Greetings from the Windy City!! Well, right now, it is Wet City for sure! If I didn’t know any better, I might think it could be winter. Sleet, snow, wind, and rain, oh my!!!

Despite that, it has been a whirlwind since arriving yesterday. For some strange reason my inbound flight was delayed. We kept being told that possibly a VIP was in the Chicago area. I thought maybe it was Bruce Springfield or something like that, but not quite.

When my flight finally touched down I was greeted with a rather iconic, colorful aircraft. That aircraft, was none other than Air Force One!! That’s  right, we were delayed because the President was in his home town. I thought maybe he wanted to make sure my welcome was extra special. Okay, we can all dream can’t we?

Today marks my first full day in Chicago and right now I am planning on where to eat and what I will do today. Make no mistake, the weather won’t stop me. It may slow me down, but we forget ahead.

So, until then, stay tuned as I am just getting started here! Can’t wait to share it with you all!

Can you believe it?! Patrick’s Table is a year old!! Woo hoo! I’ve been sharing my cooking fun, follies, and adventures for a whole year. It seems a bit surreal to think back over the last year. However, it was a great year and I learned so much. I look forward to so much more!

Also, I personally wanted to thank each and every one of you that has taken time, any amount of time, to read, follow, and enjoy what I have shared on here. You make this blog possible and you give me the courage to follow my passions. So, thank you!! 

In honor of this anniversary, I thought I would do a little contest. The winner of this contest will receive a batch of my all purpose seasoning mix, which I will make and send to you. Sound good?

Okay, here we go!

Pick either categorie and write me an email, which you can find in my bio, or reach out to me on social media.

1) Share your favorite experience relating to the content of my blog.

2) Tell me about something you have learned in the last year about food that has changed the way you cook in the kitchen.

I will select my favorite and that will be the winner! 🙂 I will accept submissions until 4/21/16 and will announce the winner in the following week.

I can’t wait to read some amazing submissions!

I told you in a recent post that I was devouring a new cookbook I received for Christmas, insert foodie joke here, and I am so excited to share this recipe with you. It is a total game changer! Not only that, but you will save a ton of time too! Look out kids, we are talking about vegetables! Now, insert your most haunting music here as well. A few claps of thunder and a gusty wind would be a nice touch as well. However, I digress.

What if you had a way to cook perfect green beans, broccoli, celery, corn, and so many others every time without a single pot or pan?? It is true. You can have perfect vegetables and you already have everything you need in your house.  I was astounded when I read this recipe from “The Food Lab” by Kenji Lopez-Alt. Again, I am receiving no compensation for talking about his cookbook and this is his recipe, however, this is such a great guide for all things food. I am learning so much valuable information that I’m trying to apply in my day to day cooking. You can easily find this in your favorite online book store in whatever format suits you the best. In fact, my brother, refers to this book as, “The cooking bible.”

The great part of this recipe is that is so simple and quick. Oh, maybe now is a good time to mention that you are using your microwave to cook these vegetables. As crazy as the idea sounds it is a perfect tool for the job. You are just using the high heat of the microwave to take the vegetables out of their state of rawness and into a state of cooked perfection. It is that simple. Ready? Here we go!!

Place the asparagus in an even layer on a large microwave-save plate and season with salt and pepper.

Lay a triple layer of damp paper towels on a top of the asparagus, completely covering them, or cover them with a clean damp kitchen towel.

Microwave on high power until the asparagus is a bright green and tender but still crisp, 2 1/2 to 6 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave.

Remove the asparagus and arrange.

Hard to believe that this little blog of mine has been around almost a year. I think I’m shocked, amazed, grateful, and lucky at the same time that I’ve had success blogging. I had done some research before I started and read that it can take a long time for the blog to build momentum. It is true that the blogging game is one that takes a ton of patience. If you want a candid look into my first year blogging, then stay tuned.

When I started I wasn’t really sure what my format was going to be, but it quickly became clear. I wanted to make cooking at home approachable. I wanted to be able to share some thoughts, ideas, insights, and humor into food that anyone could make. Whether you were a kitchen veteran, a capable home cook or you were just finding your culinary wings, the food needed to be accessible. I made sure that I found ingredients and recipes that pretty much anyone could make. You didn’t need a specialty food market or commercial grade kitchen appliances to make these dishes. Also, you didn’t have to have any professional experience to put good food on the table.

