Spaetzle and Cheese - Schickymicky American Mac n Cheese

Marvelous. Made spaetzle one night randomly after someone wanted chicken noodle soup. Seriously, instant hit, it was so indulgent and yummy. Uber comfort food.

Inspired I decided to make one of my all time favorites, spaetzle and cheese. It sparked an instant food obsession in my household as this became our new “adult mac n cheese” favorite.

Bechamel, baby. If that word is involved, get ready for some righteous eats. 

We take this French mother sauce, add it to our German noodles and how we end up with American mac n cheese is beyond me, but that’s what ya get here. ;) Well, that’s what I tell the boys anyway. Lol! Sold!

Spaetzle is one of my favorite noodles and once you make it a few times, you really become a fan. Like an entire batch of these buttered noddles can disappear in an instant, no lie. And they are surprisingly easy to make, so why not go for it?

Last time I made this for our chicken noodle soup, there was literally a squabble/near meltdown when one of the kids felt sure he was being ripped off as his brother devoured bowl after bowl of these noodles in like lightspeed fashion... Until I magically revealed a previously undisclosed gigantic bowl of noodles warming under a dish towel discreetly next to the stove. Disaster averted. Drama instantly abated. It earned fake-mumsy a heartfelt hug. Not today hangry house-monster, not today...

Ah, the power of spare spaetzle. Don’t underestimate it.

And so easy. I have a super inexpensive spaetzle maker I bought on Amazon for less than $12. Honestly, it’s one tool I may not use every day but when I need it, it’s invaluable. Such a timesaver you can literally whip up noodles super fast because you dump your dough right in and just rub it through the sieve-like holes directly over salted boiling water until it’s all used up. Super impressive, useful, efficient tool. 

And pork belly. Gotta have some pork belly. Ok, maybe that’s just us. We always have pork belly on hand since we cure our own bacon. But sky is very much the limit. If you love it, put it in. Lobster or King crab is my man’s favorite jam, for added at-home pandemic luxury. If you can’t go out to eat, do it yo’self, my friends. It’s most rewarding to eat well, feed each other well, when times are suck-ola.

I butter traditional oval oven safe baking dishes for baking and serving. Single serve or family style. You can probably guess why we do single-servings in my house of hungry men. Big ones. Make extra, freezing leftovers if you can’t eat it all.

Spaetzle:

• 2 1\4 c flour
• 1tsp salt
• 1\2 to 1 c water
• 2 large eggs

1. Mixed until firm but slightly tacky dough is achieved. Rough guess at water but if weather is nice, just about 1 c. This part you need to sort out yourself as the water should yield a slightly sticky, tacky dough that almost resembles a heavy batter. If dough is too firm or dry, you will curse me because it won’t be easy to push quickly through your maker or sieve.  
2. Let dough rest 10 minutes to relax a bit before making the noodles.
3. Large pot of salted water to boil. Spaetzle maker over top. The dough ball is a little sticky, right. Wet hands helps a bit. It will fit in the pusher compartment completely so just work it quickly back and forth putting slight pressure as you go to force the dough to push through the holes. They float and puff recognizably when done. 

I had a little butter, olive oil and some warm chicken stock on hand the first time I served them which made them perfect buttery noodles. Kids were crazy for them, like I said. I made 2 batches which is a LOT of noodles for a family of 6, plus more for leftovers regardless of how much your grown man boys think they can eat...

In case you haven’t seen my post for Cheesey Béchamel:

• 2 cups whole milk
• salt, pepper to taste
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 6 tablespoons fresh chives
• 2 1/4 c grated Swiss/Gruyere

1. Make the Béchamel by melting your butter in a non stick skillet on low heat. Let it melt, don't let it brown. As soon as it has melted, add your flour and gently whisk in to incorporate.
2. Add the milk a little at a time so you can incorporate it evenly into the roux. I use a measuring cup, makes pouring a little at a time so much easier. It will be very thick at first but keep adding the milk stirring with a whisk if you have one, until it's all incorporated. It will be smooth and silky. No lumps.
3. Remove from the heat and season your bechamel sauce with salt, pepper to taste.
4. Stir in grated cheese of your choice. I prefer Gruyere or smoked Gouda, which is out of this world yum. Velveeta or American will work just fine. Remember we are doing “American” adult Mac n cheese so this is absolutely allowed and will work beautifully. American cheese has its place, especially here, because it melts smooth and is creamy dreamy as we all know. If you don’t know, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Bake it already:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F or just use your broiler, keeping an eye on it. Everything is cooked so we just need to warm it through and get the top browned.
2. Lastly, just mix your noodles, bechamel and any other goodies gently to incorporate. I also top with a bit of extra grated cheese so it browns and bubbles on top.
3. Bake for about 15 minutes or if using the broiler, stay alert and present. Lol! You just want to warm and brown the tops.

