Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

The sound of Macaroni and Cheese sounds heavenly but the sight of it where the macaroni is all coated in Orangy goo, just scare the daylight out of me! The best macaroni and cheese I had was the King Crab Mac & Cheese @ Phillips Seafood in Baltimore, MD. The second best perhaps a Truffle (Infused?) Mac & Cheese I had at Medici Cafe @ Las Vegas Ritz Hotel. Ahh… how I would die to  be able to eat them right now!!

Anyways, having experiment with Mac & Cheese a couple times and trying to create perhaps an adult version of it, I decided to make it for my Halloween Dinner. I thought it turned out well except this silly chef forgot…SALT!! With Salt added, the Mac & Cheese was YUMS!

So this recipe was inspired by the King Crab Macaroni & Cheese I had. The cheese is overall subtle and perhaps not overly cheesy. That way you can eat more and not get filled up quickly by all those cheeses! =) If you’re looking for a super duper cheesy Mac & Cheese, this recipe is probably not for you…well unless you add more cheese to it!

LOBSTER MACARONI & CHEESE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Chopped Lobster Meat
• 5 Oz Asparagus, Cut into 1”
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
• 1/2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 2-1/2 Cups Macaroni Elbow
• 3 Tbsp Butter, Divided
• 2 Tbsp Flour
• 2 Cup Milk
• 2-1/2 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1/3 Italian Breadcrumbs
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

Boil pasta in seasoned water (oil + salt) until al-dente. Drain and set aside. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a pan and add garlic and onion. Once garlic and onion have started to brown, add asparagus and stir fry until asparagus is tender. Remove and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375F. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large pan over medium high heat. Whisk in flour and stir vigorously to avoid clumps. Stir in milk and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add cheese and cook until cheese has melted. Add in asparagus, lobster, cooked macaroni and mix them well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer macaroni mixture into a 9” x 13” glass baking pan. Top macaroni with bread crumbs and bake in oven for about 20 minutes. This should serve 5-6 people as an entree.

June’s Notes: Feel free to use chopped grilled/rotisserie chicken instead of lobster. If you do not have Italian breadcrumbs in your pantry, feel free to use Panko breadcrumbs. Melt about 2 tbsp of butter and toss in about 1/2 cup of Panko breadcrumbs before topping your macaroni. Bake until the panko turns golden brown!

Around & About Florence

We took a train from Venice to Florence. Now, we bought the our train ticket just the day before in Venice. It wasn’t because we were pushing our luck, but we had problems buying the train tickets from the USA. And since they were plenty of trains going into Florence everyday, we weren’t too worried about it and decided to buy the tickets almost there and then. We bought second class train tickets onboard EuroStar which cost us Euro 148 total, that about Euro 37 per person. The train was super clean, super comfy and pretty fast!

We got into Florence about 2-1/2 or 3 hours later. After getting off the huge train station, we figured how to get to apartment agency to pick up our keys and off we went! We had a bad experience with the apartment and the agency in Florence which we booked through hotels.com. I might share my agony on a separate post.

Anyways, after FINALLY getting into the apartment and washing up…we wandered around Florence. We walked everywhere in Florence and was trying to get used to the many motorcycles on the street. It felt like home (Malaysia) again as motorcycles were everywhere!!! Florence is filled with plenty  museums for those of you who’s into art and history. And since Florence is located in Tuscany, the wine region…. you’re not far from the nearest winery. We took this to our advantage and scheduled a tour to Chianti, a famous wine making region.

As much as some of us wanted to head to Pisa to see the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, there’s only as much time we have during our trip. We had to leave that out, unfortunately. Perhaps, we’ll return to Italy one day and visit Pisa!

After 3 days and 2 nights, hours of walking in Florence, and many bottles of Chianti we headed to our very next destination…ROMA (Rome)!

The Cranberries

**Picture obtained from www.livenation.com**

Merry X’mas to the hubby! X’mas comes early for him! I got him us tickets to see The Cranberries, an Irish rock band famous in the 90s. Yes, we’re old school! =) Their concert will be held in Orpheum Theatre in Boston on November 13. Hubby loves this band and he mentioned that he would want to see The Cranberries’ concert! I got him the tickets and hope that he’ll accompany me to another of Bon Jovi’s concert scheduled for next year.. Haha!!

If you’re interested to see them, check out their schedule and see if they are performing at a city near you! For those Cranberries fans in Boston, get your tickets through Live Nation HERE.

Merry X’mas, darling! xoxo

Creme Brulee

Crème Brulee is one of my favorite dessert and whenever it’s on the menu, chances are I will order it if there’s room in my tummy!! =) Crème Brulee is a rich custard dessert  with a hard caramelized top served cold in individual ramekins. The most common flavor for the custard is vanilla, but you will see chocolate ones, caramel ones and even fruit base ones. I personally prefer the original vanilla the best!

