Put on your yamaka....

Latkes!

Scott is a good half-jew, so to celebrate Hannukah this year I wanted to brush up on my latke recipe.  Bon Appetit has a great recipe this year and some tips on how to make killer latkes.  Major high points - drain your potatoes with the dish towel. It makes a huge difference. Also, the spoonful doesn't have to be compact to get the right soft potato-ey consistency middle/crispy potato-ey outside.  I substituted crushed ritz crackers for bread crumbs and it turned out great.

3 Russet Potatoes
1-2 Vidalias
2 Eggs
1/4 cup plain dried bread crumbs
3 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp schmaltz (chicken fat) or butter
2-4 tbsp vegetable oil



Scott approved but be sure to serve with sour cream and applesauce!

One day...

Today I am writing a brief homage to Thanksgiving and the beautiful woman that makes it happen... Mimi.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it focuses on the two things I value the most, family and food.  My grandparents do a spread that is a mix of the dishes that I have grown up with and love.  I have neither tips nor tools to make your Thanksgiving as wonderful as ours.  I just share with you a snap-shot of one piece of my Thanksgiving and wish you the very best this holiday season.

Mimi and Papa's menu:
Cornbread stuffing
Pickled Beets
Sweet Potato Casserole
Creamed Onions
Greens
Smoked Turkey
Coca-cola Ham
Pickle plate
Yeast Rolls

Butternut Squash Mac 'n Cheese

While watching The Chew today, they featured an awesome mac and cheese that I had to try. I love mac and cheese. My grandmother makes the best mac and cheese out there and it was actually the first recipe that I knew by heart.  I was interested in how the butternut squash and kale would play in this version of a recipe that uses the same basics of my grandmother's mac and cheese.


Ingredients:
1 pound Bacon (diced)
1 Onion (diced)
1 Butternut Squash (peeled, diced, roasted and pureed)
2 cups Kale (deribbed and chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/3 cup Half and Half
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 pound Rigatoni
1 1/2 cup Gruyere
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
2 cups bread crumbs
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground black pepper (to taste)

Recipe at The Chew. Mimi's Lesson: Roux = 1 tbsp fat (bacon grease and butter) + 1 tbsp flour + 1 cup milk + 1 cup cheese.  They play with the proportions a little with the butternut squash, cheese and mascarpone cheese. I substituted greek yogurt for the mascarpone and am sure you really wouldn't be able to tell a difference. Overall great dish and I will make it again.  It needs a few tweeks.

Things I learned from the recipe:
1. Butternut squash adds a lot of sweetness to the dish - salt from the bacon is completely necessary to balance.  I didn't use the full pound and wish I had.
2. The butternut squash puree adds a wonderful creaminess to the dish that makes cheese less necessary. Great substitute!
3. I always think I'll end up with more kale than I do after it cooks down.  Even when I try to correct for this, I still end up short.  Always add more kale.

Hot Wings (in the oven)

I have always LOVED chicken wings.  There is this hole in the wall around the corner from my house in Atlanta, Clays, that makes the best but I haven't been able to find a place in Nashville that compares. In fact, I think wings in Nashville are generally sub-par. The best I have found is Sportman's Grille in Hillsboro village.  Since I've got some time to kill I thought I'd try to tackle wings at home.  

I did some research on how to make wings at home, here are the tips I discovered: 

- Low (300 or below) and slow will dry out your wings. 

- High temp (>400) without pre-cooking will smoke your house down.

- Steaming will decrease the fat of the wing and allow you to cook at the higher temps to make a juicy and crispy wing 

- Don't need a deep frier to make crispy wings 

I followed Alton Brown's recipe which includes video instructions. Major idea is steam the wings THEN cook them on a rack over a cookie sheet in the oven.  Overall, I was really happy with the product, the wings are crispy but the meat is not dry.  Major downside is that it's labor intensive. 

Sauce:

• 4-5 tbsp Crystal Louisana Hot Sauce 
•  4-5 tbsp butter 
•  Green Onion, sliced 
•  Garlic 
•  Red Pepper flakes 
•  Sriracha (to your tolerance)

Melt butter with minced garlic.  Toss with other ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine with wings (they need to be hot from the oven).  Serve with blue cheese or ranch and celery sticks. 

