Super Bowl Food Ideas and Party Recipes – Bon Appetit.
As we deal with a snowstorm here in my area of New York and then a family party later today, you can have a chance to look over some more great Super Bowl snack, appetizers and recipes for your party, to bring to a party or just to have for your own while you watch the game. Bon Appetit has all kinds of great ideas for your Super Bowl party guide for all of your favorite game-time snacks. Check it out!
Regular followers of the blog already know how much I love sandwiches. I think could be happy having a sandwich for dinner just about every day of the week, as long as it was something different all of the time. I have looked at making Banh Mi sandwiches for a while but I have always kind of shied away from mom because I was worried that Sean and Michelle would not really care for them because of the spice that is in most of the recipes. However, when I saw this particular recipe for a pork meatball bánh mì from Bon Appétit, I decided to bite the bullet and give the recipe a try. This particular recipe does use a lot of ingredients that I do not normally have on hand so I did have to get a few things, such as daikon, a Japanese white radish. You may have to go out and get a couple of different ingredients if you want to make this particular version, but it is certainly worth the results.
Pork Meatball Banh Mi
For the Hot Chili Mayo:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
For the Meatballs:
1 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon hot chili sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
To Assemble the Sandwiches:
2 cups coarsely grated carrots
2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 10-inch-long individual baguettes or for 10-inch-long pieces French bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)
Thinly sliced jalapeno peppers
Fresh cilantro sprigs
To make the hot chili mayo, stir the mayonnaise, chopped green onions, and hot chili sauce together in a small bowl. Season the mix with salt to taste. The hot chili mayo can be made 1 day ahead and kept covered and chill in the refrigerator.
To make the meatballs, line a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix the ground pork, basil, garlic, green onions, fish sauce, hot chili sauce, sugar, cornstarch, black pepper and kosher salt in a large bowl. Using moistened hands and a scant tablespoonful for each, roll the meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange the meatballs on a baking sheet. Cover and chill the meatballs until you are ready to bake.
To create the ingredients for the sandwiches, toss the grated carrots, daikon, rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Allow the mixture to stand at room temperature for one hour, tossing occasionally. Preheat the oven to 300°. Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs. Sauté the meatballs until they are browned and cooked through, turning the meatballs often and lowering the heat if they are browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet and place them in the oven. Repeat the process with the remaining meatballs.
Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave a 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread some of the hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange the jalapenos, then cilantro, in the bottom halves of the bread shells. Fill each sandwich with 1/4 of the meatballs. Drain the pickled vegetables and place them atop the meatballs. Press on the baguette tops and serve.
The combination of the spicy mayonnaise, the pickled vegetables and the pork meatballs really make this an outstanding sandwich. Sean had the meatballs without the spicy mayo and he really like the flavor of them, comparing it to a nice piece of sausage on a baguette. I really love the way the mayo combined with the meatballs to give a nice spicy flavor and the pickled vegetables just topped it all off for me. The pickled vegetables are a lot like a coleslaw recipe, so you could use coleslaw instead if you prefer that, but using the daikon gives a little bit of heat to the vegetables. I even used the leftover mayonnaise on other sandwiches throughout the week because I like the way it turned out. I think it would be great on a hamburger, which I did not get to try but I think I will next time. Anyway, this was a fairly simple bánh mì to make that had some nice spice to it and some really great flavor.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
One of the areas that I am trying to do the most improving in during 2015 comes to the pictures that I take for this blog. Very often I just take pictures right after I have finished preparing the meal so that I can have a picture to display, and the pictures do not always turn out to be the best that I can use but I go with it and that is what I have. I admit I am no professional photographer and I do not spend a lot of time working on the photography for the blog, but I would like to try to get a little bit better at it and take some nicer pictures to use. I would also like to be able to remember to take pictures more often. Very often I forget to take pictures of the side dishes that I have made and only remember it after we have already started eating, not leaving me with anything to take pictures of to put up.. This has kept me from putting a lot of recipes on the blog since I do not have pictures of the recipes I want to use. Today I decided I am going to use a couple of the recipes anyway so at least I can share them with you and let you know how they turned out for me even if I do not have pictures to show you. In particular here are 2 side dishes I tried recently, one from Williams-Sonoma and the other from Bobby Flay. They are for maple-glazed root vegetables and for mashed potatoes with buttermilk, black pepper and green onion. Both are really simple to make and make great side dishes for all kinds of meals.
