Big Ass 1/2 lb Burger

I read the Pioneer Woman makes 1 lb burgers. I'm not quite there yet. These 1/2 pounders were pretty hefty and left me full and happy. It's nice to be able to eat a big ass juicy burger sometimes.
Here's my composition for 2 burgers.
1 lb ground beef (I used lean, but I'll use 15/75 next time)
Seasoned and then formed into 2 patties with:
salt/pepper
1 tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp basalmic vinegar
5 squirts Louisiana hot sauce (or Tapatio or Tabasco)
Topped with:
2 shallots, sliced and caramelized in butter with 1 tsp sugar
St Marcellin cheese (or any "fancy" cheese.. use goat or blue)
1 tomato
Batavia leaves
all this on toasted buns smeared with spicy mayo
Next time, I will put this on kaiser rolls. Way better than traditional hamburger buns!

With a side of home fries

Struggling to get your mouth around it = Heaven!

Banana-Nutella Muffins

Muffins! Yum! We're going hiking in the snow tomorrow, so I wanted to make some snacks in case we get avalanched and have to wait in the snow until rescued. These are really easy, especially considering I have no baking skills whatsoever. What a wonderful combination bananas make with nutella. I think you can make anything be delicious with nutella.
Makes 9-10 muffins
Ingredients:
150g flour (5.3 oz)
110g butter (4 oz)
110g sugar (4 oz)
2 bananas, mashed
3 eggs
1/2 tsp yeast
1Tbsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp or more dried coconut
3 pinches salt
9 or 10 tsp Nutella
Directions:
1. Whisk together the butter, eggs, sugar, yeast, flour, salt, coconut, and vanilla extract.
2. When the batter is smooth, mix in the mashed bananas.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C or 350°F
4. Butter and flour your muffin holders (what is up with my vocab.. I can't find the words). Fill them with 1/2 batter, 1 tsp Nutella, and another half batter. Sprinkle some extra coconut on top.
5. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes.

Be happy, you just made easy delicious muffins with a lovely blob of nutty chocolate as the surprise center!

Deluxe Mac n Cheese

I've been in the mood for all things cheesy lately. Since the holidays are now over, I've been waiting to finish the leftovers and get over the "fries night" so I can make something involving a melted cheddar cheese sauce. Along with the little cheddar I had left, I improvised a ton of stuff in the sauce to make it extra special. The hub loved it.
Ingredients:
1 lb cooked elbow pasta
handful of frozen broccoli florets
1 shallot, minced
1 pack bacon, sliced crosswise
1/2 jar roasted bell peppers, chopped coarsley
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 cup shredded blue cheese
1/4 cup shredded swiss + some for garnish
parmesan for garnish
1 handful chopped celery leaves
1 handful chopped parsley
a drizzle of beer
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp thyme
2 egg yolks
fresh ground pepper/salt
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
Directions:
1. In a large pot, cook the pasta in salted water.
2. In a sauce pan, cook the bacon with some pepper and thyme and drain a bit. Add the shallots and broccoli and stir until tender.
3. Lower the heat and add the beer and milk and heat through. Add the cheeses, celery leaves, pepper flakes. The mixture should not be too thick, but nice and creamy. At this point, I wanted some color, so I added the roasted bells.. nice choice.
4. When the pasta is done, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, drain and add back into the pot off heat.
5. Mix the heavy cream and egg yolks with the pasta until nicely coated. Then add the cheesy sauce and fresh parsely and stir until evenly coated.

Serve with shredded swiss and parmesan and be blown away!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I'm almost happy the weather has cooled down so I can justify making soup! I stole this Tortilla Soup from Jess and I think I just fell in love. I didn't offer any to Eric because every time I make something you must eat with a spoon, he starts complaining. When I poured myself a bowl of this, I saw him jealously looking over from his plate of fries, so I gave him a bite. To my happiness, he said: Why don't I get to eat that?
HA!
I used dry black beans instead of canned. Nein on the hominy (not sure I've ever seen that in France.) I didn't have any chilies, but I put in 2 Tbsp La Costeña Arriera salsa. Next time, I will add avocado as well.
My toppings were:
Cilantro
Shredded Cabbage
Tortilla strips (home made)
Green Onions
Cheddar + Swiss=Bliss

* this is fight food if you remove the cheese

The Good Shroomz: Girolles

I am in love with mushrooms. Chanterelles, Cèpes, Pleurotes, Trompettes de la Mort, Morilles... how happy I am when I eat you! This time, I found some Girolles at the market. The best time to go to the market is right before it closes. The vendors practically give away their goods! I got practically 600g for 4€... and these usually go for 20€/kg
Anyway, I used them for my D-Day cutlets.

