Parmesan Garlic Wings

Chicken wings are a perennial favorite in our house. We order them frequently at restaurants and for takeout and also make them at home. While I still love Buffalo-style wings (as seen in my 2015 recipe), I've been experimenting with parmesan garlic wings lately. The air fry setting on our convection oven gives great, consistent results. A combination of potato and corn starch as a coating helps get the wings crispy and helps them hang onto the sauce. Of course, the wings can be deep fried instead but air frying reduces the hassle and mess.

This recipe is the culmination of several test runs over which I've made many adjustments. In the first attempt, I cooked the garlic in butter and added the cheese, which promptly fused together into a big mass. I realized what I needed was some liquid for the cheese to melt into, creating basically a thicker version of sauce Mornay (last seen on this blog as part of a croque madame). This creamy style of wings is commonly found at midwestern bars and pizza joints, like Vermillion's own Old Lumber Company, although mine might be a bit more complex. For a version omitting the cream, the wings could simply be tossed in the garlic butter and sprinkled with grated cheese before serving. 

The sauce is on the rich side, so I've made some adjustments to make the dish more balanced. Red pepper flakes add some background heat to the wings, but I don't add enough to make them overtly hot. A little lemon juice adds some much-needed acidity to a sauce that can otherwise be one note. Both of these elements can (and should) be adjusted to taste. The sauce is meant to be quite thick so it can coat the wings, but it can easily go too far into a paste-like consistency. It does thicken as it cools, so the wings are best served immediately when the sauce is ready. The parsley garnish is optional, but a little green goes a long way for the presentation.

Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla

Back when I was a student at Carnegie Mellon, one of my favorite campus dining options was a place in the University Center called "Si Señor." Most people tried a wrap or a taco and dismissed it as a subpar Chipotle imitation. My friends and I, though, considered ourselves real connoisseurs of the lesser known offerings further down the menu, from Buffalo wings to lamburgers to a fried frankfurter covered with onions and peppers. The "Pittsburgh wrap" filled with French fries (in the style of Primanti Brothers) was another classic item. Over the years, the menu grew with various pieces of paper taped to the wall. Sadly, Si Señor closed shortly after I graduated, but the memories live on over a decade later. 

Among all these items, the Buffalo chicken quesadilla stands as my overall favorite, most frequently ordered meal, and the one I most wanted to recreate all these years later. There is no shortage of recipes for such a thing online, including one from the Frank's RedHot website. Like everything they did, the Si Señor version is a little different. The chicken (also available in a wrap if so desired) was bathed in a creamy, pale-orange sauce and was relatively mild. The quesadilla was made from an enormous tortilla, folded into a square envelope and crisped on a flattop, held down with a trowel. It was served cut in half with a choice of side and a small brownie known as a "sweet treat." Although not exactly the same, my version does capture the spirit of the original. 

As a student, I always wondered what exactly went into the Buffalo chicken and a few months back, I went digging using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. I managed to dig up a 2006 menu from the CMU website with the description: "Buffalo Chicken ~ marinated in hot sauce, baked and tossed with light mayo, blue cheese and spices. (hot)." With just this and my memory, I created this recipe, which turned out rather well. The only change I made is adding more Frank's to the final sauce to crank up the Buffalo wing flavor and make it a little spicier. I typically ordered the quesadilla with what the old menu calls "Morelia" hot sauce, so I think this works well. The leftover chicken (this recipe makes way more than is needed for one quesadilla) is also good cold as a chicken salad. Try adding a little celery. For the quesadilla itself, I went with the more typical half-moon form factor. The traditional cheese to use for quesadillas is Oaxaca from southern Mexico, but anything that melts well is good. I used Chihuahua cheese, which originates in northern Mexico (the brand I use, VV Supremo, is from Wisconsin and can be found at Sam's Club). Mozzarella is a good substitute if neither are available. 

Upgrade: Croque Madame

Bonne fête! It's Bastille Day again, and this time, its one of my all-time favorites, the croque madame. Over nine years ago, I wrote about the croque monsieur, the classic French ham and cheese sandwich. I go back to that recipe from time to time, and I think it's one of my best from the very earliest period of No Free Lunch. A croque madame is simply a croque monsieur with a fried egg on top, an upgrade in and of itself. My other reason for revisiting the recipe is to improve on the crunchiness by toasting the bread ahead of time. It's definitely worth the effort!

