Date: August 28, 2011
Cook: Robin
Main dish: Lemon- Basil Bulgar Risotto with Garlic Shrimp (Food Network)
Side dish: Carrot Harissa Salad (SmittenKitchen.com)
Dessert: Root Beer Chocolate Bundt Cake (thekitchn.com) and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein)
I've been a little behind on the blog, but being a band mom is surprisingly time consuming. I had to post about this meal. Neither Jimmy or I had eaten bulgar wheat before, but I had some sitting in my fridge and thought I'd better use it. For those of you who have had this before, do you have to store it in the fridge? That's where they had it at the health food store. Also, do any big grocery stores carry it? We don't have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods on this side of the river, and Kroger and Meijer employees just looked at me when I asked.
All recipes with bulgar were either salads or risottos. I love a good risotto, so I tried this one. I switched out basil for mint, because I'm not a big fan of mint. I also just omitted the mint in the Carrot Harissa salad. I just thought the bright orange salad would look so pretty on the plate with the green basil in the risotto.
We tried to pass the bulgar wheat off as a type of rice, but our youngest wouldn't touch this dish. This left more for me and Jim. This meal was delicious! I plan on making bulgar wheat risotto in the future. It's another source of protein that isn't a packaged, over-processed product. I still eat those, too, but it's nice to avoid. Also, I'm a vegetarian who doesn't like raw vegetables, but this carrot salad was so good. The harissa gives it a warmth, the lemon juice gives it tang, and the feta cheese gives it a little yummy-ness.
For dessert I tried the Rootbeer Chocolate Cake. This time, I had a little problem with dessert - the cake fell apart when I removed it from the pan.
But the delicious rootbeer chocolate icing covered all mistakes. This icing was so complex- not overly sweet, not overly chocolate, and the root beer gave it a caramel taste. This rich dessert needed the an icecream to complement it, not overpower it, so I went with a simple vanilla.
Cook: Jim
Main dish: Chicken and Olive Casserole (Emeril’s Potluck)
Side dish: Four-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese (Emeril’s Potluck)
Dessert: Chocolate Pudding (Emeril’s Potluck)
I call this meal “The Heartstopper.” When Jim said he was glad he bought 18 eggs instead of just a dozen, I knew this meal was going to be rich. Our 15-year-old had challenged Jim that Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was better than the four-cheese version Jim was making. We were going to have our oldest son be the judge because both parties thought he would be impartial. Well, the judge wasn’t able to make it over because of work, and the challenger said there was no reason to cook. I think when he saw how awesome Jim’s mac-and-cheese looked, he knew who would win.
The casserole was delicious. We froze half and will be enjoying it again soon. I’m not usually a fan of the fake chicken products because the texture is never right. Whatever Jim did in this recipe resulted in a delicious meal that had the taste and texture of real chicken, as I remember it.
Although I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate it, the four-cheese macaroni was amazing. Totally worth never knowing the fat or calorie count on this one.
Dessert was a little tricky for Jim again. He said there was an error in the book and had to re-make the pudding. He read part of the recipe to me to see what I thought. The book said to beat the egg yolks in a small bowl and to combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk in a saucepan. Jim put the egg yolks in the saucepan, too. I’ve made this mistake with ice cream before, so I understood his confusion. Basically, if you add the eggs before you heat, you can easily make scrambled eggs in the custard. The second batch of pudding was so rich and creamy, and the layer of crust and homemade whipped cream made this dessert tres magnifique.
