been grilling food show season and I had a hankering for a fresh ground burger. Picked up a chuck steak and ground it up. Theresa likes the burgers I make usually from reg ground beef from Super Saver and she let me mix in a bit of the stuff I ground for her into her two uber thin burgers. I went for a massive 7 ounce fatty cooked to a perfect medium. I ground all the fat on the steak and very lightly packed my burger. This made it pretty much fall apart on the grill, but I handled it very carefully and with only one flip it made it to my bun. Sauteed some mushrooms with some of the dried cayenne peppers I grew last year, salt, pepper, and then topped with a slice of pepper jack. Oh man was it good. As Chef Todd says, rocket hot with the lid open. I did not finish it all, but man was it good.

That is some powerful yogurt. I used the greek yogurt and drained all the moisture I could. The blackberries blended into a much bigger volume than I expected. Was really rich and froze pretty much solid.

Theresa made some spongecake which went nicely with the strawberries from our patch out back. We are getting tons of strawberries. Ended up freezing a bunch and we are maybe 1/3 of the way into the harvest.

Sure it looks like booger chicken, but it nummers. Food network has this show called dear food network and they have been doing a lot of grilling episodes. One was for a grilled chicken with a basil dressing by Giada. Theresa wanted to try it so we gave it a shot. We have tried using lemon to marinate before with not much luck. I think the secret to this one was the olive oil in there keeping the lemon juice from overpowering.

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus 1/4 cup
* 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, coarsely crushed
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 3 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
* 3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
* 1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
* 1 large garlic clove
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions

Whisk 1/3 cup of oil, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, fennel seeds, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper in a resalable plastic bag. Add the chicken and seal the bag. Massage the marinade into the chicken. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day, turning the chicken occasionally.

Meanwhile, blend the basil, garlic, lemon peel, remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a blender until smooth. Gradually blend in the remaining 1/3 cup oil. Season the basil sauce, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Prepare the barbecue for medium-high heat or preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from the marinade. Discard the marinade. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to serving plates, drizzle with the basil sauce and serve.

Smashburger is coming to NE with a 10 store deal in Lincoln and Omaha. Smashburger uses angus beef and smashes a ball to make the burger. Seems to be a lot like Fatburger up in Omaha.

A week or so ago we hit up 9 south chargrill and I went with their Monteray chicken sammich once again. The mix of guacamole and bacon is really good. They offer a burger version and I figured I had to try and make one at home. A bit of pepperjack cheese between two 3 oz burgers and some fresh made guac made for a darn fine tasty burger.

I really like my kitchen knives and have been geeking out on them for a while. Headed to amazon to check out some of the really fancy knives and saw many references to the Victorinox 8-Inch Chef’s Knife in reviews of very expensive knives. Victorinox, who makes those swiss army knives sells a decent priced knife with a plastic handle. They usually run $30, but Amazon has them on sale for $13 and has for a few weeks. If you have been thinking of getting a nice chefs knife this is a perfect one for so cheap.

The blade is a high carbon stainless and is polished to a mirror finish. the spine is rounded and the handle is molded for a perfect pinch grip that will not cause discomfort during lots of cutting. When I compare it to my Kitchenaid knife, the Victorinox seems stronger and is a bit wider. I picked up two of them and they got a bunch of use over the weekend.