Since it is 8 am, and I have absolutely not gotten out of bed to cook, I will start with my most recent culinary venture.
Thursday: Dinner
Menu Item: Twice baked potatoes
This meal is simple and delicious. It was a regular in my moms kitchen, and I copy it almost exactly. One big difference in our recipes is that I am missing one kitchen essential- an oven.
I have a toaster oven. My boyfriend calls it the "ovenita".
Ingredients: baking potatoes, EVOO, ground turkey, broccoli, shallots, garlic, s&p, butter, milk
So, I put the potatoes in the "ovenita", dizzle with EVOO, and bake at 400f
cook the ground beef in a sautee pan over med-high heat until brown
remove the ground beef, in the same pan, add chopped garlic and sliced shallots
sautee until soft, add broccoli. Reduce heat, cover, and let steam until cooked but still crisp, about 7 minutes
check potatoes...this is where FAILURE comes in
Like all things in life, cooking sometimes becomes disastrous. When i checked the potatoes by sticking them with a fork, they had a nice crisp skin, and soft inside. I take the potatoes out of the oven and slice them in half, and allow them to cool.
after they cool for a few minutes, i grab a spoon and get ready to scoop the inside of the potato into a mashing bowl, leaving the skin intact and ready for the mashed filling
when i start to scoop, the skin starts falling apart, the potatoes are crumbly and dry. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
so i do what any desperate wanna be chef would do, PLAN B
I chuck the potatoes, to my satisfaction, right into the garbage. Fill a pasta pan with water and set it to boil. I begin to reheat the ground turkey with my brocolli mixture. Cook some wheat penne, drain. I add a pad of butter and a few counts of EVOO and some salt to the pasta. Add the ground beef, brocolli, garlic, and shallots-and mix.
slice some pumpernickle, coat it with butter and minced garlic, stick it in the toaster oven...voiala-garlic bread
In the end, the pasta was good. We threw some sharp cheddar cheese on top to keep that twice baked potatoes happy mood going, and ended up having a healthy and satisfactory dinner.
Until next time...