This is my first post to feature our new convection oven. This enabled me to toast the bread, bake the sandwiches, then broil them all in one device. I'm still experimenting with it, and I expect it will pop up here from time to time. Of course, the whole recipe can certainly be done in a toaster and/or regular oven.

At their core, both a croque monsieur and croque madame are ham and cheese sandwiches, so using good quality ham, cheese, and bread is important. I used Gruyère here, which packs a ton of flavor, but is expensive. It's great as an occasional treat, but feel free to substitute. I shaved the ham off a half boneless ham from Costco and the bread was a peasant loaf from Vermillion's own Mr. Smith's. As with so many things, a fried egg makes everything better. Just make sure to have a knife and fork for this one.

"Matchos" with Shredded Chicken

Every Passover, we try to shake up the tired old menu a little. This has yielded some pretty great results in the past, with scotch eggs being the most enduring favorite. Last year, we tried making a "matzo pizza." It was okay, but with all the wet sauce on the matzos, it ended up a little too soft. That gave me the idea to try making matzo nachos, which I'm calling "matchos." The result was pretty delicious, and I'd recommend giving this a try for something a little different at the end of Passover.

The topping for the matchos is a shredded chicken similar to what we put in the kolaches back in December. For a Jewish twist, I sautéed in schmaltz (I made a big batch at the beginning of the week), but you can certainly use olive oil or vegetable oil. The sauce is thickened with potato starch to keep things "KFP." If you really want to go nuts, use some leftover brisket as the topping, but I went with a more traditionally nacho flavor profile. The matchos only use about half of the chicken. It freezes well, so it can be saved for tacos or regular nachos once Passover is done.

For the cheese, I used cheddar, but almost anything that melts well will work. I would probably use a little more next time, but this is what I had. We rounded out the topping with sour cream, guacamole, and diced onions, but those are all just suggestions. I made my own guacamole, but if you have some from the store and make the chicken ahead, the dish comes together pretty quickly. If nothing else, I'm inspired to make nachos with actual chips sometime soon.

Summer Squash Frittata

As summer gives way to chillier weather, it's a good time to discuss the results from our garden this year. We planted three types of tomatoes (yellow sunburst, black cherry, and mortgage lifters), which all did well. All four herbs (basil, parsley, rosemary, and mint) were dependable producers, with lots of mint fueling my cocktail experiments. The only real failure this year were the cucumbers, which I suspect a rabbit destroyed early in the season. The previous two summers, I was making pickles left and right, so this was a surprise. We had previously never had much success with squash, but we planted two anyway, a yellow crookneck and a white pattypan. The crookneck has done decently, producing several fruit for us, but the for the last month or so, the pattypan plant has been incredibly prolific. I've been trying all kinds of different ways to cook it, but this frittata was one of my favorites.

When I was first learning to cook, I made frittata quite often, because you can put basically anything in it and it turns out fine. The recipe I posted back in 2012 was definitely a "kitchen sink" sort of frittata, while this one is simpler and more refined, allowing each ingredient to be heard. The bacon-onion combination calls to mind the flavors of the classic flammekueche. The pattypan squash I used here has a very mild flavor, but adds texture to the frittata. I usually let them grow to about a 4-inch diameter. Much bigger, and you'll have to dig the seeds out first. To get a little over a pound of grated squash, I used about two pattypans. You could also easily use crookneck or zucchini squash here. 

I'm not typically prescriptive about what kind of pan to use, but a 10-inch cast iron is ideal for this dish. You want something that's both broiler safe but also nonstick enough to allow the frittata to release. This makes cast iron or carbon steel ideal. If you have a different sized pan, adjust the amounts accordingly. For a 12-inch pan, you would probably need another squash and a few more eggs. This particular pan is a Tramontina from Costco. It's a very versatile pan, and is one of the most frequently used in my kitchen. It's great for shallow frying a schnitzel, searing a steak or a hamburger, or just sautéing vegetables. We can definitely add frittata to that list. 

