Day 5: Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes

Final post for Day 5! I should probably stick to trying one new recipe per day, trying to stay on top of these posts is much more difficult when there's multiple new recipes a day! 

I wasn't a huge fan of these potatoes (partially because I messed up and used Reduced Fat Cheese--I don't know why we even have it--and instead of melting it got crispy, since I am a texture person that's probably the reason I wasn't a big fan. The boyfriend loved them though and said I could definitely repeat it.

Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients: 

Russet Potatoes

Shredded Cheese (not Reduced Fat--I learned this the hard way--it doesn't melt right)

Parmesan cheese

Cold Butter

1. Slice butter and parmesan into thin slices. Slice Potatoes without cutting completely through. 

2. Fill every other potato slice with butter/cheese (cheese, butter, cheese, butter, etc)

3. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes (until potato is done)

4. Top potatoes with shredded cheese and bake until melted.

ENJOY!

Day 5: Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus

I am going to break this day's meal into three posts since I tried 3 new recipes that all deserve their own special attention. The entire meal consisted to Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus, Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes, and a Ribeye with Herb Sauce. It seemed like as a whole the meal was an unhealthy version of what could have been potentially pretty diet. I only really liked the steak and herb sauce, but the bf really liked the potato and asparagus.
I think I realized that I don't like asparagus. I tried, and I think it it were any other vegetable cooked this way I'd probably love it. The boyfriend loved it though and requested that I make asparagus like this again (he rarely--if ever--requests vegetables).

This is where I found this recipe originally. 

Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus 

What You'll Need:

1 puff pastry sheet

flour for dusting

6 pieces asparagus, ends trimmed

5 ounces cream cheese

1 egg, beaten

Parmesan Cheese
Onion Powder (to taste)
Garlic Powder (to taste)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Roll the puff pastry sheet out and layer generously with cream cheese

3. Sprinkle onion powder and garlic powder over cream cheese (I wish I used more than I did)

4. Cut pastry into 6 strips

5. Wrap one strip around one spear of asparagus.

6. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

7. Bake at 400°F until pastry is cooked and golden brown (10-15 minutes).

ENJOY! 

Day 5: Ribeye Steak with Herb Sauce

I am going to break this day's meal into three posts since I tried 3 new recipes that all deserve their own special attention. The entire meal consisted to Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus, Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes, and a Ribeye with Herb Sauce. It seemed like as a whole the meal was an unhealthy version of what could have been potentially pretty diet. I only really liked the steak and herb sauce, but the bf really liked the potato and asparagus.

I figured--Why not play around with iMovie while keeping track of these meals.

I loved the steak with this herb sauce! The bf was less thrilled (he made the realization that he doesn't like uncooked sauces lol). I will definitely repeat this recipe (halved because it will just be for me).

Recipe for Ribeye Steak with Herb Sauce that is easy and delicious.

Original recipe
My recipe version:

Ribeye with Herb Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tbsp. fresh oregano leaves
1 tsp. dried rosemary leaves
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 tbsp. dried tarragon leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (24 oz.) 2"--3"-thick rib-eye, strip, or porterhouse steak

1. Measure out 1 cup of fresh Basil and 1 cup of fresh Parsley and chop together.
2. Mix all ingredients (except EVOO) together until evenly blended. Add EVOO to herb mixture and blend.
3. Let herb mixture stand for 1 hour.
4. Season steak then broil at 450F for 6 minutes per side (this is for my oven cooking to medium rare--yours may be slower or quicker so keep an eye on it)
5. Let steak rest for 5 minutes. Then trim fat and remove the bone.
6. Cut steak in strips and cover with herb sauce.
ENJOY!

Brioche Burger Buns (for Day 7's burger)

Brioche burger buns just may be the best culinary invention ever! In my opinion, there are no better burger buns! So I attempted to make my own brioche burger buns for the "three smoke burgers" I will be making for dinner on Friday. The prep and wait times are a bit long so it is probably best to start making this recipe a couple days before when you actually want to eat them. I read here that once the buns are done cooking you should let them cool then store for 2 days in a ziplock bag (supposed to help reabsorb moisture).

