Kimchee Mandu

While I was at the Korean grocery store, I thought I would try and make some mandu again. This is something that I have done on intermittent occasion in the past, but the last time I made any was during finals in law school. And, since my students will have their final this friday, I thought it was about time for another go. The last time, I made a shrimp, tofu, and spinach mandu. It was really dry. This time, I wanted to go for something a little more traditional. And so, kimchee mandu.

pretzel hot dog buns - attempt 1

I loved the pretzel rolls I made last week. And I thought to myself, how awesome would it be to have this as a hot dog bun? Maybe the pretzel roll taste would be too strong for a frankfurter, but it just made so much sense with brats. And so began my quest for the perfect brat bun.

Fish Tostadas

A couple weeks ago, I bought a big-ol-bag of frozen tilapia. Last week, it was breaded, baked, and served with chorizo sprouts. That was good, but the tilapia was fishy. Not in a good way, like mackerel. But in a way that you might anticipate from frozen fish sold in a big-ol-bag. I didn't mind that much, since the real star of the meal was going to be my chorizo experiment. But, this week, I wanted the fish to stand out. So I decided on fish tacos.

pretzel rolls

I had made some pimento cheese to put on some burgers. And to make it extra special, I decided to make some pretzel rolls. The first time I had a pretzel roll was at Weber Grill. They serve them with cheddar spread before your dinner gets there. It's amazing. Then, I had them at The Counter. It was a special bun option that was so popular, it's now a permanent option. Pretzel rolls are perfect for burgers because, no matter how juicy the burger, the pretzel roll is always up to the task. I made these a while back using a pretzel roll recipe from Stresscake, and it worked out ok. But I've recently realized that, since I use rapid rise yeast, I need to change certain things. So I decided to make some modifications. And this time, I couldn't be happier.

pimento cheese

I am easily prone to suggestion. A few weeks back, I saw an episode of Diners Drive-Ins and Dives that talked about pimento cheese. And then, last week, Sunny Anderson made pimento cheese on her show. It didn't really even look that interesting to me at the time, but it stuck in my mind. With summertime coming, I was already thinking about artificially yellow things like french's mustard or american cheese. And this sounded like it would hit the spot.

Truffles?

Sarah loves chocolate. On the same episode of 5 ingredient Fix: Dessert Bar that somehow inspired us to make meringue, they also made truffles. Generally, I don't care for desserts and I also don't like to watch people making dessert on TV. Specifically, I don't like watching episodes about candy-making. It usually involves things that I just don't have in my kitchen, like a candy thermometer, a copper mixing bowl, or heavy cream. But, like with the meringue, they made a dessert that I've always thought was quite complicated but looked quite easy to make. And so we made truffles.

Meringue!

Sunday morning, Sarah and I were watching an episode of 5 Ingredient Fix where the host had a pastry chef guest. Among other things, they made meringues. I've never liked meringues. I always felt like they left a waxy feeling in your mouth. And I was always confused about why they didn't taste more cookie-ish. But Sarah loves meringue, so I added the ingredients we would need for meringues to the week's grocery list.

Hot Pockets

I've chronically been thinking about empanadas. But all the recipes for empanada dough all seemed too fussy. Plus, I don't really like traditional empanada fillings. I don't like ground beef with olives or ground beef with raisins. What I really wanted was a hot pocket.

OCD manicotti

My wife makes the best veggie manicotti. And whenever I want manicotti, I usually have her make it. But last week, I was watching an episode of America's Test Kitchen, and they pointed out how annoying it is to try and fill those manicotti shells. Instead, they used no-boil lasagne noodles. It was ingenious. Plus, the way they did it fit perfectly in a 9x13 dish. The OCD in me just had to try it.

chorizo sprouts

For years now, I've thought that brussel sprouts are one of the more under rated vegetables out there. I don't like the really large ones. They're the best when they're small. A simple roasting with a garnish of shaved parmesan is my usual go-to. Steamed and then topped with some lawry's is great too. And of course, sauted with some bacon lardons is simply magnificent. Then, Sarah told me that, when she had gone out to dinner with a friend for dinner at Mercadito, they had brussel sprouts with chorizo.

roasted garlic chicken with veggie couscous

Chicken is filthy. You have to worry about cross-contamination, salmonella, e-coli, and food poisoning. After you touch it, you have to wash your hands. Anything that touches raw chicken has to be instantly sequestered and then power-washed with specific particularity. The only other thing in my daily life that I have to be that careful about is feces. And I don't ever want to eat feces. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I would stop cooking chicken, at least for a while. But then, last week, I was watching an episode of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef where Anne Burrell was making roasted garlic chicken. It looked so irresistibly good, I broke my chicken boycott.

sarah's mac'n'cheese

To go with the astonishingly simple beer can crock pot chicken, Sarah made this relatively complicated mac n cheese. I tried to tell her that I would have been just fine with the box stuff. But she insisted on this, and I am glad that she did.