Chicken Caprese Sandwich

Chicken sandwiches are a popular lunch choice at our house, and are a great way to use leftover chicken. Since discovering the dish a few years ago, cotoletta alla palermitana has become one of my favorite chicken dishes to make, especially in the summer. Enjoying a daiquiri while tending the grill makes it even better. I usually make extra so we have some for lunch the next day. Although I highly recommend trying the grilled version, any cutlet, such as a chicken schnitzel or katsu, will work for a sandwich. These sandwiches, which combine the chicken cutlets with flavors from the classic caprese salad were one of our favorites.

I made the pesto in a mortar and pestle using homegrown basil. We used most of it for pasta the previous day and had a little left for this. Mixing the pesto with Kewpie mayonnaise makes for a delicious spread. The tomatoes also came fresh from the garden. The buns Ariel made for the Jucy Lucy were such a hit, she made some more, which we used here. Any kind of good bread will work. As with many people, the pandemic has been an opportunity for us to explore homemade bread. 

Caprese Salad

I recently wrote about making BLTs with garden fresh tomatoes. The other main thing we use our homegrown tomatoes for is caprese salad. Even before we started making BLTs, it was this dish that started converting this tomato skeptic to a regular consumer. To me, caprese salad is emblematic of Italian cuisine in that the preparation is simple and focuses on the quality of ingredients. It's a dish I've been aware of for a long time, but there are a lot of subpar examples out there, and I wouldn't have considered myself a fan until I started making it at home.

The tomatoes are, of course, what makes or breaks a caprese salad. These are more of our homegrown Mortgage Lifters. In the past, I've also had success with using tomatoes from the farm shares we had the past two summers. With the ongoing pandemic, we decided to forgo farm shares this year and just use our own tomatoes. Whatever the tomatoes, it is essential to season them with salt and pepper. The basil is also from the garden. I've always had success with growing basil, but it's important to remember to harvest before the first frost. The only aspect of the salad we've yet to upgrade is the mozzarella. Around here, we can only get BelGioioso in a plastic tube. It's okay, but a bit lacking in flavor. Use the best you can get.

Jucy Lucy

The Jucy Lucy is a cheeseburger with the meat inside the patty, rather than on top. The dish originates in Minneapolis, with the specific establishment (and spelling) being a matter of some debate. As much as this blog tends to focus on international cuisine, I do especially enjoy celebrating foods of the American Midwest. Although the Jucy Lucy hails from my home state, I've only had the opportunity to taste one once, until now. What makes it unique from a normal cheeseburger is the cheese explosion you get when biting in. Since the cheese is concentrated in the center, it's a more heterogeneous experience, with some bites being much cheesier than others.

I did a bit of research, and there was quite a bit of variation in the amount of meat, cheese, and type of cheese used. American cheese is the classic choice, but I think there's room for experimentation. I went with a sharp cheddar (Wooden Shoe brand from Corsica, South Dakota). I used my standard size beef patty, which is 5 ounces (just under 1/3 pound) each. This was plenty big enough to accommodate the cheese. I used rendered bacon fat saved from BLTs to fry the burgers, but go with what you have. Toppings included our homegrown tomatoes.

One thing that really kicked up these burgers were the buns. We had originally planned to use store-bought buns, but ran out of them midweek making other sandwiches. Ariel made these delicious buns based on a recipe from King Arthur Flour, but with bread flour instead of all purpose, and whey replacing the water. I'm not sure how much of a difference the whey makes, but the breads she's been producing with it have been great. For a few of them, we tried sprinkling some everything bagel seasoning on top, which was a good addition.

Chicken and Mushroom Sandwiches

There aren't a lot of restaurant options in Vermillion at the best of times, but back when we could go out, Mr. Smith's was always one of our favorites. Nestled inside the local Ace Hardware, it's a great spot to go for a sandwich, fried chicken, or a loaf of bread. Ariel's favorite sandwich there is the portabella chicken breast. As we're staying home as much as possible, I decided to recreate the sandwich at home. This recipe makes four sandwiches. We enjoyed two with sautéed yellow squash from the garden and saved two for lunch the next day.

As the name suggests, the original sandwich uses chicken breast and portabella mushrooms. I cheated a bit and used chicken thighs and cremini mushrooms instead, which are what I happened to have available from our Costco run last week. The chicken is simply seasoned with lemon pepper, but if you have a preference for something else, go for it. For the bread, I used soft potato rolls. While these are great for hamburgers, I would ideally use something a little heartier. For toppings, we added some romaine lettuce, sliced avocado, and Kenji's ranch dressing.

