Leek and Gruyere Mac n' Cheese

There are so many recipes floating around the internet for macaroni and cheese these days.  It seems that this humble and classic dish is receiving more attention than average of late, and for good reason, in my opinion.  It's delicious, filling, simple to make, and easy on your wallet.  I happened to have most of the ingredients lying around this week, so I figured, why not?  It's so easy to warm up when I get home late from work and pretty much just involves adding a little shredded cheese to melt over the top and then letting it bake in the oven for a half hour at 350˚... et voila!  A meal fit for the most discriminating connoisseur.

For this variation, I used some of the most beautiful leeks I've seen in a while that I bought on my trip to the market.  It's rare that I see ones with so much of the tender sweet white part that I couldn't resist buying three of them.  I used some to make a sauté for my chicken dinner last night, some went into stock, and I still had leftover.  So, with the beautiful pasta that my mother sent me from Fresina's back home, I came up with the idea for mac n' cheese.  I love the sweetness of the leeks which is nicely balanced out by the nutty and herbaceous quality of the Gruyere.

Here's the recipe:

Potato and Leek Soup/Vichyssoise

It's in debate as to whether or not that Potato and Leek Soup/Vichyssoise is of American or French origin.  Many sources credit Louis Diat of the Ritz-Carlton in NYC as having invented it in 1917 for a roof-top garden restaurant, and it would have been served cold.  Vichyssoise is named after the town of Vichy, which is near where Diat grew up.  I guess you could say that both schools of thought are right since it was a French chef who invented it in NYC.  If it's served hot, it's called Potato and Leek Soup and if it's served cold it's called Vichyssoise.

Dark Soubise, Reviving a Classic

This evening I discovered a delicious, yet obscure French classic, Dark Soubise. It's named for an 18th century French nobleman, Charles de Rohan who was the Prince of Soubise according to Larouse Gastronomique. I was introduced to it a couple of months ago when it made a brief appearance on the menu where I work served on a delicious cheeseburger. Out of curiosity and in the name of research, I prepared it on Monday as part of my weekly cooking project. We had it for dinner after work tonight and WOW!  What a wonderful treat - hearty, deep, and rich in flavor without weighing heavily on the stomach.  Best of all, you can make it from chicken and beef scraps that might otherwise go to waste.

The Classics Revisited This Week at The Majestic

Another fun and successful day has passed in the kitchen at The Majestic.  I unexpectedly received the night off from work, so I headed out to the market at 3 pm.  Food cost around $50 this week and cooking time was about 4 hours, so it was very much an average evening in terms of cost and time investment.  I roasted a lot of things today because my kitchen is rather drafty.  If I have the oven on the entire time I am cooking, it heats up the scullery nicely.  It's a nightmare in the summer, but I'm glad to have it in the very cold winter months.

Confit Turkey Legs

This is an idea that I got from a friend at work.  Turkey is inexpensive this time of year since grocery stores are trying to get rid of it.  You can usually pick up the drumsticks for less than $2 a pound.  I like to roast the meat and then you can use the bones for stock to turn into soup or to enrich sauces for other dishes.  Serve with a mustard mayonnaise. I like to spike mine with a little pesto and thin it out with a touch of apple cider vinegar for extra zip.  It's delicious and a fabulous way to feed a hungry crowd at a party.  You can set the meat out on a platter and listen to everyone ooh and aah over how fantastic it is!

Holiday Entertaining at The Majestic

I like to do things around Christmas that remind me of home like cooking Cajun classics such as Gumbo and Crawfish Creole.  These familiar flavors bring me closer to my family who is so far away and also bring back some fond memories of lavish Christmas Eve gatherings filled with food, music, and lots and lots of presents.  Because I work in the hospitality industry, I will be unable to spend time with my family, so this Christmas I will be cooking for friends in the same boat as me.  I'm hosting a small gathering at The Majestic and I couldn't be happier to entertain my "work family" on my favorite holiday of the year. Today, I'm preparing a menu of roasted turkey with Dot's Cranberry Sauce and Mustard/Pesto Mayo as well as the Cajun classic, Shrimp Étoufée.

This Week at The Majestic: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

This week I had soups, stews, and sauces on the brain, so there was lots of simmering and back burner action going on. Dan and I also have friends coming in town to stay with us for a few days, so instead of cooking for two, I was cooking for four. The more the merrier, I say. Groceries were twice as much as a result, but I still managed to get in just under $100 which isn't too bad considering that I bought twice as much food as I normally do. Here's what I ended up cooking: Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup, Roasted Pork Roullade, Gregoire's Christmas Gumbo, Braised Endive, Vermouth Poached Shrimp with Homemade Tarragon Lime Mayonnaise, Ricotta and Pesto Stuffed Shells, Fennel Salad, and Ragu Bolognese.

This Week at the Majestic: Playing with Fire

The usual Tuesday ritual of cooking commenced this afternoon with a trip to the market. I put a couple layers of warm clothing, my winter coat, and gloves and headed out into the chilly afternoon up the block to the grocery. I had Christmas music playing on my iPhone and I couldn't help but be in a good mood. There were lovely clear skies and despite the cold, it was a nice day. With what I bought at the grocery, I made: Thai chicken curry, Indian cauliflower curry, pork roast, candied turnip soup, garlic and rosemary chicken legs, and meatballs with caramelized onions in Cognac cream.

This Week at The Majestic: Fall is here!

What a fun day of cooking I've had today! The iPhone was playing a particularly fabulous mix of Jason Mraz, Kings of Leon, Rufus Wainright, Radio Head, and The Killers while I roasted, pureed, seared, chopped, shredded, and stirred. My shopping trip to the grocery was a complete success. I was able to take advantage of the after Thanksgiving specials on things like turkey, prepared organic stocks, fall vegetables, and fresh herbs. All in, I spent around $40 and I was able to create the following menu: rosemary and garlic roasted turkey legs, fall-spiced butternut squash soup, baba ghanouj, chicken and dumplings, pesto with angel hair pasta and Dubliner cheese, roasted red pepper and garlic chicken sausages, curried cauliflower, and meatballs in tomato sauce. Total preparation and cooking time was a new record low: a little under 3 hours!

In an attempt to broaden my culinary horizons a bit, I worked on a couple of firsts today . Sadly, my immersion blender has been broken for a long time, so I have been shying away from pureed soups, but recently I was leafing through some old cookbooks and I came across what I'll call the "strainer" method. Essentially, you simmer everything until it's really tender in a broth and then press it through a colander. The results are just as silky as what I used to get with the immersion blender with a little more man power, so the result is delicious soup and I get to bulk up my already huge python-like arms. J/K!

Weekly Menus at The Majestic

We're in lean times... or so they keep saying. Being a bit more budget conscious in the past several months and learning to stretch a dollar has been a real learning experience and has resulted in a lot of fun for me when it comes to eating well. I've figured out that it doesn't really take $40 to buy groceries to make dinner for two, even at Whole Foods, and that creating weekly menus for Dan and myself is a fun and interesting challenge. I give myself a budget of $80 to do my weekly shopping. For that I try to get six meals for two, and surprisingly enough I usually come out under budget and with leftover food.