Mackenzie (a grilled cheese sandwich)

In Brooklyn there is a fantastic bar called Noorman's Kil. They serve whiskey and grilled cheese.  I could not recommend this place enough.  If you ever go to NYC with me, I will probably drag you there.  I won their first annual Grilled Cheese competition last year and was granted an automatic entry into this year's competition.  Here is the 2015 recipe!

Ingredients:

• Bread*
• Fontina
• Asiago
• Gorgonzola
• Mozzarella**
• Garlic
• Sun Dried Tomatoes (in oil)
• Basil

Directions:

1. The garlic and sun dried tomatoes get made into a spread.  I use an 8.5 oz jar of tomatoes for about three large cloves of garlic.  This will make enough for about 4-6 sandwiches.  Pulse the garlic in the food processor until it is minced.  Drain the oil off the tomatoes, squeezing a bit (some left is ok but you don't want them dripping), then add them to the food processor for a few seconds  You are looking for them to be blended into tiny bits but it does not need to be smooth.  Extra spread goes great on crackers and stores fairly well in the fridge too.
2. Spread a thin layer of this on one slice of bread
3. Layer the cheeses.  I did them in the order listed above because that was the easiest structurally with the cheese formats I used.  The gorgonzola is a strong cheese so you probably want to use about half as much as any of the other cheeses.  I had the other ones roughly equal, but you don't need to be exact.
4. Snip one large or two medium leaves of basil into little bits and sprinkle atop the cheeses. If you do not have fresh basil, a generous sprinkle of the dried stuff is just fine.  Plop the other bread slice on top.
5. Press that sandwich on a panini press.  If you don't have one, you can try cooking it the regular way in a pan but it's going to be very tricky with the amount of cheese you've crammed in.
6. Slice in half and enjoy.

In case you were wondering, I came in first place (again). I don't have the official dates yet for the sandwich but it will probably be on the menu for May.

* For the competition it was required that we use Orwashers bread so I used their Cabernet Rustica. For testing I used Trader Joe's Tuscan Pane Loaf.  You can use anything similar.  This sandwich would go great on ciabatta, which is probably what they will serve it on at the bar.

** I used the bag of pre-shredded mozzarella.  The fresh stuff is quite delicious but it does not melt the same.

Buffalo Mac and Cheese

I used to live near a bar that used to offer this as an appetizer and it was so delicious I had to replicate it at home.  The recipe is for one box of pasta which feeds two hungry people for dinner with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

• Pasta (elbows, shells, twirlies are all good)
• Cheddar (for one box of pasta I used 2 cups shredded)
• Blue Cheese (you can buy the crumbles or a wedge, however much you want)
• Milk (you will only need a bit so if you're not a milk drinker or coffee-er just buy the smallest amount.  Any percent is fine, I use skim because it's what I drink and there isn't a noticeable difference)
• Cooked Chicken* (2 breasts)
• Frank's RedHot sauce (I just dump and taste but I'm going to guess 1/3 cup)

Directions:

1. If you bought your cheese in blocks, shred it now
2. Put a pot of water in to boil.  Dump some salt in.
3. When it boils, add the pasta.
4. When the pasta is done* drain it and dump it back in the pot.  Do NOT run it under cold water.  Then turn the burner to the lowest setting
5. Dump in the cheddar and some blue cheese (I only put a bit in at this point) and mix until evenly coated.  If the cheese looks stringy, don't worry.
6. Dump in one "glug" of milk and mix until thoroughly combined.  If it still looks stringy, put a bit more milk.  You are going for a creamy or gooey sauce texture.  You shouldn't need more than two glugs of milk for this.
7. Dump in the Frank's and mix until combined***.
8. Scoop a bowlful and top with additional blue cheese crumbles for a fancy dinner!

It is tasty without chicken too but not as filling.

Make sure to add the Frank's last.  If you add it before the cheese, the cheese doesn't melt right and it ends up as these little bitty globs instead of a nice creamy sauce.  The flavor is the same but the texture is not as good.

If you are ambitious and want to screw around in the kitchen you can try making the cheese sauce separately by starting with a roux.  This has been quite finicky in my experience and is more trouble than it's really worth.