Brioche Burger Buns

What You'll Need:
1/3 cup of Warm Water
1 envelope of Dry Active Yeast
1 pinch of Sugar
3 Tbsp of Sugar
2 1/4 cups of Bread flour
5 Tbsp of All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 Tsp of Kosher Salt (the recipe I followed requested course salt)
3 Large Eggs
3/4 cup of Unsalted Butter
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Tbsp of Heavy Whipping Cream

1. Pour 1/3 cup of Warm Water in a small bowl with Yeast packet and pinch of sugar. Stir to blend then cover and let sit until the yeast dissolves and the mixture is slightly frothy and creamy.

2. Meanwhile, mix 2 cups of Bread Flour, All Purpose Flour, 3 Tbsp of Sugar, and Salt. 

3. Sift flour mixture over Yeast mixture and mix for 1 minute. The dough will be crumbly and dry.

4. Add Eggs one at a time and beat for 30 seconds after each. Then beat dough for 8 minutes on medium (I'm referring to a stand mixer with a dough hook throughout the mixing process).

5. With mixer running on medium, add Butter 1 Tbsp at a time. I needed to reduce the speed the more butter I added since it got pretty splashy. Once all the butter has been incorporated mix the dough on medium for another 5 minutes.

6. Once the dough is soft, smooth, and shiny turn it onto a floured surface. Kneed 1/4 cup more flour into the dough.

7. Butter a large bowl and transfer dough to it, then turn to coat with butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and set in a warm draft-free place (I set it in my cold oven and it rose beautifully). Leave until almost doubled in volume (about 1 hour).

8. Punch down dough and smooth (this was totally my doing because I wanted it to be smooth, the original recipe just said punch it down). Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel again then refrigerate overnight.

9. Make 6 foil rings (I used this tutorial to figure it out) and I only made 6 because I decided to freeze half of the dough to make the other half of the batch in the future.

10. Shape the buns (I used this technique to shape mine) and place in the middle of the foil rings.

11. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

12. Beat Egg Yolk and Whipping Cream then brush over tops of buns before baking for 12-16 minutes (until deep golden brown) at 400 degrees.

13. Once done, cool completely then place in a ziplock bag and store in refrigerator for a day or two (supposed to help reabsorb moisture and make the buns softer when you eat them).

14. When you are making your burgers remove these buns from the fridge and lightly toast insides in the oven. When warm add a tasty burger and they will be amazing!

I made this burger recipe and served it on these buns. I was amazing! Definitely a repeat recipe for the future!

Day 4: Linguini Carbonara & Garlic Bacon Green Beans

Linguini Carbonara & Garlic Bacon Green Beans

I am not a fan of veggies (of pretty much all kinds) so I am willing to try any way to spice up boring old veggies. Yesterday night's dinner side of veggies was probably one of the most unhealthy ways to eat green beans that probably eliminated all valuable nutrients, but they were tasty! I served the Garlic Bacon Green Beans as a side to the Linguini Carbonara, because why not have every dish made with bacon?!

I found the initial recipe for the Carbonara in the cookbook my grandma gave me years ago that I am finally using (How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman). Thanks Grandma! I adapted the recipe to use the linguini pasta I bought (instead of angel hair pasta) and reduced the proportions to be a reasonable size for 2 people.

Verdict: This was a very easy and quick meal that was delicious. It is probably very fattening with all the butter, pasta, and bacon. The boyfriend and I are in agreement on this one, it is definitely something I will be repeating again.

Linguini Carbonara

(Serves 2 with a small amount of leftovers)

What you will need:

Linguini (I used a pasta measurer and portioned it for 2 people)

1 Tbsp of Olive Oil

5 Pieces of Bacon

1 Egg

1/2 cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Add Olive Oil and Bacon to a skillet over medium heat. Cook until bacon is crisp.