As I don't tend to order the sandwich, I can't personally attest to how close it was to the original, but it did taste good, and Ariel approved. As sandwiches go, the filling was quite loose, so eating them was a bit of a mess. A better bread choice would have mitigated that problem, I think. If preferred, the sandwich filling could also be adapted as a rice or pasta dish, similar to my chicken and bell peppers. To do this, I would deglaze the pan with a little white wine and chicken stock, reduce and thicken with potato or corn starch. 

Esquites (Elotes in a Bowl)

Fresh vegetables are usually the basis of side dishes in our house, whether that's roasted Brussels sprouts or broccoli, or a salad. As such, vegetables have been the biggest culinary challenge during the pandemic. Since we limit our grocery store trips to every two weeks, any fresh vegetables we have left in the second week usually don't look too great. This is where frozen and canned products have to step in. These are the kind of things "foodies" tend to frown upon, sometimes for good reason. While some frozen vegetables are pretty hard to salvage, others can come to life with a little creativity. Peas, of course, are the staple frozen vegetable, but I've recently started experimenting with corn.

Ariel and I really fell in love with farm fresh sweet corn several years ago. One of the delights of summer in West Lafayette was buying a dozen ears off the back of a truck in the Pizza Hut parking lot. Unfortunately, once corn season is over, what shows up in the grocery store is a real disappointment, and when you can get it, it needs to be eaten immediately. Mexican-style elotes are one my favorite ways to make corn, but they rely on having good-quality corn, access to a grill, and a willingness to get mayo and cream in your beard. The solution: esquites, which are essentially elotes in a cup or bowl. One way to do this is to simply grill some corn and then cut off the kernels. Kenji has an interesting alternative, where he cuts the kernels off of raw corn, then cooks them in a wok. I had this in the back of my mind when trying to come up with a good side a few weeks ago and figured I would give it a go with frozen corn. The result was surprisingly delicious. Not as good as fresh corn by any stretch, but still really, really good. 

Everything in this recipe has a long shelf life, so it's perfect for pandemic cooking, as well as scratching the elotes itch in the winter. Cotija is a great cheese to have on hand. Like other hard, salty cheeses, it lasts for weeks in the refrigerator. The proportions and ingredients can easily be adjusted to taste. For example, I used sour cream because it's easily accessible, but Mexican crema can be used if available. If you have some fresh herbs from the garden, like chives or cilantro, go for it, but they're far from necessary. I served the esquites with adobo chicken quesadillas and a margarita. 

Farmer's Cheese and Blintzes

Last month, as part of The Great Big Jewish Food Fest, Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz hosted a live session on making various Ashkenazi pantry staples. Alpern and Yoskowitz are the founders of The Gefilteria and authors of The Gefilte Manifesto. Their mission is to keep Ashkenazi food traditions alive for the modern world. Many Ashkenazi food traditions were born out of necessity, lacking resources in the shtetlekh of central Europe. The session included pickles, schmaltz, and farmer's cheese. In the Midwest in the modern day, many of these staples are hard to find in stores, so we've turned to making them ourselves. 

I've been making schmaltz for several years now. Every time we buy skin-on chicken thighs or leg quarters, I trim off excess skin around the edges and save it in the freezer. These can easily be defrosted later for rendering. I had not, however, made farmer's cheese. This was a childhood favorite of Ariel's, and the live session inspired us to try it out. Farmer's cheese is a fresh cheese, similar to Indian paneer, but loose instead of pressed into a block. It turns out to be incredibly easy, with only two ingredients: milk and vinegar, plus some cheesecloth. We also saved the whey and have been using it in bread making. 

We then put the farmer's cheese to use as a filling for blintzes, essentially rolled up crepes. I've had the frozen ones many times (usually Trader Joe's), but there is really no comparison to making them fresh. Blintzes are usually served with sour cream and some kind of fruit. This turned out to be a perfect application for rhubarb sauce. We followed the recipes given in The Gefilte Manifesto for both the cheese and the blintzes. I will show the process, with pictures, but instead of giving the full recipe, I'll just encourage you to buy the book instead. It's great for both Jewish culinary veterans and amateurs like me.

