Category Archives: Recipes

January 24, 2013 · 9:34 am

Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

So here’s how it went down:

Last week I was dying for something cheesy and delicious so I suggested we hit up our local favorite, Queens Comfort, a magical place that boasts the most fabulous macaroni and cheese. The only problem was mi amor. He too wanted some delicious mac and cheese, but alas Queens Comfort serves theirs with bacon and my boy is of the tribe, so bacon is a deal breaker.

So I suggested instead that I would make a delicious baked mac and cheese at home that was nutritionally appropriate for both of us. Then, while at the market, a non-kosher lightbulb went off, and we decided to kick it up a notch and add some buffalo chicken. BAM. And we’re off!

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Melt butter with garlic & onions.

The first (and most complex) step was the sauce, which began with 3 tbsp butter. To this I added garlic onions and some jalapeño (cause I’m spicy). After this began to simmer, I whisked in 3 tbsp flour, effectively creating a roux.

Whisk in the flour.

Once the mixture turns a lovely shade of brown, add in 3 cups of milk. Then start slowly adding whatever cheese you fancy. We used cheddar here:

Add milk and cheese.

Then once it’s all melty and delicious, lower the heat, but stir occasionally whilst getting the rest of the dish together.

Marinade chicken in buffalo sauce.

I had my chicken marinating in buffalo sauce for about a half an hour, then into a buttery pan until it looks good enough to eat. I then moved the chicken to a cutting board to cool before I sliced it into bite-sized pieces. Then everything into the pan!

Add broccoli and pasta to pan.

Return the chicken the skillet, followed by whatever kind of pasta you enjoy. We used whole-wheat elbows to convince ourselves this dish was healthy. See also: use of broccoli in this dish.

Close up of the magic.

Because I’m naive enough to think you can just send a man to the grocery store and expect him to know what you mean when you say “foil baking pan,” I got to coin the soon-to-be-world-famous “mac and cheese pie” with these babies:

Top with bleu cheese, breadcrumbs and butter.

I scooped it all into two of these pans, then covered them with a little more cheddar, a few bleu cheese crumbles and some breadcrumbs. Then pour on another 1/2 cup of butter and into the oven at 400!

Cook at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

And in approximately 25-30 minutes, this is what you’ll have. Yeah. Mmm.

And enjoy!!

Take THAT, Queens Comfort!

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Tagged as broccoli mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, buffalo chicken mac and cheese, comfort food, cooking, dinner, homemade mac and cheese, mac and cheese, queens comfort, recipe

January 8, 2013 · 12:26 pm

Home Made Egg Rolls

We were lucky enough to take a cooking class in Chiang Mai while on vacation in Thailand this fall where we learned to make the elusive Pad Thai my man craves so much. <– Stay tuned for that recipe. Today we’re going to make a version of the spring rolls we learned to make during that class. I say “version,” because I couldn’t find any “spring roll” wrappers, only “egg roll,” so the filling will be the same, but the outside a little crunchier. Who cares?! I get to use my new deep fryer and that’s really what this is all about, so off we go!

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Garlic, Carrots, Scallions, Bean Sprouts, Tofu, Chicken, Glass Noodles.

Put the water on for the rice noodles to boil then get to chopping! Obviously one would do fine stuffing an egg roll with anything (I’m even thinking a banana-nutella egg roll might hit the spot), but in this case we were really trying to channel those authentic Thai flavors, so I followed the recipe. First heat the oil, then throw in the garlic for a minute, followed by the chicken and tofu for another minute or two. Then throw in the noodles (followed immediately by a tablespoon or two of water), then toss in the other veggies, give it a stir and BAM: easy as that.

Add fresh cabbage.

Next heap a portion of the mixture into whatever wrapper you are able to find at the market and get to rolling. I added some fresh cabbage to mine for the pretty color 🙂

Roll it up, paste with egg.

Wrapping these things takes a bit of finesse; I think it’s easiest to roll from the corners, then over roll a bit, tuck in the edges, paste with egg, then roll it on up and paste a little more. The package of wrappers said to use water to make it stick, so if anyone has done that and thinks that’s easier than egg, please let me know! And now for the fun part!