Aloha Deep - Hawaiian Style Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

We are a pizza-obsessed household. Not terribly unusual for most Americans, but since I keep a traditional Italian Neapolitan sourdough starter on hand at all times, we make every excuse to put it on our regular dinner rotation.

It’s such a thing, Tsu has planned on building the mother of all pizza and bread ovens in our new outdoor kitchen. Knowing his talents, this will be a Guy Fierri-style behemoth and a beauty, I’m sure. I am excited beyond words as I can think of nothing more fantastic or over the top yum than cooking these pizzas in a real pizza oven!

Recently, we’ve experimented with deep-dish and have made our rounds through the various options, including Sicilian, Detroit-style, etc. This one was more of a Chi-town try. Let’s get at it. I’ve blogged my pizza dough recipe before and will link it for you below.

My recipe for Italian pizza dough, aged at least 36 hours. Trust mama. With or without a heritage pizza starter, flavors need time to develop. That’s what “proofing” in bread baking is all about. This is a recipe for those that don’t have access to an Italian starter. I’ll post a recipe for my real-deal version soon.

I oiled my perforated deep dish pizza pan and sat it on top of the other perforated pizza pan covered with tin foil as I was worried about it bubbling over but it didn't. It’s always when I don’t take precautions that it gets wild, so just do it in case.

**If your dough has been refrigerated, it must come to room temperature before you try to stretch it out to fit your pan. If you are patient, this will allow your dough time to become relaxed and it makes stretching almost too easy.. I stretch, as opposed to roll, just easier. Flatten it out and gently stretch it from the center out, turning the pan and working Your way around the pan, until your edges are at the top of your pan. If you get tears, it’s likely not ready for this part so give it a few more minutes.

Let the dough rise in the pan, poking holes in the crust with a fork or dibbler so it rises evenly.

Now, the next steps of adding your toppings, as outlined below, is the key. The use of sliced provolone, as opposed to shredded mozzarella, as you will see, is the real secret behind cheesey perfection. I do not do it differently now and picante or sharp provolone is our new pizza-go-to cheese of choice. 

1. 1st layer is cheese, slices of provolone
2. 2nd layer is meat/toppings of choice
3. 3rd layer is sauce
4. 4th is a dusting of grated parmesan, shredded mozzarella if you must (traditionally, sauce is on top)

This pizza crust was freaking amazing. It was cooked perfectly.

Toppings:

I did half sausage, onion and black olive.

The other half we did Costco ham diced, fresh pineapple, onion.

Both were spectacular but the sausage we used we cooked first and it was the Italian breakfast links with fennel, also from Costco. It is a perfect sausage for pizza and we also use it in our Southern Biscuits and Gravy, a post for next time. ;)

Next time, I think we can just add it to the pizza raw instead; just one big flat layer of sausage so the whole pizza is covered. That's what we did with the cooked sausage and it was awesome to have sausage in every bite. Since it cooks so long in the oven we don't need to worry about cooking it ahead of time. Save the time and mess. I’ve seen it done at Chicago pizzerias and will do it this way from now on, especially on a deep dish.

Bake:

I preheated my oven to 400, put it in and then raised the temp to 450. I cooked it for 35 minutes then another 10 and it was divine. Tsu said it was the best he'd ever eaten. We both ate a quarter of the pizza and were stuffed but ate every last crumb. Finished the rest the next day.

The dough was crispy, had a great texture on the outside and it made eating the crust the best part! I also layered the cheese, which was pretty important, on the bottom first and in slices instead of using shredded or hand grated cheese. Also a timesaver. Next time I will do two layers of cheese though. one on the bottom and one in between the meat and sauce so it has extra cheesy goodness.