The Duane Purvis All American

As of writing this post, we are a few weeks into the COVID-19 crisis. For me, this has included moving my classes online, which has left me as busy as ever without leaving the house. Even as cabin fever sets in, cooking and blogging are pleasures still available to us in these strange times. I have a few more posts planned as Passover arrives next week, so stay tuned!

We recently found ourselves reminiscing about the West Lafayette days. The Triple XXX restaurant, located a short walk down the hill from my old office in the Krannert Building, has been a Purdue icon for nearly 100 years. The restaurant came to wider attention from an early appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. 

The Duane Purvis All American (like many menu items, named for a Purdue football star) is arguably the most famous offering at Triple XXX. It's a classic diner cheeseburger with one unusual addition: peanut butter. It sounds strange, but for some reason, it just works. The hot hamburger on top the peanut butter turns it into a bit of a mess, but a delightful one. I've done my best to recreate the burger based on my recollection and the restaurant's online menu. Although Guy Fieri didn't enjoy his Duane Purvis All American, I certainly do. As they say in West Lafayette, "don't be nervous, try the Purvis!"

Soupe à L'Oignon Gratinée

Bonne fête! Welcome to another No Free Lunch Bastille Day special. Having been busy with the move and the class I'm teaching, the blog has, unfortunately, been neglected of late. You'll now notice the third kitchen to be regularly featured premiering in this post. In the time since my last post, I've fallen back on the old favorites, including another huge batch of potstickers. There's nothing like a yearly tradition to drag me out of my torpor. My choice for this year's recipe is about as classic as they come: onion soup. 

I've been a big fan of onion soup for about as long as I can remember, yet for whatever reason, I never made it until today. In general, as much as I enjoy soups, I rarely make them and even less often feature them on the blog. This was also a great opportunity to give our new soup bowls a try. I consulted both Julia Child and Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipes, and took some inspiration from both. Onion soup very simple in terms of ingredients, but it all comes together beautifully. The wine I used was the 2013 Chardonnay from Bloomington's own Oliver Winery. The bread was, of course, the one featured on this blog.

Ingredients

Basic Soup

• 2 lb. yellow or sweet onions, or a mix of the two (4-5 onions)
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbs flour
• 6 c chicken stock
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 Tbs cognac (optional)

For Gratinée

• French bread (enough to cover the bowls)
• Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Grated Swiss cheese, such as gruyère or emmental

Instructions

Slice the onions into thin strips. Melt butter with vegetable oil in a large dutch oven or heavy pan over low heat. I ended up splitting my onions across two pans, as in the photo. Add onions, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium-low and add salt and sugar. Cook until golden brown, stirring frequently. For me, this took about an hour.

Onions after cooking

At this point, I combined all the onions into one pan. Add flour, stir together, and cook a few minutes. Add wine, stock, and bay leaves. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered, about 40 minutes. When ready to serve, stir in the cognac, if using.

Soup simmered and ready to go

To prepare the toast, slice French bread and brush with olive oil. Toast until hard and crunchy. Cut garlic in half and rub on the toast.

Headed to the broiler

Transfer the soup to oven-safe bowls. Top with the toast and cover with cheese. Broil the bowls for a few minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.

Paneer Makhani

For the first recipe of the year, I'm charging forward into the uncharted territory of north Indian cuisine. While I love Indian food, it's very far outside of my area of expertise (such as it is). When I eat at a great Indian restaurant, I'm amazed by the depth and complexity of the flavors that can only come from a mastery of the vast library of spices used on the subcontinent. As an amateur, it is difficult to match this, but it is certainly fun to play around with new flavors. I'm very happy with how this dish turned out, and would encourage anyone to give it a try.

Paneer makhani is a Punjabi style dish that combines Indian cheese with a rich tomato sauce. It is similar to the famous murgh makhani, also known as "butter chicken." Perhaps the most interesting component of the sauce is the addition of cashews, something I had never considered before. I enjoyed having the nuttiness in sauce, adding another layer to the flavors. As the name suggests, butter is also a big part of the sauce. It would be possible to replace at least some of the butter with oil and the cream with half and half to lighten it up if desired.