2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, salt the boiling water and add pasta. Cook until al dente.

3. In a warm bowl, beat egg and Parmesan together. 

4. When pasta is done, drain the water and immediately add to the warm bowl with the egg mixture. Add bacon and some bacon grease to the bowl and mix together until pasta is evenly coated.

5. Serve Immediately on a warm plate (pasta cools quickly).

Garlic Bacon Green Beans

Made 3 servings 

What you'll need:

1 can of green beans (fresh would obviously be better, I like Stater Bros. canned cut green beans)

4 slices of bacon

2-3 garlic cloves

1. Fry bacon until crispy (I continued frying this bacon in the skillet for the Carbonara's bacon).

2. When the bacon is crispy, remove it from the pan and crumble/mince. Once bacon is in pieces add it back to the skillet along with drained green beans and garlic.

3. Toss together until well blended.

4. Serve and Enjoy (even if you aren't a green bean person you will enjoy these)! 

Day 3: Jalapeño Popper Smothered Chicken

 Tonight’s dinner is a bit outside my comfort zone…Just the amount of mayonnaise and cream cheese alone almost deterred me from trying it. But that’s the whole point of this cooking challenge I’m forcing myself to do! 

The Verdict: Tony LOVED it! He raved about it, which is VERY rare! :D I am still not sure exactly how I feel about this dish. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I think I am hesitant to accept this many flavors being mixed together in a single bite. I like each of the flavors, but I don't want to deal with them all in every bite. I don't know... maybe I'm weird. Since Tony insists I make it again, I will give it another chance and I hope I'll have a more definite feeling about it.

What You’ll Need:

Chicken layer:

1 large Chicken Breast (I pounded mine flat so it was the same thickness throughout and this fed 2 people with some leftovers)

Seasoning for chicken (I used a small amount of cumin, onion powder, salt and pepper on the chicken before cooking it)

Jalapeño Popper Layer:

1 8oz pack of cream cheese, softened (The entire 8 oz. wasn’t necessary I could have probably gotten away with ½ this amount but didn’t want to deal with figuring out how much I’d have to cut the rest of the ingredients so I was fine with the leftover filling)

4 slices of bacon, diced

1/2 jalapeno, diced (I used a fresh jalapeño, I only wanted enough for the flavor and a little kick so it wasn’t spicy, use more jalapeño if you want the layer spicier)

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 cup shredded cheese (I used Stater Bros. Mexican Blend of Shredded cheese, but any cheese mixture with Cheddar would be fine)

1/4 cup Kraft grated Parmesan

 Topping:

Bread Crumbs (I used Panko Plain bread crumbs)

1/4 cup Kraft grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly season chicken however you would like. I am a big fan of onion powder and cumin so that’s what I used as well as salt and pepper. Place seasoned chicken in a casserole dish lined with foil (less cleanup mess this way) and bake until juices run clear (25-35 minutes—mine took 30 minutes until done). Once cooked reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

2. While chicken is cooking, fry bacon until crispy. When crispy, remove bacon from pan and add diced onion. Sauté onion until tender then remove from heat. Add crumbled/diced bacon, mayonnaise, cream cheese, jalapeño, shredded cheese, and Parmesan cheese to pan and combine. Once completely blended together add this layer to the cooked chicken.

3. Once the jalapeño popper layer is evenly spread to cover the chicken sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Once the breadcrumbs lightly cover the previous layer add the prated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes until the breadcrumbs are slightly more golden and the cheese has slightly started to melt on top.

4. Serve and enjoy. I made an interesting variation of a Mexican Cilantro Rice dish as a side, I’m not sure about it still, but Tony (the bf) really loved both the chicken and the rice. I didn’t hate either, but I’m not sure I really liked them either. Tony said he really would like me to make them again, so I will give them another shot at some point in the future.