Scott's Thoughts: 

1. Best wings in Nashville (I'm serious, he really said this). 

2. Could be spicier!!!!! (Oh my Lord, I might be able to continue dating him) 

3. Garlic was awesome in the sauce (actually a Rob thought) 

Brined Pork Chops

One of my favorite, easy summer grilling dish. The pork chops do have sit in the brine for a few hours but can be done the day before. I normally buy the thinner cut pork chops, I would estimate about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. They cook up pretty past and are always delicious.

Brine:
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup salt
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3 cloves
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 4 cups water

Combine. Bring ingredients to a boil. Fill 2nd large bowl half way with ice. Pour brine mixture over ice. Let brine cool. Place pork chops in brine. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hrs.

Grill 3 minutes per side.

Grilled corn: Trim husks tops and any extra husk leaves. Place on grill, rotating every once in awhile for 15 minutes until husk is charred.

 Scott's Thoughts:
1. Scott is better at grilling corn than me.
2.  Brined porkchops always turns out perfect
3. You can eat pork medium, right? If not we both have a date with trichanella.

Grilled Pizza with Peaches and Sausage

Ingredients

- Publix Pizza Dough (publix is the best, in my opinion)
- Mozzarella cheese
- Caramelized Onion
- Peaches, sliced
- Hot Italian Sausage
- Minced Garlic
- Red pepper flakes
- Olive Oil

Grill sausage. Slice. Pull or roll out pizza dough (don't pull it too thin). Place on grill. Drizzle with olive oil. Place desired toppings on dough. Close grill and let cook for 3-5 minutes or until cheese melts.

After  making this pizza, Bobby Flay showed up on my tv and was none other than grilling pizza! His tips, which I will follow next time included grilling the dough briefly on both sides without any toppings. Then he used a stone or something the pizza can rest on (I will use a cookie sheet), placed cheese and toppings, put the pizza back on the grill, closed the lid and let the cheese melt.

Scott's Thoughts: 
- It's not any better than pizza from the oven (which we've semi-perfected)
- Avoid flames 

Shrimp and Sausage Linguine

A mix of two different recipes. One featured at the Publix, yes, my favorite place on earth.  The other recipe from Giada .  Scott wanted something carb heavy, leaning towards pasta.  I'm not the biggest pasta fan on earth. Too much bad-spaghetti PTSD.  I indulged. He's studying for boards, poor thing.

Ingredients 
- 1/2 Lb Shrimp, peeled/deveined
- 1 Hot Italian Sausage Link, casing removed
- 2/3 box linguine
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, finely sliced
- 2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
- Juice of 3 Lemons
- Lemon zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste (heaping)
- 2 cups left-over noodle water
- 1-2 cups Arugula**


Cook linguine. Al dente and done when the noodle sticks to the cabinet after throwing. About 7 minutes. While linguine is cooking, brown sausage over medium heat in a large skillet. Remove sausage, set aside.  Turn to med-low heat, add olive oil, saute garlic and shallots until fragrant and softened (do not let brown or crisp). Add tomato paste, lemon juice, heavy whipping cream, crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 cup of left over noodle water, salt and pepper.  Let reduce until volume is about half. Add back sausage. Add shrimp, let cook 3-4 minutes.  Slowly add linguine to coat with sauce.  Remove from heat.  Add arugula. Garnish with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Calorie Count: 670 per serving, whoa! going to have to find a way to cut some calories from this one....

Scott's Thoughts: 
1. Ice water rinsing shrimp really makes a difference (mmmmk... Scott) 
2. It's like a vodka sauce. I don't really know what's in a vodka sauce or really what's in this, they just seem the same. 
3. Watching Aladdin while eating makes it taste better


** I hate buying random ingredients I don't use often.  I do like buying bagged salads. I admit, they're easier and often come with great combinations of different lettuces that would be a lot more expensive to buy independently.  Publix was having a sale on their delux brand bagged salad, one of which included arugula. I just picked out the arugula for my pasta.  Ate the rest of the bagged salad as instructed. 

