Garlic Truffle Mashed Potatoes

This is not healthier eating, but it's the mashed potatoes I made tonight. It's all a bit estimated in terms of quantities, but close enough.

Wash, peel, and cut into cubes about 3 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes. Boil the potatoes and 8 peeled cloves of garlic in salted water for 30 minutes or so (or until very tender). Reserve 1/2 C. of potato-boiling water before straining. Drain potatoes and garlic, return to pot, and add 1/2 stick of butter (salted or not, whatever turns your crank), about 1/3 C. room temp half-and-half, 1/4 C. of reserved water, and mash the crap out of them. Then add about tsp. truffle oil, bit of fresh ground smoked peppercorn, and a pinch of salt. Add more half and half and reserve water as necessary.

If in season, add 1 C. chopped fresh oyster mushrooms.

enjoy.

Also, the Peruvian chicken recipe (via Cook's Illustrated) is one of THE best things we eat. We made it for Christmas dinner tonight (with the above mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli) and I was swearing it was so good. So frakking good.

Healthier Eating?

Okay, I'm trying to start eating a little healthier. I'm probably not going to post any new recipes until after Thanksgiving as I'm trying not to go grocery shopping until after we get back from WI. But be prepared for quinoa and bulgur. Or something.

Two new recipes soon

I don't have them in front of me so I'll post them soon, but a few nights ago we made trout with chili sauce and tonight we made Nigerian fiery stick meat. BOTH were very good. So I'll post those recipes soon. Summer or no summer.

Ahh, summer

Now that summer is over and I'm back in the swing of the semester (actually, we're past midterm), it's hard for me to be cooking anything new or exciting or, if I am, to be posting about it. I made gnocchi a few times, but haven't quite gotten them to turn out how I want (they're good, but not great), so no posting on that. I'm obsessed with potstickers lately, but they're from a bag. Not post-worthy. Right now I'm eating chili, but chili is easy, so nothing to see here. I made this mushroom spaghetti sauce from Cook's Illustrated, but it was pretty much as good -- maybe not even as good -- as the mushroom and sundried tomato recipe on here, and it was WAY more time and work.

SO. If I make something good and interesting, I'll post it. But don't hold your breath.

Peruvian chicken, with photos

I might be a little obsessed with this Peruvian chicken, but with good reason. Beej and I made it again the other night and it was just as good as the first time. So good, in fact, that we both, while eating, would feel the need to stop and exclaim aloud how good it actually is. We also made some homemade chips for a side. This time, though, I snuck a few pictures. For to enjoy.

I mean seriously, how good does that look?

I know that it looks a bit burned here, but it's just some of the rub. In reality, it's not burned at all.

Juicy tender wonderfulness. 

These pictures don't do it justice. Insanely juicy & amazing.

The chips, while simple, were also really delicious.

Billy's Broccoli Rigatoni

I'm sorry for the blurry pictures, but I don't have the patience lately. Especially when there's a big plate of Billy's Broccoli Rigatoni waiting for me. I've posted the recipe here before, but here are a few (albeit blurry) pictures of the seriously-garlicy delish dish that I called dinner tonight.

Indonesian-Style Fried Rice (aka Nasi Goreng)

I'm cribbing this almost directly from Cook's Illustrated. I love love love Cook's Illustrated. I'm going to let you know what I did differently, too. Let me say up front, though, that you need leftover basmati or jasmine (or just long-grain white) rice. It needs to be in the fridge overnight. I'm one of those people who tends to have leftover rice, though, so this is not a problem for me. The original recipe was double this (give or take) and was for 4-6 people. I halved it here.

Ingredients

• 2-3 green or red Thai chilis. [If you don't have Thai chilis available, a jalapeno will work. If you want to reduce the heat, you can take the seeds and ribs out. I actually partially seeded one Thai chili and I used 2 instead of 3. I'd kick it up to 3 next time, or leave all the seeds in. 2 Thai chilis, one seeded, was a bit of heat, but only a bit.]
• 3 shallots, peeled* [1 of these shallots is for crunchy garnish. If you don't want to do the crunchy garnish, you only need one shallot, a bit less oil, and you can skip step 4. The crunchy garnish is really good, but if you want to cut back a little bit on the oil or on the onion breath, you could skip this.]
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp light or mild molasses [I only had dark molasses. This might actually be better with light, but dark was just fine.]
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• table salt
• 2 large eggs [I don't like eggs, so I didn't use these. I skipped steps 3 & 5. That's your call, though.]
• 1/4 C. vegetable oil
• 6 oz large shrimp
• 2 large scallions, sliced thin [If you want to cut back on the onion, you could omit these.]
• 1 lime, cut into wedges [I didn't use the limes. I just forgot. I'm not sure I'd want to squeeze a lime over this, but feel free to try it.]
• 2-2.5 cups leftover basmati or jasmine rice

As the editor/authors note, this dish progresses fast, so make sure you have your ingredients ready and prepped before you start. You'll need 2 small bowls for prep, one medium bowl for prep, and one small bowl to pour cooking oil into after frying shallots. Also paper towels.

1. Pulse chilis, 2 shallots, and garlic in food processor until course paste is formed. I don't know that I ever would have called what I had "paste," but it's close. Transfer mixture to small bowl and set aside.
2. In second small bowl, stir together brown sugar, molasses, soy sauce, fish sauce, and pinch of table salt. Set aside.
3. If you're using eggs, whisk eggs and pinch of salt together in medium bowl.
4. Thinly slice remaining shallot and place in 12 inch nonstick skillet with oil. Fry over medium-low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until shallots are golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. using slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper towel-lined plate and season with salt to taste. Pour off oil into small bowl and reserve. Wipe out skillet with paper towels.
5. Heat 1 tsp reserved oil in now-empty skillet over medium-low/medium heat until shimmering. Add half of eggs to skillet, gently tilting pan to evenly coat bottom. Cover and cook until bottom of omelet is spotty golden brown and top is just set, about 1.5 minutes. Slide omelet onto cutting board and gently roll up into tight log (like a fruit roll-up). using sharp knife, cut log crosswise into 1-inch segments (leaving segments rolled). Repeat with another tsp reserved oil and remaining egg.
6. Remove rice from fridge & break up any large clumps with fingers. Heat 3 Tbsp reserved oil in now-empty skillet over medium-low to medium heat until just shimmering. Add chile mixture and cook until mixture turns golden, about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add shrimp, increase heat to medium-medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until exterior of shrimp is just opaque, about 2 minutes. 
8. Push shrimp to sides of skillet to clear center; stir molasses mixture to recombine and pour into center of skillet. When molasses mixture bubbles, add rice and cook, stirring and folding constantly, until shrimp is cooked, rice is heated through, and mixture is evenly coated, about 3 minutes.
9. Stir in scallions, remove from heat, and transfer to serving platter. Garnish with egg segments, fried shallots, and lime wedges; serve immediately.

This is one of those meals that I loved immediately. And then I craved more about an hour later. Not because I was hungry, but because I was thinking about it. And it's good leftover and cold. And while it seems a bit complicated, if you skip the egg part, it only takes about a half an hour total.

A close up of the crispy scallion garnish. And the deliciousness under the crispy scallion garnish.