Maple-Glazed Root Vegetables
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound turnips, peeled and cut into wedges 1/2-inch wide
1 1/4 pound carrots, peeled and cut on the bias into pieces 2-inches long and 1/2-inch wide
1 1/4 pounds parsnips, peeled and cut on the bias into pieces 2-inches long and 1/2-inch wide
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
In a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat, melt the butter. When the foaming subsides, add 1/3 each of the turnips, carrots and parsnips. Cook, without stirring, until the vegetables are browned on one side, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. Repeat the process to brown the remaining vegetables in 2 more batches.
Return all of the vegetables to the pan. Stir in the chicken broth, time and 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the vegetables are just tender, about 7 to 8 minutes. He uncover the pan and continue to cook the vegetables, stirring them occasionally, until most of liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are glazed, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and serve.
You can pretty much try this recipe with any root vegetables that you like, or just one single type of vegetable that you may happen to have on hand and it works pretty well. While this recipe is for a larger group of about 8 to 10, you could scale it down to fit your particular family size needs. I actually just made this again recently using just some baby carrots that I had on hand and it turned out perfectly, with the carrots having a really nice glaze on it thanks to the maple syrup. It is a great dish to remember to use for holidays or weekend meals and goes really well with beef, chicken, turkey, or pork. The mashed potato recipe is just as easy and just as versatile.
Mashed Potatoes with Buttermilk, Black Pepper and Green Onion
4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch dice
Kosher salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 to 3 cups buttermilk
Coarsely ground black pepper
2 green onions, green and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with cold water by 2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, bring to a boil, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Drain the potatoes well. While the potatoes are cooking, combine the butter and buttermilk in a small sauce pan set over medium heat and bring it to a simmer.
Working in batches, pass the cooked potatoes through a food mill or a ricer (or just use a potato masher) over a pot. Stir the hot buttermilk mixture into the potatoes until they are smooth and creamy. Season the potatoes generously with pepper and add more salt as needed. Stir in the green onions. Cover and keep the potatoes warm over a simmering pot of water until you are ready to serve.
While everyone makes mashed potatoes pretty regularly, this is just a slight variation that gives you a little bit different flavor thanks to the buttermilk, pepper and green onion. I really like a lot of pepper in my potatoes so this was the perfect recipe since the pepper really shines through and the buttermilk really helps to make the potatoes extra creamy and add a little bit of tang to the flavor. Again this is a great dish that you can use for a holiday meal or a nice Sunday meal but it is also simple enough for you can make it during the week to have as a side dish for just about anything, including beef, chicken, turkey or pork. While using a ricer or food mill does produce great mashed potatoes and I do have a ricer to use, I very often find myself just using the potato masher to make them and they come out just fine. The ricer can be a little tedious to use when you have a lot of potatoes and some people like the mashed potatoes a little chunkier with the potato masher anyway.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
The cold weather has really been upon us here in my area of New York this week. The schools were closed last Friday and this past Monday because of ice and snow and the temperature has barely risen above 20°, with wind chills in the morning below 0 just about every day. This makes you feel like just bundling up under the covers and going back to bed each morning and not bothering to even think about what you might want to make for dinner that day. Of course, one of the best alternatives for this time of year for lunch or dinner is always a nice bowl of warm soup. One of my all-time favorite dishes always make use of some of the great winter squash that is available and makes a nice thick squash soup to have with some homemade bread or rolls to help fill you up and really keep you warm. This particular recipe, for a roasted winter squash soup, comes from the Cooking Channel and is from Michael Chiarello. It makes use of a really nice toasted spice rub that you use for the squash and the soup itself and while it may seem like there are a lot of steps involved, the prep time outside of getting the squash ready (which you can do well in advance if you like) only takes about 20 minutes and the cook time is not much more than that, so you can have everything done and ready in about 45 minutes.
Roasted Winter Squash Soup
For the Soup:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup (1/4 inch) diced onion
1/4 cup (1/4 inch) diced celery
1/4 cup (1/4 inch) diced carrot
1 cinnamon stick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, optional
1 1/2 cups Roasted Winter Squash recipe, recipe to follow
1/2 cup half-and-half
For the Toasted Spice Rub:
1/4 cup fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/4 cup (1 ounce) chili powder
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
For the Roasted Winter Squash:
3 pounds winter squash
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons Toasted Spice Rub
To make the toasted spice rub, toast the fennel seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns in a small, heavy pan set over medium heat. When the fennel turns light brown, work quickly. You may want to turn on the exhaust fan over your stove as it can get quite smoky. Add the red pepper flakes and toss rapidly, mixing the ingredients quickly. Immediately turn the spice mixture out onto a plate to cool. Once the spices have cooled, put the mixture into a blender with the chili powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend until the spices are evenly ground. If you have a small spice mill or a coffee grinder dedicated to just grinding spices, grind only the fennel, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes. Pour the ground ingredients into a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. Keep the spice mix in a glass jar in a cool, dry place.
