Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Macaroni Grill's Rosemary bread copycat & Spaghetti Carbonara recipes

I did it!!!  I copied the yummy bread at Macaroni Grill.  My whole family ate it up and then took the rest in their lunches the next day.  The kids couldn't get enough.  FG ate his at his office and wouldn't share because he had such a small piece.  But his office-mates were drooling and telling him it smelled exactly like it.  MMMMMMMMM!  I'll share the recipe...


I started with my basic french bread recipe and tweaked it.
Into bread machine place (in whatever order your machine asks you to place the ingredients, mine wants liquid first)
Rosemary Bread
3/4 cup warm water
2 tsp. honey
2 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. pressed garlic
3/4 tsp. dried oregano
3/4 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
2/3 tsp. salt
2/3 tsp. sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. yeast

Run the machine on the dough cycle and remove.
On floured surface, separate dough into two balls. Knead slightly and pull to form two nice dough balls.
Place dough balls onto greased cookie sheet, a few inches apart and let rise.
Once dough has risen (I always place mine in my oven that I put on "warm" and it takes about 10-15 min. to rise) brush tops with a little olive oil, just enough to moisten but not soak.  Sprinkle with kosher or flake salt and more dried rosemary. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 min. until tops are golden and dough is baked through.


Since I just winged it on this, my measurements and time may not be exact.  So you'll have to experiment with it on your own. If you don't have a bread machine, I would imagine you could easily do this by hand or with a mixer/dough attachment.  I'm making it again tomorrow for a Girl's Night Out at a friend's house.  It was so easy and so worth it I can see myself making this regularly!

Here's what I served it with....
Spaghetti Carbonara
(adapted from Classico Alfredo sauce's recipe)
16 oz. spaghetti pasta
15 oz jar prepared Alfredo sauce (I like Newman's)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 lb. pancetta or bacon (I had bacon on hand)
2 large shallots, chopped (the store was, gasp! out of shallots so I used a mild onion)
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Cook pasta according to package. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta liquid to thin sauce later.
Mix eggs and Alfredo sauce in separate bowl.  Set aside.
Saute pancetta or bacon until crisp.  Reserve drippings (I skimmed off 90% of the grease and kept just enough to saute the onions in. I didn't want it too greasy or fatty).
Saute shallots and garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Stir in wine and cook for another minute. Remove from heat.
Return pasta to pasta pot over low heat.  Add shallot mixture to warm pasta and lightly toss.  Increase heat slightly and slowly add sauce mixture, stirring constantly so the eggs don't scramble. Cook for about 6-7 minutes until sauce is cooked and thickened slightly.  Add pasta water to thin if necessary.
Add cheese and pancetta. Cook for another minute, stirring frequently.  Add salt & pepper if needed (I added pepper - it was salty enough from the bacon).
Place on plate and sprinkle with a touch more cheese and parsley.

All in all, it was a fabulous meal.  Not too difficult and FG and I ate the leftovers in our lunch the next day!  This is a meal I could see serving company because it's all in one and fairly easy.  I could see getting the bulk of it done prior to guests arriving and just keeping it warm.  I'll have to try it with the pancetta and shallots next time!   I'll also have to try it with my own Alfredo sauce.  The jar is easy enough in a pinch though!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

All geared up for the food holiday!

I'm excited. I'm in a good mood.  It's snowing like crazy and I made my kids ride the bus.  No wimps in this house!
2 days until the big food day!  I think I have experience on my side and thankfully this year, time.  The fact that I have roasted many chickens and done now quite a few Thanksgiving dinners is putting my mind at ease.  I know what I'm doing.  I know what it takes. I know what to expect.  I know that I will get up early and work on the bird.  I know I will chop the fresh herbs and mix them with other seasonings into the butter and slather that sucker inside & out with it.  (I do the under the skin on top of the meat with the herbed butter thing and it makes for a yummy bird!).  I will mix the stuffing up to the right consistency without really paying too close of attention to measurements. 

