Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Not Your Everyday Lasagna
Let's face it, lasagna is boring. It pretty much always sucks. There is some potential though. I mean, it has a lot of cheese usually. That's a good start. But how could it be better?
My dad had the answer. In what must have been a moment of true clarity he thought to use cheese raviolis instead of the boring flat noodles that usually ruin what should be a tasty vehicle for baked cheese. He told me about his idea over the phone and I was instantly obsessed.
I made some sauce. Basically just crushed tomatoes, onion, red wine, some other herbs and shit I had in the cupboard. I got to use my stick blender which is always a fascinating experience. I cooked up a ton of pork sausage to really up the flavor. Got some ricotta, mozzarella, and the not frozen ravs from the grocery store. Then the layering began. I intentionally avoided any pattern, I like to keep my taste buds guessing. I put the ravs in uncooked and made sure there was enough moisture in the pan to cook them as it baked. I threw it in for maybe 40 min at 400? Just have to melt the cheese and give it some time for the pork fat to thoroughly spread through the dish.
I gotta say, I really nailed it. It made for some great lunches. I would just let it loft around the office, let a couple moans out while I ate, really make the coworkers jealous.
Remember, lasagna doesn't have to suck. It's my personal mission in life to resurrect boring food that sucks and make it great. I consider this a victory. Thanks Dad.
-Dan
My dad had the answer. In what must have been a moment of true clarity he thought to use cheese raviolis instead of the boring flat noodles that usually ruin what should be a tasty vehicle for baked cheese. He told me about his idea over the phone and I was instantly obsessed.
I made some sauce. Basically just crushed tomatoes, onion, red wine, some other herbs and shit I had in the cupboard. I got to use my stick blender which is always a fascinating experience. I cooked up a ton of pork sausage to really up the flavor. Got some ricotta, mozzarella, and the not frozen ravs from the grocery store. Then the layering began. I intentionally avoided any pattern, I like to keep my taste buds guessing. I put the ravs in uncooked and made sure there was enough moisture in the pan to cook them as it baked. I threw it in for maybe 40 min at 400? Just have to melt the cheese and give it some time for the pork fat to thoroughly spread through the dish.
I gotta say, I really nailed it. It made for some great lunches. I would just let it loft around the office, let a couple moans out while I ate, really make the coworkers jealous.
Remember, lasagna doesn't have to suck. It's my personal mission in life to resurrect boring food that sucks and make it great. I consider this a victory. Thanks Dad.
-Dan
Game Day Diaries: The Spot
Since I moved to Chicago I have been taking Game Day very seriously. Every week I watch the Packers, get drunk and eat unhealthy food. I'm kicking off our new series "Game Day Diaries" with a post about what happened yesterday at The Spot in uptown.
There are a handful of Packer bars in Chicago. My old favorite is a place called Will's Northwoods (I'll post about this place another time). Jake and I decided to go out to a Packer bar because it's his last week in town for a while and the bears were playing at the same time which makes it hard to see another game in Chicago. We got to Will's and there was a line out the door. I couldn't believe it. The game had just started and I knew that anyone inside the paradise that is Will's wouldn't be coming out of there until at least halftime. We looked up another bar just a couple stops north on the red line call The Spot.
We were greeted by a young man in a Packer jersey (Greg Jennings, I believe). He directed us upstairs and mentioned something that instantly piqued my interest: tot'chos. We headed up to a room with green walls full of packer fans and found 2 stools at the end of the bar. Jake ordered 7&7s.
We made our food choices without reading the descriptions of anything because we're adventurous. Obviously we got tot'chos. I also ordered something called man wings and mini tacos. We finished our first drinks just in time to get 2 for 1 halftime shots of rail whiskey. I told the bartender I wanted a "big beer" and he produced two man cans of PBR. Then the food arrived.
Tot'chos are exactly what I wanted them to be. Nachos with tater tots instead of tortilla chips. Someone explained to me how they were invented. "We just ran out of chips one day and the chef decided to try something crazy!" Of course that's how it was invented. How the fuck else would it have been invented? I was excited enough at the time to think that was an interesting story.
Man wings are not, as I had hoped, the deep fried wings of a man. Instead they are chicken wings dusted with habanero powder and covered in nacho cheese. This solidified The Spot as my new favorite game day destination. So perfectly decadent and disgustingly classless.
After a couple more 2 for 1 shots and "big beers" I began telling the bartender that he was the only one who "gets" me. We were really in the game day spirit. I think the packers lost. I've had to take a higher than usual number of bathroom trips today, but it was all worth it. The Spot is really raising the sports bar ...bar with their forward thinking menu and unique culinary creations. I'll be back.
There are a handful of Packer bars in Chicago. My old favorite is a place called Will's Northwoods (I'll post about this place another time). Jake and I decided to go out to a Packer bar because it's his last week in town for a while and the bears were playing at the same time which makes it hard to see another game in Chicago. We got to Will's and there was a line out the door. I couldn't believe it. The game had just started and I knew that anyone inside the paradise that is Will's wouldn't be coming out of there until at least halftime. We looked up another bar just a couple stops north on the red line call The Spot.
We were greeted by a young man in a Packer jersey (Greg Jennings, I believe). He directed us upstairs and mentioned something that instantly piqued my interest: tot'chos. We headed up to a room with green walls full of packer fans and found 2 stools at the end of the bar. Jake ordered 7&7s.
We made our food choices without reading the descriptions of anything because we're adventurous. Obviously we got tot'chos. I also ordered something called man wings and mini tacos. We finished our first drinks just in time to get 2 for 1 halftime shots of rail whiskey. I told the bartender I wanted a "big beer" and he produced two man cans of PBR. Then the food arrived.
