Mod Meals on Mendenhall

If you are a frequent Mod Meals reader, you know that I have a number of guilty pleasures. One I havent mentioned is my love for magazines. I’m a sucker for any magazine food or fashion related and I often can not control myself in the checkout line.

A good stack of magazines is a perfect complement to a late night dinner. After a days worth of meetings, its nice to be able to put something civilized together and allow the magazines to take your mind off things. This Grown Up Grilled Cheese is inspired from a sandwich I love at one of my favorite places in Chapel Hill SANDWHICH. I’ve met a number of friends there for lunch and everyone is always leaves happy (at some point I’m going to try to attempt their OBLT – bacon, fire-roasted jalapeños, tomatoes, avocado, garlic mayo, and greens on sourdough – yummy). You can find almost all the ingredients in the deli section and I advise pairing it with a tomato basil soup – which I found in the deli too.

Ingredients:

• 1 container whole cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 block gruyere cheese
• 2 thinly cut slices sourdough bread
• olive oil
• butter
• salt and pepper

Assembly: Lightly coat a large skillet with olive oil and bring to medium high heat. Add mushrooms and saute. After they are brown, season with salt and pepper (if you add the salt first it brings out liquid in the mushrooms and prevents browning). Once mushrooms are brown, remove them and set aside. Assemble sandwich – cheese and mushrooms on the inside (I used the cheese as  glue and sandwiched the mushrooms in the middle) and lightly butter the outside of the bread. Wipe out the skillet, and add the sandwich. Cook on medium to medium-high until the bread is toasted and cheese has melted. Serve with tomato basil soup – either homemade or also from the deli.

One of the best kept secrets at the grocery store is that they often will sell you pizza dough from the deli section/bakery. Harris Teeter now sells their regular dough and they also offer it in whole wheat. I’ve used the dough on a  number of occasions for small parties – break the dough up in thirds and give everyone a pie pan to make their own pizza. Everyone leaves a happy camper – not only do they get their hands dirty but they also make their meal exactly the way they want it (perfect for kids and vegetarians).

You, of course, can make a large pizza too. No doubt it will taste a whole lot better than delivery. I use tomato slices as a base and skip the sauce. Add sauted mushrooms, sausage or pepperoni or any veggie of interest. No recipe here – do it your self and bake off at 400 degrees.

To this day, I’d rather stay at home and cook dinner than go out. Growing up my parents cooked so much that we rarely ate out and now when I travel home I always look forward to my parents cooking more than anything.

One of the growing perks of this blog is that people would actually rather cook with me than go out to dinner. I like this because I can kill two birds with one stone and often times people inspire dishes that I wouldnt have thought about making before. Last week I had dinner with my friend Ken and he was generous enough to provide the groceries – shrimp and asparagus. With some staples I always keep on hand – including dry pasta, garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes – we put together a great meal in practically no time. This to me is great proof that putting together simple and well balanced meals on week nights is totally doable.  This dish can be altered easily depending on the groceries that you have – or what happens to be in season.

Shrimp Pasta with Lemon and Asparagus, serves four – or two with a doggybag.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound shrimp (save the time and purchase the clean and deveined ones)
• 1 pound dry linguine
• 1 bundle asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 lemons
• red pepper flakes
• salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

He likes it!

Assembly: Heat butter and oil in a large skillet. Once hot, add cut asparagus and season with salt. Once they have turned bright green, remove them and set aside. Meanwhile, boil water and add pasta. Using the same skillet, add the shrimp and season with more salt and red pepper flakes. At this point the pan may require more butter and/or oil. Once the shrimp has turned pink, return the asparagus and add juice of both lemons and zest of one lemon. Once pasta is cooked, transfer pasta directly from the water into the skillet and combine all ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

I’m a believer in moderation. But, I’m also a believer in indulgence. Steak au poive is  indulgent in more ways than one- so practice with moderation. This recipe is not particularly healthy and this cut of steak is a bit of a splurge but the recipe is great for a special occasion. Lucky for me it didnt have to be a special occasion, Tyler and I exchanged many lunches for this Cooking Class.

Steak au poivre

Ingredients:

• 2 thick cut filet mignon steaks
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1/3 of can beef broth
• 1/4 cup cognac
• 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
• coarse salt

Seriously Satisfied Student

Assembly: At least an hour before cooking, take the steaks out of the fridge and let them get to room temperature. Crush peppercorns in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Heavily season steaks with salt and pepper and press down to make sure it adheres. Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet (butter for flavor and oil to raise the heat).  Add steaks into the hot pan and reduce the temperature to medium-high. Cook about 4 minutes on each side (for medium rare). Remove the steaks and cover with foil. Add shallots and brown. Using a wooden spoon, add beef broth and scrap remaining bits off the pan. Once the broth has slightly reduced, turn off the heat/flame, and add cognac. Carefully, light the cognac and burn off the alcohol. Turn the flame back on a return the steaks to cover in sauce. At this point, you can cook the steaks a bit more or to your liking.