Cheesy Polenta with Sautéed Mushrooms

Polenta is relatively new to me in that I always assumed cream of wheat, grits and basically any kind of stone-ground meal were the same. Isn't it all porridge? I guess the actual differences lay in where the wheat or corn is from and where it's being served. Whatever the case, I'm calling this polenta!


I love the heartiness mushrooms can give any dish, and it seems mushrooms and polenta go together like, well, mushrooms and polenta. The mushroom selection at my grocery store was limited so I picked up shiitake and a medley of button and oyster (which I can barely look at because they gross me out so much visually). Any kind will do, so choose mushrooms at your own discretion!

Usually I don't fuss over fresh herbs when cooking but I'll say this polenta was all the better for it. If you're like me and can never use your basil (or anything) before it browns, try grabbing those single serving $1 containers if your store has them.


I poached eggs during the polenta's 10-minute cooking/stirring intervals. Dedicating 4 minutes per egg and allowing them to cool until everything was ready to be served.

I had never properly poached an egg before this! I was always too afraid and relished in the safety of my poaching pods. It was so awesome to watch the egg dance in the swirling vinegar water à la Smitten Kitchen's instructions.


This isn't at all difficult to make, or too time-consuming for that matter. It's also kind of perfect for any meal. It can be a hearty brunch, a savory dinner, and leftovers warm up nicely the next day thanks to all the cream and cheese. It's so delicious!


Sautéed Mushrooms
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 shallot, chopped
16 oz mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
6 oz white wine
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Over medium-high heat, cook rosemary in olive oil for 2 minutes. Remove rosemary and discard, add shallots. Cook shallots until translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté for 8 minutes. Stir in white wine, bring to a simmer for 6 minutes. Stir in red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Cheesy Polenta
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
32 oz stock (or water)
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
8 oz corn grits/polenta
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 cup shredded Fontina
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced chives
4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Over medium-high heat, sauté onions in olive oil in a saucepan for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in stock and bring to a boil, add oregano and basil. Pour in polenta while whisking. Turn down heat to low and continue whisking until polenta thickens. Cover polenta and cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Stir in heavy cream, cheeses, and butter and mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with mushrooms and chives.


Serving the cheesy polenta with sautéed mushrooms topped with poached eggs was a GREAT decision. The last time I made this dish I served it with fish, so I wanted there to be a little something more to it and gooey yolks are great on everything! Even under piles of more cheese.

Fresh Pasta and Vegetarian-Friendly Carbonara

Though this winter has been particularly brutal, leaving me to almost exclusively hibernate, I've awoken from my slumber to cook because obviously I require delicious noms in my life. After a trip to Eataly during its opening week (yikes!), I decided it was time to finally make my own pasta from scratch. When I spotted powder-fine "00" flour lining the shelves I excitedly picked some up.


I found a lot of varied recipes online. It seems most people's ratios differ, which lead me to believe there's basically no wrong way to make pasta (if there are any Italians or pasta aficionados reading, please don't kill me for saying that!). I finally settled on fettuccine's ratio of one egg for every 100g of flour. Four eggs, 200g of all-purpose flour, 200g of doppio zero flour and a pinch of salt later...


Too scared of making an eggy-flour mess of my counter/kitchen/entire life, I decided to use my stand mixer. This was where things went a little wrong. I didn't get to feel the dough in my hands as it was forming, and allowed my mixer to run until all of my flour was incorporated. Needless to say, it ended up drier than I'd hoped.



After kneading for what felt like forever, and then kneading some more, the gluten was sufficiently stretched, the dough had a nice elasticity to it, and most air bubbles were squished out. We all took a short 30 minute nap then got to rolling! I don't own a pasta rolling machine so Andrew and I went old-school and took turns using a rolling pin and patience. Now that took forever.


So what did we do with all of that pasta? Vegetarian carbonara! Replacing pancetta with halloumi, which I pan fried with garlic, shallots, and a bit of white wine, was pretty much the best food decision I've ever made.


