Friday Food: A Fat Tuesday Feast

Friday 

Short version: Leftovers, raw radishes

Long version: We had leftovers of both birthday lasagna, and ham and rice casserole. And that was it.

Saturday

Short version: Frito pie, chocolate budino

Long version: I had a bag of Great Value Corn Chips that I bought sometime before Christmas, thinking I would make Frito pie for our Christmas Eve dinner. I didn't do it then, but I did it now.

I was already simmering a pot of pinto beans this day, most of which went into the chili along with ground beef.

Chocolate budino is the most insanely rich chocolate pudding ever. I saw a recipe for it randomly the day before Valentine's Day. My family's love for All Things Pudding is well-known, and so that is what I made for our special dessert.

This is a crazy dessert. There is no milk in it at all, only heavy cream. It's thickened with five egg yolks, which makes it very, very thick indeed. It's pretty much solid when chilled. It's supposed to be served with whipped cream. However, my children requested that I just pour heavy cream right on top, as we do with pots de creme, which it kind of reminded me of.

A. and eldest were actually gone, so it was just the four of us eating this recipe that is supposed to make 8 servings. I had a very small serving, which meant that my three children were eating more than a double serving of it. This is not typically a problem for them, but this dessert almost defeated them. They finished their bowls, but not without some effort.

It was very, very good though. Not something I would make often, but I'm sure I'll be making it again. I think it would be better with the whipped cream, however.

Oh, and from that same recipe I jumped to suggestions for recipes that use the five egg whites left after separating the eggs. I used four of the egg whites to make a double recipe of chocolate chip meringue cookies, which were also very popular even though I didn't bake them long enough and they were quite sticky. Much like marshmallows with chocolate chips in them. 

The last egg white I used to make spiced almonds.

That chocolate budino sure had a ripple effect in the kitchen.

Sunday

Short version: Chili and rice skillet, King Cake

Long version: Still just the three younger children and me for dinner. I used some of the leftover chili and leftover rice to make a skillet meal, with the addition of cheese and sour cream. 

The King Cake was sent by my mother. 

We didn't eat the beads and coins.

We ate it warmed up, with butter on top, as is proper.

Monday

Short version: Enchilada casserole, carrot sticks

Long version: I had some broken pieces of corn tortillas to use up, so I used the rest of the chili to make an enchilada casserole. I also had to supplement with some of the plain beans I had in the refrigerator, which I flavored with spices and salsa, so it ended up being a very bean-heavy casserole.

A study in orange.

Tuesday

Short version: French 75s and a cheese plate, jambalaya, butter-swim biscuits, green salad with vinaigrette, butterscotch pudding

Long version: Fat Tuesday, hooray! This year I added a cocktail to our now-traditional jambalaya dinner. I thought about Hurricanes, which are very much associated with New Orleans, but they had too many ingredients and too much sugar. Instead, I got the ingredients for a cocktail called a French 75: 1 ounce gin, half an ounce each of simple syrup and lemon juice, shaken with ice to chill, and then topped with 3 ounces of champagne. 

These were so good. Actually the best part of the meal for me. When I was reading about this cocktail, I saw that some older recipes for it call for cognac instead of gin. I like cognac, so I may try that next time. It was awfully good with the gin, though. Not too sweet, but a little less dry than straight champagne.

The cheese plate was solely because I was at a rarely-visited store a couple of weeks ago when I went to get our beef, and this store has interesting cheeses. I bought Edam, blue cheese, and goat cheese, and then kind of forgot about them. But this was the perfect night for a cheese plate before dinner, being not only a feast, but also a night when we had two guests with us. So that worked out.

I even had crackers, which is not always the case.

For the actual meal, we had the jambalaya, of course, for which I very loosely follow this recipe, making a recipe and a half. I mostly use the recipe for the spices. I don't use that method, though, instead sauteeing the vegetables--I used onion, bell pepper, and a little garlic--until very soft and then frying the raw rice in with those plus the spices before adding the meats and chicken stock to cook the rice.

I had made the stock while simmering the rooster I used for the chicken meat. I also separately browned the diced andouille sausage and chopped chicken before adding it to the rice and vegetables. And I used the tip given to me here previously of putting a layer of foil on the top of the pot before putting the lid on, to steam the rice properly. This worked, yay! Thanks, Casey!

I must note that I used olive oil and bacon fat to cook the vegetables, then another cup of rendered lard to brown the meats, and then added another cup of butter to the pot before cooking the rice. And then! I put the resulting cooked jambalaya into a Pyrex casserole dish so it would be easier to re-heat evenly before dinner, and when I did that, I put another maybe half cup of butter on the top.

Before adding the top butter layer.

That means there were at least two and a half cups of fat in this dish. And it STILL wasn't at all greasy, just tasty. Amazing.

I made this ahead because I was at First Communion class until 5:30 p.m. I also par-baked the butter-swim biscuits before I left (meaning I just baked them until they were pretty much cooked through but not browned), so that when I got home I just needed to stick the foil-covered jambalaya back in the oven with the pan of biscuits. Interestingly, the biscuits fully absorbed most of the butter during their rest and were much less greasy in the end. Everyone preferred them this way, so that's good to know.

I made a double recipe of this butterscotch pudding, as always adding a little extra molasses and, this time, a cup of cream in place of some milk. I made this because one of our guests was our priest. It was his birthday, so I told him he could pick dessert. Much to my children's delight, this pudding is what he chose. So nice for them that he shares their opinion that dairy desserts trump cake any day.

Wednesday

Short version: Fried eggs, pasta

Long version: No more feasting, since this was Ash Wednesday. We always have our Ash Wednesday Mass at 5 p.m. at our church in the village. Because school gets out at 4 p.m., I just keep the kids with me in the village and we don't get home until around 6 p.m. Everyone is always very hungry by then, so I always make something (meatless) that can be ready very quickly. This time, that meant I made the pasta before I left home. Then I just needed to fry eggs and microwave the pasta when we got home.

The pasta was very random. I made the sauce with a cube of frozen tomato paste, heavy cream, someone's leftover milk in the refrigerator, already-cooked onions, about a third of a package of cream cheese, garlic powder, and a can of kidney beans. I blended all of this together because I thought my children would balk at whole kidney beans in their pasta. Then I added some frozen peas. It was fine. Not great, but fine. 

Thursday

Short version: Homecoming food, leftover jambalaya

Long version: I was at homecoming with three of the children. They had various concession things, including a burrito and nachos, I think. The two at home had leftover jambalaya.

Refrigerator check:

Blurry, because it was late and I was tired.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?