Fish, Fennel, Fettuccine, And Another F Word

What our hair looks like after cooking.

Disaster Strikes the Hot Tamollys Kitchen

Menu:
Seared Scallops 
Fettuccine with Asparagus
Arugula Fennel Salad 

Drink:
French 75 

Tonights dinner was inspired by a recent trip to Seattle, where the sea food is abundant and fresh, and the fish fly through the air. (When they are tossed around by guys at Pike's Place Market.) We wanted to try making scallops, which we know are incredibly easy to screw up. However, even before making it to the pan, we realized that the scallops weren't going to turn out. Molly 2 was lazy about where she bought the scallops (a grocery store rather than a specialty fish market) and we ended up with scallops that were old and fishy. When you purchase scallops it is important that they be fresh and not smell overly fishy. 

After realizing that the scallops were off the menu, we thought we might as well still make the pasta, which would be very nice with sautéed asparagus and a simple light herbed beurre blanc. We rolled out the pasta and were so excited because we've had so many issues with pasta making in the past, but this time it seemed like the perfect thickness and right type of flour. After cutting the pasta into fettuccine size pieces, we made little piles, but neglected to lightly flour the pasta so when Molly 1 went to put it in the water, it was one big hunk of pasta. It still tasted amazing in the end, but was not what we were hoping for. 

The salad was the only thing that pretty much turned out how it was supposed to. The dressing was a orange vinaigrette and slightly too flat for the Mollys, but over all it was tasty. The fennel especially added a nice crunch and flavor. 

The drink tonight was the same we made the week before, but this time Molly 2 remembered the ginger simple syrup. They tasted great except for the fact that Molly 1 had no ice and the drinks were tepid. Can we ever get it right? 

Dinner was a hot mess and Molly 1's aunt came over which made our F ups even more embarrassing. The flavors turned out well but both of us were disappointed with the outcome. In the future we will be more careful about where we purchase our fish and flouring the pasta so it doesn't stick together. (Fourth times a charm?)

Links:
Arugula and Fennel Salad
(one sad link because only one thing worked.)

Ragu Ragu

Italian Comfort Food

Menu:
Ragu Sauce
Hand Made Pasta
Fresh Baguettes 
Arugula Salad with Beets

Tonight's dinner was all about warmth. We wanted to make something that reflected the cold weather and warmed us up inside. (Something besides the wine.) Originally we thought stew, which we'll probably make in the future, but then Molly 1 found this amazing Ragu recipe so we decided to give it a go. After all, Ragu is traditionally, in a sense, an Italian stew.

For this meal the Molly's shelled out some dough for a pasta maker. Usually we don't advocate buying kitchen supplies since were financially unstable... but this seemed like a useful investment. Molly 1 was in charge of making the pasta and ragu. 
The ragu was so simple. Literally chop the veggies, brown the meat and then let it simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal. The pasta however, was a nightmare. Molly 1 doesn't have a large food processor so she had to alternate between mixing in the smoothie blender and a Cuisinart food processor from 1989 (not even kidding). The next steps were very simple to follow and the pasta maker was easy to assemble and use (we got ours from Bed Bath and Beyond). The only advice we give is to make sure you have a large food processor and to use regular flour instead of wheat flour.


Molly 2 made the baguettes, which, unfortunately, turned out more like baseball bats. The recipe was easy enough to follow, but for some reason, they were not light and fluffy like described, but dense and doughy. The flavor was fine, and once drenched in stew you couldn't tell that they were as hard as hockey pucks, but in the future we would recommend using a more complicated sourdough recipe for baguettes, rather than trying to make them in one day. It's probably well worth the effort. 

Regardless of the missteps, the meal was exactly what we wanted, warm and cosy. 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Menu:
Chicken Tenders

Tater Tots
Honey Mustard Sauce
Ranch Dressing
Chipotle Ketchup
Strawberry Ice Cream
Bread Pudding 
Caramel Sauce

Every Thursday we bowl, by "we" we mean Molly 1 bowls while Molly 2 visits the bar and her denture wearing friend. After many hours of bowling Molly 1 works up an appetite and craves chicken tenders from the grease pit cafe attached to the bowling alley. Those grease filled pockets of joy were our inspiration for tonight's dinner. 

The first items that the two Mollys made separately were the desserts. We decided that it is best to make the desserts first. That way the dessert can cool or set or you know firm up. 

The strawberry ice cream was ridiculously easy. I (Molly 1) had just been gifted an ice cream maker, which does all the work for you. Most ice cream makers come with an instruction booklet that has recipes to follow, however I used one that I got online that was no cook, no prep, just shove it in there. The ice cream tasted amazing, but did not have enough time to freeze. MAKE YOUR DESSERTS FIRST! 

The bread pudding was easy; the end. The one tweak I (Molly 2) made on the recipe was using Hawaiian Sweet Bread and toasting it before pouring the sauce over it. Also I made a really easy caramel sauce that took literally 7 minutes and turned out divine. 

Next we made the untatered tater tots. The recipe was a little confusing to follow and we stumbled our way through it learning that with tater tots you either have to deep fry them or they're not tots. The way we cooked ours was to pan sear them, getting all sides brown and crispy, and then putting them on a baking sheet and throwing them in the oven for twenty minutes. They were more gregoire-ish to be nice, but in reality they were like the dense knishes from central park. The one highlight was that they were seasoned to perfection. 

So many sauces. We made ranch, Molly 1's favorite all time forever sauce, honey mustard, and chipotle ketchup, Molly 2's favorite sauce for everything including rice topping for breakfast. The sauce recipes were easy to follow and we found that we had a majority of the ingredients already on hand. 

Chicken good. I am happy. Thanks to the Neely's down home cooking recipe, the chicken was the star of our meal. It was juicy and light and crisp, exactly how chicken tenders should be. We were pleasantly surprised that the chicken turned out so well since neither of us have ever cooked fried chicken before. We tweaked the recipe because we forgot the cayenne pepper and instead used more of an Italian style seasoning, which was harmonious with all of our dipping sauces. 

As a side note the two Molly's went on a hiatus for two weeks without blogging. We did make a chicken pot pie and Korean food, but had one too many to write the posts. :-)

Overall this meal would be our second favorite that we have created thus far. (#1 Indian!!)

Recipe Links:
Chicken Tenders
Tater Tots
Ranch Dressing
Chipotle Ketchup
Strawberry Ice Cream
Bread Pudding
Caramel Sauce