And fry-eems up!

This Christmas, I requested a deep fryer and was thrilled to receive this amazing and super easy to use compact fryer that fits perfectly in my apartment. Gracias Fajah. I used plain veggie oil to fry as I’ve been told olive oil has too much of its own flavor to properly cook Thai food. I don’t want to brag, but these were pretty delicious:

Am I right?

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Tagged as bean sprouts, carrots, chicken, cooking, deep fryer, easy dinner, egg rolls, home made, homemade egg rolls, recipe, thai cuisine, thai food, tofu, vegetable oil

December 13, 2012 · 1:16 pm

Chicken Corn Chowder

Baby, it’s cold outside!

Or at least it’s cold enough to warrant making something as decadently creamy and delicious as chowdah! Since we maintain a fairly seafood-free household, the first thing that popped into my head was chicken corn chowder, which I thought would pair perfectly with the wet and chilly weather we’ve been having.

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Thyme, rosemary, carrots, celery, onion

Let the chicken simmer 20-30 minutes.

I’ve only used chicken stock in one recipe before and I really didn’t enjoy the outcome so I thought I’d just poach the chicken in water with some herbs and veggies along with a chicken bouillon cube. Little fun fact: I once dated a guy who convinced me chicken bouillon (which I had never seen before) was in fact chicken excrement. I was young and he was a jerk-a-saurus rex, but I digress…

Mise-en-place de chowdah.

chicken corn chowder, winter meal, cold weather, recipe, soup, chowder

In the pan with some buttah.

I cut 3 stalks celery, 4 ears corn, 2 potatoes, 1 jalapeño and 4 cloves garlic (because I’m afraid of vampires). All of this goes into a pan or pot on medium heat until the onions are cooked through.

Meanwhile, the chicken should be finished cooking by now, so remove it from the pot and set it aside until it’s cool enough to shred. While it’s cooling, strain the poaching liquid and add it to the potatoes, corn and veggies. Let the potatoes cook in the broth until they are fork tender before adding the cream and chicken:

Let it simmer a few minutes and serve!

It’s like a hug from the inside.

The amount of liquid to use depends on how thick and creamy you’d like your chowder to be. I used a 2:1-ish ratio of broth to cream, but I think it’s all personal preference. One woman’s “recipe-gone-wrong” is another woman’s “recipe-gone-even-better-than-expected.” It’s all perspective. 🙂

What’s your favorite kind of chowder?

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Tagged as chicken corn chowder, chowder, cold weather, corn chowder, hearty recipe, hearty soup, recipe, soup, soup recipe, stew, winter recipe

November 26, 2012 · 11:29 am

Homemade Crepes

I thought crepes would be incredibly complicated, but they are in fact just milk, flour and eggs! I’m sure there are plenty of other ingredients (i.e. sugar) that some people add to this recipe, but I was taught that one should start at the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start). So I kept it simple:

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, pinch of salt.

Mix-eems up!

Now came the hard part. I wasted one entire batch of batter attempting to swirl the batter evenly in our cast-iron skillet. The trouble is the batter starts cooking as soon as it hits the pan, so make sure you have a strategy. I didn’t need much butter, just a light greasing of the pan and about 1/3 cup of batter did me just fine. 🙂

Swirl evenly into pan on med heat.

It’s definitely a learning curve.

After several tries, I finally found my swirling sweet spot. Hours later, I read that an easy way to make it even is to tilt the pan and pour the batter in on an incline — if anyone has tried this, please let me know if it works!

As soon as the batter starts to bubble, flip-eems around and cook the other side. Afterward you can set them aside until you have as many as you need.

crepes, recipes, pesto, mozzarella, tomato, caprese, chicken caprese, lunch

Chicken Caprese Crepe for my man.

Heat it up on a warm pan and serve!

When it’s time to build the crepes, turn the pan on very very low and lay your crepe down, throw on your toppings and fold hot-dog, then hamburger (the nineties kids know what I mean).

