Cracking the Code to Man Food?

There was a new menu item at the Diner last week, Cajun Mac & Cheese. It was a borrowed recipe from the March 2012 edition of Food Network Magazine, and altered substantially to better fit HH’s pallet.

I hoped the sausage and the starch combo would work well, although I knew part of the challenge was that it would be a Dinner-in-a-Bowl meal. I still thought it worth a try. I had four chicken andouille sausages, slicing three and adding them, and just left the last one whole for HH to enjoy a bit more.

So we enjoyed this new beige combo would be a good Man Food offering and…He liked it! Hey HH!

So is the meat and starch combo the secret to Man Food? Is it the beige? Is it the no veggies? Is it the meat and gravy, or a combination of all of the above? Hmm, I will have to try a few other things to see if I’ve actually cracked the code to Man Food.

HH's version

Holly's version

CAJUN MAC AND CHEESE
Recipe courtesy Food Network Magazine

Ingredients
• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces wagon-wheel pasta (or shells)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 ounces andouille sausage, diced (or organic chicken andouille)
• 2 bunches scallions, thinly sliced (or green onions)
• 1 bell pepper (red or green), chopped
• 1 tablespoon Cajun spice blend
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes (or just a little shredded)
• Fresh grape tomatoes, sliced

Directions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 1 minute less than the label directs. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta.

Meanwhile, combine the olive oil and sausage in a large skillet over high heat and cook, stirring, until the sausage starts to brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in the scallions and bell pepper and cook until the vegetables are slightly soft, about 3 more minutes. Add the Cajun spice and flour and cook, stirring, 2 more minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk and continue whisking until the sauce is thick and smooth, about 5 more minutes.

Add the pasta, cheese and reserved cooking water to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, tossing to coat the pasta in the sauce and melt the cheese, about 1 minute.

Holly’s Diner style – I added some shredded cheese at the very end, after serving HH’s, so mine was still a little cheesy, then topped with tomatoes for some veggies in that mound of Man Food.

Out -- In

Recipes are out, menus are in! That is, at Holly’s Diner.

It has been a long time coming, but a diner should have a menu not a recipe list! It all started late in 2010, the conversation that is, about a menu and listings and pages and adding and…more. It’s taken a while, obviously, but well worth it.

I am very excited to introduce the new MENU at Holly’s Diner. You will still be able to find the recipes you are looking for, just organized a little differently. You’ll find things like Chicken Pot Pie and Chicken Mole in the Hen House. You’ll find Ancho Chili Corn Chowder and Albondigas under Dinner in a Bowl. Then there’s delicious Pop Pulled Pork where it belongs, in the Man Food listing. And classics like Art’s Special Sauce under Guest Chefs.

You get the idea, the standard menu headings are “out” and a little originality is “in” at Holly’s Diner.

So look to your left, further, all the way to the left as in the left-hand column just above your favorite waitress and sandwiched in between “Home” and “Tip Jar.” There it is! You found it!

Enjoy. Order to your heart’s content, and stop by the Diner any time. I’ll be waiting!

Super Bowl Bowl

As I said two weeks ago, this game was not about “the game” for me – who cares about a repeat of four years ago. I was about the commercials, here's a few I liked:

M&M’s – Miss Brown
Doritos – Dead Cat Bribe
VW – Dog/Darth Vader
Imported by Detroit – Clint Eastwood

And it was about some good stuff was in a bowl, therefore yesterday was Super Bowl bowl day at the Diner.  HH & I feasted on such yummy goodness as guacamole (in a bowl) with El Indio chips (in a bowl), spicy buffalo chili (in a bowl) with sour cream and crumbled crackers, homemade chocolate chip cookies (stored in a bowl), and red velvet cupcakes (does the paper “cup” count as a bowl? Maybe not, but it’s my Diner so let’s just pretend.) And some fried chicken and fruit salad for HH (fruit salad, he's so good!)

It was all yummy, and certainly enough of a football fix for the next seven months or so. Let’s see, the next event with junk food opportunities, the Academy Awards at the end of the month. Can’t wait!

Pop Pulled Pork

Recently at the Diner, we planned for a hunker-down day. It was a little stormy outside and it sounded like a good day for a slow cook…something. A week before HH and I watched the Food Network’s Pioneer Woman with a Pop Pulled Pork. The actual recipe called for Dr. Pepper but you can basically use any flavor or caramel-y/molasses colored pop you want.

Since I do not proclaim to be much good at cooking hunks of meat, I figured the pork shoulder on sale couldn’t be too bad if things went astray. So in the morning after a little breakfast I put the pork shoulder on to cook and let it be. Here’s how it started off, you can see the onion platform and Dr. Pepper in the bottom of the Dutch oven.

After about two hours, a turn was required. Then another two hours and another turn – it started falling apart, a good sign. Then after about six and a half hours this beautifully browned, falling-off-of-the-bone hunk of meat (that apparently I didn’t ruin!) came out of the oven to rest.

I started separating the remaining chunks of fat (just couldn’t handle putting those back in the mix), skimming off the fat from the top of the drippings and pulling all the meat apart. So easy!

HH walked in, we had been smelling the wonderfulness-of-it-all all day, so HH put in his fork, pulled out a sample and “Oh My Gosh! This is so good! So good!!” Success!

With a side of sweet potato (baked) fries and some homemade cole slaw, the meal for a hunker-down day was a raving success! This recipe calls for chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, since that’s not HH’s favorite I left it out, but you be the judge for your Diner crowd.


Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork
(or Pop Pulled Pork - Holly's Diner style)
By Ree Drummond, www.pioneerwoman.com

1 whole large onion
1 whole pork shoulder – 5 – 7 lbs
Salt & pepper
1 can (11 oz) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 cans Dr. Pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large Dutch oven.
Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the pan.
Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the pork (include the sauce.) Pour in both cans of Dr Pepper. Add brown sugar to the juice and stir in.
Place lid tightly on pot, then set pot in the oven. Cook for at least six hours, turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. Check meat after six hours; it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it’s not falling apart, return to the oven for another hour.
Remove meat from pot and place on a cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it. Return the shredded meat to the cooking liquid, and keep warm until ready to serve. (You can also refrigerate the meat and liquid separately, then remove hardened fat once it’s cold. Then heat up the liquid on the stovetop and return the meat to the liquid to warm up.
Serve on warm flour tortillas. Top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, grated cheese, avocado slices, salsa, and whatever else you’d like.

Super Bowl XLVI

Really!? (Again, with as much sarcasm as I can muster…) REALLY?

The AFC and NFC Championship games set the stage yesterday for Super Bowl XLVI, that’s 46 if you are not up for a brain tease. I am already so bored and OVER this year’s Super Bowl!!

This game already happened – four years ago! Same teams, similar story! And they are both east coast teams. I couldn’t be more over this Super Bowl, and it’s still two weeks away!

Boy, the game day menu is going to have to be spectacular this year since the game is nothing new. Looks like the commercials will be more of “the show” than ever before for me.

Ugh.

Any game day suggestions, start sending them my way - please!