I’ve always wanted to make the dessert at home but I wasn’t sure how easy or complicated to make it and achieve the smooth custard texture. Feeling rather ambitious to whip up a gourmet dessert for my Halloween dinner party guests, I Googled for a Creme Brulee recipe and Alton Brown’s (Food Network) Creme Brulee came up as the first few on my search. After reading some of the reviews and checking out the recipe, I decided to try it. It seemed easy enough! =)

The Creme Brulee was delicious! The custard turned out perfect despite my worries that it will not set properly or will be grainy. The custard was very creamy, very rich and thankfully  very smooth! I was a happy chef!!! I’m glad that Alton Brown’s Creme Brulee turned out very well. The original recipe posted by Food Network can be found HERE. Please be warned that this is a rich dessert, so safe plenty of room for it! =P

CREME BRULEE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups (1 Qt) Heavy Cream
• 1 Vanilla Bean, Split & Scraped
• 1 Cup Vanilla Sugar, Divided
• 6 Large Egg Yolks
• 8 Cups (2 Qts) Hot Water

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Discard the vanilla bean or remove and reserve for another use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the crème brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Remove the crème brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the crème brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

June’s comments: I used plain granulated sugar instead of Vanilla Sugar and I suspect that was why the creme brulee wasn’t as vanilla-ey as I liked it to be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still yummy nevertheless. Maybe next time, I’ll use 1-1/2 Vanilla Beans when I use plain granulated sugar.

I baked the crème brulee for about 50-55 minutes as my crème was still “jiggly “ after 40-45 minutes. The crème set better after refrigeration. I torched the crème brulee immediately after I took it out from the fridge. I used the broiler function in my oven to torch my crème brulee and it worked out well. I placed the oven rack and the crème brulee closest to the broiler and set it there for a couple minutes rotating the ramekins to ensure an even caramelization.

Eating In Venice

Here’s a compilation of food we stuff into our tummy in less than 24 hours on the island of Venice.

Gelato (Top Left)… That was the first thing we indulged in after checking in and putting away our heavy backpacks. The gelato from Igloo Gelateria was pretty good! This was better than the ones we had in Florence. Gelaterias were everywhere in Italy and we stumbled upon one which had more than 5 chocolate flavors (Top Right).

Our dinner was a pleasant find. We stumbled upon Rosticceria Gislon (near San Marco, I think) while walking around Venice for a place to eat. I have a feeling Rosticerria Gislon might be their old name and the new one being Rosticceria San Bartolomeo. Plenty of yummy food for Euro 40 for 4 ppl! Just point to what you want, order as much and pay up later. They will heat up the food and bring it to your table. Yummy Seafood Lasagna (Top Left) and we paid about Euro 6. Gonna try to attempt something similar next time! Yummy Ravioli (Top RIght), also about Euro 6.

Rosticceria Gislon / San Bartolomeo also offers cheap, fresh piping hot Italian Snacks for Euro 1-2 (Top Left). We were definitely glad we stumbled upon this restaurant!! Oh yeah, a liter of their house wine is Euro 8.

Mushrooms and Ham Calzones (Top Right) which costs about Euro 3. It was delicious lunch on the go for us! =)

Something like Pizza Margherita in a boat shape (Top Left). It was delicious, cheese-ey, tomato-ey, but cold. We paid about Euro 4 for a piece of this which was sold at Euro 2.20 per Etto (per 100 gram) by an old grumpy lady who was pissed I don’t speak Italian. =P We thought it “Etto” meant each.

You’ll see many shops selling many delicious Italian food (Top Right) along the streets of Venice. Many of the food (i.e Pizza, Cakes) were sold by the weight. Now, this is something I was not accustomed to when buying prepared/cooked food.

Sweet Cannelloni / Cannoli (Top) we got to go to eat on the train! These were one of the yummiest cannelonis I’ve had. One with sweet cream filling, another with hazelnut chocolate filling. We saw many pastry shops in Venice compared to the next 2 cities (Florence & Rome) we went in our trip. Maybe we just didn’t look hard enough for them! =)

I saw many locals drinking this orange colored drink and wasn’t sure what it was. I read in my travel book to enjoy a glass or Spritz when in Venice. I saw it at a cafe and ordered a glass of Spritz (Top) and paid only Euro 2.50 for this yummy cocktail. It was the orange cocktail I’ve seen the locals drinking during our stroll along the streets of Venice. Spritz apparently is a local drink often enjoyed in the afternoon and in the evening.

According to Wikipedia: “The Spritz is a wine-based cocktail commonly served as an aperitif in northern Italy, especially in the Veneto region and surrounding areas. The drink is prepared with white wine orProsecco wine, a dash of some bitter liqueur such as Aperol, Campari, Select or Cynar. The glass is then topped off with sparkling mineral water. It is usually served over ice in a lowball glass (or sometimes a martini glass or wine glass) and garnished a slice of orange, or sometimes an olive, depending on the liqueur. The drink originated in Venice while it was part of the Austrian Empire, and is based on the Austrian Spritzer, a combination of equal parts white wine and water.”