mile high lemon meringue pie

So I was sitting in front of the tube one day when my video card died and saw America's Test Kitchen on. They were making a lemon meringue pie.

Then, on Thanksgiving, my dad mentioned he was feeling like a lemon meringue pie. My boyfriend also mentioned a while back that one of his favorite pies was lemon meringue. I call it Kismet.

So for Christmas I made this pie using the recipe from Cook's Country TV (it's the same as the one on ATS).

I think it came out pretty well. =) I've got another pie in the fridge without the meringue on top just in case my parents want more pie. I guess I'll bring it over tomorrow. ^_^

mac and cheese with beef and pancetta

I love mac and cheese so I wanted to try a new way of doing it. The way my mom makes it has chunks of cheese interspersed between milky pasta so I decided to do a cheese-sauce based recipe.

Now I'd been jonesing for the mac & cheese with beef soup from Hale and Hearty for a while and I didn't want to have the mac with no meat protein so here's what I did.

I remembered watching a Bobby Flay throwdown while my video card was on the fritz and it was him vs this macaroni and cheese queen. So I looked up his recipe and added what he did to what I'd already planned.

I browned the beef first and set it aside. Didn't measure exactly just used the pink bits from the pack I'd defrosted in the freezer.

Boiled the water for the mac and cooked it to not quite al dente.

Then I started grating. I hate grating manually, but that's all we have in the apartment. I did almost a whole pound each of asiago, fontina and extra sharp cheddar. My arm hates me.

I put two cans of condensed milk in the pot and added a container of sour cream to this with about 1.5 cups of water to balance. I heated this up.


I used the oil from the beef to brown the pancetta in a larger pot and added the flour.

I poured the milk mixture in then whisked away.

I added 3 egg yolks and one whole egg to this.

I put a bit of tomato paste in.

Then I took it off the heat and added thyme, cayenne, the cheeses, salt, pepper, a dash of soy, and a little powdered mustard.

Mixed the pancetta, beef and macaroni into the pot then poured it into a 3qt casserole and a 2.2 qt casserole since I made too much.

I then covered both casseroles with a mixture of the cheeses used and a generous amount of Parmesan.

And that's 'bout it.

q's banana cuppycakes

My friend Q sent me some cupcakes to try. The're banana pudding cupcakes and quite scrumptious.

The frosting she sent was warm when it arrived so I put it in the fridge to chill.

This didn't stop me from warming one up and adding a little whipped cream, cinnamon and sliced almonds to the top.

When she starts selling them I'll let you know. =)

fish and chips @ home.. a salt and battery style

So I decided I didn't like trekking down to A Salt and Battery everytime I got a fish and chips craving for a few reasons:

1) sometimes they're out of the fish I want
2) I always end up taking their chips home and refrying them to my liking
3) maybe I want to use my own fish.

So I googled fish and chips recipe ... lo and behold there was a web article from the CBS Morning Show about the chef at A Salt and Battery where he gave a great batter recipe using Boddingtons and seltzer.

I used grey sole from Pescatore downstairs in the Grand Central Market and Yukon Gold potatoes for the chips.

I do declare I like mine much better cause it has that home made taste!

Sorry the picture came out fuzzy. I think I'll be fixing these point and shoot camera issues verrrry soon.

*cue evil laughter*

cream scones

Thanks to one of my twitter friends I got her grandma's recipe for scones.

Since her grandmother didn't give measurements I looked at this recipe from the joy of baking as a guide. I also added vanilla bean and almonds to the recipe.

Here's them getting ready to go into the oven. I brushed them with cream.


Here's right out of the oven. I think I'll move the rack higher as the bottom got a little more brown than I wanted with the top not as brown as I'd like.


And here's how I had that plump one in the forefront of the last picture: with Sarabeth's peach-apricot preserves and double devon cream.