Mozzarella Arancini

I’m gonna say today’s dish was more inspired rather than followed to a T. As I’ve mentioned I’ve been trying to eat the food that I have in my kitchen instead of buying too much and that’s led us to arancini. I was watching Bon Appetit videos on youtube and landed on Molly Baz making mozzarella arancini and I realized this was a perfect dish for me to try to make this week. Typically, I make one recipe that is written to feed a whole family of people and I don’t realize it until it’s cooked an on my kitchen table so I have to eat it for lunch and dinner for the rest of the week just to finish it. It’s not a terrible system because that means I don’t have to think about what I’m going to eat for lunch at work each day but it does get a little old. Well this week I made that shepherd’s pie from Good Eats and loved it so much I managed to finish it in about 4 meals so by Thursday night I had nothing to eat and no more leftovers. I did realize that I just happened to buy a bag of frozen ready to cook risotto from Wegmans last week when I went grocery shopping so instead of just making that, I could have a really simple shortcut to try and make my first arancini using Molly’s recipe as guidance.

I can easily say I did not grow up with arancini. This was just out of the realm of non-asian cooking that it completely missed my radar until maybe 3 years ago when I started working in the prepared food department at Wegmans and we put out arancini on the Hot Food Bars. Spoilers for all you Wegmans arancini lovers out there, we get it frozen and fry/bake it. This is not your grandmother’s homemade arancini. Now for me, this was a great discovery. The arancini at Wegmans is still somehow nice and airy and I wold wait until it was a little dry and crisp to eat it. Stuffed with meat in the center, these little guys filled you up and made you warm. I love carbs.

So when I watch Molly making it and realized I had risotto waiting for me in the fridge as a helping hand/short cut, I knew it was time to try and make it on my own. Of course, this is a super time consuming dish so while it’s not terribly difficult, if someone makes this for you, its love. They just spent hours basically making you two dishes because risotto is only halfway there. Thank your little Italian grandmas.

Once the risotto is made, Molly says to let it cool so you can handle it, then it needs to be portioned out, flattened, stuffed with mozzarella (I had shredded but her cubes looked so much easier to handle), then frozen for about 10mins to harden just a little. I took this time to do some dishes and clean up my recipe box. Then they’re dredged in flour, egg, and panko (I only had regular breadcrumbs) and fried around 350F. Now, my thermometer is dead and I haven’t gotten new batteries for it so I’m eye balling the oil and trying to get it right but this is just setting yourself up to fail so get working thermometer and don’t be like me. Molly advises to cook them for about 6-8mins but mine are brown and crispy in about 3 so I get a little nervous and throw them in a 350F oven for 10mins to make sure the insides are warm and my cheese is melty, praying that they don’t darken too much more on the outside. Guys, I nailed it. Granted, these would be much better if I used cubed mozzarella and panko breadcrumbs instead of regular Italian breadcrumbs but with what I had I’m pretty proud of myself. I could’ve had them be a little smaller and I was seriously missing a marinara/tomato sauce to dip them in but overall, it was great. The cheese melted so well and they were oozy and warm I couldn’t help but rip them open and eat with my hands. It was a little messy but warm and perfect. Like I said, very time consuming and I didn’t even make risotto from scratch so these are not a regular dish to make but they’re love man.

Shepherd's Pie

I’ve got a Good Eats meal today and I’m super pumped for it. I jumped ahead a little but I happened to have just about all the main ingredients for a Shepherd’s Pie in my kitchen so in an effort to save a little money and eat what I have, I made Alton’s recipe from season 12 episode 6. This is a great episode in the theme of Sweeney Todd. Alton tells a story about an ‘ancestor’ and it’s basically that this great ancestor helps this woman who has a meat shop (Mrs. Lovett) create tastier pies while patrons of the barber shop manage to ‘leave’ every time Alton’s ancestor starts a new recipe and needs more ingredients. He doesn’t catch on at all and SPOILERS, ends up running away with the Mrs. Lovett character to America where he eventually disappears under mysterious circumstances. What a tale to tell just to show us how to make meat pies. This is class A educational cooking entertainment.

It’s dark early now guys - I’m just gonna blanket apologize for the poorly lit food photos for the rest of winter. Can’t wait for that spring golden hour light again in six months.

In any case, this is a great episode and I’m a fan of Shepherd’s Pie though it’s not a very popular dish going out and I maybe have made it once in my life. Veggies, ground meat, and potatoes - it’s pretty simple but it’s all the things I want and it’s pretty well rounded and simple to make. Alton manages to cook the whole thing in a large cast iron skillet but mine isn’t big enough so I had to do a couple pots and pour everything into a pie pan which was fine with me. I also cheated it and just used instant mashed potatoes on top to save time and use up the last package I have in my cupboard. The filling is a simple onion, carrot, corn, peas, and garlic mixture and then obviously ground meat. Alton uses lamb but of course it’s interchangeable.

