We are big fans of food writer Fiona Beckett, so when we saw on her blog that she was having The Ultimate Macaroni Cheese Challenge, we knew we had to enter. I guess it’s all of the Spanish food we’ve been making and thinking about lately, so independently we both came up with a similar concept: a dish using Manchego cheese, chorizo and piquillo peppers. Great minds, etc. etc. etc.

Manchego definitely gives a slightly different flavor than your regular fluorescent orange mac ‘n’ cheese sauce, it’s a bit more subtle and a lot deeper. The chorizo’s oil and paprika adds a nice kick, and the sweet piquillo peppers round things out quite well. Adding in some extra paprika (pimenton is the Spanish kind) gives some nice color and intensifies the flavor from the chorizo. This is a great version of mac ‘n’ cheese that delivers the cheesy, homey comfort you want from the dish, but with some slightly more adult and complex flavors. Enjoy!

Manchego and Chorizo Mac and Cheese
olive oil
4 ounces Spanish chorizo, thinly diced
8 green onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 piquillo peppers or roasted red peppers
16 ounces dried macaroni pasta
6 cups grated Manchego cheese
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups whole or skim milk
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
1/2 teaspoon dulce paprika
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 baguette, thinly sliced

Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan and saute the sliced chorizo. Remove the chorizo and saute the green onions and garlic in the chorizo oil. Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water until the pasta is just tender. Once it is cooked, drain the pasta and then add the chorizo, green onions, garlic, and the piquillo peppers and mix everything together.

To make the cheese sauce, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and let the roux cook for a few minutes while continuing to whisk it together. Slowly whisk in the milk until the sauce thickens. Season the sauce base with the paprika and let it gently simmer, stirring often, for 15 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in 4 cups of Manchego cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and mix everything together. Add a bit of olive oil to a frying pan. Once it has heated up, place the thinly sliced baguette slices in the pan and gently fry them until they are crisp and lightly golden. Remove the bread from the pan and let them drain on some kitchen roll.

Grab a large baking dish greased with olive oil spray and pour half of the macaroni mixture into the bottom. Sprinkle 1 cup of Manchego cheese over the top, and then add the rest of the macaroni. Top with the rest of the Manchego and arrange the crouton slices over the top.

Bake the macaroni and cheese in a 350 F degree oven until the croutons are browned and the cheesy top is bubbling. You can put the broiler on for the last few minutes to really crisp up the top.

The simple things can often be some of the best. When in Catalunya, the part of Spain that holds Barcelona, this holds true for the well-known pan con tomate (or pa amb tomaquet in Catalan). It’s simply toasted bread rubbed with a clove of raw garlic and a tomato, then salted — and it’s the perfect complement to tapas and most meals. It can often be topped with cured meats or cheese, but it’s also wonderful just on its own.

Jose Andres, a Spanish chef with outposts in DC and LA, has offered what he calls “the modern way” to make pan con tomate. Instead of rubbing the tomato directly on the bread, you pass it through a grater, then mix the resulting liquid with salt, pepper and some olive oil, and spoon it onto the toast. I think one really great aspect of this method is that it’s not totally dependent on having the most perfectly ripe tomatoes. Because you’re pushing them through the grater, they liquefy a bit and deliver quite a bit more taste than if you rubbed an out of season Roma tomato on toast. Still, it’s worth finding some decent tomatoes so you get a good flavor. This recipe makes enough tapas for 4 people at 37 cents per serving.

Pan Con Tomate, The Modern Way, from Jose Andres’ Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America
2 large ripe tomatoes
4 slices rustic sourdough bread, toasted
extra virgin olive oil to taste
salt to taste

Cut the tomatoes in half. Place a fine grater over a large mixing bowl and rub the open face of the tomatoes onto the grater until all the flesh is grated. Discard the tomato skins. Add a liberal amount of olive oil to the grated tomatoes and season with salt to taste. Mix everything together.

Spoon the tomato-olive oil mixture over the toast to serve. This tomato bread goes really well with a few slices of Manchego cheese.

