December 3, 2009

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Mushrooms and Crispy Shallots

For the green side dish for our Turkey Day Sans Turkey Celebration we prepared Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Mushrooms and Crispy Shallots from the late (sad) Gourmet Magazine. This was my Mom’s favorite dish of the evening. We made a couple adjustments to the recipe to make it more simple. The addition of the crispy shallots resembled the fried onions so many traditional Thanksgiving eaters top on their green bean casserole (my Dad calls them funyuns). The changes we made in the recipe are in the preparation of the mushrooms:

  • We did not use thyme or the water. My mom isnt a big fan of thyme and I thought the water wasnt necessary!
  • To save a couple dollars and time, we used sliced cremini mushrooms instead of the wild mushroom variety that Gourmet advises.

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December 2, 2009

Pommes Anna

My sister Maggie (pictured left) and I have been making Potatoes Anna since we were little kids. It actually may be my first memory of cooking as a child. We were charge of layering the potatoes and often times we would make a special design for birthdays and other celebrations. The recipe could not be more simple – it’s just potatoes, butter, salt and pepper. The trick is making it in a small enough pan so that is easy to flip once it is done. We made this mistake on Thanksgiving, too many potatoes in too large of a pan made it impossible to deliver (see “oh shit” moment below). My dad complained afterward that my frying pan was no good and said he would buy me a better one the next day. He failed to deliver too (I guess it takes one to know one!). All kidding aside, I think this is a great side dish to serve at a holiday dinner party.
Pommes Anna
Ingredients:
  • 3 to 4 pounds baking potatoes
  • 1/2 stick of melted butter
  • salt and pepper

"Oh Shit" Moment

In a non stick frying pan, melt about a tablespoon of butter to cover the bottom of the pan. Meanwhile, peel and slice potatoes into thin and even slices (1/8 inch). Try to make the first layer as pretty as possible (this is when you can allow your kids – or adult kids – to cut the potatoes into letters or shapes). After each layer, brush the potatoes with butter and season with salt and pepper. Once the pan is full, cover the top with foil and put something heavy and heat proof on top of it (heavy cast iron pots work well). On the stovetop, brown the bottom layer of the potatoes for about 5 to 10 minutes on medium high or until the bottom is brown. My mom claims she can smell when they are done, but you can take a spatula and look under to check. . Then, transfer the entire thing to the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the potatoes have cooked through, let the dish cool down a bit and then flip onto a large platter.

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December 1, 2009

Grilled Rack of Lamb

Every year my family chooses something to eat on Turkey Day in lieu of roast turkey. It varies from year to year depending on where my family celebrates Thanksgiving. We’ve had everything from whole fish baked in salt (fresh from my Dad’s morning trip) in the Outer Banks of North Carolina to big pan seared steaks in Aspen. This year we all agreed that we wanted to have some type of lamb. We threw around the idea of leg of lamb but decided it would be good enough weather in Greensboro to grill racks of lamb. Typical of my Dad’s cooking behavior, he grilled two times as much as we could eat and we spent the rest of the weekend eating leftover lamb chops (I guess I can’t complain about that). In addition, we also prepared one of my favorite meals the next day which included ground lamb (I’ll post next week). By the end of the weekend my sister Maggie and I were singing Lambert the Sheepish Lion throughout the house (if you haven’t seen the cartoon in a while its worth a visit…so catchy).

There isnt much of a recipe to this so I’ll post some pointers.

  • Make sure the meat is at room temperature before you grill it. We set our meat our midday for a 6pm mealtime.
  • While the meat sat out, we covered it in paper towels to make sure the meat was completely dry before we grilled it.
  • We seasoned the meat liberally with salt and pepper – that was it. You could make any sort of rub or sauce but nothing that would cover up the flavor of the lamb.
  • We grilled the lamb meat side down first – for about 10 minutes and then turned for another 10 or so minutes. Take into hand we like our meat medium rare.
  • Finally, like all meat, make sure to let it rest before you slice it.

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November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving on Mendenhall

Every Christmas my Mom has a classic emotional moment in which see says “girls, I think this is the best Christmas tree we have ever had” and my sister and I immediately start mocking her about the numerous years she has said it. This Thanksgiving we had a first – after a couple glasses of wine my Mom went into her typical family dinner fickle state and said “girls, I think this is the best Thanksgiving we’ve ever had.” And while we thought this was hilarious, there was some truth to it. This Thanksgiving may have been the best we have had in a long time. My Mom, Dad, sister Maggie and dogbrother Capt. Kirby all traveled to Mendenhall to spend three days doing lots of cooking, yard work, lounging and laughing. My Dad also lent a hand taking photos for this week’s blog posts.

For our Turkey Day Sans Turkey celebration, we had grilled racks of lamb, pommes anna, roasted brussel sprouts with mushrooms and fried shalots and finished it all off with an incredible chocolate pie with a cocoa nib praline. While you may be rolling your eyes at the lack of turkey and cranberry sauce in the spread – the odds are in your favor! This meal is a perfect holiday meal for friends and family this season. I’ll post the recipes this week.

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November 23, 2009

Off Mendenhall – New Bern, NC

This weekend, my best friend from college had a dinner party and served my roast chicken or “Chicken Pants” recipe from July 23rd. From the sound of her email and the looks of her photos it turned out to be a hit. While I was coaching her through a couple steps on Saturday afternoon we remembered that this wasnt the first time Beth prepared this recipe. Many moons ago while we were in college we roasted a chicken together. The only reason we remembered this was because both of us were too squeamish to remove the chicken giblets and had to rely on my roommate (we rationalized this because she was a bio major). It’s been a long time since the days of fearing chicken parts – maybe we’ve both grown up and conquered the fear – or maybe we’re both just wiser and have learned to buy chickens without the guts.

