Baked Mac and Cheese Balls

One of the neat little diner places I like to frequent a lot is this place in the Los Feliz are near Hollywood called Fred 62. I've mentioned them here before. I like the place. One of the times on their menu that always intrigued me is their Mac and cheese balls.

The original is deep-fried classic style mac and cheese, but my version is baked. It's a fingerfood friendly version of the classic baked mac and cheese basically.  I used a shredded four cheese mix rather than just simply cheddar. I cooked it up the old fashioned way then after letting it cool for a bit, I scoop up a little shaped it with my hands and dipping them into a panko crumb, egg wash bath. Baked it. This version still has that crisp crust you'd find in the fried version and a little healthier without all that grease and oil. I love the crunchy crust it has after it bakes and the inside is still soft and cheesy. Yum!!

Is it weird that I ate a few of them with ketchup? It's a habit of mine. I tend to mix and match the oddest condiments, dips and sauce with the most unlikely of dishes. Is there anyone else out there that does that? Like for example, putting sweet pickle relish on a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.

Roughly makes 12 balls

Mac and Cheese Balls

2 c uncooked elbow macaroni
2-3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp flour
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
1 c evaporated milk
1 c shredded cheddar cheese (your choice)
1 tsp tobasco
1 tsp paprika

Breading
panko crumbs
egg wash - 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp of water

Cook the Pasta in salted boiling water. Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, melt the 2 tablespoons of the butter and add the flour. Combine to make a type of dough. Add the milk and mix together. Bring it to a slight boil to help it thicken slightly and bring the heat to a low flame to simmer. Add the cheese. Stir to combine to melt the cheese. Once the cheese has melted. Season with a little salt and pepper and add the leftover butter.  Then mix in the pasta and stor to combine. Add the saved pasta water as well. Let the mac and cheese cool completely before handling.

Preheat your oven to 400˚F

In a shallow dish, place the panko crumbs in a shallow and the egg wash in a small bowl. Once the mac and cheese has cool take a small (egg-sized) scoop and with clean hands or two spoons, shape it into a ball. Dip the ball into the panko crumbs, egg, then panko again in that order. Place them on a ungreased parchment lined baking sheet and back for 15-20 minutes or until the panko crumbs have lightly browned. 

Bento 2

I just thought I had to share this. I was just randomly looking at bento lunches once again. I have my phases of going through food moments and kicks. I guess this time around it's been the bento lunch. As I was randomly looking around the interweb, I came upon this little video that some one had made using various photos they collected of different kinds of bentos. I'm always amazed by the creativity that have done into making them sometimes. As in making your food look like characters. Practice, I guess. The meticulous shapes and patterns. One can only imagine the time and effort put into them. Anyway... don't mind the song. It's the images I want you to see. Fun with food.

Enjoy!!

Production Eats - No. 19

I'm happy to say the the shoot went very well. So that makes me, as producer, happy. A big thanks to the crew for making it a smooth production. This makes my job easier even the slightest bit.

One of the many things I have to do is make sure that the crew is happy, especially through the stomach. I had gone with a company called Too Tasty Catering. I'd have to agree that they were really tasty. I had tasted their creations before on another project and was happy with the outcome of their dishes.

Top clockwise: Organic Green Salad with ranch dressing, Volcano BBQ Chicken, Bean Ragu with Aromatic Vegetables and white rice.

We all ate it up. Delicious tender chicken, the black beans mixed with the rice. Yum. It was an enjoyable meal. Which can make or break the second half of the shooting schedule of the day.

After the shoot, a few of the crew, whom I've worked with on several projects before went for a post-shoot meal and drink. We decided on the Red Lion Tavern in Silverlake, Ca. They describe themselves as a "German 'Gasthaus' & Beer Garden Food and & Drink." From the outside it may seem like a small tavern. You enter and inside there's a small bar are and table with booths. You head upstairs and you're treated to a spacious outdoor seating area. 

I like this place quite a bit. I've been here many times before, but usually just for drinks with friends. It wasn't too often that I'd order something from their menu.

To munch on: I get the classic fish and chips. The fish was nice and tender. The batter slightly crisp. Serve with a side of tartar sauce, a few lemon wedges, and some malt vinegar. Though these weren't beer battered, but they were good.

To wash it down I have myself a glass of their Oktoberfest beer. Sorry for the yellowish-orange color of the last two photos. I didn't want to use the flash on my phone to distract all the other bar patrons. It was a good bookend to a near end of a production. Now I enter the post-production phase. Which is way easier. No much stress to worry about there.

Sweet Potato Croquette with Yogurt Sauce [Revisited]

Today's the day of another production. 12 hours on set. Early morning call time. The culmination of all the stress from the last month and half comes down to today. The actual shooting of the project. The thing with preproduction is that unexpected things can always happen. I've had my fair share of those on this project. I've had many of what I like to call "Producer's Headache." But it comes with the territory, which I'm totally used to. After today, I can rest a little more that I did a week ago. 

I'm revisiting a recipe I posted last year, when guest posted on My Life and Food Encounters. But haven't really shared here on B + B yet. It's a really tasty yummy little appetizer. The first time I made these, I had a couple sweet potatoes that needed to be eaten. I decided to have a little fun an turn them into a finger food. Eating with your hands is good.  I mixed in some panko to help it retain its shape. I paired it with a Greek Style yogurt sauce. I remember a friend of mine making it once when she served it with some roast chicken and I figured it would go great with the croquette. I couldn't stop popping these in my mouth. Yum!!

