Triggerfish Meunière with Sautéd Green Beans on top of Roasted Vegetable Polenta

Triggerfish Meunière with Sautéd Green Beans on top of Roasted Vegetable Polenta. This was such a wonderful dish that required a very minimal number of ingredients. The individual flavors of each component of this dish (fish, green beans, and polenta) were able to shine on their own without a long list of distracting ingredients.
I cooked the triggerfish meunière style, which consists of lightly breaded (in flour) fish that is pan-fried in a combination of butter and oil (about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil with about 1 tablespoon butter) to form a nicely colored thin crust on the outside of the fish. I believe that this style of cooking allows the true flavors of the fish to stand out better than if it is heavily breaded and deep-fried.
I prepared the polenta by cooking it by itself (cornmeal, water, and butter, that is it!), then adding in some roasted vegetables at the end. The roasted vegetables I used were leeks, an orange bell pepper, a poblano pepper, half a purple onion, one clove garlic, and a yellow squash. I actually got the idea for roasted vegetable polenta from the main dining hall, Rastall, where I go to college (Colorado College The food there is outstanding, especially for college cafeteria food).
The green beans were simply sautéd with a little olive oil for about four minutes.
I also made a meunière sauce (brown butter sauce consisting of browned butter, lemon juice, and parsley) that I spooned over the fish during plating.

While I think the dish tasted wonderful, I will definitely need to work on presentation next time.

Summertime Quinoa

I have really come to enjoy quinoa in the past year, despite the fact that I have only eaten it a small number of times. In fact, tonight was the first time I have ever cooked the South American grain. I treated it like I do rice, except this time I added some "flavor enhancers" beforehand.

I began by rendering a slice of bacon (sliced longways once, then across in 1/2 inch pieces) in a small saucepan until just before crispy. I then added a handful of chopped leeks, a large clove of minced garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes until the leeks became slightly translucent, about 3 minutes. I then threw in a small handful of minced herbs (oregano and thyme were the two I used tonight) and 1/2 cup of quinoa (I have heard that you are supposed to rinse the grains prior to cooking, however I forgot to do this and it still tasted great). I toasted the quinoa for about two minutes then added 1 cup of water and let simmer.

The quinoa simmered for about 15 or 20 minutes until there was very little (or no) standing water at the bottom of the pan.

Sono vs. Flights: Battle Noodles

The most recent battle in the Fire in the Triangle cooking series "went down" last night in Raleigh. It was my first time at such an event, but having watched numerous cooking battles on TV I had a good idea of what to expect. Although I have never been to Sono nor Flights, I was pleased (in general...) with what they cooked last night. We were served a total of three courses from each side, equalling a total of six dishes. The secret ingredient was noodles. Being forced to use noodles probably was not ideal for these chefs, given that they would probably prefer to make their own from scratch, however the clearly worked around this.

While Chef Michael Lee of Sono was responsible for my personal favorite dish, Soy Braised Pork with Beet Infused Sweet Potato Puree, Crispy Wonton and Iced Green Onion Salad, he was defeated by opposing Chef Dean Wendel of Flights. While Lee's soy braised pork was my highest scoring course, the "pro" judges obviously thought differently as they awarded it a very low score. Their low score was likely due to the use (or lack of proper use) of the secret ingredient, noodles (in this case, a fried wonton wrapper was used as a sort of garnish for the potato puree, see below). Another possible reason why Lee lost was due to his lack of a desert course. Instead of including a desert course, Lee decided to include two starter size courses, leaving Chef Wendel's desert to stand by itself. In fact, Chef Wendel's desert was the best of any of his three courses, giving him a big leg up on his competition.

Regardless of the scoring, both chefs preformed quite well in such a high pressure environment.

Chef Lee's Soy Braised Pork with Beet Infused Sweet Potato Puree, Crispy Wonton and Iced Green Onion Salad (note the use of the wonton wrapper. Creative? not so much)

 Chef Wendel's Wonton Pistachio Crusted Blackberry Cake with White Chocolate, Strawberry Sherbet and Pistachio Wonton Cigarette

Photo Credits: Competition Dining Series

Macaroni and Cheese

This is my favorite macaroni and cheese recipe. It is my slight variation on Tyler Florence's recipe. It is a great dish for parties, pot-lucks, and eating at home! The two things that give this macaroni and cheese a leg up on many others is the garlic and thyme-infused milk and the bacon, onion, garlic, and thyme topping. 

Thyme sprigs (whole sprigs) and smashed garlic cloves (both will be strained from the milk mixture so there is no need to remove the skins from the cloves or woody twigs from the thyme)

 Shells (I sometimes use bowtie pasta. I used 2 lbs. because I was doubling the recipe)

Tons of shredded white and orange cheddar cheese (sharp and extra sharp).

Roux for the cheese sauce (equal parts flour and butter). 

Infused milk after being strained and added to roux. 

This time I decided to kick things up a notch with a couple splashes of hot chili oil.

Chopped parsley waiting to be added to the pasta and cheese mixture. 

 Post mixing. 

Cheese-topped pasta with cheese sauce awaiting the oven. 

Bacon, onion, garlic, and thyme topping (to be added to the mac and cheese after it comes out of the oven).

Finished product.

Chirba Chirba Dumpling Truck

 Visited the Chirba Chirba Dumpling food truck in Carrboro this afternoon. They were located in the Cliff's Meat Market parking lot in Carrboro. Though I have seen and heard about them many times before, this was my first time actually trying their food. I give them 10 out of 10 stars. I got five Bayside Chives and five Juicy Buns. They were both awesome. The dough was perfectly chewy and the filling was full of flavor. Additionally, they have about five different sauces to choose from which were all wonderful additions.

I highly recommend this place to everyone, especially if dumplings are your favorite food like me!

See my review of Chirba  Chirba on Yelp.

Cherry Tomato Salad with Farmers Cheese

While mozzarella cheese is often used in tomato salads, I decided to change things up tonight and use the tangier farmers cheese instead. I used farmers cheese from Chapel Hill Creamery in Chapel Hill. I had never had farmers cheese before I tried it on a tour of the creamery last spring and have been a big fan ever since. It reminds me of a combination of mozzarella, feta, and goat cheeses. The colorful cherry tomatoes are from the Durham Farmer's Market.

I simply sliced the tomatoes in half and arranged them on the serving platter with slices of cheese in the middle. I also added some thinly sliced red onions in there as well. I then splashed some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar over everything, added kosher salt, ground black pepper, and oregano leaves from the garden as a garnish.

We ate the salad along with my dad's grouper fish tacos and corn salad which were also both delectable.

Pesto Chicken Salad

Pesto is one of those unique foods that is simply amazing. It makes sense once you consider the ingredients: basil, garlic, toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and extra virgin olive oil. Now puree all of that together and you have creamy goodness.

In this recipe (my variation on Sara Foster's recipe in The Foster's Market Cookbook) I actually made a pesto vinaigrette. Starting with basic pesto, I added lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and ground black pepper, which resulted in a slightly thinner consistency better suited for a chicken salad. I then mixed this vinaigrette with shredded grilled chicken breast, parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts and walnuts, basil, and baby arugula and served it over a bed of warm pasta.

Delicious.

This dish is very versatile. I love this salad served over a bed of pasta as I did tonight, but it can easily be used as a filling for a delicious sandwich. It is also just as good cold as it is hot.