This was a heavy gigantic pizza but we were both so blown away.

Quick n Easy Chicken Cheesey Mexican Enchiladas

One of my Dad’s favorite meals is chicken and cheese enchiladas. Made these for him at Christmas per his request. They were so good, even I had to agree; felt the need to hug myself.

Sometimes when I am on a cooking roll, I do many meals at once or they are inspired by each other, I should say. This was that sorta day.

So this particular flurry of kitchen stadium activity was all about chicken. I had three lbs of frozen chicken breasts my stepmom wanted to use up, so I used it all and made several things.

First, I used the instantpot to make chicken stock for potato and leek soup, chicken noodle soup which we had the first night. I also used the cooked chicken for chicken salad for quick lunches on sandwiches or on it’s own. I love it on croissants, personally but I also love it by itself if you want to forego the carbs and keep it keto-friendly.

The rest of the chicken I shredded and used for the enchiladas. I don’t play. We had some good staples for the whole week and then some just by making my own stock using frozen chicken breasts in my instant pot. Couldn’t be easier.

I ended up making a square casserole of enchiladas for dinner with Dad the next night. I also made several small servings prepped in mini loaf pans which turned out were just the right size for freezing single-size servings. My stepmom doesn’t care for enchiladas so this was the perfect way to freeze them for quick go-to, single serve meals when she didn’t feel like cooking and Dad had a craving.

On to the enchilada show.

 Ingredients:

• 20 pack of medium 6-8 inch flour tortillas
• 13 oz can of enchilada sauce 
• ~1 lb shredded quesadilla or monterrey jack cheese
• ~1 lb cooked, diced or shredded chicken
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa
• 1/2 cup of half n half or heavy cream 
• Garlic powder, optional 
• Diced jalapenos, optional 
• Chopped cilantro, optional

Prep:

1. Butter your baking dishes, whatever you decide to use. I used a pyrex square casserole and several mini loaf pans for freezing. You can use a rectangular casserole dish or whatever you prefer.
2. Add just enough enchilada sauce to the bottom of your pan or pans to lightly cover the bottom.
3. Spread about a tablespoon of cream cheese on a flour tortilla, working with one tortilla at a time.
4. Add about a tablespoon of shredded cheese on top of the cream cheese, making a sort of line across the tortilla as opposed to sprinkling to cover the tortilla. This makes it easier to roll and distributes it better once it is rolled up.
5. Following the “line” method, add a tablespoon of chicken, jalapenos and cilantro on top of your line of cheese. A tablespoon is really just a guide as you can use more or less to taste. The idea is to be consistent so you have a good ratio of ingredients but not so much you can’t roll them.
6. Drizzle about a tablespoon of enchilada sauce over your meat and cheese and optionally, a very light sprinkle of garlic powder.
7. Roll each tortilla up and place the rolled tortillas in the pan seam-side down, packing them tightly as you go.
8. Mix the salsa and cream or half n half together in a mixing cup and pour over the top of the enchiladas.
9. Sprinkle a final layer of cheese on top and bake uncovered at 375 F for 40-45 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly on top.
10. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving. This allows the cheese to set so it doesn’t just slide off when serving.

** Note on freezing: If freezing, do steps 1-7, omitting the salsa/cream and cheese topping until just before baking. While your oven is preheating, mix your salsa and cream, covering the frozen enchiladas and top with cheese before putting in the oven. You may need to adjust your cooking time by another ten minutes, but I have found they do cook through in the same amount of time, regardless in my oven.

Also, when freezing initially, I pre-freeze the entire pan for at least an hour before wrapping and sealing them for longer storage. I find it easier if the enchilada sauce is frozen as it helps me wrap and seal my cooking vessels without making a complete mess. I also use my vacuum seal bags to get an airtight seal on the whole pan or mini pans, if I can because these keep freezer burn at bay and helps keep odors out of the freezer. But you can certainly use saran wrap, followed by tin or freezer paper or glass, if you prefer once the enchiladas are semi-frozen. I use freezer-safe, oven-safe dishes when I do, obviously as you wouldn’t want to risk breaking a nice casserole if it isn’t tempered for cold to hot applications.