The Cobb Salad

I love the cobb salad. It is one of my favorite meals.  One, because it is really pretty to look at.  Two, because it's a versatile dish that reflects any season, mood, or whatever may be needing to be used up in the refrigerator.  My take on the cobb salad is that it doesn't matter what you put on the salad as long as you make sure it is diced.  Then, lay each of the various components along side one-another and boom! You've got a cobb salad. I was feeeling tropical tonight because mango's were 10 for $10 at publix.  I like using fruit but I make sure to balance this with savory items - avocado, red onion are normally on the top of my list.

Ingredients: 
- Avocado
- Red Bell Pepper (which I chopped up and forgot to put on, oops) 
- Mango
- Red Onion
- Cucumber
- Bag-o-salad (Mix 1 Baby Spinach + 1 Mixed Field Greens) 
- Grilled Chicken, allowed to cool to room temperature (with a ginger curry rub, premixed that my dad gave me once) 

Dressing:
Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette
Peanut Dressing

I like light, tangy dressings.  I usually use a simple cilantro-honey-lime vinaigrette with lime juice, honey, cilantro which I stir and then wisk in olive oil.  I added a few things based off another recipe including minced jalepeno (with seeds), minced garlic, a dash of balsamic, and crush red pepper flakes before wisking in the olive oil. Spicy! Original: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cilantro-lime-dressing/

The peanut dressing was a Rachel Ray recipe. Eh. Not creamy enough. Not using it again.

Scott's Thoughts: 
1.  Cilantro-lime dressing was better than other versions. (Woot!) 
2.  He didn't really touch the peanut dressing... fail. 
3. Chicken turned out really well, which means i'm starting to learn to grill. 

Thai Shrimp Green Curry

Inspired by Pinterest. Original recipe found on foodnetwork.com by Emeril which can be found at:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/thai-green-curry-shrimp-recipe/index.html

My Adapted Version:
Ingredients: 

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Vegetables: (what was looking good/on-sale at the publix + leftover veggies from last week)
• 1/2 cup-ish Zucchini
• 1/2 cup-ish julienned Red Onions
• 1/2 cup-ish julienned Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 cup-ish Broccoli 
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced AND/OR ginger/garlic paste (at the Indian grocery, and in my case I use this anytime I think of a semi-decent reason to throw it in there)
• 2 to 4 (heaping) tbsp Thai green curry paste 
• 1 tbsp finely grated lime zest
• Couple good squirts of Thai fish sauce (2 tbsp-ish) 
• 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk 
• 1 cup bottled clam juice 
• 0.75 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup cilantro (calls for thai basil - I normally have cilantro on hand and not basil so that's what I went with... it worked just fine) 
• Dash of salt
• Red pepper flakes 
• Lime slices 

In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, onions, broccoli, bell pepper and dash of salt, cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes [my veggies came out a little soggier than I'd hope and I think it's because my zucchini took longer to cook than the other veggies. Next time I'd throw the zucchini in first for 2-3 min and then the other veggies so they still have some crisp to them]. Add the garlic, garlic-ginger paste and red pepper flakes, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the curry paste, lime zest, and fish sauce, and cook, stirring, for 15 seconds . Add the coconut milk and clam juice and bring to a boil, wisk [to emulsify fattier parts of the coconut milk]. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened, 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 2 minutes. Stir in cilantro and remove from heat. Ladle over rice and squeeze about 1/2 of a lime on top.

Verdict: I'll make it again.... but, there is definitely room for improvement. 

Total calorie count (ish): 485 calories/serving (winner winner chicken dinner)

Scott's Thoughts: 
1. Cut the vegetables in half to make them easier to manage with a spoon. 
2. Use smaller shrimp. 
3.  He didn't complain about the spiciness. Either I've burned off some tastebuds or he's a little more manly today. 

Welcome!

My name is Natalie.  I am a (almost!) 4th year medical student with an interest in medicine and a passion for food.  This blog is my attempt to share my thoughts, favorite recipes and creative attempts with those out there on the interwebs.

Enjoy!