I can't even tell you how deliciously creamy and salty all of this was when combined with the Parmesan and Pecorino Romano. I freshened up the whole thing a bit by adding a squeeze of lemon and a small amount of lemon zest at the end. The pasta itself had a great bite to it and only took, like, 4-5 minutes to cook.

Moral of the story: Pasta isn't that difficult to make and my love for halloumi knows absolutely no bounds.

Biscuit Bake-Off

There will never be a day when I stop loving Red Lobster. In fact, Andrew and I were just there a couple months ago! Naturally, I chowed down on those melt-in-your-mouth mounds of buttery garlic heaven the waiter so graciously bestowed our table with until I was stuffed. Which of course happened before the food we actually ordered got to the table. I assume that's how everyone plays the Red Lobster game, right? At least that's how I've done it since I was a kid!

Last month I was introduced to the prepackaged Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix sold at Sam's Club. It comes with enough powder and herb packets to make a few batches, and it's less than $6. Not bad if you're in a pinch, but you know me—I love making things from scratch.


And there are countless recipes out there, you guys! Like, wow, the people have spoken and clearly we all really love these damn biscuits. A lot. I found tons for sprucing up Bisquick but I opted to pit the prepackaged mix against a fully made-from-scratch recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.


The difference in texture was obvious, but nothing was more recognizable than the smell! The prepackaged mix was completely odorless, while the homemade batch smelled so amazing I wish I could have bottled it.


While the biscuits baked, I prepped the butter toppings for each. The herb packet is where the prepackaged mix really shined. I'm not completely sure what was in it, but BEB's combination of garlic and parsley didn't stand a chance!


Once out of the oven I could see how much the prepackaged mix spread outward whereas the homemade batch rose, as biscuits should (though I'm no drop biscuit expert—these were actually the first ones I've ever made!). So, which was best??

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix
Brown Eyed Baker's Cheddar Bay Biscuits
The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe, hands down! The fantastic biscuits were flaky on the inside and just crispy enough on the outside. And as much as I loved that herb packet, the prepackaged mix was just too doughy to compete. Both were excellent the next day (and the next) after being reheated in the oven. I even made grilled cheese out of them with the leftover cheddar I used in each recipe! We literally have biscuits for days, you guys. It's intense.

Brussels Sprouts Dip

Time for a food post! Truth be told, I haven't been doing much cooking lately... I've been a bit busier than normal with the handful of events I've attended recently, as well as with my trip to New York. So, I figured now is as good a time as any to share this delicious dip I made a little while back. It was to die for and I'll probably make it again tomorrow because the memory of it (plus Andrew's photos) is already making my mouth water.


I originally found the recipe for this dip online which, of course, I can't locate now... Luckily, I revamped it as I went along and my scribblings have been hanging on our fridge ever since!


Before you even introduce any of the creamy/cheesy ingredients into the mix, the Brussels sprouts are totally worth eating. Often times we'll eat them just like that, with shallots and garlic alone, as a side.


Ingredients
16 oz Brussels sprouts, quartered
2 shallots, thinly chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz sour cream
6 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup shredded Gruyère
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Directions
1. Over medium heat, cook shallots and garlic in a cast iron skillet for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add Brussels sprouts, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and cook till bright green - up to 7 minutes if you like your greens a lightly charred (like me).
3. Combine sour cream and cheeses in a mixing bowl, add additional salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Add Brussels sprouts and shallots to the bowl and mix.
4. Scoop dip back into the skillet and bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned on top - you can also stick it in your broiler for an additional minute or two.
5. Serve with tortilla chips!


It was so deliciously creamy and you know I'm all about creamy-cheesy goodness. I promise we eat more veggies than just Brussels sprouts. We just love them so much!

French Onion Soup Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Did you read that title and immediately think “uh...?” while salivating a bit? Because that was basically my reaction when I found out about these sandwiches. We are very pro-grilled cheese in this house so any and all twists are welcomed! There are quite a number of recipes out there for this particular sandwich but it's so simple, you really don't need one.