I really enjoy a good salad. Meat is an easy way to bulk up a salad, but another trick is adding roasted butternut squash as a topping. It adds a nice sweetness to your salad, as well as some beautiful colour and perhaps more importantly, another way to squeeze in an extra serving of vegetables.

In September, I blogged about this great Spiced Butternut Squash, Lentil, and Goat Cheese Salad, but here is another squash-heavy salad to add to your repertoire. This Roasted Squash Salad with Maple Vinaigrette includes cheese and nuts, some of my other favourite toppings to make a hearty salad so you aren’t starving an hour later. The salad makes enough for 4 lunches at $1.31 per serving.

Roasted Squash Salad with Maple Vinaigrette, adapted from Health Magazine, November 2009
1/4 cup chopped, skinned hazelnuts
olive oil cooking spray
1 large butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and cut into cubes
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, grated
6 cups mixed greens
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with olive oil spray and place the squash on the sheet, cut sides down. Cover the squash with foil, and roast them until they are tender, around 20 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, place the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan and toast them over a medium heat until they are fragrant, around 5 minutes.

To make the dressing, whisk together the maple sugar, vinegar, grated garlic, and mustard until it is well blended. You can doctor the dressing until it gets just to your liking. Toss the greens with the dressing, and season with salt and pepper. Place the roasted squash on top of the greens, and garnish the dish with the toasted hazelnuts and shredded Parmesan.

We have been slowly eating more and more vegetables instead of meat over the last six months or so, but my goal for 2010 is to eat even more vegetables. A few months ago, I read Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, which discusses all of the health and environmental impacts of eating less meat and more vegetables and fruit.

In his book, Bittman details his new eating lifestyle that helped him lose 30 pounds, improve his health drastically, and help him run faster and longer than he had in a long time. Basically his diet boils down to eating a heavy plant, fruit, and whole grain-based diet, especially at breakfast and lunch (he is a flexible vegan during these meals), and then eating whatever he wants at dinner. Whenever we eat like this, we feel much better and sleep like babies every night! Plus the last time I did it before Christmas, I lost 4 pounds in 1 week. So we are starting off the new year following this diet, even though it doesn’t even feel like a diet, just a better and healthier way to eat.

Bittman took over the pages of Runner’s World in October 2009 to talk about his eating style and his running. In this spread, he talks about his diet and its effect on his life and lists 8 easy rules for better eating. I highly recommend reading these articles and if you are still interested to learn more, be sure to check out Food Matters.

Here is a recipe that Bittman included in his spread in Runner’s World. He called it cassoulet, but considering that Carlo and I ate our way through Southwest France when we first started dating and that included lots of cassoulet, I hesitate to call this cassoulet but instead call it Vegetables and White Beans with Sausages. This dish makes a great dinner: you get your fill of tons of veggies and beans with a little bit of meat for some flavour. This recipe makes enough for 4 large dinners at $2.60 per serving.

Vegetables and White Beans with Sausages, adapted from Mark Bittman in Runner’s World, October 2009
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium zucchinis, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups canned tomatoes (and juice), chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 bay leaves
4 cups canned white beans, drained and liquid reserved in case needed
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook, turning them until they are browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the sausages from the pan and drain off all but a couple tablespoons of fat.

Lower the heat to medium, and add the garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and zucchini. Season the veggies with salt and pepper, and cook for five minutes, or until everything is softened. Add the tomatoes and their juice, sausages, and herbs. Bring everything to a boil. Add the beans and bring the dish to a boil again, stirring occasionally; reduce the heat so the mixture simmers gently. Let everything cook for 20 minutes, adding the stock or some reserved bean liquid when the mixture gets thick.

When everything is cooked, take out the sausages and chop them up. Return them to the pot and add a bit of cayenne pepper to the dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

As much as I sometimes complain about living in Vegas, there are some definite perks for living here. Right now I’m really appreciating the blue sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-60s while the rest of the country and lots of places in the world are facing record breaking freezes. Have you seen this satellite photo of the UK covered in ice and snow? It is insane.