The time had come to attempt the crepe of all crepes. The one I had placed up so high on a pedestal, I was bound to be disappointed, right? WRONG! I had seen this done so many times, I knew all of the components. I knew the order the ingredients needed to go in and what sorts of dressings topped them. It went crepe, bleu cheese, pears, honey, walnuts, balsamic, then arugula.

I topped this with black pepper and honey.

Served with arugula and a balsamic glaze.

And it was delicious! I’ll have to work on my crepe technique, but the integrity of the crepe was there. I considered this a huge victory and I intend to enjoy this for lunch every day this week because me and this crepe? We’re married. What’s your crepe soul-mate?

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Tagged as bleu cheese, cast iron skillet, chelsea market, crepes, gorgonzola, home made, home made crepes, nyc, pear, recipe, skillet crepes, walnut

October 19, 2012 · 9:48 am

Vegetarian Pesto Lasagna

The crisp autumn wind that blew in last week made me want to cook comfort food. However, since we are heading to Southeast Asia for the first time next weekend, my main mission has been to cook meals to boost our immune systems (a tip I read for combatting tummy troubles while traveling in a new region). So while everyone knows I’d prefer a nice lamb bolognese or beef chili, I’m here to prove I can cook vegetarian meals that fill the “comfort” quota as well.

I settled on a roasted vegetable pesto lasagna. This was a bit of a process, but since I’d rather spend more time and do less dishes, I roasted the veggies separately. If you have a big pan or a dishwasher, it would be easy to throw them all in together, effectively cutting the cooking time down. Totally up to you. Me? I began roasting the red peppers and mushrooms.

roasted red peppers, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Roast red peppers at 500 for 20-30 min.

mushrooms, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Roast mushrooms at 475 for 10-15 min.

The mushrooms and red peppers supposedly need to be heated at a higher temperature than the rest of the vegetables I chose, although I maintain that throwing them all in one pan together would work just as well. If they’re a little undercooked, that’s okay, because everything will go back into the oven at the end.

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Roast other veggies at 400 for 20 min.

whole wheat lasagna, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Boil the lasagna for 10 min

In addition to mushrooms and red peppers, I roasted zucchini, cherry tomatoes, red onions and garlic. I also went with a whole wheat lasagna because that’s what we had in the house; whatever type of lasagna tickles your fancy will work just fine. Next up, the pesto:

creamy pesto, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Basil, parmesan, walnuts, garlic, olive oil

Then mix and add cream until smooth.

I know a lot of people make pesto with pine nuts, but I’ve seen it done many time with walnuts, which are healthier and (again) what I had lying around the house. So I processed the basil leaves with the parmesan, walnuts, olive oil and garlic, then added cream until it was smooth.

(In retrospect, I would have added more salt to the pesto itself instead of just seasoning the veggies as I built the lasagna, but hindsight is 20/20, no?)

roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Then start building the lasagna.

After I chopped up all the veggies and mixed them together, I built the lasagna like this: pesto, pasta, veggies, pasta, pesto, veggies, pasta, pesto, mozzarella/parmesan. I read a lot of recipes that included ricotta cheese, but since I was using creamy pesto, I skipped that step. I’d rather have twice the mozzarella if we’re being honest. And I did:

Top with fresh mozzarella and parmesan.

Then into a 375 oven until cheese is bubbly.

I cracked a little pepper, threw a little salt, then popped my super-sexy tin foil lasagna pan into the oven at 375 until the cheese began to bubble bubble. This dish made a great little dinner for me, plus lunch for both me and mi amor the next day.

roasted vegetable lasagna, arugula salad, creamy pesto, vegetarian, pesto lasagna

Served here with an arugula salad.

Healthy? Check. Comforting? Check. Delicious? Double check. Traveller’s tummy? Bring it on, Thailand; we’re ready. POP POP.