Wegmans recently started selling “Impossible meat” which is a soy based substitute that looks and mimics the texture of ground meat. I obviously do eat meat but I love vegetables and I’ve been trying these meat substitute burgers when I go out just to see what they taste like. A little less red meat in my diet is also fine and I’m not gonna give up steak but switching out ground meat for impossible meat or beyond me is fine with me. I thought I’d give it a shot because people were really excited about Wegmans selling this even though beyond meat has been in stores for quite some time now. There was actually a full freezer case of Impossible meat at the local Wegmans here and I’m guessing they went all in with the product ordering and are hopeful to sell a lot. I decided to give it a shot and honestly I’m not disappointed at all. I added it into the recipe just like I would ground meat and it cooked and crumbled off the same way real meat would and the consistency was a perfect match. While it was cooking it smelled great and I was so excited to try it in the pie.

I’ll say I wasn’t disappointed at all. I’m so pumped for this dish now and honestly I feel like I don’t want to buy ground meat anymore, I’m just going to get Impossible meat as a substitute when I can because it tastes so good and I feel so much better about myself when I eat it. It’s not so greasy and it’s a little lighter but still filing especially in this dish of potatoes. It has a great flavor as it cooks and I’m so happy I gave it a shot. 10/10 would cook this again with impossible meat. Truly guys, give it all a shot.

Adult Mac and Cheese

Bon Appetit has derailed my Good Eats efforts ever so slightly but boy am I eating well. Bon Appetit has their line of “basically” recipes that are around 10 ingredients or less and super easy to execute which I think is fantastic. They have videos on YouTube that have the chefs cooking some of the recipes which is nice if you’re one of those people that needs a visual guide or aren’t familiar with different cooking techniques. I’m getting to see the chefs’ personalities and I get pretty excited when I see that a video includes one of my favorites but honestly, at this point, they’re all my favorite.

Molly Baz is the chef behind this recipe and she’s great and super easy to understand. This is a great recipe for mac and cheese lovers but also for the young college student that loves boxed mac and cheese because it’s just as easy to make. Molly’s recipe doesn’t requite a roux and isn’t complicated but it tastes so much better than boxed mac and cheese. You boil whatever kind of pasta you want, Molly uses shells but we used rotini because that’s what we had in the pantry, and then you make the cheese sauce using butter, black pepper, milk, and freshly grated parm. Molly says in her video that you can use KRAFT singles if that’s all you have on hand and I love that she makes it so casual and accessible. You do you; add whatever cheese you want that is melty and delicious. You make the sauce, add the pasta, and season to taste. It’s literally the same as a boxed mac and cheese and takes the same amount of time but it’s so good and much more satisfying. I’m not sure I can go back to boxed mac and cheese after this. It’s got everything; it’s quick, it’s simple, and it tastes great.

Chicken Pot Pie

I’ve never made a chicken pot pie before but I do love eating it and Alton does a little twist in season 6 of Good Eats that’s super easy and fun to make. Episode 11 of that season is called Casserole Over where Alton’s beloved dog, Matilda, gets kidnapped for ransom after Alton wanders over to a church potluck and eats all of their homemade casserole dishes. That’s right, church ladies steal his dog and hold her as a hostage until he comes back with casserole dishes to replace the ones he’s ruined. This show is gold.

Because of the premise, Alton is in a hurry to get Matilda back so all of the casseroles in this episode are easy to make. The Chicken pot pie recipe actually contains curry but I skipped out on that because I didn’t have any curry powder. It’s a twist on a pot pie because there’s not bottom crust and the top isn’t fully sealed, which inches it over into the world of casseroles.

This recipe honestly is super easy to make and not terribly time consuming. I get pretty hungry after work and now I’m a super old lady who likes to eat dinner closer to 5 than 7 but this was totally worth waiting for. My only issue with it was that I don’t currently have round cookie/biscuit cutters so I had to improvise a little and my puff pastry didn’t rise up around the edges like it should. I knew it would bake off a little pinched because of the way I cut it so it wasn’t unexpected but it still tasted great so that’s all that matters. I actually love crust on a pot pie so I do wish there was a little more but I see an actual closed pot pie recipe coming up in upcoming episodes so stay tuned. I have a feeling I might enjoy that a little more though I’m sure it’ll be more difficult and time consuming having to make a double crust. Overall, I’d make this again. Unfortunately, Caleb doesn’t like pot pies so I’m going to be eating this one alone so maybe I’ll be tired of pot pie by the end of the week when I’ve eaten leftovers every day. I’ve already recommended this recipe to someone else so get cooking guys, it’s worth it.