As I usually do with dishes I have never made before, I took to the internet to come up with a recipe. The recipes widely differed on the herbs and spices and even on the cream. I have done my best to come up with a version with the most consistently used ingredients, and it turned out great. I attempt to strike a balance between tradition and accessibility. As such, I generally avoid whole spices, which traditional Indian recipes start with. You can certainly go this route, however, and I'm sure the results will be even better.

The two exotic ingredients here are the paneer and fenugreek leaves. Paneer is a firm, mild cheese that is quite common in Indian cuisine, often compared with cottage cheese. I have been able to buy it frozen from an Asian store. It can also be made at home, but I have not tried this. From my research, I found that fenugreek leaves are very much a staple herb for Indian cooking. Despite this, they were hard to find. I went to two different Asian groceries, and couldn't find them. I finally got a hold of them at an Indian store. If buying fenugreek, keep in mind the box may use the Hindi name kasoori methi.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 cup unsalted cashews (pieces are fine)
• 3 Tbs butter
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 Tbs grated garlic (about 2 large cloves)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tbs fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi), see notes following recipe
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 cup crushed tomato
• Approx. 1 cup water
• Salt to taste
• 400 g (14 oz) paneer
• 2 Tbs cream

Instructions

In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cashews. Cook a few minutes and add ginger and garlic. Cook together a few more minutes. Add the bay leaves, fenugreek, garam masala, cardamom, and cinnamon. Stir in and cook down another minute.

Add the crushed tomato and about 1/2 cup water. Stir together, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 10 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, cut the paneer into small pieces, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch on a side. I cut my slab into 36 pieces.

Blend the sauce into a smooth mixture. Add more water as needed. It is easiest to use an immersion blender, but a regular blender or food processor could be used. Taste the sauce and add salt to taste. Add the paneer and stir to coat. Cook another five minutes, stirring as you go. The idea is just to get the paneer heated through. Before serving, stir in the cream. I served with steamed rice and baked chicken.

Notes

The amount of fenugreek leaves (1 Tbs) is in line with the recipes I found online typically use. When I made the dish, I misread my notes as 1 tsp, so I have not tested it with the intended amount. It still turned out very well, but I preserve the original proportions in the recipe.

The same basic sauce can be used to make the chicken version (murgh makhani). Marinate chicken in yogurt, lemon juice, and spices. Grill or bake the chicken, cut into small pieces, and add to the sauce in place of the paneer.

Mexican Street Corn (Elotes)

Although I've wanted to make these for a long time, this recipe was inspired by eating a delicious cup of Mexican street corn from a food truck in Michigan City last weekend. The timing was good, as the local farmers selling sweet corn in the Pizza Hut parking lot have just set up shop. Now that I've tried it, I'm convinced this is a fantastic way to eat corn. As the name suggests, elotes are a street food in Mexico. Of course, they are also quite a mess to eat, so the version in a cup, known as esquites, are also an option. You could simply follow this recipe, but cut the kernels off and mix in the coating ingredients. Either way, making street corn is very easy and a great way to shake up your corn-eating experience.

I bought two new ingredients for this recipe. Crema Mexicana, or Mexican cream, is a cultured cream mostly interchangeable with the French crème fraîche. Compared with sour cream, the flavor is milder and the texture is looser.

Cotija is a hard, crumbly Mexican cheese made from cow's milk. The cheese is salty, and squeaks a little when biting in, kind of like cheese curds. It can be crumbled by hand. If unavailable, substitute another hard, crumbly cheese. A lot of recipes use parmesan. If doing this, I would definitely try to get a good, strong Parmigiano-Reggiano from Italy. I found both of these ingredients in the regular supermarket. The crema was located with some other Mexican products, such as tortillas and queso fresco, while the Cotija was in the cheese section.

Ingredients

• 4 ears corn
• 1/4 cup crema Mexicana or crème fraîche
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• Chili powder to taste
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija or parmesan
• 1 lime, quartered into wedges

Instructions

Remove husks and hair from the corn, but leave the stem attached. This will act as a handle once the corn has been dressed. Preheat the grill and brush oil on the grate. Grill the corn on a relatively high flame with the cover down. Turn occasionally until all sides are browned. 

While the corn is cooking, mix the crema and mayo together. Once the corn is done, spread the mixture all over the corn. Dust with chili powder, then sprinkle the cheese all over. You may want to press the cheese in so that it sticks to the cream. Finally, squeeze the lime on the corn.

