Feb 27

Macaroni and Cheese! Who doesn’t love mac ‘n’ cheese. I know I’m a huge fan. For convenience, we typically do a “shells ‘n’ cheese” quick box when we want it as a side. However, it’s good to do a nice baked dish. This one certainly fits the bill.

The Program

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

The Prep

There’s really nothing to the prep for this. The main thing to be aware of is that – for a side dish – it takes a lot of range and oven space. We, like most people I guess, have a 4 burner range top and one oven. So if you’re doing a bunch of other stuff, just be aware that you’re going to use 2 burners and one rack in the oven for this guy. Luckily, you can do the macaroni ahead of time if you need the burner. It also bakes for 30 minutes so you get your range back for that amount of time.

The Process

Bechamel is at the heart of the process for this. If you’re not familiar with making a roux and building a sauce, this is the best place to start. It really is not difficult. Cook the butter, flour and mustard for a couple of minutes. Get it as smooth as you can. I let mine go until I just started to smell a nice nutty aroma. At that point, slowly whisk in the the milk and keep stirring. You can not stir this too much. Add the onion, bay leaf and paprika. Simmer and stir this until it starts to thicken. At this point you temper in the egg, remove the bay leaf and stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Once the cheese is melted, add the macaroni mix it up and put it in your baking dish. I used a 9×9 glass dish and it worked well. Oh yeah, don’t forget to melt the butter and toss the bread crumbs in it to prep your topping – which goes on top of the remaining cheese that you spread across the top. Bake and enjoy!

The Payoff

Macaroni and Cheese

This macaroni and cheese has great flavor. The mustard and paprika come through nicely in this recipe. This is the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever made which earns it a pretty good rating…

9/10


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Feb 20

I’m going to start by admitting that I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I top out around 4 cups a month in the winter and often go weeks and weeks in the summer without drinking any. That being said, I thought it would be fun to try out Alton Brown’s coffee making technique. Who knows, maybe his techniques will turn me into a coffee drinker.

The Program

2 Cups Water
5 Heaping Tablespoons Coffee
1 Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 shot of Creme de Menthe (optional)

The Prep

Let’s talk hardware. I know, it’s a cup of coffee how much hardware do you need? Well, Alton’s requirements, not surprisingly, are a little different. First up, how to get from bean to grinds. Alton’s recommendation: a burr grinder. This device is super cool – even if it is a bit of a uni-tasker. It allows you to adjust the texture of the grind from a fine dust to big ol’ chunks. Alton recommends a medium grind for this particular application.

The second item you need is a french press. This is another great tool. You can use it for everything from coffee to mixing up a vinaigrette dressing. In this specific application, I love the use of the french press. I think this is how coffee was meant to be brewed. You get all of the coffee’s essential oils that not only add add great flavor, they make for a nice silky texture. All of this and it is super easy to use and very consistent.

The Process

This is the easy part. Take your grinds, salt and optional shot of Creme de Menthe and put them in the bottom of your press, add the boiling water and cover with the plunger, but don’t push it down just yet. Let the coffee steep for 4 minutes then slowly push the plunger down. Pour and enjoy.

The Payoff

Coffee

I’ll admit, I really loved this cup of coffee. I don’t think I’ll be making it every day, but it is nice to know that if the mood strikes me, I can make a good cup in about 7 minutes time.

9/10


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Feb 14

Today I whip up Alton Brown’s Green Bean Casserole. Yes, it is February. Yes it would be better if I had fresh green beans, but it sounded good so I went for it. Oh yeah and that and it’s really easy!

The Program

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 pound fresh green beans, rinsed, trimmed and halved
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half

The Prep

O.K. there is nothing to prepping this one. So I’ll talk a little bit about a substitution that I made in this recipe. We didn’t have any half-and-half, but we did have some whipping cream and we always have skim milk. If you like it rich (and fatty) keep it simple and do 1 part cream to 1 part skim milk. It’s has a bit more fat than half-and-half, but if you like the taste and mouthfeel of cream go for it. If you prefer it to be a little closer to half-and-half the ratio is around 5 parts skim to 3 parts cream. I’ll be honest, I eyeballed it!