I had spent time browsing through cookbooks where even though the recipes were amazing, the process took the enjoyment out of cooking. All the techniques, tools, and applications required way more time and energy than someone cooking at home should have to spend. I found myself always asking, “Does it have to be so complicated?” In addition, I would evaluate the recipe thinking why couldn’t we do something else that would produce the same results. When I would cook at home I couldn’t shake the fact that some of these things I read weren’t needed. I had plenty of rhetorical conversations with myself about my grievances with these cookbooks.

A number of my friends and family had suggested the idea of me starting a blog, but honestly, I was terrified. I knew there were a million food blogs floating out in the universe and how the heck would mine stand against all the others? Those closest to me told me that I needed to write the blog for myself and not worry about the rest. If there was interest in my content, and people started to follow, that it would happen in due time. If nothing else, it was a opportunity for me to share my thoughts and try to be creative. You know what? It was true. I needed to write and post for me and let the rest fall into place. Like everyone else, I had these grandiose ideas of success and popularity with my blog. Honestly, I still want those things. I think it is healthy to strive and push for more and never lose sight of your own aspirations.

Even before the blog was live I had had a million things running through my head. Could I demonstrate the techniques effectively? Could I make sure my voice came through my writing? Would people be able to overlook the fact that I’m not a professional chef or a writer? Would anyone be interested in more? There was no way to answer any of these questions other than to follow my gut and make it happen. With that, Patrick’s Table was born.

I remember thinking about what the first recipe I wanted to make. It was Easter weekend and I had planned on making short ribs already. This was a recipe that I had made a number of times and felt it was a great way to kick off the blog. I thought about what would I want people to know about the process as I made it. “Season your meat aggressively.” “Take your time with the dish.” “Make sure to do the little things.” “Keep it simple.” “Make it your own.” Those were all things that were important to me when I made the dish so it made sense that I should follow my own advice. Granted, the short ribs do take a little time to make, but the payoff is huge! In fact, while getting fitted for some clothing the other day the salesman asked, “How did you know what to write about?” I replied that I wanted something that had some wow factor. Also, I wanted it to be something that I got excited about making because that energy would carry forward. Lastly, the dish needed to reflect my personality and things I enjoyed.  Taking photos wasn’t a problem since I was regularly taking pictures of my food already. However, making sure that I had photos that showed what I wanted people to see was tricky. I found that every photo I took for a post was same shot I had taken. The only difference was my hand or the plate had moved a few inches. Silly, right? Well, maybe not because that can change the vision of the post. I got some amazing feedback about my first post and I was on my way.

I couldn’t contain my excitement about having a platform to share my thoughts about all things food. I even posted that I would post later about food. I typically did that on the train ride to or from the office. I tried to throw some different recipes out early to show that I could be diverse and that it wasn’t going to be just steak and potatoes. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but that wasn’t going to be what worked for me. It was important to make sure I could provide things that would work for anyone whether it was breakfast, lunch, vegetarian, meat-centric, dinner or just a different way to think about food. I posted often in the beginning and shared some of my go to, fool proof recipes. I quickly learned that staging my ingredients and setting them up really made a big difference. In addition, the action shots of fish sizzling away in a pan, for example, were so important. Since I wasn’t a food stylist, I wanted to make sure that my food looked real. Almost as if you could imagine me making the dish in real time.

A few months in, I ran into my first big hurdle, I needed new material. My quick list of recipes and tricks were dwindling and I needed to expand my horizons. I started making things I wanted to explore, but didn’t have much experience with them myself. I will let you in on a little secret, recipe testing as a home cook sucks! It is true! Recipe testing isn’t always puppies and rainbows. Very different than what most people experience watching all kinds of food related content during the course of our day. In fact, the Food Network runs on my TV in the background a good portion of the day. While testing some roasted red pepper sauce, I stuck a batch in the fridge to cool because it was the best of the varieties I had made thus far. The craziest thing happened when I went to taste the sauce the next day. The sauce wasn’t anything like what I tasted the day before!! I was dumbfounded, pissed, and totally confused. How was it that a sauce I hadn’t touched in over 12 hours seemed more like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde than a simple pasta sauce?? The worse part was I never really figured out exactly what happened, but I had to move forward. This one was of many times I fantasized about being a professional chef. Darn you, Gordon Ramsay!! I felt like these were serious first world problems. I was so bummed, no doubt about it. My foodie armor was chinking in front of my own eyes. This would be the first of many troubling recipe tests and failures to keep this blog moving.