*I most recently made this with chicken I made in the crockpot.  To make the crockpot chicken, simply place the chicken in the crockpot and turn it on low for 6-7 hours.  Then shred.  If you want to make this right now, pan frying the chicken works as well.  Simply dice your chicken, then dump it into a skillet with a bit of oil until it is cooked through.
**You can do what the box says or you can stand around stirring it every couple minutes and then taking one pasta out, running it under cold water, and eating it to see if it's un-crunchy yet.
***If you aren't sure how much to put, dump a little less than you think, mix, and taste.  It is not an exact science.  Not enough Frank's? Add a bit more?  Too much?  Add more cheese!  Wayyyy too much? Better luck next time :/

Ada (a grilled cheese sandwich)

In Brooklyn there is a fantastic bar called Noorman's Kil. They serve whiskey and grilled cheese.  I could not recommend this place enough.  If you ever go to NYC with me, I will probably drag you there.  Anyway they decided to have a grilled cheese competition and of course I decided I would enter it (why not!).  I tested out at least eight different recipes and this one was the clear winner.  I submitted this recipe and they picked it as a finalist so I got to compete in their grill-off.

Ingredients:

• Bread*
• Smoked Gouda
• Cheddar**
• Gruyere**
• Vidalia Onions (you will caramelize them)
• Butter
• Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

1. Chop your onions.
2. Heat some butter in a heavy pot and when it's melted, dump in the onions.
3. The goal here is to caramelize the onions, so basically keep it pretty low, stir it every once in a while but not too too much.  If you have never done this before, look it up.  There are far better directions on other sites.
4. Once you have caramelized onions,, take them off the heat and add some balsamic vinegar.  Don't go too crazy.  Taste it and add more if you need it.
5. Grate your cheeses.  If you slice it, it won't melt as evenly.  You can go the lazy route but if you have a nice grater*** it's not too much extra effort.
6. Assemble your sandwich. Bread. Tiny sprinkling of cheddar/gruyere. Thick layer of smoked gouda. Thin layer of balsamic onions. Thick layer of cheddar gruyere. Bread
7. Press that sandwich on a panini press.  If you don't have one, you can try cooking it the regular way in a pan but it's going to be trickier.
8. Slice in half and enjoy.

In case you were wondering, I came in first place. If you go during May of this year (2014) you can order it off of their menu.

* For the competition it was required that we use Orwashers bread so I used their Chardonnay Miche. For testing I used Trader Joe's Tuscan Pane Loaf.  You can use anything similar.

** If you have a Trader Joe's you can use their "Cheddar Gruyere Melange" cheese.  That's what I did.  If you don't, you can buy some of each kind of cheese and just mix them yourself.

*** I think this is the one I have.  It is definitely worth the money.  I've had it for years and it is hands down the best cheese grater I have used in my entire life.

Chilean Sandwiches

I went to a great place in Boston called Chacarero today -- a Chilean sandwich place. I liked it so much I decided to reverse-engineer their spicy sauce and I found a recipe online for the style of bread they used. Enjoy!

to make the bread:
(note, this makes 12 loaves, so cut this in 1/3 for a reasonable amount)

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon granulated yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups warm water
1 / 2 cup butter, melted
6 to 7 cups flour

In a cup of warm water dissolves the sugar, sprinkle yeast and let stand for 10 minutes. Dissolve salt in 2 cups of warm water. with 6 cups of flour, make a circle like a crown with a hole in the middle where you will, while stirring with a spoon melted butter, warm salt water, and yeast. Rub a little mass (about 10 minutes) until it becomes smooth and elastic. Remove portions of the size of a lemon, give them a round shape and then press the palms of the hands to a thickness of one centimeter. Put the loaves on a well trained floured baking sheet, prick with a fork in five places, to avoid inflated excessively and depart. Let stand in warm place to rise (45 minutes approx.) Bake in a hot oven at 400 ° F (200 ° C) for 20 minutes until browned.

(source: translated from http://www.recetaschilenas.com/receta.asp?id=22)

the ever-important green chile sauce:
(this is what I tasted in the sauce; you may vary the recipe according to spice preference)
around six green chiles / serrano chiles
lil bit of chopped onion
big ol bunch of cilantro, washed
dash of olive oil for proper consistency
three cloves garlic

put all items in a blender. blend.

sandwich veggies:
steam up some fresh green beans and brush with a tiny bit of melted butter
roast up some red bell peppers
mash up some avocados
slice up some tomatoes

ASSEMBLE!
slice bread lengthwise for proper sammich-making.
at this point you can optionally pan sear some chicken or beef.
smear avocado paste on one bread slice, followed by chile sauce.
other bread slice: MUENSTER CHEESE. yeahhhh that's right!
put your hot beef/chicken on dat cheeeese
if going the vegetarian route, skip the previous step and just get the green beans nice and warm and slap those on there
lay on some peppers and sliced tomatoes
sprinkle of salt and fresh-cracked black pepper
sammich that shit, then slice in half to be ladylike and only eat one portion at a time...then DEVOUR!