February comforts

I didn't quite realize it until I uploaded my photos, that this week's menu was all about the warm and fuzzies - comfort food!

First up - Mixed up Mac and Cheese

We had a few odds and ends of cheese in our fridge begging to be consumed...i can't, won't, and don't resist cheese...ever!!!  If I were religious, it would be against my religion.

This is a loose representation of the 'recipe' because I didn't measure a thing for it.

• 1lb-ish of macaroni
• about 3-4 cups of mixed cheeses for the sauce - I had old cheddar, asiago, and 1/2 a package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp butter
• 3 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan (the real deal only!)
• 1/2-3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp each onion powder, garlic powder
• s&p to taste

1. Cook macaroni as per directions in a large pot of salted water, and pre-heat your over to 375 F
2. In a seperate sauce pan, melt 2 Tsbp butter over med-low heat, add flour, stir out all the lumps and let it cook for about a minute (this will help dissolve the flour in the fat, and make it taste less flour-y tasting)
3. Slowly whisk in milk, ensuring there are no lumps, continue stiring until milk starts to thicken.
4. When the milk is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and throw in all your cheese, stirring until it's all melted and cheezy and perfect....mmm cheese.
5. Add your cheese sauce to the cooked Mac and make sure all the noodles get a good little cheese bath (you can add s&p here to taste)
6. Transfer to an over safe dish
7. In a seperate bowl combine bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic and onion powder, and 1 Tbsp melted butter. Crumble this mixture over top of the Mac and Cheese
8. Bake for 30 mins until bubbly around the edges, and golden brown on top.

The Mac and Cheese was AMAZING fresh out of the oven - not so amazing heated up as leftovers, but still tasty - the noodles really absorb that extra cheeze sauce moisture if you let it sit too long, so it's not nearly as gooey and creamy if it's not fresh.  I'm really in to onion powder these days - it gave a great punch of flavour to the breadcrumb topping!  I'll likely never create this recipe exactly again - but I see many many variations of it in my future.

Next up, a classic E.Mills soup - Roasted butternut squash.  Many moons ago, this was one of the first things I ever ventured to cook  - it's still a go-to for guests.  Rory's aunt came for an impromptu visit this past weekend. Lunch was served: soup and sandwich - foodie style!

• 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 large leek, trimmed, washed and sliced (to wash, cut off the dark green bits, and the very end of the white root, then slice the stalk in half - run each half under water, seperating the layers one at a time to make sure you get ALL the dirt out)
• 1-2 Tbsp butter or EVOO or both!
• about 4 cups stock (chicken, veg, or both in my case!)
• 1/2 cup cream (I used 5%, if you use a higher MF% cream, you can get away with less for sure)
• s&p to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F
2. Toss the b-nut squash with canola oil, and a few shakes/grinds of s&p - spread on a lined cookie sheet and pop 'er in the over for 40 mins-ish, stirring about halfway through.  The squash should be browning on the edges and taste caramelized and sweet.
3. When the squash is nearly done, melt butter/EVOO over med heat in a pot big enough for all the ingredients - add sliced leeks, and sautee for 3-4 minutes until soft
4. Add squash and stock, and simmer over low heat for 5-10 mins.
5. Turn the heat off, and puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender (or in a regular blender)
6. Once nice and smooth, add cream, and s&p to taste.

Serve this amazingly simple and delicious soup with your sandwich of choice...my choice was BLTAs on toasted Focacia.  The live lettuce and avocado came from my last FDO delivery.  The avocado was perfectly ripe when I used it...It was Rory's aunt's first time trying one too! One of my fave things to experience is watching people try new foods and love them! This was one of those times!

Last night's dinner...

Porcini-crusted Black Angus sirloin, served atop a celeriac puree, with sauteed swiss chard.

The stars of the show...(except I didn't use the leek)

never judge a vegetable by it's cover!

 Porcini crusted heaven

I had never cooked or eaten celeriac...and really, who can blame me for passing it by in the produce aisle with a mug like that!  daaaamn, it's UGLY!  I will say though,  it's rough and wart-like exterior are easily cut away to reveal a nice little treat!  Wikipedia tells me it's a kind of celery, grown as a root vegetable for its large and bulbous hypocotyl (??) rather than for its stem and leaves. Sure thing!   My preparation of it was as follows: chopped into cubes, steamed in chicken stock until tender (about 15 mins of lowish heat) then pureed with some of the steaming liquid, a couple Tbsp of sour cream (14%!) and s&p to taste. 
It was different, but tasty...it's texture was similar to whipped cauliflower - it's not nearly as starchy as other roots veggies - that's why I added sour cream, it needed some oomph!  It's definitely got a celery like flavour, but a bit more muted than a plain old celery stick.  I think it would be phenomenal roasted :)
The steak was prepared by sprinkling with s&p and grinding (in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle) about 0.5oz of dried porcini mushrooms for a crust (as above).  It was seared on med-high heat with a little canola oil - med-high on my stove was too hot, and the mushrooms burned unfortunately...but the steak wasn't entirely ruined, it was still tasty, and cooked to med/med-rare.
The chard was cleaned, chopped, and sauteed in a touch of chicken stock, and seasoned with s&p...can't go wrong there!
Overall, the meal was good.  Three outta five stars.  It did have potential to be great though! This is my second go at a porcini mushroom crusted steak - my first attempt, I used filet, and cooked it perfectly - it was also served with an herb butter...to this day, Rory tells me it was the best steak he's ever had! Hard to top that I guess!

My lastest FDO box delivery was also my last - as promised, I did not buy any additional fruit this week.  We will subsist on the apples (which were amazing this week - and not local :( ), pears, and oranges, for a little longer!  Other than the ingredients showcased above, I received a few potatoes (not an overwhelming amount though), beets, turnip, and a huge ugly squash that looks like a brown pumpkin...use of these items TBA!

I'll be away in sunny JAMAICA next week - I'm SO looking forward to sun, and sand and indulging on local tropical foods!!  If I don't get a chance to post before I get back - have a great week!  Spring is in the air - I saw some budding green grass this morning....EEE!!!

Happy Eating!!!