Patty Melt

It's a great day for America, everybody, and I'll tell you why. We're making patty melts! I love classic American food, and it doesn't get any better than this. It may look like a regular sandwich, but it's anything but regular. A perfect patty melt takes love and dedication. The result is greasy, meaty, cheesy deliciousness. I'm not often a big stickler for ingredients of the highest quality, but I don't make any exceptions when it comes to cheese. Real Swiss Emmentaler for me, none of this "Swiss" cheese for me. When it melts, the texture stays slightly firm and a little stringy. The patty melt also lends itself to variations. You could try creating a spicy mayonnaise or adding vegetables as well.

Ingredients

• 1/3 pound ground beef (85% lean)
• 2 slices rye bread
• 1/4 sweet onion
• Sliced Emmantaler 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 tbs butter
• Olive oil

Instructions

We'll start by caramelizing the onions. Slice the onions into strips. Cook the onions in a pan on medium-low to medium heat with a bit of olive oil. Stir frequently so that the onions do not brown. Instead, we want them to get very soft and develop their own caramel color. If the onions look like they are drying out, add a little water to the pan. You can also add a tiny bit of sugar to help them along. I cooked them for almost an hour. Set the onions aside when done. Note that this is a pretty long process, so you can always caramelize the onions ahead of time.

Dry out the pan a little. Season the beef and form into a patty. Keep in mind that you are going to put it on bread instead of a bun, so try to make it thinner than you normally would to cover more area. You should also form it into an oval rather than a circle. As they cook, burgers tend to get thicker. Fry the patty on medium-high heat. Flip once the bottom is nicely charred. Cover with cheese and continue cooking. You can consider covering the pan to help melt the cheese. 

Now, assemble the sandwich: bread, burger, onions, bread. You could also add a slice or two of tomato here. Melt half of the butter in the pan, and put the sandwich in. Cook until the bottom slice is crunchy but not burned. Take it out, melt the rest of the butter, and flip the sandwich. Fry until crunchy. Serve with a generous supply of ketchup.

Baked Penne Mornay

Pasta and cheese. What's not to love? The idea behind this type of dish is a sort of classed-up mac and cheese. I was originally inspired to try a recipe like this when I saw something similar on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. My version isn't quite as extravagant, and I've added Italian sausage. The recipe for the cheese sauce is derived from one found in The Joy of Cooking, but with more cheese.

Ingredients

Pasta

• 2 1/2 cups dry penne pasta
• 3 links Italian sausage
• 2 tbs half and half
• Extra Parmiggiano-Reggiano

Sauce

• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup grated Emmentaler
• 1/4 cup grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Get some salted water boiling and cook the pasta for about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse, and set aside. Heat pan on medium-high. De-case the sausage. Break it up and add to the pan. Cook until well browned and set aside.

Clean out the pan. We'll now make the sauce. Melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and mix together. Cook until the roux darkens slightly. Add milk and whisk together. Simmer the sauce while grating the cheese. Add grated cheese and stir together until melted and integrated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Combine the pasta, sauce, sausage, and half and half in a casserole dish. Mix thoroughly to coat the pasta. Cover the top with more grated Parmiggiano. Bake for 20 minutes. The top should be a little crunchy, while the interior will be creamy and cheesy.

Black Bean and Egg Tostadas

Eggs are an all-day food. Don't let anyone tell you differently. This meal was partially inspired by a visit last year to Chicago's fantastic Frontera Grill, where I ate corn masa cakes with egg, chicken, and chorizo with black beans and queso fresco. I've adapted this idea into tostadas. There are two keys to making great tostadas. First, you need to make sure the tortillas get crunchy, enough to be able to easily break them with a fork or with your teeth. No one wants a tough, rubbery tortilla. The second is to make sure everything stays hot to the moment it hits the plate.

Ingredients

• 3 corn tortillas
• 1/3 small onion, diced
• 1 cup canned black beans, mostly drained
• 3 eggs
• Black pepper, salt, garlic powder to taste
• Queso fresco
• Vegetable oil
• Butter

Instructions

Since this dish has three components that need to be prepared, set the oven on warm to start out. Pour a shallow layer of oil into a large frying pan, and heat on medium-high to high heat. You need the oil very hot, but not to the point where it starts to pop. Fry the tortillas on each side until they are crispy. Do not undercook the tortillas, or they will be tough instead of crunchy. This has been the downfall of many Chopped contestants. It is normal for the tortillas to puff up while cooking. Set the tortillas on a plate in the oven to keep warm.