I was able to figure out how to turn some mistakes into positives though. I tried to remind myself, like the great Julia Child would talk about, you can’t really make mistakes in the kitchen. As much as I hated the mistakes, they were important to make. That way you always knew you could still succeed and sometimes you found a better way to be creative. The truth is I am not very good about making mistakes because I tend to get frustrated, irritated, and in the case of the blog, it made me think of quitting. Believe it or not, there were a number of times that this blog was on the block, so to speak. Screw it I thought. I don’t need the blog and who cares!? Turned out that I never could let it go and I always found a way to get back in the saddle. The blog had taken on a life of its own and the fire needed to be feed.

The other big enemy I had was time. I won’t get into details, but the last 5 months have been very difficult in my house. The blog suddenly wasn’t priority and my energy, what little I had, needed to be directed towards other things. I had gone from posting every 3 days to just trying to post once a month. I had lost a lot of passion for the blog. I had started to lose my passion for cooking as well. I used to fret about what I would talk about next. How could I keep up any kind of momentum? I used to check my blog stats and hope that even though my page views were a big fat zero that there was light at the end of the tunnel. The questions loomed heavy of what was the purpose of the this blog? Would I be able to weather the storm? Would I be able to rekindle the drive and passion? These were the questions that could only be answered through time strangely enough. The other day, I asked a good blogging friend how she weathered the first year storm. What she said spoke to me. She wrote, “I just kept working hard and sharing my passion.” Passion, I thought. That’s what this was all about, passion. I suppose you could say she was the inspiration for this particular post.

I have learned so much since I started this blog. I have learned new skills that I never thought I would learn. I have had to push myself and explore those cooking possibilities. I have grown as a home cook even in that time. I have interacted with so many of and you have shared your passion with me too. I know I have a lot more to discover and improve upon, but unless you start something you can’t ever reach higher than before. I’m grateful to all my readers, the friendships, support, encouragement, feedback, but most importantly, being part of this journey with me.

Here’s to more from Patrick’s Table!!!!

So, here I am at local coffee shop in southeast Portland. I am jamming to tunes, drinking a latte, and I was suddenly inspired to talk about something which I find so important. Proper kitchen equipment. Granted this is a super wide topic, but I’m focusing on two fundamental things that are a must have for successful cooking.

I will admit my kitchen is anything but my dream kitchen. The counters are spray on, the dishwasher has seen better days, and dont even get me started on the fluorescent lighting. Ugh.  So, what do you to change what you can’t change? Make it work for you. Do the little things.

A month ago or so I was making dinner and had a number of things going. I was working on a protein, was prepping something for the oven, and had a dish on the stovetop working. When I was done and dinner had been consumed, I realized I had two problems. First, I kept misplacing a single key ingredient. Second, I was playing culinary roulette and was counting on my brain to not mess me up. Salt.

I realized my salt container had been travelling all over my kitchen and even into my living room. Yeah, small apartment too. Anyway, so I’m trying to season all these various dishes and couldn’t find the salt. So, I dediced to add a second salt container. Brilliant, right? Wrong! The only viable container I had was the exact same container I used for sugar. See where this is going?  Luckily, I didn’t mistake the salt for the sugar. However, I tasted salt daily to make sure I wasn’t punking myself.

I hadn’t realized how important the placement of salt actually was. So, after procuring an easily identifiable salt container, I set up two stations in my kitchen. Both with containers filled with kosher salt, but it didn’t stop there.

On a seemingly unrelated note, have I mentioned how much I despise pepper shakers and those little tins of ground pepper that have been in your cupboard for generations? It may work for some, not for me. The taste, satisfaction, and joy of fresh ground pepper is really unique.  In a pinch, with no other choice, the pre-ground stuff is fine. But freshly ground is the only way to fly above all. I think this began when I learned to cook in my teen years. My house only had pepper grinders and nothing else. In fact, when I moved out that was one of the first things my mom purchased for me.

While I resolved the salt situation, it made sense I needed a second pepper grinder. I could have two stations that would contain two of the most used ingredients in my kitchen. That is exactly what I did. Two salt containers and two pepper grinders at the ready anytime I needed. This isn’t related to I like things  in pairs, no. This was something that made my kitchen feel like a workable space. My space.

Although this post is long winded, there are three big points I want to make. First, salt and pepper are must! Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper would be ideal. I stress seasoning in my blog because it is that important. Next, make the kitchen  what you need it to be. If you need two of everything to make the space useable. Do it!!! It can make the experience so much more enjoyable and limits the chance of salt in your sugar.