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Tagged as creamy pesto, pesto lasagna, recipe, roasted cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic, roasted mushrooms, roasted red peppers, roasted vegetables, roasted veggie lasagna, roasted zucchini, vegetarian, vegetarian lasagna, vegetarian recipes

September 11, 2012 · 5:33 pm

Green Bean Casserole

We were invited to a BBQ in Queens last month, and I was asked to bring a dish but offered very little guidance as to the type of dish. So since no one said I couldn’t, I decided to whip up a batch of green bean casserole, just like we do down home. My version started with onions, garlic and mushrooms in one pot and green beans in the other:

Saute garlic, onions and mushrooms for 10 minutes.

Boil green beans in salty water for about 15 minutes.

Once the veggies were all cooked through, I threw them into the skillet and added a can of cream of mushroom soup. I then let all this cook together for another 5-10 minutes on low heat. Turn on that oven to 350!

I first threw everything down in a lil’ bit o’ butter.

Then add the soup, bring to a boil, then back down to a simmer.

Then I poured this tasty mixture into one of my uber-classy foil baking dishes, added french fried onions and baked at 350 for 20 minutes, or until bubbly and brown.

Mmmm…. smells like Thanksgiving, y’all.

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Tagged as astoria, barbecue, bbq, bbq side dishes, green bean casserole, lea spencer, new york, outdoor recipe, queens, recipe, side dish, southern recipe

August 22, 2012 · 12:37 pm

Roasted Veggie Lasagna

Since my man decided he was sick of taking sandwiches to work for lunch, my main dinner mission has been to cook meals that yield leftovers, which sounds easier than it is when you’re also trying to cook new things every week. Last week we decided to pay homage to our community and cook a nice Italian meal. I wanted to do a roasted veggie and lamb lasagna, but alas there was no lamb at my market, so beef had to suffice. It started with the veggies and the sauce:

lasagna, italian recipe, roasted vegetable, recipe, italian, whole wheat pasta, lea spencer, lea craft spencer

Red peppers & zucchinis into the oven at 450.

I started the sauce at the same time.

I drizzled the zucchini and the red pepper with some olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then popped them into a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until they’re nice and blistered. For the sauce I used one can of plain, unseasoned tomato sauce and half a can of tomato paste. To this I added fresh oregano and basil from my garden, 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 medium red onion, some salt and pepper and let that baby simmer! (The longer, the better).

We used whole wheat lasagna.

Then we added beef to the sauce.

I didn’t make the pasta, just picked a box of whole wheat lasagna and followed the directions. I then browned the beef with some garlic and onions and added it to the sauce (leave this step out to make it vegetarian). Since I’m far from vegetarian, I let the beef simmer with the sauce while I finished the rest of the dish.

Then I chopped up the veggies.

And started building the lasagna.

All I had in the house were loaf pans, so I made two “loaves” of lasagna and it worked out great. I layered them like this: sauce, pasta, veggies, pasta, ricotta, veggies, sauce, pasta, sauce; did you get all that? If not, just wing it, delicious will always be delicious no matter the order 🙂

Into the oven at 350 for 30 min.

Top with mozz and back in until it melts!

Then I sprinkled with the top with a little parmesan and into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I topped it with some sliced of fresh mozzarella and then back in until it’s nice and brown.

Served with a leafy green salad!

Italian? Check. Leftovers? Check. Delicious? Double check. POP POP.

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Tagged as fresh mozzerella, homemade lasagna, italian cuisine, italian recipe, lasagna, leafy green salad, recipe, roasted veggie lasagna

July 30, 2012 · 10:26 am

BBQ Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes

On my final night in Blue Eye, Mary must’ve known I had just crossed the Mason-Dixon and was hankering for some BBQ because she made my absolute favorite: Barbecued chicken with scalloped potatoes au gratin. BAM!

She started with the potatoes:

potatoes au gratin, scalloped potatoes, bbq chicken, barbecue, chicken, recipe

She began by slicing the potatoes and onions, to which she added cream and milk.

