Curried Mac and Cheese

I'm not the type of person that can eat the same thing everyday. I've learned through trial and error that one dish three times in a row is my limit! I was discussing this with my boyfriend, and he said it depended on the dish. Japanese food is definitely a cuisine he doesn't get sick of as easily. I guess being Japanese American, eating Japanese food growing up makes it easy for us in that aspect. He did mention that he can probably eat curry for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it. The way he said this made me think is that he knows this fact from experience not just a "what if" situation.

When I saw this recipe for Curried Mac and Cheese on the blog Within the Kitchen, I thought "Wow, how can I go wrong? My BF loves curry ... and Mac and Cheese ... What guy doesn't love Mac and Cheese?" He loved it! As he was happily munching away on the the Mac and Cheese he said "I feel like a kid eating dessert!"

Recipe for Curried Mac and Cheese

3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 T butter
1 onion, chopped
4 T flour
2 T white wine (optional)
2 c whole milk
2-3 cups shredded cheese*
1-2 t curry powder**
1/2 t paprika
salt and pepper to taste***
1/8 cup breadcrumbs (from the tin)

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook macaroni according to directions on the package. Do not salt the water since you do not know how salty the cheese sauce is yet.

Saute butter and onions in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat until softened. Add flour to make a paste, and allow to cook a bit to get rid of the floury taste. Add wine and mix until smooth. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until smooth before adding more. Add all but one cup of cheese and mix until melted and smooth. Then mix in the curry powder one teaspoon at a time and tasting to check the flavor. Add paprika, salt, and pepper to your liking. Mix the sauce with the cooked macaroni.

Grease or use cooking spray**** a 8 inch square pan. Put the mac and cheese mixture into the pan. Mix the remaining shredded cheese with the breadcrumbs and about 1/8 teaspoon of curry powder. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the mac and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and warmed through. If the top does not have a nice crispy top, place in broiled for about one minute.

*I used mostly sharp cheddar and some havarti, since that's what I had in the frig and needed to use up.
**Depends on how strong your curry powder is. Be careful not to use too much, you'd like it to subtly taste like curry ... think curried mac and cheese, not curry with a hint of mac and a sprinkle of cheese. Curry flavor also starts developing more as it cooks
***Also be careful with the salt since some cheese tend to be extremely salty. You can always add more salt, but you cannot unsalt a dish.
****I really like to use those floured cooking sprays for baking for casseroles. It really keeps the creamy sauce from sticking to the pan.

Kimchi Quesadillas

So, I've been reading all over food blogs that Kogi truck korean short rib tacos are really popular in LA. It looks so delicious online. I'm originally from LA, but they didn't have these when I lived there. And now I live in NYC (uh, for 6 years now!), and we don't have a korean taco truck! I just didn't have the ingredients or time to make Kalbi tacos right now ... but, hmmm ... but what do I have in the frig? ... tortillas, kimchi, cheese, onions, scallions, and frozen thinly sliced pork belly ... Quesadila! I saw kimchi quesadillas on the Kogi truck are popular too! Brilliant! Boy did my man love these! We made it enough times to use up a large jar of kimchi just from making a bunch of these.

Kimchi Quesadilla Recipe
(for one quesadilla)

1 8-inch tortilla
1/2 cup shredded cheese (used pepper jack)
1/2 onion sliced
1 slice thinly sliced pork belly or bacon, chopped bite sized
1 stalk scallion sliced
1/2 cup kimchi, chopped and drained on napkin
roasted sesame oil or rayu (red pepper oil)
Sriracha for serving

In a 10-inch fry pan, fry sliced pork belly or bacon over medium high heat. After some of the fat has melted into the pan, throw in the onions. Remove pork/bacon once cook to perferred crispiness. Continue cooking onions until lightly browned. Remove onions, and wipe down the bacon fat so there is a small amount to cook the quesadilla in.

Assemble the quesadilla by putting half the cheese on half of the tortilla. Over the cheese, layer on kimchi, pork/bacon, onions, scallions, and then the other half of the cheese. Fold the empty half over the filling. Put a touch of roasted sesame oil or rayu on the pan over medium high heat. Once the pan feels hot, put the quesadilla on the pan. Fry until it is browned and crispy. Flip over and brown on the other side. Remove from pan and cut into 3 wedges. Serve with sriracha hot sauce.

Malbec with Castello Blue

So my boyfriend has the most incredible memory ... wait, let me qualify that ... my boyfriend has the most incredible visual memory. He will remember anything you email or IM him. But he has a terrible audio memory. Here is a fine example ... We were out at the local bar and for some reason he felt like having red wine. He ordered the Cabernet from the bartender, but she poured him a Malbec since she thought it was better. My boyfriend loved it. So he ordered another one, but couldn't remember the name of the wine. He kept asking me "Whats the name of that wine again?" ... "Malbec" ... "Hey, whats the name of that wine again?" ... "Malbec" ... "Whats the name of that ..." "MALBEC!" ... the whole night, a good 6 or 7 glasses, if not more ... and yes, he CAN drink that much ... So, when I got home I emailed him the name of the wine. And of course the next time he was out to dinner with his friends when the waiter asked him his drink order ... "Malbec" automatically falls out of his mouth! Its become a habit for me to text him whenever we come across something we really like at a restaurant, particular wines or cheeses.

One of the best things about Malbecs is it is a great value. Malbecs are mostly produced in Argentinia and America still has a good exchange rate with them. So you know when you're spending $15 on a bottle of Malbec, its one good wine! It'd be like spending $50 on a Napa wine. Our favorite Malbec is Carlo Basso Reservado. And we've tasted at least 20 different Malbecs.

When we do these nights in with some wine, we always have cheese. Castello Blue cheese with our Malbecs. I know this sounds like a strange pairing. Blue cheese is never to be eaten with red wine since it causes the wine to have a metallic taste in the mouth. But for some reason Castello Blue goes great with Malbec. We discovered this when we were eating natto and then drank some Malbec. It was terrible, made the Malbec taste rotten (uh, duh!) ... but then we cleared out that taste by eating Castello Blue and couldn't believe how much it improved the wine. And yes, I know, most people don't like blue cheese. Many people despise blue cheese. But you'd be surprised with this cheese, its not that blue, and its super creamy, it is a triple cream blue cheese. This is the one blue cheese my man can eat, and he's more a white american cheese guy. Though I did discover he may not like all cheeses, but he does usually love triple cream cheeses. Anyways, back to the pairing ... Somehow Castello Blue and Malbecs just go amazing together. Its my favorite pairing. I've never had anything improve the taste of Malbec like Castello Blue. Everyone says steaks, but seriously, Castello Blue with Malbec is just amazing. And it doesn't work with other reds, we did try it with a Carmenere and a Cabernet and it just didn't help. We also tried the Castello Black, a higher end version of Castello Blue, with the Malbec, and that didn't work either. Try it sometime. Or if you're ever over for dinner at my place, I'll make you try it ... ha ha!