Katie Stew

I love macaroni and cheese. I always have. I think it is a perfect food. So, I make it fairly often. I’ve made it many ways. From fancy to Kraft. Often when I make it, my boyfriend will reminisce and say, “This is good, but it isn’t my uncle Larry’s. His is the best. Someday you’ll have some.”

Unfortunately, that day hasn’t come yet. I have not had the opportunity to sample this magical, mystical mac. But, for my man’s birthday this year, I decided to try and track it down. I talked to his mom, who talked to Larry’s wife, who forced him to sit down and write something out. I made it for his birthday and it was a hit. The verdict? It wasn’t the same, but it was close and very yummy.

Yummy!

I was in Arkansas last weekend visiting family and we decided to do Mother’s day early, since I wouldn’t be around this weekend. We kept it simple and my brother grilled some awesome bbq chicken and I made the mac and a salad. Everyone was pleased. Happy early Mother’s day again to the ladies in attendance: my mom, grandma, and aunt!

This was the 3rd or 4th time I’ve made this now. It’s my new go to. I like that you don’t have to make a cheese sauce like most recipes. It keeps it easy. I’ve made some alterations from the original that I was sent. I’m happy to share it with you now.

Larry’s Mac and cheese (a la Katie)
Feeds a crowd

Ingredients:
1 lb of elbow macaroni (1 box)
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1.5 cups milk
salt and pepper
3 cups shredded mozzerella
3 cups shredded mexican cheese (I’ve also used cheddar and colby jack. I think yellow is the important part.)
8 oz velveeta cheese (half of one of the smaller sized boxes) thinly sliced
About 1/2 cup Panko

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a 9×13 pan.
2. Cook macaroni in large pot of salted boiling water until cooked through but still firm. Drain well.
3. Put pasta back in pot and add butter, milk, eggs, and salt and pepper. Stir until all mixed and melted together.
4. Pour half the mixture into the prepared pan. Add half of the sliced velveeta to the top of the pasta and half of all the other cheeses. Then layer on remaining pasta mixture and cover with remaining cheeses.
5. Sprinkle the top with panko. Amount probably varies. I just like to add a nice thin layer on top to to get a nice crunchy finish.
6. Bake 30-45 minutes, or until bubbly and a little toasty on top.

Enjoy!

I went to the farmer’s market this weekend to find some goodies for the week. Despite knowing that we’re still in winter produce mode, I knew that they would at least have some beautiful spring flowers to pick up. Truthfully, I’m finally starting to get tired of the carrots, leeks, and greens that fill the market these days, but I strolled through the stalls and got some of each of those items anyways. I also picked up a bunch of radishes.

I’ve never been very interested in radishes, but I got a bunch one other time this winter and tossed them in a salad. They were pretty good, so I thought I’d give them another go. They were just so bright and beautifully colored. When I bought the bunch, they still had stems and leaves on. It was a huge fluffy bunch of greenery and when I got home I started to wonder why they kept them on the stems. I decided to look into it. If you couldn’t eat the stems, why sell them to me? I came across many stories about how you should eat radish leaves and found this recipe for roasted radishes and greens and decided to go for it. The result, was something pretty cool.

The recipe was easy and the result was satisfying. I only had one bunch, and since I was home alone that evening, it was just the right amount for me. In fact, I had a very pink dinner. To go with my beautiful pink radishes, I made some beet and goat cheese ravioli that I also picked up at the farmer’s market, tossed with sage brown butter.

I was very satisfied with my little dinner. Though, it certainly seems like pretty girly food. I mean, look at that plate, very pink. My boyfriend wasn’t around for dinner that night. If he had been, I’m sure he would have asked where his dinner was. But for a girly night at home, it was a delicious pink dream.

I’ll certainly make this radish recipe again. It was a nice side dish. Tart, lemony, and simple. If you don’t know what to do with radishes yourself, give this a try.