But, because it does seem like it is a little more complicated than macaroni and cheese needs to be (it's an alton brown macaroni and cheese recipe), I wouldn't recommend making this on a regular basis. But if you need a dressed up side dish, I think this is a good bet.

beer can crock pot chicken

In anticipation of the Great Blizzard of 2011, Sarah had bought a whole chicken. And because I was still at trial, I really didn't have time to cook it. This was a perfect opportunity for Sarah to try out a beer can chicken recipe that she had gotten from her sister. The recipe is remarkably simple. Astonishingly simple, really. And it makes for some really moist and tasty chicken.

Egg Pancakes

At some point during week 2 of the Trial That Would Never End, Sarah was craving egg pancakes. Egg pancakes are something that I had never heard of, growing up in New Jersey. That is because it is an Iowan food.

And, like most Iowan food, people from Iowa are completely unaware of their food's regionality. So, the first time Sarah told me about egg pancakes, I was bewildered. And so was she. She couldn't believe that I hadn't heard of them.

Since then, I have become a fan of this part-crepe/part-pancake dish. The lovely recipe is from Sarah's mom, who I presume got it from her own mother.

Deep Fried Veggies

 It was the playoffs and the Bears were playing. I wanted to make something special. The previous week, I had made a brisket, and the Bears won. So, of course, I was going to make the brisket again. But since this game was against the Packers, I wanted a little something extra. That is how I decided I would make beer batter onion rings and green beans.

Veggie Chili

With how cold and generally unpleasant the weather has been in Chicago this winter, Sarah and I have been making a lot of chili. We've made beef chili, turkey chili, and white chili. So, when I saw this recipe for veggie chili, I couldn' resist. Plus, I generally like Real Simple recipes. So I thought I would give it a shot. It has some ingredients that I was very interested in seeing in a chili, like sweet potato. But it also has some ingredients that I thought were dumb, like cocoa powder.

Shin Ramyun

Last week, Sarah was going out with a friend for dinner, so I was on my own for the evening. And as much as I love eating with my wife, I look forward to the times when she leaves me alone. Because this means I get to eat ramyun. Not ramen. Ramyun.

Ramen is an American thing. Ramen was something I ate in college (and for several years after college due to budgetary constraints). Back in St. Louis at the time, you could find it on sale for 10 for a dollar.

Ramyun, on the other hand, is a Korean thing. It's spelled different because that's how Koreans pronounce it. "myun" is the Korean word for noodles. and the "ra" part of ramyun, I don't know what that means. But its unusual because it's pronounced with almost a rolling R sound.

Eggplant Surprise

I had a ton of leftover eggplant from when I made the eggplant parmesan. Also, looking in the fridge, I noticed that I had a lot of other leftovers that I needed to get rid of. And so I came up with a trio of eggplant pasta dishes: Eggplant Alfredo, Eggplant Pesto, and Eggplant and Gravy. It was super quick and easy. And it cleared out like half my fridge.

eggplant parmesan

One of Sarah's sisters had asked me for a recipe for something to do with eggplant. And I was thinking that, since eggplants aren't really in season, it would take me a while to get to posting a recipe. But, the last time I was at the grocery store, they had a ton of eggplants. And they looked really good. And they were really cheap. So I bought two. Then, I had to figure out what to do with them that didn't involve frying, deep or otherwise. Here is one of two dishes that I came up with.

Sarah's Pork Roast

Last Friday, I was heading home after a long week in court for a jury trial. I was feeling pretty exhausted, and I wasn't looking forward to eating another take-out dinner, which is what we primarily subsist on when I am at trial. The worst part about it was that I knew that I had a pork shoulder sitting in the fridge. I really wanted some pork slathered in barbecue sauce. But I knew that making it would take several hours. And I was starving.

In my mind's eye, as I was sitting on the bus home, I opened the fridge and stared at that raw pork shoulder, longingly. Then, as I got off the bus, took the elevator to get to my floor, and walked down the hallway towards our apartment, I could smell the aroma of meat - wonderful, wonderful meat. I opened the door and was reminded in yet another way of why I love my wife. She made the pork.