Week 14: Sandwiches - BLATs

There are so many great ideas for good sandwiches out there. Mmm I love sandwiches. After a busy weekend, we wanted to make a low key but tasty dinner.  We tossed around the idea of making some french dips, but Andrew brilliantly suggested BLTs. 

When we were standing at the bacon looking for what we wanted, a fabulous butcher came over and offered to season some thick cut bacon straight from his butcher block.  We briefly looked at each other and said "DUH. Yes." We went with the chipotle seasoning and it smelled fantastic. 

Fresh tasty ingredients are the trick.  The lettuce has to crunch, the avocado has to be soft, and the tomatoes have to be juicy.

We bought a nice loaf of artisan bread and it toasted beautifully.  It had a nice crispy edge with a soft warm middle.

I used grapeseed mayo and while I generally take objection to mayo, on toasted bread for BLTs is one of my few exceptions.

Bacon on top of the tomatoes.

A few slices of the avocado.

The lettuce on top to hold it all in.

And you have one amazing sandwich. 

Such an easy quick dinner I don't know why I don't make these more often. 

Week 6: Brazilian - Churrasquinhos

Brazilian.. oh man.  I had a tough time with this one.  I searched and searched for recipes and nothing really sounded that delicious; nothing struck my fancy in terms of taste buds or learning a new technique.  I feel like I sorta copped out on this one and found something that didn't necessarily feel all the Brazilian, but whatever.  It was absolutely delicious. 

I cubed the beef loin and marinated it olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and onion. 

The cubed loin was then skewered with squares of Hempler's pepper bacon between each cube.

I used the same recipe for the green onion slaw that I made with the Tequila Lime Chicken a few weeks back but this time I made it directly according to the recipe (last time I was kinda winging it!). It was more beautiful this time, but it wasn't as tasty.  Not quite sure why... perhaps it was the extra Serrano pepper, perhaps it was more green onion, the real red wine vinegar (instead of red wine and white vinegar), or the forgotten salt and pepper... anyway, it wasn't disgusting, just not as awesome as last time. 

The beef skewers grilled up nicely and were so juicy!

We had some of our favorite dinner guests over and they brought some very tasty mashed potatoes to add to the mix.  Given the extreme spice of the slaw, they were the perfect compliment.

It was a pretty plate and a flavorful meal.  Maybe I don't hate Brazilian after all. :)

Week 5: Breakfast - Boozy Baked French Toast

The baking challenge this week was breakfast! Being one of my favorite meals, I was not at a loss for things to make, but I am usually at a loss for time to make anything extravagant in the mornings before work.  I am lucky if I manage to scarf down a bowl of cereal on most days. So, my elegant solution? B for D (breakfast for dinner!). Enter, boozy baked french toast.

The recipe called for Challah bread, but there wasn't any when I went to the store and any kind will do really . I bought a loaf of cranberry walnut bread and dried it out in the oven at a low temp - the best french toast is made with stale bread rather than fresh stuff. Friday morning, I woke up early (shocking, I know) and whipped up the egg custard. I was generous with the Bailey's and the Cointreau and suggest you do the same. :)

I poured the egg mixture over a double layer of bread, sealed it up tight, and put it in the fridge to soak all day. One my way home I grabbed the fixin's for a tasty dinner - bacon, sausage, OJ and the all important....Champagne for mimosas!

While the french toast baked, I threw the sausage and bacon in a skillet. If you have access to Hempler's Bacon, do yourself a favor and buy it.  I love this stuff - and I don't really like bacon (an unpopular opinion, I know). 

Once it was the french toast was all baked it looked like this:

All that was left to do was the cut squares of the deliciousness and plate it all up with some oranges.

A little syrup and we were in heaven.  Actually, the syrup was barely necessary.  The booze flavors made the bread nice and sweet, and if I do say so myself, the cranberry walnut bread was perfect - especially with the Cointreau. 

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Look at these pretty eggs from our hens!

Nothin' like fresh eggs for making a delicious spaghetti (ok, we used linguini) alla carbonara. Cutting the Cooks Illustrated recipe in half was hard given the need for 3 eggs for a full recipe, but with only two mouths to feed, it was necessary to improvise. 

It is a time sensitive dish because the egg & cheese sauce needs to be applied to the pasta very quickly after being drained and then it should also be eaten right away.  So, the pressure was on, but man did it work out.  Having awesome thick cut Hempler's bacon (best bacon I've ever had) gave a nice crunch and saltiness to the pasta and mixing pecorino romano with the parmesan makes the egg sauce really smooth.

I learned a nice pan frying/steaming method for the brussel sprouts that Anderw and I have been using regularly and they turned our perfectly this night. Brussel sprouts go nicely with the bacon flavor from the pasta and cut the richness of the main dish wonderfully.