Empty out most, but not all of the oil. Keep just enough to saute the onion. Cook until softened, then add beans. When I say "mostly drain" the beans, I mean keep a little of the juice from the can to add some moisture to the beans. Use a potato masher to smash up the beans. They don't have to be perfectly smooth; in fact, you probably want to retain some texture. Heat for a few minutes, and mix in salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Set the beans in the oven to keep warm, as well.

Grease up a non-stick frying pan with butter, and crack the eggs into the pan. Cover and cook until the whites become fully firm. To assemble the tostadas, spread the bean-onion mixture over each tortilla. Top with an egg, and crumble queso fresco all over it.

Mushroom and Swiss Burger

It is said that on their long rides across the steppe, the Mongols would keep a piece of meat under their saddles, which would tenderize the meat, and that this was the origin of the hamburger. Whether or not this is true, the burger is arguably the most famous part of classic American cuisine, and it's hard to find a diner or pub that doesn't serve them. One of my favorite burger styles is the Mushroom and Swiss burger. This isn't your run-of-the-mill fast food burger - we're using real Swiss cheese. I've chosen to broil the burger to emulate the effect of grilling while still indoors.

Ingredients

• 1/3 pound ground beef (85% lean)
• 1/4 small onion
• 3-4 big mushroom slices
• Swiss cheese (Emmentaler or gruyère)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Kaiser roll
• Olive oil

Instructions

We'll go with the one pan approach here, but you could easily use a second one to cook the burger. Slice the onion into thin strips, and cut the mushroom into more easily handled pieces. Heat olive oil in an oven-safe pan. Saute the onions and mushrooms until onions become soft and a little brown. Set these aside.

Fire up the broiler and make sure the rack is as high as it goes. Mix the salt, pepper, and Worcestershire into the meat. Form into a patty 3-4 inches in diameter, to fit your roll. Burgers tend to reduce in diameter and increase in thickness as they cook, so make it a little thinner than you want it to turn out. Put the patty in the pan, and broil for 4 minutes. While this is happening, you can slice the cheese. Cut enough to make a thin layer over the top of the burger.

Flip the burger over, and cook about 3-4 more minutes. When you have about a minute to go, take the pan out, cover the burger with cheese, and put it back under the broiler. Slice the roll in half, and toast in a toaster oven for a few minutes. When done cooking, place the burger on the toasted bun, top with the onions and mushrooms, and serve with ketchup for dipping.

Pasta alla Carbonara

Pasta alla Carbonara is a dish you see floating around in restaurants in the U.S. quite a bit. Like many other pasta dishes (Bolognese for example), the traditional Italian version is simpler than the ones typically seen around here. The classic Carbonara features bacon, egg, cheese, and black pepper - no peas, cream, or mushrooms. In my version, I have used fettuccine instead of the usual spaghetti, and good old American bacon instead of Italian pancetta or guanciale.

Ingredients

• One box dry pasta (3/4 - 1 pound)
• 4 strips thick cut bacon
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Olive oil

Instructions

For the pasta: Boil water in a large pot. Salt the water liberally. Boil the pasta for 8 minutes, and set aside. Save a bit of the water, too.

For everything else: Cut the bacon into strips 1/4 - 1/3 inch in width. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Start cooking the bacon. Mince the garlic and add that after a few minutes. Cook together until the bacon gets crispy, the fat renders, and the garlic gets browned. Turn the heat up a bit if needed.

While the bacon cooks, crack the eggs into a bowl and beat into a homogeneous mixture. Grate the cheese and mix it into the beaten eggs. Add the pasta into the pan and mix thoroughly to ensure it is hot and coated with the bacon fat. Now, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the egg-cheese mixture over the pasta and mix it in. The heat leftover will cook the eggs. Generously grind pepper over the pasta. Stir everything together for another minute or two. If desired, add a little of the pasta water to thin out the sauce. Serve with a little more grated cheese and parsley.