 

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November 17, 2009

Chipping in

A couple days ago I got a message from Triad Health Project’s Executive Director asking if board members could bring a bag of non perishable food to the meeting tonight. Sadly, I can’t make tonight’s board meeting because of a work committment so I decided I would try to make up for it in canned food. Without even a request, my coworkers pitched in generously to the effort. We were able to purchase six bags of canned meat. And while canned meat is far from anything I would typically write about on Mod Meals – I couldn’t have been happier buying it today.

With that said, if you are interested in chipping in around Thanksgiving, here are my two suggestions:

  • Triad Health Project distributes over 200 bags of food per month to their clients affected by HIV/AIDS in the region. Until today, they were completely out of protein. This service is year-round and they are in need now. You can drop off food at their Greensboro location at 801 Summit Avenue.
  • Since 1987, the Thanksgiving Fund has made Thanksgiving holiday meals available to Greensboro’s homeless, hungry, homebound and elderly poor. The meals are prepared by and served at Greensboro Urban Ministry, as well as delivered to the homes of those who are housebound. Last year, the Fund drive provided $12,000 to make 4,000 meals. If you are interested in giving cash for next week’s holiday, you can give online at www.cfgg.org

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November 16, 2009

Cleaning Up and Breathing In

cleanupwinston

I’m not quite sure what exact moment I said it out loud - maybe around the time of flying beef rib bones (I’ll skip the story) or the gagging moment of taking the trash out with the dead squirrel Winston brough home for supper or when I melted two Tupperware containers in the oven and filled the house with smoke – but I did say it outloud…alone… “I must stop cooking!” It was another Julie Powell moment of disarray. After over 100 posts on Mod Meals, I’m in need of a break (much deserved in my honest opinion).

This weekend I found the time to clean out the fridge, wipe down the kitchen and prepare for my family to arrive next Tuesday for Thanksgiving. I’ll be taking the next two weeks off of Mod Meals in preparation for a busy holiday schedule. We’ve lined up far more cooking and food than we will ever be able to consume – so prepare for some great posts after Thanksgiving. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!

PS: If you are in desperate need of reading material, check out my sister’s new blog Maggie Globe Bikes. She mainly writes about bicycles but will post recipes on occasion.

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November 13, 2009

Tommy’s Breakfast Burritos

PA260161Tommy made these Breakfast Burritos when I was in Chicago several months ago. They were the perfect meal for the morning after a wild night out. I got a kick out of Michael eating eggs too – since prior to Tommy he would have preferred eating bacon and potatoes only. I asked Tommy to walk me through his recipe while he was in North Carolina so I could feature it on Mod Meals!

Tommy’s Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:

  • 4 or so small potatoes, chopped into half-inch pieces
  • canola oil
  • bacon or sausage
  • eggs (about 2 per person)
  • flour tortillas
  • cheddar cheese, shredded
  • white onion, chopped
  • salsa
  • salt and pepper

PA260160

Assembly: In a large skillet, heat about 1/2 cup oil (a light variety). Add potatoes and cook until soft in the middle and brown and crispy on the outside. We added Portuguese Chorizo and crisped it up (you could just make bacon and add it on top). Once the potatoes are crispy, drain the oil out of the pan. Meanwhile, scramble the eggs and season with salt and pepper (Tommy adds a little milk too). Cook until scrambled to your liking. Serve with warm tortillas, cheese, onion and salsa.

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November 12, 2009

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

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I think Grapefruit and Avocado Salads are a perfect complement to a Cuban fiesta. Now a days, you can find both grapefruit and avocados in the grocery store anytime. So, enjoy this salad year-round – although it is probably best in the winter. I tend to eat this salad in December and January when my mom’s grapefruit tree is exploding with fruit!

Lemon Vinaigrette

  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 large pinch sugar
  • 1 large pinch salt
  • 1 large pinch pepper

For the salad:

  • 1 bag mixed greens
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 grapefruit, cut into segments

Assembly: I eyeball all my salad dressings, so take this recipe for what it is worth. Basically, you need to combine the acid (in this case, the lemon juice) and salt, pepper and sugar. Taste for seasoning, and then slowly drizzle the oil into the lemon juice until it tastes balenced. Once the salad dressing is made, slice the avacados and put them into the vinaigrette (the lemon will keep the avocados from turning brown). Remove the avocados and add the mixed greens into the dressing, toss and then plate. Add grapefruit and avocados on top!

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November 11, 2009

Cuban Pork Roast

PA250092

This recipe could not be more easy, unique and satisfying! I grew up eating this frequently and always looking forward to making Cuban sandwiches with the leftover pork (pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles on cuban bread = best sandwich ever). This is perfect for a dinner party – people leave satisfied and emailing for the recipe afterward!

Cuban Pork Roast

  • 1 large pork loin
  • red wine vinegar
  • 4 to 5 bay leaves
  • 1 handful peppercorns
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Assembly: Season the pork generously with salt and pepper. In a large pot, sear the pork on all sides in a about a half cup of olive oil. Once completely seared, add red wine vinegar (don’t breathe in or you’ll be in serious pain), bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat and cook for about 3 to 4 hours or until it is falling apart.

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