These go well just sautéed and lightly salted. They give out nice juices that give the sauce an earthy flavor.
I've tried these in an omelet as well. The Bomb.com

Mil's Red Handed Meatballs

While grocery shopping, Eric had a sudden urge for one of his mother's inventions: Meatballs with Flageolet beans, or Boulettes en Flag' as I have so wittily renamed it. It was a test, because it is a family recipe and a childhood comfort food that his own sister was unable to recreate.
Well, I passed the test with flying colors because the hub was indeed very satisfied with my remake!
Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 lb ground pork (or 1/2 pork, 1/2 turkey)
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
some flour
Dish
1 Tbsp (or more) of margarine or butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp thyme
2 bay leaves
6 potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 large can of drained flageolet beans (use white beans if you can't find flags)
1 cup water
Directions:
Meatballs
1. Wash your hands and take off your rings. Place the ground meat in a mixing bowl with the egg, and mis around with your hands.
2. Add the parsley, salt, pepper and garlic and keep mixing.
3. Add the bread crumbs a little at a time while mixing with your hands. Keep adding until the texture is no longer gooey, but not all dry either.
4. Separate the meat into 6 big meatballs. Eric likes big big meatballs. Roll each meatball around in flour to keep them from sticking to each other and your meatballs are ready to be cooked.
Dish
1. In a big pot or pressure cooker, heat the margarine and brown the meatballs a little on each side. Remove the browned meatballs and set aside.
2. Sautée the onions and garlic with a sprinkle of salt in the same pot until golden. Add the thyme and bay leaves and stir.
3. Add the potatoes and stir around a few minutes. When the potatoes start sticking to the pot, add a cup of water and the meatballs back into the pot. If you have a pressure cooker, close it and cook this under pressure for 5 minutes. If you don't, simmer for about 15 minutes until potatoes are tender.
4. Open up and add the drained beans. Heat through for 5 more minutes.

You are ready to feast!
I only ate 1 meatball and it was more than enough for me.. but my carnivore husband had 2 and the guests we had each ate 1 1/2. We killed it, and I passed the MIL test!

Thai Masman Curry.. Remix

Considering I have a large amount of Thai Masman Curry paste, I keep remixing this dish and making it better and better.
This time I used pork sliced thinly instead of chicken.
I added baby corn...cute and fun
but the serious secret ingredient here is the mega tablespoon of
PEANUT BUTTER
that I threw into the mix.
I finally got around to buying peanut butter in France!
I found a miniature jar of Skippy PB for the outrageous price of 4€ for 340g, but hey, you cannot replace that taste in an asian dish... no way José.
Ah for all of you living on the WEST SIDE of the lake, this is nothing exceptionnal, but please feel my excitement here, people!

Glass Noodle Japchae

Glass noodles are kind of cool, because they aren't noodles at all. They're made from mung bean thread, so they're actually vegetables! I actually just threw this together using meat marinated for Bulgogi, and then realized it much resembles Korean Japchae.. minus the mushrooms. The hub loved it and voted YES for including it in our monthly rotation. I'm not claiming it is authentic Japchae, but is the result of what I had in the kitchen...
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 bundle glass noodles (250g)
3/4 lb thinly sliced beef
4 leaves of kale, ribbed and julienned
1 onion, julienned
1 zucchini, sliced thinly
1 Tbsp sesame oil
Marinade:
2 Tbsp soy sauce (or GF alternative)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 asian pear, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Directions:
1. Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the beef for 20 minutes.
2. Soak the noodles in hot water for 5-10 minutes (until almost tender) and set aside.
3. In a wok or heavy based pan, heat 1 Tbsp sesame oil and stir fry the onion and zucchini until golden.
4. Add the meat with marinade as well as the kale. Cook through while stirring about 10 minutes. Taste the beef and make sure it is cooked. Adjust the seasoning.
5. Add the glass noodles and stir fry until noodles are tender (approx 5 minutes)

Serve and eat with chopsticks to get the maximum pleasure out of it!
I added red pepper flakes to my plate because I love da heat.
I can't wait to buy more of these noodles. They don't get mushy like rice noodles do and they certainly make me feel like I'm eating healthy without the hub feeling like I'm imposing "health food" on him!

Nepalese Chicken Tarkari

This one blew me out of the water. Really really!
I got this one from the Amateur Gourmet who got it from Feeding the Dragon and this authentic untweeked recipe is just what makes it so wonderful. It tasted as if some old village woman in Nepal cooked it for me as I was passing through her village. Luckily I already had everything on hand.
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (find some! they're good for you!)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 dried red chiles, seeded and minced (I used 1 tbsp red chili paste for lack of red chilies)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• Handful of fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups cooked basmati rice, for serving

Instructions

1. Wearing rubber kitchen gloves so the turmeric doesn’t stain your hands (I did not do this and my hands are fine), rub the turmeric black pepper, and salt all over the chicken and let marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 30 minutes.
2. In a small skillet over medium heat, dry-roast the mustard seeds for a few seconds, or until they are fragrant, and then remove from the skillet and repeat with the fenugreek seeds. Be careful not to burn the spices. Combine the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder and grind into a coarse powder.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, ground spice mixture, cumin, chiles, and bay leaves and stir-fry for 20 seconds. Add the onion and saute for about 6 minutes, or until slightly translucent. Drop in the marinated chicken and stir-fry for 4 minutes, then add the stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer gently for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and serve with the rice.

*WARNING*
It has been 1 week since I made this, and the house STILL smells like curry. Not unpleasant, but good to know.

Mussels n Fries

...Always a hit.
2 kg of fresh mussels for €4.50? Where do I sign!!!
This time I poured a glass of champagne into the mix.. because I was thinking of my homies <3
A French classic. Mussels and Fries.