Having time on my side this year is so helpful too.  I worked at the toystore yesterday but am off for the next week.  Holy Moly how did that happen?  The paycheck will hate it. I am going to try to enjoy it and not think about the lack of funds coming in a couple of weeks.  So I already started on some of my T-Day prep.  I made the red cabbage on Sunday.  As I stood over the pot, stirring and watching the color change to such a beautiful purple, I closed my eyes and was back in my great-grandmother's house.  I don't have a fabulous memory except of many things when I was small.  I can picture her house - details of her house - at any time I want.  The red cabbage smell just intensified the memories.  We had many Thanksgivings there when she was still spry enough to cook for a huge family. 
Today I'm going to work on the dining room and if I can get FG to put the leaf in the table, by the end of today, my table will be set for Thursday.  I cover it with an extra table cloth and then that's that.  I can take my time cleaning out the crystal glasses and making sure the silver isn't tarnished. 
Tomorrow I will clean the house and make the mashed potatoes.  I started doing this a few years ago - I make them a day ahead of time, adding cream cheese to them when I mash them.  Then into a large casserole dish they go, only needing to be baked after the turkey comes out of the oven to rest.  The result is fluffy, yummy, creamy potatoes that have gotten rave reviews.  Really?  Mashed potatoes?  They are such a staple in this house anyway and have been all my life - we ate them (and do now) regularly with weeknight meals.  But honestly when I make them like that people can't seem to get enough of them.  I'm just happy it's such a huge time saver!  I'll make the pies tomorrow too.  Pumpkin.  My mom is bringing lemon at DD's request (the girl loves lemon flavored anything except chicken picatta - weird).  MIL is bringing pecan at FG's request.  Everyone is bringing wine!  Yay!!!  But me, I could eat an entire pumpkin pie by myself.  I have.  Not all at once.  When it's here, I eat it for breakfast and dessert.  MMMMMM! So I'm making two. One for me and one for everyone else. 

Now, I'm even excited about leftovers!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Thanksgiving dinner cost - It's not as bad as you would think!

We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner again this year.  I usually do because 1) my mother doesn't like to cook 2) my MIL isn't a fabulous cook (she's a "let's get it done fast cook")  3) my MIL likes to make Christmas Eve dinner and my mother makes Christmas dinner.  So I get Thanksgiving.  Since I enjoy it and really don't find cooking a turkey all that difficult, I am fine with it.  FG and I were talking about how inexpensively we really can feed everyone on the big day focused on food.  This year we'll have 9 people with the possibility of having a few more.  We have a couple of open invitations out there to a few people.  One being a girl (woman?  it feels weird calling someone in her 30's either doesn't it?) in FG's office who's DH is a fireman and is working that day.  As long as I know before we sit down to dinner, I'm fine with it if an extra or two show up. I'm not changing the way I cook or the amount - there's always plenty!

So my breakdown of food and costs, not including the staples like flour & sugar and spices that I keep on hand anyway is this:
  • Turkey  18.94 lb - $6.44 (my store sells them at $.34 per lb w/ a $50 grocery purchase)
  • Red cabbage (a German tradition in my family) - $1.83
  • Canned Pumpkin  - $1.58
  • Evaporated milk - $.68
  • 2 boxes of cubed herbed stuffing that I will "doctor up" - $2.78
  • Large bottle of Raspberry Lemonade - $2.78
  • Black olives (appetizer plate) - $.98
  • Sm. carton of Whipping Cream (no cans here! gotta whip it myself!) - $1.43
  • 10lb. bag of potatoes - $.97
  • Cream cheese (for the mashed potatoes) - $.98
  • Frozen corn - $1.76
  • Canned broth - $2 (4 cans, I like to save my homemade broth for soups)
That brings my total for dedicated Thanksgiving Dinner purchases to: $24.39

Sure, I'll use my eggs and my flour and my sugar and celery and onions but the above is strictly dedicated to that one dinner and leftovers.  I'm having others bring things as well.  My mom will make cranberry sauce (no cans here!), rolls and maybe another pie made with Splenda for my dad, my MIL will bring a burned pecan pie and her boyfriend will bring some nasty Chardonnay (FG and I are "ABC" people - anything BUT Chardonnay!), SMA will bring a bottle of Fume Blanc because he knows me better.  I might go purchase some asparagus to roast.  I didn't want to get it too early and have it go limp. 

Thanksgiving really doesn't have to be such an expensive meal!  If you break it down and round up to include the staples I'll be using, I'm spending about $3 per person! (and as usual, the dog will get a good meal from the giblets!)