These are kitchen essentials!!

I love mushrooms. I will eat them in just about any form or fashion. Doesn’t matter what it is, sign me up! I know that mushrooms are either loved or hated. Believe me, I know people in both camps.  However, this recipe, will change the game even if you don’t love mushrooms. Let me tell you the story of how it all began.

Last Christmas I was visiting my brother and he was so excited to show me this new cookbook he had bought that he thought I would like. He said that it changed how he thought about food and thought it might be an interesting resource for my blog and foodie adventures. He brings this huge book! I mean it is huge! Not because it is a billion pages, no, the book itself is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen. I’m a theatre guy, so I’ve been around some sizable books. Anyway, I start rifling through the opening and I was hooked. The book talked about loving food, being a nerd, applying science to common food questions in a way that was accessible by any home cook. I suddenly felt like the book was written for me. My brother said if I was interested he would buy it for me for Christmas.  Of course I had to have a copy and the rest, well, is the beginning of a beautiful food related courtship.

This book covers a ton of topics and it is incredibly well thought out. You can read this as casually as looking for week night dinner options or like a text book, which you could easily do as well. However, we are just focusing on one thing, pan roasted mushrooms. These aren’t your normal pan roasted mushrooms.  Oh no. These beauties have a few twists and turns along the way.

Before I go much further, the cookbook is “The Food Lab” by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, this is a worthwhile read. Oh, I should also say that this is a personal recommendation and I’m not receiving any kind of compensation for talking about his cookbook. If you want a recommendation, read the reviews, check out what Kenji has done, and then go buy this book! If you follow me on Instagram a few of my recent meals have included some of his recipes and techniques. Now that we have that out of the way, here we go!

Pan Roasted Mushrooms
Recipe is from “The Food Lab” by Kenji Lopez-Alt and is adapted by me. This recipe makes 4 to 6 servings. My changes will be noted in italics.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

There are few foods more synonymous with comfort than mac n’ cheese. I will admit it, I loved the stuff in the blue box with the dinosaur on the cover. It is okay, you can admit it too. Like all foods, mac n’ cheese has taken on a life of its own with every combination imaginable. Bacon, steak, lobster, and truffle are some of the more popular varieties these days. Let’s face it, most of those aren’t pairings that we can easily get our hands on without it costing an arm and a leg.

The good news is that you don’t have to get fancy to make mac n’ cheese delicious. In fact, this kitchen staple provides a unique and interesting twist on this classic dish. For those of us with kids or those who have trouble sneaking veggies into your meals, good news, we are about to break the mold.

Say hello to Cauliflower Mac n’ Cheese. I can’t tell you how tasty and easy this version is to make. What makes this the best recipe is you don’t need to master any complicated french techniques to make your cheese sauce. Oh no. You dump everything into a pot and let the heat and cheese pull this masterpiece together. Sounds good, right? It is that simple, I promise.

Ready to do this? Lets Go!

Cauliflower Mac N’ Cheese

This recipe has been adapted by me, but here is the cauliflower mac in its entirety from Real Simple.

Ingredients

    12 ounces multigrain elbow macaroni or pasta of your choice

    1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped

    4 slices multigrain bread, torn

    ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

    1 tablespoons olive oil

    kosher salt and black pepper

    1 yellow or red onion, finely chopped

    1 ½ cups grated extra-sharp Cheddar (6 ounces)

    1 ½ cups reduced-fat sour cream

    ½ cup 1 percent milk or milk of your choice

    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Turn your oven to 400 degrees. Bring your water to a boil and season with salt. Cook the pasta until al dente or follow package directions, adding the cauliflower during the last 3 minutes of cooking time; drain.

Meanwhile, pulse the bread in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Add the parsley, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper; pulse to combine.

At this point, you will should have these ingredients left to add, which include cheese, your sour cream mixture, and the onions.

Return the pasta pot to medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes.

Mix in the pasta and cauliflower and the cheese, sour cream, milk, and mustard.

Transfer to a shallow 9×13 baking dish and evenly spread the mixture out.

Sprinkle with the bread crumbs, and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

When the mac comes out of the oven, you should something that looks like this.

I promise you this is everything you want and more!

Alright, lets talk about some changes that I made. My changes are in italics to make it easier for you to keep track.

