Baked Mac and Cheese with "Fritos Twists" Crust

JS:
When my mother returned from one of a cross-border trip to the Washington state, she brought home some junk food: potato chips, corn chips, Corn Pops cereal.

She's tempting fate, our mother, knowing that her people don't have any self-control when it comes to junk food. When asked why she would buy so much junk food when she's the one who would admonish us not to eat too much, she would get slightly defensive and say that she's buying these for our parties and gatherings, so our guests would have something to munch on after finishing dinner.

I happen to think that it's another self-control issue (genetics, you know): she has no control over her shopping. ;)

JS:
One infernal item she bought recently are these Fritos Flavor Twists.

(See left. Image from fritolay.com.)

We don't have the exact same thing for sale here in Canada, so these are quite "exotic." Of course, they're not particularly good, but that of course didn't stop me from finishing a couple of bags in one sitting!

When I saw that there is one lone bag still in the pantry, I knew I had to take control of the situation before I end up on the couch with my hand inside that bag. Better put this bag out of its misery.

We had some kids coming over to play with my nephew and nieces so I thought, why not make a kid-friendly meal of mac-and-cheese with the Fritos twists as my breadcrumbs? They're kids, and for our kids anyways, mac-and-cheese is a rare treat since we never really have it. Might as well go all the way with the junky-goodness of Frito-Lay into the mix!



JS:
I made a standard béchamel sauce for my mac-and-cheese and tried to make my version "healthier" by incorporating more protein, in the form of shredded beef, into the sauce.

For the cheeses, I used a combination of white and regular cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I then folded in the crumbled honey barbecue twists into the mac-and-cheese.


Fritos Flavor Twists crust

JS:
More crumbled twists went on top, along with some more shredded cheddar and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for the crust.

Of course, besides the kids, I also had a couple of servings of this Mac and Cheese, doused with Frank's Red Hot sauce. But, at least, that's only a twelfth of the Fritos Twists instead of the whole bag! :)

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Recipes

Alton Brown:
Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Choosy Beggars:
Buffalo Wing Macaroni and Cheese

A Good Appetite:
Green Chili and Sweet Corn Mac and Cheese

A Good Appetite:
Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

A Good Appetite:
Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash

A Good Appetite:
Grown Up Mac & Cheese

Chinese Pork Bone Soup with Carrots and Water Chestnuts

TS:
You may be wondering, "Soup? Isn't it almost summer?"


"Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day."

TS:
Apparently, we missed the memo here, as it's been raining quite a bit lately. I think it's unusual to be raining this much at this time of the year, even for Vancouver! Soup right now is just the thing.

Actually, in Cantonese households especially, soup is an essential part of the meal, regardless of the season. As explained in the Winter Melon Soup post on Appetite for China, the Cantonese thinking is that without soup, one might as well be eating barbarian food. ;)

These Chinese soups also have a lot of supposed "medicinal" advantages, a good way to apply the knowledge gleaned from several millenia of history of traditional Chinese medicine into daily life.

With our advancing age (hehe) and the resulting focus on health, I thought it was high time we made more of these soups.


First: Blanch pork neck pieces in hot water to "clean" them. Discard water.

TS:
"Pork bone" refers to what is usually labelled "pork neck bone". Contrary to its name, there is actually still a substantial amount of meat on them. They're very nice for soups and they're very inexpensive! Usually about a dollar a pound.

For the past twenty years, although pork bones are a staple in our household and we have pork bone soup on average once in two weeks, we have had only one pork bone (ma-kut) soup: Pork Bone and Daikon Radish Soup.

Strangely enough, we don't have a post on this, our standard Ma-Kut Soup! I'm putting that on our list of things to post. Here's a version with watercress and Shanghai bok choy.

For the record, this watercress and Shanghai bokchoy pork bone soup was not open-heartedly welcomed by all when we made it. Our family are loyalists when it comes to pork bone soup: they like what they like.

Me? Not so much. I'm not a big fan of our standard pork bone and radish soup. I always feel left out when Mama (or JS) makes it. That's why I decided to experiment with other pork bone soup combinations.


