So because my answer to every "What should I get him/her for [enter occasion here]?" is always "Food." I decided to make a four course meal (plus drink) for Andrew.
People underestimate the value of food as gifts. Seriously, do you know how much I spend on ingredients every week? Well... less since I'm at college... but at home, a lot. Factor into this the time put into running around the kitchen and waiting for food to cook/bake, slaving over the stove until I risk heat stroke, permanently damaging my clothes with oil stains (because I'm kind of sloppy), and heaps of love and good intentions.
[Not to be confused with receiving food as gifts. I don't like receiving because I feel like I'm being fattened up to eat.. like Hansel and Gretel. That's pretty creepy actually.]
Menu:
-(not so classic) French onion soup
-Veggie and goat cheese stuffed calzones
-Honey-sriracha glazed chicken wings
-Coffee-caramel creme brulee
-Mango berry smoothie
There were a lot of firsts and mistakes and alterations that came with this menu.
I wish I had more dedication to thorough blog posts, but I really don't want to go search for the recipes again (considering I would transcribe them to my recipe book before deleting it from my bookmarks), but I found all of them on tastespotting or foodgawker. Just run a search and I assure you it'll be there somewhere.
We had to run to Southern Season to get biscuit/cookie cutters to shape the calzones, but I came across these instead. My shark teeth sets. Can't wait to make empanadas and turnovers (and more calzones) in the near future.
This was the first time I made my own dough from scratch. It didn't double in size as it was supposed to... but it worked. Tasted fine. It was rather chewy.
We stuffed it with spinach, red peppers, onions, and jarred marinara sauce (Prego, I think)... and goat cheese of course. You have no idea how much I love goat cheese on pizza-type items. Almost as much as I love avocado (but I wasn't going to try to bake avocado into this).
I think the failure of the dough to rise had something to do with the fact that, aside from the melted cheese, these don't look very done. The filling exploded from some of them.
This is me raving about my new kitchen toy. :) A gift from Andrew.
(Much preferred to food.)
So of course we had to make creme brulee. Redemption time from middle school when my creme brulee turned out bland and gross and lacking caramelized topping.
It turned out super rich and super sweet, and I drizzled some coffee liquor on top for fun.
Also used the torch to melt the cheese on top of my "soup". (Love this thing, but it's a bit small).
I put soup in quotations because I started on it first and let it simmer all day to keep it warm, so the liquid boiled off quite a bit. Aside from the onions and gruyere cheese, this was hardly French Onion by the end. Chicken broth instead of beef stock. Rosemary instead of dill. And lots and lots of parmesan on top (but that's typical... right?). It was lighter and spicier (no idea how) than restaurant-style soups that I've had before.
Easy: wash/dry wings. Salt pepper cover in desired sauce and let it marinate in the fridge for an hour. Throw in oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 30 mins, turn wings over, lower heat to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes.
First for preparing poultry after giving up vegetarianism. You can see the one I picked at to check doneness in the lover righthand corner.
Drinks are easy. Mango. Frozen berries. And yogurt. And here's the key: Ben and Jerry's strawberry cheesecake ice cream (which we happened to have in the freezer...). Into the blender.
Favorite kitchen tool #2 - magic bullet. I have one in my dorm room as well.
Final meal
... that I basically shoveled down my throat since I didn't eat all day.
And there's the incorporation of the avocado. Laid a few slices on a butter leaf for the chicken wing.
So proud of the dessert.
Yum.
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