ROC - Sticky Lips

It was homecoming at RIT this past weekend so that’s exactly what I did, came home. I had work Saturday morning but I’m loving that Rochester is only 2 hours away because I can be back in a snap. Caleb agreed to come with me and we spent Saturday afternoon running small errands for my dad and checking out the local hobby shop/game store before eating a semi-early dinner and heading to the Brick City Hockey game downtown. I love RIT Hockey. Sunday was a pretty relaxed day laying in bed a little later and catching up with my mom. Caleb and I decided to head to RIT because we really wanted to hit up the Salsarita’s on campus but when we got there we found out it was closed for the day. I had hopes that it would be open this Sunday because of all the parents visiting but I was wrong. I guess parents take their kids off campus to eat, who knew? So we stopped by ShopOne to check in with my crochet pieces and drove off campus for lunch

LOCATION: 830 JEFFERSON RD. ROCHESTER, NY 14623

Jefferson Rd happens to be right by my parents house and RIT and has been filling up with commercial stores and restaurants through the years. If you want to go to a chain, it’s probably on Jefferson or right off of it. It’s pretty convenient. This leaves us with a whole slew of choices when it comes to lunch spots and we considered going somewhere with pasta; Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, and Carrabbas are all nearby. But Caleb loves BBQ and I kept bringing up Dinosaur BBQ the day before because it’s right by the hockey arena so I think BBQ was on his mind a little. We decided to head to Sticky Lips BBQ because they have a location right on Jefferson and have that for lunch. It was almost 2pm on a Sunday but we had about a 20min wait which wasn’t bad. We hung out at the bar and I watched some football and checked out the menu.

Caleb and I both decided to build our own combos which is what we typically do when we get BBQ. I went with a 2 meat combo with Texas Beef Brisket and St. Louis Cut BBQ Pork Ribs (with a dry rub) and Cajun Corn as my side and an added side of Home-Cut Fries. Caleb couldn’t decide so he went with the 2 meat combo and also got the St. Louis Cut BBQ Pork Ribs because we both wanted our own servings, Boneless Chicken Breast, and Smoked Turkey with Mac & Cheese (of course) and an extra side of Sweet Potato Fries. The combo also comes with a side of corn bread which is perfect because I don’t like corn bread and Caleb does so he gets his piece for now and my piece for later. We always go into these things knowing we’ll get two meals out of it and it’s always worth it.

So, usually I only get brisket because I love it, or so I thought. I was watching some Bon Appetit and there was an episode where Brad Leone went to a BBQ joint and they did a little view of some pork ribs that looked so good so this time around I got both and I was not disappointed. In my mind, I have the vision of saucy messy ribs and it’s deterred me from eating them but this was a tender dry rubbed fall apart rack of ribs with amazing flavor and I officially have a new favorite. I can’t go to a BBQ place and not get ribs now. They beat out the brisket easily. The beef brisket wasn’t bad here; a little dry and not as tender as I want it to be. The first bite of these ribs was fatty but meaty and just so good. I’m actually getting myself excited for leftovers today. I almost got mashed potatoes with gravy, I’ll keep looking, but I yelped some photos before we had to order and they didn’t look like they were the smashed, chunky texture I’ve been craving so I opted for the french fries and Caleb and I split between those and his sweet potato fries and weren’t disappointed. I love starchy hand cut fries like this. His sweet potato fries were so good! it was like a dessert explosion in your mouth. They have a cinnamon/brown sugar coating on them that tastes so sweet but balances perfectly with the potato starch and tastes like you’re eating a pie. Caleb doesn’t get my like of corn because I always order it on things or as a side when it’s an option and he never wants it. To him, it’s just corn. But this Cajun Corn was a step up for sure and I’m so happy I got it. They come dusted with this seasoning that’s a little salty and a little spicy to give the sweet corn a kick of an aftertaste. It was fantastic. I’ve never had corn with seasoning like this before and I’m all for it. I’ve got to make my own blend at home or something, not that I’m really making that much corn at home, but this is going in the books because it’s so good.

Overall, it was a fantastic meal. The staff was so nice and it was a little slow once we finished eating to get our check and some boxes but I think another table was having some issues with their cards or orders so our waitress was occupied but as soon as she had a chance she came back to us so it was all good.

Sticky Lips also has one of those food challenges for anyone out there who’s looking. It’s called the Atomic Bomb Challenge and it’s about 5lbs of meat and sauce and fries and food that you have to eat in 30mins. While I would never be able to do one, I’m so fascinated by them. I guess I should be watching Man vs. Food or something. It’s so gross but crazy to see someone do one of those plates or challenges. It’s so much food. This one was only $20 which seemed pretty fair and if you finish I think you get a t-shirt and possibly some other stuff. Our waitress told us to check it out on youtube. Sound’s like a great time.