Second: Peel and cut carrots into large chunks. Drain canned water chestnuts.

TS:
We tried out a couple of pre-packaged soup combinations from our local Asian supermarket a while back (documented here and here).

Besides those two soups, I have no experience with Chinese soups. That's why when I decided to venture out into the great unknown of pork bone soup delights, I decide to keep things pretty neutral and chose non-threatening ingredients.

Carrots and water chestnuts. Very non-threatening.


Third: Measure out your "Chinese" ingredients.

Clockwise from top left: black-eyed peas, honey dates, apricot kernels, and conpoy (dried scallops).

TS:
To learn more about Chinese soups, I turned to The Chinese Soup Lady!

The Chinese Soup Lady is a blog maintained by two sisters and is dedicated to Chinese Soups. (I bet you couldn't figure that out!) They have information on ingredients used to make soups, as well as soup recipes and their intended effects.

For example, according to the Chinese Soup Lady, the ingredients I have for my soup have the following properties:

carrots: rich in dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals

water chestnuts: relatively "cooling" food; said to help relieve coughs

black-eyed peas: low in fat and high in protein

honey dates: sweet; assists with constipation (because of their mild laxative effect), anemia, fatigue

apricot kernels: used to help relieve "heatiness"; good for coughs

conpoy (dried scallops): flavorful; beneficial to yin

See! Don't the health benefits make you want to run off and make some Chinese soup now?


Fourth: Dump everything into a pot and simmer for a long, long, looooong time.

TS:
I love this as it's a dump-into-a-pot recipe. Let boil then simmer on low. It takes a long time.

After twelve hours, the broth was super clear, but I still wasn't satisfied with the flavor. Not wanting to wait any longer, I turned the heat up higher. The soup was on a low boil, so after about two hours, I finally had the flavor I was looking for. The downside, the broth turned cloudy.

Although, that isn't such a bad thing. This is the look that some people aim for, particularly in Japanese ramen broths, or Korean oxtail soup.




TS:
There you go. This is a very light yet flavorful soup.

It's pretty good for a beginner. But, tasting other Chinese soups (for example, the pork and lotus root soup at Shanghai Village), I know how much there is to learn about making these Chinese soups. Mine still didn't seem as "sweet" and flavorful.

JS and I were speculating, perhaps we should use chicken broth instead of water to add to the pork. Hmm...

P.S. I love the crunch of the water chestnuts. Still crunchy after 12+ hours of cooking.


To learn all about Chinese Soups, go to:
The Chinese Soup Lady.com

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eatingclub Hong Kong/Cantonese
Chicken Chow Mein
Cantonese Braised Beef Brisket, Two Ways
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Chinese Roast Pork Belly
Gailan (Chinese Broccoli) with Oyster Sauce, Two Ways
Chinese Pork Bone Soup with Carrots and Water Chestnuts
Hong Kong-style Curry Cuttlefish
Dimsum Seafood Trio: Black Pearl Prawn Toast, Scallop in Nest, Jewelled Rice Cup
Hong Kong-style Singapore Noodles (星洲炒米)
Hong Kong-style Stir-fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste (蝦醬通菜)
Hong Kong-style Stir-fried Rice Noodle with Beef (乾炒牛河)
Sweet and Sour Pork
Hong Kong-style Curry Beef Brisket (咖喱牛腩), 1st Attempt

Spinach and Cheese with Puff Pastry, Three Ways

mini tarts

TS:
Ack, we almost forgot to make something for Weekend Wokking! The ingredient for this edition is spinach.

We usually sauté spinach with garlic for some greens with our meal, but perhaps that may be too boring for some of you. Well, we thought we'd cook them with sambal this time, but even though that is quite bold and flavorful, it would still look like a plate of wilted greens, photograph-wise. ;)


twists

TS:
So, we had to think of something else, but something quick and easy to make. We happened to have some puff pastry in the freezer, so why not make a simple spinach and cheese filling and play with puff pastry?


palmiers

Playtime!
TS:
This was a good way for us to use some of the cheese we had in the fridge.



TS:
For a household that does not eat cheese, we sure had quite a lot in the house! There's Pecorino Romano, smoked Gouda, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Emmentaler.