(Since I only had one bunch of radishes, I adjusted quantities and cook times. Recipe below is the original.)

Roasted Radishes with Radish Greens

Ingredients
3 bunches small radishes with greens attached
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 500°. Trim the radishes and wash the greens; pat dry.

2. In a large ovenproof skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the radishes, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned in spots, about 2 minutes.

They looked so pretty in the pan!

Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the radishes for 15 minutes, until crisp-tender.

3. Return the skillet to the burner and stir in the butter to coat the radishes. Add the radish greens and cook over moderate heat until they are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and season with salt. Serve the radishes right away.

Still steamy

And enjoy!

I have a bad habit. When I am cooking for a crowd, I tend to prepare far more food than can possibly be necessary. I come by it honestly though. My mother is notorious for adding large additional items to a menu at the last minute. My boyfriend can attest to the fact that I carry the same gene. We’ll be having a bbq and planning on serving burgers and then an hour beforehand I’ll start worrying that people might want more than one burger each and we should do a few pounds of sausages and maybe a rack of ribs.

Easter was an excellent example of this. The recipe I used for the chicken suggested cooking two 4 pound chickens for eight people. As I had nine people coming, for some reason I decided to buy two 5.5 pound chickens. Because you know, that extra person might need three pounds of meat.

I don’t always make the most logical decisions when it comes to cooking for a crowd. But, on the plus side, I really like leftovers. Despite sending home leftovers with all my guests, I still had a bunch of chicken. Luckily, a few days later I came across this great recipe for a Spinach, Chicken, and Noodle casserole from Real Simple. It looked perfect.

Doesn't that just look delicious?

This was just the perfect thing to do with my leftovers when the weather turned cold again after our beautiful Easter weekend. The casserole was creamy and comforting. I tossed in about 1.5 cups of broccoli as well because I had it in my fridge, and the extra vegetables made me feel better about all the sour cream.

Per my examples at the beginning of this post, the casserole made far more than two people could ever eat. We had it for days, but it was delicious, so I didn’t mind.

I think this will be an excellent base for future pasta bakes. It could have used a little more zip and pizazz, but it was comfort food and I quite enjoyed it with a little hot sauce on top.

(On that note, I haven’t mentioned it before but I’m completely obsessed with Aardvark Hot Sauce. http://www.secretaardvark.com/

If you haven’t had their habenero hot sauce, you are missing out. I want to eat it on everything these days.)

As a side note, I have to say that I am constantly amused by cooking times on recipes. I picked this one because it looked good, but it also said I could be eating in 40 minutes. Apparently these cooking times are for people that are not me. These must be for people who already have chopped up chicken, clean vegetables, and clean kitchens ready to go. That is not me. I had to clear dishes and mail off my counter, pull chicken off the bone, and chop vegetables. I still had dinner in about an hour, but the moral of the story is that it takes longer to cook than the suggested times unless you are Rachael Ray. I mean really. Who else is organized enough to wash all their vegetables when the get home from the grocery store before they go in the fridge?

I hope you try out this delicous Casserole. Enjoy!

Spinach, Chicken, and Broccoli Noodle Casserole

Serves 8| Hands-On Time: 35m | Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1 cup sour cream
kosher salt and black pepper
12 ounces egg noodles
2 cups shredded cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
5 ounces baby spinach, chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme
Panko for topping

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400° F. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until foamy, 1 to 2 minutes (do not let the mixture darken). Slowly whisk in the milk. Bring to a simmer and cook, whisking often, until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the sour cream, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

2. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Add the broccoli the last minute of cooking. Drain and return all to the pot. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a microwave-safe bowl.

3. Add the milk mixture, chicken, spinach, and thyme to the noodles and broccoli and toss to combine. Transfer to a buttered 9-by-13-inch or some other 3-quart baking dish, sprinkle with the panko, and drizzle with the melted butter.