For the roasted squash, preheat the oven to 400°. Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. Halve the squash lengthwise, discard the seeds, then cut the squash into a 1-inch dice. Place the squash in a large bowl and season it with salt and pepper.
Heat the butter in a medium skillet set over medium-high heat. When the butter ceases to foam and has turned a light brown, pull the pan off the heat and immediately add the sage, granulated sugar, balsamic vinegar (stand back so as not to get splattered by the vinegar and the vapors from it), molasses and the toasted spice rub. Mix well and let the mixture simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes so the flavors can meld.
Pour the vinegar mixture over the squash and toss it well, then transfer the squash to a heavy rimmed baking sheet or baking dish large enough to hold the squash in a single layer. Place the squash in the oven and roast, tossing the squash at least once, until it is very tender and caramelized, about 45 minutes to one hour. Set the squash aside until it is cool enough to handle but still warm, so the liquids are runny.
Working in batches, if necessary, transfer the warm squash and all the cooking liquids to a food processor and process until it is smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
For the soup, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat until it is shimmering. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and cinnamon stick and sauté until the vegetables are soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth or vegetable broth and the coriander, if using, and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer the broth for several minutes. Stir in the squash until it is smooth, then simmer gently to let the flavors meld, about 10 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.
Purée the soup in a blender until it is smooth. The soup can be made ahead to this point, cooled, covered, and refrigerated for several days or frozen for about one month. It will thicken as it cools and may need thinning out with more broth or water when you are re-heating it. Return the soup to the pan and reheated gently. Add the half-and-half, if using. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Keep the soup warm until you are ready to serve. Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Garnish the soup with dollops of mascarpone cheese or toasted pumpkin seeds, if desired
While it does take some time ahead of time for prep work to get the squash ready, there is not really a lot of work involved in it and it is certainly worth the effort. I used a combination of butternut squash and acorn squash but you could certainly use any type of squash that you want either in a combination or by itself. I also did add one diced apple to the vegetable mixture of the onion, celery, and carrot to give the soup a little extra sweetness and flavor. The soup comes out to be a very dark, rich color with some nice sweetness from the squash thanks to the balsamic vinegar and molasses that you put on top of it. The spice rub does give the dish a little bit of a kick, so you may want to watch how much chile powder use if you are looking for something a little milder or eliminate the chili powder and red pepper flakes altogether for something smoother. As I said, this dish is great with some homemade rolls, biscuits or bread or even just your favorite store-bought variety or you could make a nice meal with a soup and sandwich idea for lunch or dinner.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, and enjoy your meal!
It seems that it is pretty frigid just about everywhere across the United States today, and I know that it is below zero here with the wind chill this morning with predictions that it will get even colder here tonight and tomorrow. I hate the cold weather a great deal as it is so I do my best to stay inside, stay warm and make the best of it. Days like today are ideal for breaking out the soup recipes and I plan to make a few different soups over the next week or so, but here is a recipe for a family favorite that I actually made around the holidays for a potato leek soup. We love potato leek soup in my house and it goes pretty quickly around here so I try to make a lot of it so we can have it available for lunches as well. While this is a soup you can serve hot or cold, I always prefer it warm. I tried this simple recipe from Alton Brown this time out and it is pretty similar to ones I have tried in the past, though it has a slight change with a larger ratio of leeks to potatoes.
Potato Leek Soup
1 pound leeks, cleaned and dark green sections removed, about 4 to 5 medium
3 tablespoons butter
Heavy pinch kosher salt, plus additional for seasoning
14 ounces (about 3 or 4 small) Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced small
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon snipped chives
After thoroughly cleaning the leeks, chop the leeks into small pieces. In a 6-quart saucepan or Dutch oven set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and a heavy pinch of the kosher salt and sweat the leeks for about 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook until the leeks are tender, about 25 minutes, stirring the leeks occasionally.
Add the potatoes and the vegetable or chicken broth, increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and gently simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 45 minutes.
Turn off the heat and puree the mixture with an immersion blender until the soup is smooth. Stir in the heavy cream, buttermilk and white pepper. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning as needed. Sprinkle with chives and serve immediately or chill and serve cold.