Sweet Potato Croquette with Yogurt Sauce

2-3 Cooked and Mashed Sweet Potato
1/2 c panko crumbs
salt
pepper

Yogurt Sauce:
2 Tbsp greek plain yogurt
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp water

To cook the sweet potato:
Peel and cube the sweet potato. Put them into some boiling water and cook until tender. Drain and cool them down witn running cold water. Mash them in a bowl.


Preheat your oven to 375˚F

When the sweet potatoes are mashed, mix in the panko crumbs and season with a little salt.

Take 2 Tbsp of the mashed sweet potato and with your hands form into a ball.

Place them on parchment paper lined baking sheet and baked for 12-15 min.

While they bake, mix together the ingredients for the sauce and set aside until ready to serve.

Classic Tuna Sandwich

This is one of those memory lane foods. Imagine yourself back at your grade school lunch area. You open your little lunchbox or brown little bag and what do you find inside. Juice to quench you thirst, maybe some fruit, cookies or chips, maybe a thermos full of soup. Then there's the main attraction. The sandwich. I would always get a sandwich for lunch. I believe it was ham and cheese on white bread. I'd take a bite and I'd find it slightly odd how the bread would stick to the roof of my mouth. Then there would be other days when I'd get a different sandwich. I liked those days. It wold be a the classic tuna sandwich. A nice blob of tuna, mayo, relish between two slices of bread.

I decided to revisit those days and created a tuna sandwich with the regular mix-ins, but with the addition of some fine chopped baby carrots and panko crumbs. I made those cheese crispies again and added slices of avocado to the sammies. I pressed them in ol' Georgie (I didn't want the bread to stick to the roof of my mouth. I still find it an odd feeling). Oh, the memories. I guess the little orange peep likes the sandwich, too.

Makes 4 small sandwiches

Classic tuna sandwich

1 can tuna - water drained
1-2 Tbsp Mayo
2 Tbsp sweet relish
3 baby carrots - fine chopped
1/4 c panko crumbs
4 bread rolls
4 cheese crispies
1 small ripe avocado - sliced


In a bowl, mix together the tuna, mayo, relish,, carrots, panko. Divide the mixture between the 4 rolls and top with a few slices of avocado and cheese crisp.

Using a press, heat the sandwich until the bread it slightly toasted. If using a skillet, place a plate over the sandwich followed by a 12oz can to apply pressure. Cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Flip to the other side and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

When leftovers tasted so good....(Kabocha Noodles)

I know you've had those moments. You know...when you go to a party or gathering or over to someone's house. At the end of the night, you're most likely going to end up bring a little doggy bag home or in my case a little tupperware of food.

I was given a serving of this kabocha noodles to take home. I forget what it was called in taglog. Of course, when it's freshly cooked there's more soup to it. Over the course of a few hours the liquid tends to dry out. It's still really taste. I reminds me of pancit. I think it probably is. I could be wrong.  Except that this had kabocha. Remember late last year when I was in kabocha kick? So I was happy when this had the delicious pumpkin added to it.  I asked my mom how it was made and below you'll find a rough recipe. Not too many ingredient. Dry noodles found in Asian markets, onions, cubed pork, broth, garlic and pepper. Simple right? I'll just have to try making this for myself once things calm down. Maybe add a few more veggies here and there.

I would have taken a picture of it in the tupperware, But it looked like a blobby mess. I thought these pics would look better.

Kabocha Noodles 
(rough recipe)

Dried noodles (found in asian markets)
cube pork
garlic
onion
pepper
vegetable or chicken stock


Saute the cubed pork. When browned, add garlic onions and pepper. Add Kabocha and saute all together. Add vegetable or chicken stock. Let it boil until kabocha is tender and add the noodles and cook until al dente.

Goldilocks

I apologize for being M.I.A in commenting on some of your blogs these past couple of days. I have been reading many in my spare time. You see... I'm producing a commercial that will be shooting this weekend. So these past few weeks have been crazy in dealing with production stuff. Meaning more production eats posts. Woohoo... :) So I'm pretty much focusing majority of my energy with making sure everything is tip top shape. With only a few days before the current project shoots, my time is pretty much limited. I miss being in the kitchen in times like these. But work has to be done. So yesterday while running errands, I made a stop to Goldilocks.

Yes, like the little girl who ate the porridge of those three bears then slept in their beds until they ran her out. It's a small fast food joint in the Eagle Rock mall plaza. The city of Eagle Rock has a large Filipino community, so it would be fitting to have a good amount of markets and eateries devoted to the foods of the Philippines.

They're really popular in the Philippines. Mostly known for their variety of baked goods like pandesal, ensaymada, mamon, cakes, pastries. They also have a small restaurant side to their business as well. That's were I had my lunch. We (my mom and I) each ordered one item and shared another. 

Paksiw na Lechon

This is very similar to the Filipino Style adobo, except that the sauce in addition to the adobo recipe has sugar and some of the liver sauce. The pork pieces are essentially made in the style of lechon sa kawali. It's really good especially with rice. 

Traditionally, this would be made from meaty pieces of the pork head. Of course, catering to the American palette, they cook it up with a meat of the pig.

Fresh Lumpia

This is the veggie version of the deep fried pork eggrolls (lumpia), Minus the wrapper. It's stir-fried veggies of bell peppers, carrots, tofu, mushroom, onion. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. With a side of minced garlic and covered in sauce made from water, soy sauce and sugar that's been boiled and simmered until thick. The type of wrapper you'd use for this would be those thin rice wrappers. It's then topped with crushed peanuts.It's one of those fork and/or knife dishes.

As you can tell, I've been on a Filipino food craze lately. I still have a bunch of recipes I want to cook up. As soon as the craziness subsides. I promised myself I'd cook something Indian. A curry of some kind. I'm open to suggestions. Hmmm....the wheels in my head are turning, turning, turning.