Recipe Reviews

This week I've already tried a few of the new recipes I posted for this week's meal plan.  They have been awesome!

I don't have photos because I forgot.  Whoops!

Anyway, the Macheesmo fried chicken recipe is great.  I would emphasize that you should go waaaay heavier than you think you need to on the spices in the flour mixture for the breading.  But it is yum!  I had fun making it. I ended up only sort of following the Macheesmo twice-baked sweet potato recipe and just roasting two sweet potatoes, scooping out the middles, mashing that with some butter and cheddar and herbs, and putting it back in the skins and then back in the oven until bubbly.

The biggest hit of this high-calorie meal, oddly, was the mayo.  I tried making homemade mayo for the first time and it was awesome.  Seriously.  I don't even like mayo, but this stuff is the major major yum.  It is pretty easy to make, but it takes patience and willingness to whisk your wrist to death.  The basic technique is thusly:  take an egg yolk and a tiny amount of water and whisk them together in a bowl.  Add a few drops of oil and whisk.  Add a few more drops.  Whisk.  Guess what comes next?  Add a few more drops.  Whisk.  At some point in this adding and whisking process the mixture will lighten up, and then you can add the oil more quickly.  Keep adding and whisking until all the oil is combined, and the mixture is thick and creamy.  Then you add a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar and a few pinches of sugar.

And then, you reevaluate ever eating store-bought mayo again.    Yum!

Tonight, I made Eggs in Purgatory, which is a simple spicy tomato soup that you poach eggs in and serve the poached eggs and soup over a thick slab of toast.  I used a homemade whole wheat bread for the toast, and the whole thing was a big hit.  It's a 20-minute dinner, and definitely going into the regular rotation.
Yay!