panko -

by hungry monster

New Year’s Resolution: Eat More Healthy Poboys

You know what time it is. Time to lighten things up. Time to acknowledge our jeans are a little tighter after all the holiday treats.

Time for food makeovers.

I just got back from a New Years’ trip to New Orleans and had my first “authentic” shrimp poboy. After 2 hours of waiting (1 hour in line to order and 1 hour waiting on the food–seriously), I was ready to dig in. Honestly? I was kind of disappointed. I’m not going to name the famous establishment in which I ate, but it definitely made me go “hmmm..”

Ahhh, the picture is beautiful, no? Unfortunately, the shrimp was bland and overly coated in dry cornmeal batter, there was waaay too much bread, and there was no remolaude sauce. What? Isn’t the sauce the whole point??

Sigh.

Well, I’m not eating that sort of thing anymore. I’m cleaning things up.

The irony is, that this one was so much better. Trust me guys. I’m incapable of telling lies.

Healthier Shrimp Poboy

by Emily

White Winter Truffled Mac & Cheese

My very good friend and longtime roommate, Dayna, and I have a special wintertime tradition. Every single year, the first time it snows, we set aside the evening to drink a bunch of wine and make homemade truffled macaroni and cheese. It all started five years ago when I found this recipe online and we decided to whip it up on an especially chilly Seattle night—coincidentally, the first night it ended up dumping snow all over the city. It was such a perfect comfort dinner, we vowed that we would cook it together at the first snow of every winter. And we’ve kept our promise every single year!

We ran into an issue this winter, though. I moved to Austin in March 2012, and Dayna ended up moving down here (into my house! Roomies again!) Around a month ago, we realized we had made a grave mistake: there’s almost never any snow in central Texas! Well, obviously we decided that we would have to break the vow and make the mac any damn time we pleased down here. Our First Snow Mac & Cheese became White Winter Mac & Cheese (white because it refers to the snow of years past, and also because this recipe uses all white cheeses : chèvre, white cheddar, gruyere, and parmigiano reggiano).

I can’t emphasize this enough: this macaroni and cheese is amazing. It’s the best homemade mac & cheese recipe we have ever used. I originally found it on the lovely What We’re Eating, but over the years Dayna and I have tweaked it to our preferences. Feel free to do the same —amount of truffle oil, spice, types of mushrooms, and type of pasta can all be modified to your liking.

White Winter Truffled Mac & Cheese

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 1 comments

by Katt Kasper

Rainy Day Meatballs

On a recent Saturday morning here in sunny southern California, I woke up fully expecting to go for a long run, when I look out the window and see a phenomenon that I rarely experience and always despise—RAIN! God, I hate the rain. I’ve got an underground lawn sprinkler system that is fed by the water we steal from Colorado, so why do I need rain? Now what do I do to fill my day? Guess I could cook something…but what would take all day to make and yet still be worth the effort? Hmmmm….wait, I’ve got it! Meatballs! What’s better on a rainy afternoon than spaghetti and meatballs? And considering that I’ve already had a bottle of wine and some crusty bread for breakfast, it makes perfect sense!

First I’ll make my usual large pot of tomato sauce and while it simmers for a few hours I’ll make a batch of my world-class meatballs. Being that I was raised on meatballs made by some chef named ‘Boy-ardee,’ I don’t have any warm childhood memories of great-tasting Italian dishes. I came from a Polish family and our version of spaghetti and meatballs was sauerkraut and sausage. So over the years I’ve tried many different versions and methods of making this dish, and this is the recipe that I’ve come up with. I don’t know what is considered a ‘classic’ version but this one never gets any complaints… except that I should have made more. Maybe it’s the medical marijuana talking but my friends seem to like it. I hope you do too. It just takes a while to put together so rent The Godfather 1 and 2 and open a couple bottles of good Chianti or <erlot. As they say in Italy, “Divertanosi”! (Look it up!)

Katt’s Rainy Day Meatballs

in Bacon / Cheese / Recipe / Red Meat 0 comments

by Russell Warnick

Super Bowl Grub: Pub Food Triple Play

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of bar food, my waistline can attest to that. However, the biggest conundrum I encounter when I find myself seated atop a bar stool with a pint of beer is what to order — there really are so many great choices. Chicken tenders, nachos, potato skins, how to choose!

From time to time I’ll have a light bulb moment and with what I’m about to tell you is, I think, one of my best light bulb moments ever, and just in time for the Super Bowl.

Potato skins loaded with nachos and topped with chicken tenders. Incredible.

Read on for the recipe.

in Cheese / Fowl / Recipe 3 comments

by Borracho

Gridiron Grub: Roasted Tomato and Chevre Chiles

I can explain the merits of a 3-4 versus a 4-3 defense. I know the 3^rd string running back on your favorite team, what college he went to and can discuss why I think his downhill running style will compliment their style of offense. The first professional photograph I ever took was a 10 month old Borracho in a Philadelphia Eagles sweatsuit! I love football and have watched countless hours of games and been to numerous stadiums.

Fans go to stadiums hours (and sometimes days) before games to tailgate. They set up in parking lots across the country with everything from disposable charcoal grills to elaborate set-ups of culinary ingenuity that fill the pre-game air with delicious scents. Once you’re inside a stadium, there are always options; different towns have their own signature foods and some stadiums even go as far as: sushi, Rocky Mountain oysters , lobster rolls, ahi tuna sandwiches and even pork chops on a stick!

While the hospitality is great, I have seen too many burnt wings, lukewarm dips, stale chips and flat beer. This is the year that I say no more! I am on a quest to sack traditional edibles and up the quality of football food. Some will be familiar gridiron grub, some tributes to various cities and some will come from your suggestions. Because sometimes you need to call an audible to make something happen.

in Cheese / Recipe 11 comments