When I first made this recipe I followed it to the letter and had great success. However, I started to wonder what would’ve happened if I added multiple cheeses as opposed to a singular cheese. Truth is, it was good, but I didn’t feel like it gave the dish much. Therefore, I went back to one really good sharp aged cheddar. Since we are talking about cheese make sure that you get something that melts easily. If you have a grocery store with a cheese counter I would stop by and ask them about what cheese they recommend. Make sure that you tell them what you are looking for as it relates to flavor profile, easy melting, and the recipe too. This will ensure you get the best options available. Oh, be sure to ask them if you can sample the cheese. Like wine, if you like it, it will do fine. However, if you don’t find something you like don’t settle because that flavor will carry through the dish.

As luck would have it, I made the perfect mistake in the recipe this time. Normally I would use a yellow onion, but I only had a red onion on hand. Of course I was going to use it and make it work. It added a bonus that I didn’t realize until I was taking  photos near the end of the process. It gave the photo a much needed pop of color. This is probably the one thing that doesn’t make this recipe interesting is that the whole thing is pretty much white. Whether a meal at home or at a restaurant, we eat with our eyes first.  Don’t worry, we have the technology to fix this. I will get into that in a minute.

When it comes to topping the mac before it goes into the oven to finish the options are limitless. I never bothered with the breadcrumb topping simply because gluten doesn’t fare well for everyone in my house. I think it would be a great way to finish this dish, but how about some other ideas? For me, I love the idea of some dried basil, dried oregano, and fresh parmesan cheese over the top. Plus, I love watching it snow fresh parmesan. There is nothing better to me! Also, some fresh ground pepper would be a great touch as well. You could hit it with some left over shredded cheese if you haven’t eaten it all. This would work for me because I don’t end up with any leftovers. If you really want to get crazy zest some lemon with the oregano and basil. That would a killer combo! The lemon zest will provide some much needed brightness to the pasta as well.

I mentioned the dish is pretty much white earlier, so how do you combat this? I would say the time right before the mixture goes into your baking dish is the perfect moment to remedy this. Heck, you could do anything here! How about add some spinach? Not only for more vegetables, but a great color option. Have some left over mushrooms? Saute those bad boys and mix them in to help give the pasta some body. Also, left over meats would be great here as well. Chop it up into bite sized pieces and mix it in before you put the dish in the oven. You can easily use chicken, pork or beef here. You could really use any vegetables you wanted here. Some bell peppers or carrots would be great, too!

One last note that I wanted to talk about for this dish. Besides the color, my other issue has been the lack of seasoning. Now, that could be because I wasn’t using the bread crumb topping, however, I’m not sure that is the only problem. So, how do we deal with this? I think the seasoning needs to be checked right before you load the mix into the baking dish. So, taste it. I would be sure that a little more salt and pepper would be needed. Keep in mind, besides the pasta water, the only place you are adding salt and pepper is when you cook the onions down. To me, that isn’t enough to make sure the dish is seasoned properly. Make sure you season! Okay, I’m done now.

Just kidding!  I have one final thought I must share. The most surprising thing about this pasta is that it gets better in the fridge. It is good on day one, but day two and three take the prize! Seriously, eat your left overs because it is worth ever morsel!

As always, be sure to let me know what you think about this! You can email me or comment below. Can’t wait to hear from you! Enjoy!

You may not know this but besides cooking, I love sports. I know it isn’t everyone’s jam, but we are in prime Superbowl time. So, with that in mind, I thought I would dedicate a couple of posts to some super quick and easy game day dishes that are sure to please any palate. My philosophy on game day food is well, simple. If it can’t be done with ease and doesn’t leave you time to enjoy the game then forget it.

One of the most important items to have on your game day menu is an amazing condiment.  I’m not talking about your run of the mill ketchup, mustard, or anything like that. Although, they all have their place, but that is another post all together. No, I’m talking about reaching into your fridge for a homemade jar of ranch dressing. Seriously, there isn’t anything better than that for a number of reasons. Those reasons include; you control the ingredients, you know what is going into the ranch, where it was made, and finally the satisfaction of knowing that you made it happen. Most importantly, you have made it for less than what it would cost to drive to the store and actually buy a bottle of ranch. How awesome is that?! I know, hold your applause. Also, I would be willing to bet that you have most of these ingredients around the house already.

Ready to rock the Ranch? Alright, let’s do this!

Homemade Ranch Dressing
This recipe has been adapted by me. To see the full recipe, please click here.

Ingredients

In a medium bowl, add the yogurt and combine the rest of the ingredients. Adjust seasoning as needed.