My sister and 2 nieces have extended their stay in Texas by a week since the farm where they live in Scotland is snowed in and a few of the pipes in their house have burst so they have no water or heating. Hopefully my brother-in-law who left to go back to Scotland yesterday will get the house warm for them when they return next week.

I now feel a little guilty about complaining that it was freezing in Vegas on Friday because it was in the 50s and grey outside. Although it did give me an excuse to wear my Longhorn snuggie all day and lounge on the couch. I think our matching snuggies just might have been the best present we got for Christmas–thanks Mum!

Anyway, freezing days (whether they are real or imagined as in my case) require something slow cooked on the oven as a way to warm the soul, both literally and metaphorically. This Italian Pot Roast recipe cooks for a few hours, but is perfect dinner to make on a cold day. This recipe makes enough for 8 dinners at $2.34 per serving.

Italian Pot Roast, adapted from Simply Recipes
3 1/2 to 4 pound rump or chuck beef roast
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 1/2 cups red onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
3 cups medium-bodied Italian red wine
1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, put through a food mill to remove the seeds

Trim any extra fat from the roast and pat it dry with paper towels so you can nicely brown the meat, and then generously season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over a medium-high heat, and when the oil is hot, add the roast and brown it on all sides. Once it is nicely browned, transfer the meat to a platter.

Reduce the heat to medium and then add the carrots, celery, and onions. Cook the vegetables while stirring occasionally until they are golden brown and begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, around 10-12 minutes. Add the garlic, parsley, and sage, and cook them for about 1 minute. Deglaze the pan by adding 1 cup of the wine and stirring until most of the wine evaporates and coats the veggies. Return the meat to the pan and baste it with the veggie sauce.

Increase the heat to high and add the remaining wine, bay leaf, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Let the roast simmer, turning and basting the meat every half hour, until the meat is very tender, around 3 to 4 hours. Once the meat is cooked, turn off the heat and let the roast sit in its juices for an hour.

If you don’t want to cook the meat on the stove, you can also cook it in the oven at 300¬?F while turning and basting the roast every hour. I’m sure you could also put the roast in a slow cooker too after browning the meat and sauteing the veggies.

Remove the meat from the pot and cover it loosely with some foil. If the sauce is too think, quickly bring the sauce to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer to thicken it up. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the meat into thick slices and serve covered in the sauce. We ate our pot roast with some potato puree and brussels sprouts, which were the perfect accompaniments.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday and 2010 is treating you well so far. We had an incredible time back in Texas and an even better time in Mexico where we swam, snorkeled, and sunned ourselves to our hearts’ content every day.

The only downside to our adventures is returning home and feeling the results of over eating and drinking for 2 weeks! We came back to Vegas with an insatiable desire to eat lots of veggies in an effort to detox our bodies from too many poolside cervezas and all those buffets at the resort.

Yesterday I made this carrot soup and it totally hit the spot: Tons of veggies, lots of flavour, and very healthy without tasting like health food. This soup recipe made enough for 6 bowls at 74 cents per serving.

Indian Spiced Carrot Soup with Ginger, adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2008
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard powder
3 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon curry powder, preferably Madras
2 tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
zest and juice of 1 lime
5 cups (or more) chicken broth or vegetable broth
salt and fresh ground pepper
plain Greek yogurt for garnish

Heat the oil in heavy large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the dried spices and stir for 1 minute. Next add the grated ginger and stir it for a minute. Add the onions, carrots, and zest of the lime to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Saut?© the soup base until the onions begin to soften, about 3 minutes.

Add 5 cups of broth and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the soup uncovered until the carrots are tender, about 30 minutes.

Let the soup cool slightly, and then puree the soup with an immersion blender until it is smooth. If the soup is too thick, add more broth by 1/4 cupfuls until it is the right consistency. Stir in the juice of 1 lime and season with salt and pepper. Serve the soup with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top to stir in.