Birthday Linner
Caramelized Onion Mac & Cheese- Molly on the Range- Molly Yeh
Laktes- Molly on the Range- Molly Yeh
Salad and Broccolini- Me
Process-
I started with the most time consuming/item that could just sit there- Caramelized onions. These took about 45-50 minutes. I let them cook on med and then prepped the cheese and other ingredients for the mac and cheese. I put on a pot of hot water for the pasta about 30 minutes into the onions cooking and preheat the oven at the same time. When the onions where done I knew the pasta was most likely done. I strained that and set aside. I then made the roux, added the pasta and onions- put the mixture into a baking dish added panko on top and put into the oven!
On to the latkes! My food processor really milled the potatoes and onions. Almost to a paste- I knew it wasn’t going to be good, but I went with it anyways. After the potatoes and onions were “shredded/milled” I added them to the flour and egg mixture (I also had a pan with less than a half inch of oil in it heating while milling down the potatoes and onions) mixed it all together and then ice cream scooped the patties into the oil to fry. FYI While the latkes were cooking I assembled the salad. It was VERY easy. When the laktes were brown on both sides I put on a paper towel to strain and cool.
Lastly I put the Broccolini in a hot pan with oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt, covered it and let it cook for about 5-6 minutes until tender and that was it!
I started cooking at 10 am and stopped at 1pm. So about 3 hours to cook everything which I don’t think is that bad. I still haven’t done the dishes. I will never count dishes into cooking time even though I probably should. Maybe all recipes should add the time it takes to clean up!?
Taste-
Mac and cheese was sooo good. It had a bit a spice because of the cayenne and saltiness from the cheeses and the cheese sauce was very creamy and thick. Food is so sexual right? haha I reread that last sentence and thought oh wow. Am I writing an erotic novel here??
Latkes were ok. If the potatoes were shredded the way they should have been it would have been delicious. My fault.
Salad was sweet and savory. I think one of my favorite combo’s is goat cheese and figs. I don’t know if it gets better than that? I love that tang and creaminess from the goat cheese and seedy texture from figs.
Random Thoughts-
My birthday was yesterday! I turned 34 and had a really great day! Taylor and I walked down to Alvarado street and got coffee & donuts and then went to my parents and ate my favorite Mexican food- El Charrito. Oh and then watched Withnail and I. If you haven’t watched this amazingly funny/ British late 80s film, you are missing out.
About the pics- This was the first time I’ve styled a full table. It wasn't bad. I had been thinking about this for about a week though and had it all planned out. It came out pretty good I think! The only thing I had to change were the glasses. I originally used a deep red glass but then decided to go with a light pink glass and it flowed better.
I want to do more of these styled tables! It’s definitely more of an involved process but the photos turned out good right?
This week is a bit cray for me. I’m making baked goods for family members on Monday, I also have a job interview (I might or might not talk about this later in the month. Depends on how it goes) then my Halloween baked treat boxes on Tuesday, then delivering the boxes wednesday and then family photos all weekend! I am at least keeping myself busy.
My friends got me some real cute gifts. One of them being a custom apron. See below:
“How great is that?” - Ina
I mean this is the perfect picture to use. Sarah and Casey you outdid yourselves.
-JLM