Tot'chos are exactly what I wanted them to be. Nachos with tater tots instead of tortilla chips. Someone explained to me how they were invented. "We just ran out of chips one day and the chef decided to try something crazy!" Of course that's how it was invented. How the fuck else would it have been invented? I was excited enough at the time to think that was an interesting story.
Man wings are not, as I had hoped, the deep fried wings of a man. Instead they are chicken wings dusted with habanero powder and covered in nacho cheese. This solidified The Spot as my new favorite game day destination. So perfectly decadent and disgustingly classless.
After a couple more 2 for 1 shots and "big beers" I began telling the bartender that he was the only one who "gets" me. We were really in the game day spirit. I think the packers lost. I've had to take a higher than usual number of bathroom trips today, but it was all worth it. The Spot is really raising the sports bar ...bar with their forward thinking menu and unique culinary creations. I'll be back.
Holiday Ham
They say that you shouldn't go grocery shopping when you're super hungry because in your state of low blood sugar induced stupidity you might buy a lot of things that you don't need (my favorites are snickers ice cream bars or a large box of pizza rolls because my parents aren't there and I don't know any better). This is especially true after thanksgiving. This situation caused me to impulse buy a large ham.
I baked it a couple days later. I think I've cooked a ham once before so I didn't even look at the directions. It came with some weird ham powder, might have had brown sugar in it. I sprinkled some of the ham powder on the ham and baked it for, I don't know, a couple hours? Who cares, it's a pre-cooked ham, I should've microwaved it. Culinary genius that I am, every so often I drizzled some of the rendered fat in the baking dish over the ham to keep it nice and juicy.
I ate a massive plate full of ham. I was so full when I was done and so satisfied. My roommate, Troy, had a healthy plateful as well. After I had scratched my hammy itch, I checked to see what the leftover situation was. It looked like we hadn't even touched the ham. At this point I never wanted to eat ham again but I was faced with probably 6 or 7 pounds of pink pig flesh.
I did everything I could think with it. The next night I made scalloped potatoes with a heavy dose of ham mixed in. I invited friends over after watching college football at the bar to eat some ham. I had a potluck and made a crockpot ham and bean creole dish as the main course. I would wake up and eat ham, bring some ham to work for lunch, snack on some ham when I got home, and there was still ham sitting in a dish in my fridge. It's been 2 weeks or so and there is still ham. Jesus Christ must have blessed this pig, turning it into a bottomless well of ham. Alert the media, world hunger is cured!
Weeks later, I still snack on this old ham. It fits with my personal goal of eating things that are unsafe to try and keep my immune system strong (I have a serious fear of super-bug bacteria). I guess the lesson here is to follow the old rule and have a snack before grocery shopping.
-Dan
I baked it a couple days later. I think I've cooked a ham once before so I didn't even look at the directions. It came with some weird ham powder, might have had brown sugar in it. I sprinkled some of the ham powder on the ham and baked it for, I don't know, a couple hours? Who cares, it's a pre-cooked ham, I should've microwaved it. Culinary genius that I am, every so often I drizzled some of the rendered fat in the baking dish over the ham to keep it nice and juicy.
I ate a massive plate full of ham. I was so full when I was done and so satisfied. My roommate, Troy, had a healthy plateful as well. After I had scratched my hammy itch, I checked to see what the leftover situation was. It looked like we hadn't even touched the ham. At this point I never wanted to eat ham again but I was faced with probably 6 or 7 pounds of pink pig flesh.
I did everything I could think with it. The next night I made scalloped potatoes with a heavy dose of ham mixed in. I invited friends over after watching college football at the bar to eat some ham. I had a potluck and made a crockpot ham and bean creole dish as the main course. I would wake up and eat ham, bring some ham to work for lunch, snack on some ham when I got home, and there was still ham sitting in a dish in my fridge. It's been 2 weeks or so and there is still ham. Jesus Christ must have blessed this pig, turning it into a bottomless well of ham. Alert the media, world hunger is cured!
Weeks later, I still snack on this old ham. It fits with my personal goal of eating things that are unsafe to try and keep my immune system strong (I have a serious fear of super-bug bacteria). I guess the lesson here is to follow the old rule and have a snack before grocery shopping.
-Dan
Bringin' It Back
I almost forgot about this place...
I was reminded that this blog exists after I was in Kalamazoo, MI for a weekend. As usual I was preaching about my favorite cocktail, milkskey. Some of the new friends I made were intrigued so they googled "milkskey" and were directed here. Apparently the drink still hasn't caught on worldwide so this little food blog is the foremost authority on cutting-edge dairy/spirit combinations.
Things have changed a bit. I live in Chicago, Kate still lives in Houghton, MI, but will soon be leaving the country. We don't really play music together because of the distance but we have released some albums (thisisdeercountry.bandcamp.com). I like to think our food tastes have become more refined and our cooking abilities have improved, so it's probably time to bring the blog back. I'll probably spill out a bunch of thoughts on food related things that have been in my head for the last couple years and then get in the habit of updating regularly.
It feels good to be back...
-Dan
I was reminded that this blog exists after I was in Kalamazoo, MI for a weekend. As usual I was preaching about my favorite cocktail, milkskey. Some of the new friends I made were intrigued so they googled "milkskey" and were directed here. Apparently the drink still hasn't caught on worldwide so this little food blog is the foremost authority on cutting-edge dairy/spirit combinations.
Things have changed a bit. I live in Chicago, Kate still lives in Houghton, MI, but will soon be leaving the country. We don't really play music together because of the distance but we have released some albums (thisisdeercountry.bandcamp.com). I like to think our food tastes have become more refined and our cooking abilities have improved, so it's probably time to bring the blog back. I'll probably spill out a bunch of thoughts on food related things that have been in my head for the last couple years and then get in the habit of updating regularly.
It feels good to be back...
-Dan
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