Take just about everything you'd use to make french onion soup but rearrange things a bit. Caramelize two medium onions in butter and oil, sugar, thyme, and white wine or broth, grate some delicious Swiss gruyère, spread lots o' butter on thick slices of a baguette or, in my case, sourdough and boom, you're in business!


I went to town on these onions but that's because we love super-caramelized onions. Keep an eye on them if you're not too keen on them becoming too brown, you don't want to end up with burned onions!


After letting your bread soak up a good amount of butter, top with the onions and grated cheese. Grating the cheese will help with the melting process, so don't skip that step! It will result in an amazingly gooey sandwich.


I combined and modified these two recipes from Tasty Kitchen and Portuguese Girl Cooks to come up with the above. I strongly suggest you make these. STRONGLY!

Comida Venezolana

Most of the food I cook is based off of my mother's lessons in the kitchen growing up, as I assume is true for many people. While I enjoy branching out and trying lots of new recipes, those old traditional meals bring me a lot of comfort. Now, I'm not sure if I've written about being Venezuelan before, but my father was born and raised in Maracaibo. He, my mother and I would fly back every summer till I was about 7 or 8. Sadly, I haven't been back since but I remember it fondly and relive those memories (even if it's just a little bit) when making one of the traditional Venezuelan foods that my family has always eaten: arepas.


Arepas are delicious patties made from corn flour that you slice open and stuff with various toppings, then eat like a sandwich. They're simple and absolutely amazing. I mean it! They're also pretttty messy. Dominó, which is stuffed with traditional black beans and white cheese (plus nata), was always most popular in my family. Since I have no idea where to find nata or the proper white cheese from my childhood memories, I just use crema Mexicana and queso fresco.


Like most delicious latin@ food I know how to make, I start my beans with sofrito. There are a lot of recipes online and it's even sold in jars in stores. I was raised on the green, tomato-less kind but I'm sure the red stuff is delicious.


Normally I'd boil the arepas then bake them like I did in this giant feast, which was actually the first time I cooked for my in-laws(!), but my mom recently suggested I switch things up and make the masa with milk (whaaaat??) and fry 'em. TOTAL GAME CHANGER. These were so delicious.


Apparently in Puerto Rico, arepas are made with coconut milk, lard or butter, flour, and baking powder. I'm pretty pumped to make them like that next time, minus the lard of course! Have you ever had arepas?

Ebel-what? & Omelettes

It is now well into January and here I go writing about my gifts. Truth be told, our tree is still up and I don't foresee it coming down any time soon. My mom's gift to me this year was as unexpected as it is awesome. She obviously knows about my love for food stuffs and picked out two pans from Williams-Sonoma of all places!


She got me their ebelskiver pan and a rolled omelette pan to be exact, both of which make the best breakfast food. I was super pumped for both but the decision on which to use first was pretty clear...


Æbleskiver are adorable Danish pancakes, or the perfect pancake/popover hybrid. These babies are the fluffiest, most airy, and delicious puff balls I've ever eaten, and the fact that you can fill them with whatever you're heart desires is just magical.

The process is quite simple and only calls for one other "specialty" item (after you have the pan): skewers. Williams-Sonoma sells a set of two skewers for a whopping $13, so I opted for a pack of 80 for $1.50 at Target. After pouring a teaspoon of batter into the buttered wells, I added a teaspoon of a diced apples cooked with cinnamon sugar and pecans, followed by another teaspoon of batter. Then each was flipped using skewers and cooked till golden-brown.


They're then topped with whatever you like. Maple syrup and powdered sugar were my preferred choice. I've since made them with apricot preserves, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate hazelnut spread. All equally delicious, though the cinnamon sugar ones were like mini cinnamon rolls!

Now, omelettes have always been the worst for me. My fillings would inevitably fall out while attempting to flip or, almost always, would fall apart while plating. This pan helped make the perfect omelette. Every. Single. Time. The pan has a helpful divider and comes with a handy spatula to help with the rolling action, too.


Perfectly rolled with all of the fillings intact... until you dig in! You know me and my love for cooking gadgets. Now to go make some brunch.