I decided to go with some Parmesan, Pecorino and Emmentaler.



TS:
I quickly wilted some spinach and squeezed out the water. I tell you, I always end up squeezing water out of things around here.

I chopped the spinach then mixed in the grated cheeses. I seasoned with salt and heavily with black pepper. I decided to add an egg to keep everything together.

Mini Tarts


TS:
The simplest shape to make was these cups, or "tarts".



TS:
I simply pushed in a square of puff pastry into a mini muffin pan and filled them with the spinach-cheese filling before baking.

Twists


TS:
For these, I spread the filling on a rectangular piece of puff pastry, then placed another piece of puff pastry on top. I cut this rectangle into strips, then twisted each strip.



Twiiiiist!



Palmiers


TS:
This was my favorite.



TS:
I spread the filling on a piece of puff pastry, then started rolling in each end. I had to put this into the freezer for a bit before attempting to slice it.



TS:
The dough was still a little soft so I had weirdly-shaped palmiers.



TS:
But it all came out all right in the end after baking. Don't they look like little edible butterflies?



TS:
Try these spinach-and-cheese variations for your next party: they're perfect as hors d'oeuvres. You can make them in advance, freeze them, and pop them in the oven just before your guests arrive.

(Or, of course, you can just keep a stash of them for yourself, for whenever you fancy some buttery puff pastry bites.)

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Recipe
Spinach and Cheese with Puff Pastry, Three Ways

store-bought puff pastry

filling
spinach (if frozen, thaw first)
grated cheese, any kind
egg
salt & pepper

If using fresh spinach, wilt them by boiling or steaming. Squeeze out the excess moisture from the wilted spinach (or the frozen spinach) and chop.

Grate any cheese or combination of cheeses. Mix together with the chopped spinach. Want the filling to be more spinach-y? Add more spinach. Like things cheesy? Add more cheese.

Season with salt and generously with black pepper. Add an egg and combine everything well.

To make mini tarts:
Cut puff pastry into squares or circles and fill a mini muffin pan with them. Spoon the spinach-cheese filling into each "cup", then bake.

To make twists:
Spread the spinach-cheese filling thinly on the puff pastry. Place another sheet of puff pastry on top. Cut this into strips, then twist each strip. Strips should be placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet to bake.

To make palmiers:
Spread the spinach-cheese filling on a sheet of puff pastry. Start rolling in each end, meeting in the middle. Put this into the freezer for about 15 minutes to make slicing easier. Slice with a serrated knife and place each slice onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake your creations in a preheated 375 F oven until golden brown.


eatingclub vancouver Weekend Wokking posts:
Ravioli "Caprese": Tomato, Basil, Bocconcini
Eggplant "Clafouti"
Bibingka
Pumpkin Congee w/ Pumpkin "Beignets" & Sesame-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese w/ Pipián Verde
Adobo Mushroom Tart
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Almond Eggplant "Bisteeya" (Bastilla)
"Mashed Potato Beef Burger" (Red-skinned Potato Salad in Taiwanese Sacha Cheeseburger)
Korean Soybean Sprouts Pancake (Kongnamul Jeon)
Lemon Chamomile Tiramisu
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Clear Oxtail Soup with Corn, Cabbage and Potatoes
Beijing Pickled Cabbage
Salsa Romesco ("Queen of the Catalan Sauces!")
Aguadito de Pollo (Peruvian Chicken Soup)
Bangus Belly à la Bistek (Milkfish Belly with Onions, Calamansi and Soy Sauce)
White Pork with Garlic Sauce, Two Ways (蒜泥白肉)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu (蕃茄雞蛋跟豆腐)
Steamed Fish and Tofu with Chinese Black Beans
Spinach and Cheese with Puff Pastry, Three Ways

We're submitting this recipe to Weekend Wokking, a world-wide food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks celebrating the multiple ways we can cook one ingredient.

The host this month is Wandering Chopsticks herself!

If you would like to participate or to see the secret ingredient, check who's hosting next month.

Check out all Weekend Wokking Roundups.