I love the creamy, silky texture of this soup and all of the great flavor you get from the potatoes and leeks, and this version has the leeks really shining through for some excellent flavor. You can make this vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken if you like and the combination of buttermilk and heavy cream is nice for this dish, though you could just use heavy cream if you prefer it that way. This soup makes an excellent first course for any meal or it can be a great meal on its own, which is how we often have it. Serve it with some homemade bread, rolls, or biscuits or even with sandwiches and you have a great dinner that is easy to make.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Best New Year’s Eve Recipes : Food Network.
New Year’s Eve is just two days away and if you are planning a party, big or small, Food Network has some great recipe ideas for you for appetizers, snacks, main courses, cocktails and more so you can ring in the New Year. Check it out!
I will be back with more of my own recipes once the holidays are are all over with so stay tuned for some great, exciting new things to try for the New Year. Thanks for following!
After spending last week visiting my family in North Carolina it’s back to the real world of work, school and cooking here in New York. We had a great visit with everyone and had a fun time over the Thanksgiving holiday, enjoying a great meal and good times with the family. It was good to get home after a long drive back so we took it easy Saturday and had a nice one dish meal on Sunday, making use of a whole chicken, some fresh veggies and this recipe from Serious Eats for a pan-roasted chicken with vegetables in a Dijon jus for some added zest and flavor. it’s another great one dish meal that you can put together pretty easily and is packed with great flavors.
Pan-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables and Dijon Jus
16 fingerling or yellow new potatoes, scrubbed
3 carrots, 2 peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks, 1 roughly chopped
Kosher salt
16 Brussels sprouts, halved
Freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut into 8 serving pieces, backbone reserved
1 cup dry white wine
1 onion, split in half
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
3 to 4 sprigs fresh sage
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken stock
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons fish sauce
Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the potatoes and the carrots cut into 1-inch chunks in a medium saucepan, cover the vegetables with cold salted water and bring them to a boil, then simmer the vegetables until they are just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the vegetables and transfer them to a large bowl. Add the Brussels sprouts, season the vegetables with salt and pepper, toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and set the vegetables aside.
Transfer the chicken backbone to the now-empty saucepan. Add the roughly chopped carrot, onion,celery, sage, and bay leaves. Set the saucepan aside. Season the chicken pieces thoroughly with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet set over high heat until the oil is lightly smoking. Add the chicken pieces skin side down and cook, moving the chicken pieces as little as possible, until the chicken skin is rendered and a deep golden brown, about 10 to 14 minutes. Flip the pieces as they finish and lightly brown the second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer the browned chicken pieces to a plate and set them aside.
When all the chicken is browned, add the white wine to the skillet and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Transfer the white wine to a medium saucepan and put in the reserved chicken backbone. Pour in any juices that have accumulated on the chicken resting plate and wipe out the skillet with a paper towel.
Add the chicken stock to the saucepan with the chicken backbone. Bring the stock to a simmer over high heat, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover and let the stock gently bubble while the chicken roasts. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and heat the skillet over high heat until the oil is lightly smoking. Add the vegetable mixture and top the vegetables with the chicken pieces, skin side up. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the chicken breasts register 150 degrees and the chicken legs register at least 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer, removing the chicken pieces and transferring them to a clean plate as they finish roasting, about 45 minutes total.
When all of the chicken pieces have finished roasting, add the shallots to the skillet with the vegetables and toss them to combine. Return the skillet to the oven and continue roasting, flipping the vegetables occasionally, until the vegetables and shallots are browned all over, about 10 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven, add the parsley, toss to coat and then place the chicken pieces directly on top of the vegetables.
Strain the simmering chicken broth mixture into a small saucepan or bowl. Whisk in the butter, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and fish sauce. Season the jus to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the chicken and vegetables, serving the jus at the table.
This meal is packed with ingredients and lots of great flavor. You get a really nice browning on the chicken pieces and I liked everything set over the vegetables to get even more flavor onto the veggies. I actually added the shallot in from the start and roasted the vegetables just with the chicken, tossing them lightly when I took the chicken out and then put the chicken right back in the skillet. The Dijon jus was a nice touch with the chicken and vegetables, with a good mix of the mustard, lemon juice and fish sauce. It all came together very nicely and mostly in one dish (outside of the prep work) so it was easy clean-up as well.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Kitchen Daily 50 Thanksgiving Recipes
Still need some ideas for your Thanksgiving meal? Kitchen Daily has put together 50 recipes to cover all of your holiday needs to make a great meal. Check it out!
You can find all the recipes you need for your Thanksgiving holiday meal when you check out these 30 essential Thanksgiving recipes from The Kitchn. Everything you need is covered here to make sure that you have a great meal. Check it out!
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Happily Ever After Lives Here
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