Chicken Pot Pie

So I was feeling kind of under the weather this weekend and Saturday was a rainy awful day. We had a lot going on Saturday so we did not do any cooking, but it did make me crave some comfort food. Off the bat I knew the two things that I wanted. First and foremost chicken pot pie. More specifically we had been in Williams and Sonoma a while back and I had picked up a recipe for Thomas Keller's chicken pot pie. YUM. Also the recipe is on the AllClad website.

Based on what I have read about his new cookbook Ad Hoc, I believe this might be featured there. Ad Hoc is not going to be released until November 1 but based on this recipe and things that I have read here and there I have already requested this for Christmas. The trick will be waiting 55 days for it once it is released. Anyways back on subject.

This was a pretty easy recipe, which is what the Ad Hoc cookbook is supposed to be about, and we will definitely be doing it again. The main change we made was to cut the veggies about half the size of what was called for - that's just a preference.

The most difficult thing about the whole recipe was not hard just time consuming and that was the bechamel, but if you have made bechamel before than it's all good.

My favorite part was the crust without a doubt. Buttery and flaky and perfection. It's going to be hard to ever buy a premade crust for anything again.

Look how yummy that looks.

Crab Stuffed Eggplant Royal

The eggplants keep coming from the CSA quicker than I can use them. I went back to the drawing board today for another option. I had previously had a seafood stuffed eggplant in New Orleans and that is where the Google search inspiration started at. I seemed to remember the original having the whole eggplant breaded but I can't exactly remember. Anyways this one turned out quite delicious- crab and shrimp and you can't go wrong. I changed a few things from the actual recipe. I have decided I like to bake the eggplant first as opposed to boiling them and there was no cheese involved. No cheese really!! You are going to stuff something and not put cheese in the stuffing. That just seems wrong. I had some left over Italian blend of shredded cheese which went into the stuffing and then a little parmesan on top. Overall it was pretty good although Chris was still a bigger fan of the sausage stuffed eggplant.

Pasta Bolognese

A couple of weekends ago Chris made pasta bolognese. This recipe was out of a La Cucina. It was pretty decent. There is another recipe that he usually does out of a Williams and Sonoma cookbook that we like better. Chris is definitely the pasta maker out of the two of us. He is really good at it and enjoys doing it so I usually let him do all the hard work. Although I do enjoy playing with the KitchenAid attachment.

First step flour volcano.

Next step eggs go in the center and you mix that up. This pasta recipe differed from our usual in that it only uses flour and eggs. Either with a fork or your hands- Chris says its actually easier to do with your hands.

Then you just keep kneading and rolling until you get a nice smooth ball. That gets wrapped in plastic to rest for a little while.

Then you divide the ball into a couple of pieces and those pieces get put through the roller.

Next you can either cut the sheet with a knife, like we did here (a little more rustic) or out the next attachment on the mixer which will cut it for you.

No actual pictures of the bolognese in process, but here's the end result. Very meaty.

KitchenAid has a new pasta attachment out which does more than straight noodles- I can't wait to get that.

Leek Risotto

On Chris' request, I cooked leek risotto for dinner this week. It is one of his favorites. Leeks are very mild and add a delicious flavor to risotto. I replace the normal onions that go in regular risotto with about twice as much leeks and it turns out delicious.

The picture is a little bit funky. Chris took it on the counter underneath the cabinet lighting- I think he was ready to eat. :)

Watermelon

Ok so this has nothing to do with cooking. A while back with one of my watermelons from the CSA (or maybe it was the farmer's market now I can't remember where the seed came from) I thought it would be funny to plant a watermelon seed. It really was entirely to late too plant watermelon (note I don't really know when you are supposed to plant watermelon) but I thought it would be cool to see if it would grow. Sure enough just a few days after planting up came a nice little watermelon plant. Then came a watermelon. This picture was taken September 12 and it's at least double this now. I will have to try to remember to take a more current picture. I am not sure if it will grow to full size before the frost gets it or not. This is one of the smaller round ones so I think it might but we will have to see.

Chicken Parmesan

I really really love chicken parmesan. It's one of the first things that Chris and I ever tried our hands at. Long before we got crazy and I owned more cookbooks than any one person really needs.

It's just so cheesy, and saucy and yummy. A few years ago when this was one of the key staples on our cooking resume, I would want this once a week. Chris cooperated for a while but then there was a coop and he said no more!!! Now we only have it on rare occasions but it's still a special treat- well for me.

Slackness and Martinis

So I have been quite slack. Slack at cooking things of interest. Slack at taking pictures of what we do cook. And slack at posting the pictures that I do take. Sad. Really there is no excuse- just laziness.

Anyways I am going to try to do some post catching up and do better about the picture taking. And work on some inspiration hopefully. To start with a watermelon martini- I made over Labor Day. This was probably the best watermelon martini I have ever had- probably because I used real watermelon and not watermelon schnapps. It was easy enough blend up the watermelon, add simple syrup and vodka. Then strain since its very pulpy otherwise.