For 3 lbs of potatoes, add 3 cups milk and 1 cup cream. Let this simmer until it gets thick. Then remove the pan from the heat and layer the potatoes into a casserole dish with a good melting cheese in between each layer. Add the milk from the pan to the dish, which should cover the potatoes. Then shred some cheddar on top and pop that baby into a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until it looks like this:

…I’ll wait while you wipe the saliva from your lips…

I wish I knew what Mary’s secret was for baking chicken because she manages to do it in such a way that it turns out fork tender and this is something I’ve not been able to master. She assured me it’s not that hard, and I did see one trick I’m going to try: she pokes holes in the chicken, which allowed the sauce to get into the chicken, making it cut like butter:

Served in a Kentucky-Style BBQ sauce

with cauliflower, carrots and broccoli

To my extreme delight, there was plenty of this meal leftover for lunch the next day. It was tasty, it was tender, it was cheesy, it was perfect:

An insanely delicious southern dish.

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Tagged as barbecued chicken, bbq chicken, dinner, homemade, midwest recipe, mixed vegetables, potatoes au gratin, recipe, scalloped potatoes, southern recipe

July 23, 2012 · 12:39 pm

Shirred Lemon Eggs

On our second morning in Blue Eye, I could smell the biscuits baking before I was able to imagine the glorious breakfast we would be enjoying. This is something I had never seen before, so I was thrilled to get to learn how to make it:

shirred eggs, breakfast, brunch, eggs, biscuits

These are called “Shirred Eggs”

Biscuits made with a touch of cayenne.

For this recipe, you need 4 eggs, 1/2 cup cream, 1 tsp orange zest, 1/3 cup mild cheese. Make sure you butter the muffin tin. Then fill the tins with with 1 tsp cream, then brake the eggs in, adding some lemon zest and shredded cheese to each. You can use orange zest if you prefer and any meltable cheese will do. Mary then added some “essence,” which makes all the difference :-). These went into a 325 degree oven for about 12 minutes.

Mary bakes her biscuits with a dash of cayenne, so they come out with just a hint of spice — divine! She also made some sausage patties, which I used to make little biscuit sandwiches and she flourished the plate with some fresh oranges, which really brought out the flavor in the eggs.

Served with sausage biscuits and orange slices.

A fancy presentation of eggs that can be served with many things. POP POP.

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Tagged as biscuits, breakfast, brunch, cayenne biscuits, homemade, recipe, sausage biscuits, shirred eggs, shirred lemon eggs

July 17, 2012 · 10:25 am

Frittata a la Mary

This is Mary, Queen of Blue Eye.

I had the good fortune of spending last weekend with my family just outside Blue Eye, Missouri. I had heard my father gush for months over my Aunt Mary’s cooking, so you can imagine my delight not only to be able to eat her food, but to be able to record it. She was kind enough to let me invade her kitchen with my camera to capture a few gems for this blog. Today I’ll be sharing a brunch recipe I’m calling Frittata a la Mary. Her spin on this egg-based dish includes a bottom layer of shredded potatoes.

potatoes, frittata, eggs, breakfast, brunch, tomatoes, cheese, recipe, homemade

She began by browning some shredded potatoes.

After she browned the potatoes, Mary mixed 6 eggs with 1 cup of half & half and 2 tablespoons of butter and added that to the pan right on top of the potatoes. Then she added about 4 ounces of cheese, which needs to be gruyere or some kind of good melting cheese. She then added a special seasoning we call “the essence.”

She added the eggs, tomatoes and cheese.

Then baked it at 350 for 30 minutes.

After laying the tomatoes across, she added a little more essence and into the oven! Adding some final flourishes, this is what was served:

Frittata a la Mary

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Tagged as breakfast, brunch, eggs, frittata, homemade brunch, potatoes, recipe, tomatoes

Category Archives: Recipes

Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

Home Made Egg Rolls

Chicken Corn Chowder

Homemade Crepes

Vegetarian Pesto Lasagna

Green Bean Casserole

Roasted Veggie Lasagna

BBQ Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes

Shirred Lemon Eggs

Frittata a la Mary

Let’s Twat!

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