4. Bake until the panko is golden and the filling is bubbling, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Easter Sunday last weekend was a magical day. Seattle gave us one of the prettiest days so far this year. I was hosting a dinner for friends and it was absolutely amazing. When a few people showed up early to help, I was working in the yard in the sun. I got my garden planted that afternoon. Some people cooked, some gardened, and by the time everyone was here and it was time to eat, it was still so nice out that we decided to eat outside.

Yum!

It is entirely possible I might put too many pictures of this up, but they just all look so good!

I know these pictures look magical. It isn’t a trick of photography. It was just a beautiful day. I made a little arrangement of spring flowers and herbs from the yard to decorate the table.

This image is also of the vegetables from the roast, which was delicous. The fennel may have been my favorite part.

Spring flowers hanging over homemade bread from one of my guests.

Beautiful

Doesn’t that just look delicious? My Bon Appetit this month gave me a recipe for Easter dinner. I made Roast Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes, and Citrus. It was delicious and perfect for this event. There was plenty to go around and most importantly, it did not require a lot of work after guests arrived. I was able to toss it in the oven and just deal with the vegetables when people were here.

I did a simple asparagus saute to go with the roast vegetables. Tossed them in lemon juice and topped with chopped hard boiled eggs. Delish!

And here next to the beautiful Greek salad another of my guests provided.

Most importantly, the simple roast recipe gave me lots of time to sit in the yard with my Gin and Sun Cocktail and chat with friends while things were cooking.

Can you believe how beautiful that chicken is?

Roast Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes, and Citrus

My notes: I used 2, 5 pound chickens because, as always, I was worried there wouldn’t be enough food. Silly me. So, I baked for an hour and a half. Also, I didn’t have a roasting rack, so I sat the Chickens directly on the vegetables. Other than the skin on the thighs not getting crispy, there wasn’t much difference there. And since I was using a large disposable pan, I wasn’t able to put it on the stovetop for that cooking step. Instead, I dumped all the vegetables into a pan to cook the liquid off and then tossed them back in the roasting pan to go back in the oven. Worked fine.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic plus 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
• 4 teaspoons kosher salt plus more for seasoning
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for seasoning
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 fennel bulbs (3 pounds), trimmed, each cut into 8 wedges, plus 1/4 cup fronds
• 2 poundsfingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise
• 24 small carrots, peeled or scrubbed
• 8 shallots, halved lengthwise
• 3 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 2 halved
• 1 orange, cut crosswise into 8 slices
• 8 tablespoonsolive oil, divided, plus more
•2, 4-pound kosher chickens

•
Special Equipment:

A spice mill

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 450°. Toast fennel seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant and slightly darker, 2–3 minutes. Let cool; finely grind in spice mill. Mix fennel, lemon zest, garlic, 4 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set spice mixture aside.

• Place fennel wedges, potatoes, carrots, shallots, and lemon and orange slices in a large heavy roasting pan. Drizzle 4 Tbsp. oil over, season with salt and pepper, and toss well to coat. Spread out in an even layer.

• Rub remaining 4 Tbsp. oil all over the chickens. Season chickens inside and out with spice mixture. Stuff each chicken with a lemon half and half head of garlic. Tie legs together loosely with twine.

• Set a roasting rack over vegetables in pan; place chickens on rack. Roast until chickens are cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thighs registers 165°, about 1 hour.

• Preheat broiler. Transfer chickens to a carving board and let rest for 15 minutes.

• Meanwhile, place roasting pan on stove over 2 burners. Transfer lemon and orange slices to a small bowl. Cook vegetables over medium heat, stirring often, until liquid is evaporated, 8–10 minutes. Set pan under broiler; cook vegetables, rotating pan once, until browned in spots, about 5 minutes.

• Season vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. Squeeze juice from remaining lemon halves over vegetables to taste.

• Carve chickens. Divide roasted vegetables and chicken among plates. Garnish with reserved citrus slices and fennel fronds.