The Process

First up, you need to blanche the beans then get them in some ice water until you’re ready for final assembly. After that saute the mushrooms until they start to give up their liquid which you need when you add the nutmeg and flour to make a roux. After cooking the roux for a minute or so, add the broth to deglaze. Simmer that down a bit and add your half-and-half. After simmering the sauce until it starts to thicken, add the beans to the sauce, stir then transfer to your baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes or so at 400F.

The Payoff

Green Bean Casserole

I’ve always been a fan of green bean casserole. I love all the elements individually so it makes sense that they go so well together. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the best green bean casserole I’ve ever had, but it is pretty good. And, I think there’s a chance to make it even better in the summer when I can get my hands on fresh green beans.

8/10


Feb 05

This installment of AB and Me has me preparing Alton Brown’s rice pilaf. I love rice and will try just about any preparation I can find. Naturally, I couldn’t say no to AB and his rice.

The Program

1 tablespoon Unsalted butter
½ ea Onion, Medium – Finely Chopped
½ ea Red Bell Pepper, Finely Chopped
1 ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, plus 2 pinches
2 cups Long Grain White Rice
1 pinch Saffron, Steeped in 1/4 cup hot water
2 ½ cups Chicken Broth
1 ea Orange Zest, 1 x 2 inch strip
2 ea Bay Leaf
½ cup Frozen Peas
¼ cup Golden Raisins
¼ cup Pistachios, Chopped

The Prep

By far the most interesting part for this recipe, at least for me, is the saffron. Maybe I’ve been missing out, but I’ve never cooked with saffron before. Maybe because, by weight, it is the most expensive spice on the planet. A gram of saffron can easily cost $10 – $15 or even more. For those that might need help with the quick math that’s around $300 an ounce. Other than procuring the saffron, the rest of the prep is pretty straight forward.

The Process

This dish offers up another twist in the process. After sweating the onion and pepper in the butter, you add the rice and get it almost toasted, just until it starts to smell nutty. It will take awhile, you’ll think you’re going to burn it, but just keep stirring. “Your patience will be rewarded,” as Alton Brown would say. Once you get that nutty smell, add everything but the peas and crank up the heat.

While the mixture comes up to a boil, take a clean tea towel and soak it in water. Once the mixture is boiling, kill the heat, lay your wet towel over the top of the pot and put the lid over the towel. Fold the towel ends up over the lid and slide it into the oven.* Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then remove and let rest covered for 15 minutes.

*I don’t have lawyers like Alton, but here’s my disclaimer about putting your pot in the oven. Please be sure the manufacturer of your cookware has confirmed that it’s o.k. for both the pot and lid to go from stovetop to oven for temps up to at least 350. If you melt a plastic handle, shatter a glass lid or get poisoned from some non-stick coating that melts onto the rice that you eat, don’t come crying to me. I warned you.

The Payoff

Rice Pilaf

I will admit, this is not exactly what I was expecting. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, but I’ve had many different takes on rice pilaf and this one was totally different than any of the other ones. I’m sure it was the orange zest. I may have gone a little overboard on it. I’m going to do this one again to see if I can get a little closer to Alton’s intent.

7/10

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Feb 03

Last night, I had the opportunity to visit the control tower at the Indianapolis International Airport (KIND) and let me tell you, it is very cool. I should mention that I was able to make this visit with a group from the Greenwood Airport Pilot’s Club. The club puts on monthly meetings and this month they scheduled a trip to the tower. It is likely the only way to get in. It is not, as they say, open to the public.

After being let into the controlled access parking lot, we went inside and checked in. Luckily it was not like boarding a commercial aircraft. We just signed our name. I guess there isn’t much risk in letting a bunch of pilots tour the tower. After a few words about the history of the country’s 3rd tallest tower, we were off.

The tower facility houses both the tower controllers (ground, take-off and landing, and clearance delivery) and the terminal radar area controllers (approach and departure). We split into two groups and my group headed up 300 feet or so to visit the tower controllers. It was dark both inside and outside. It is kept dark inside to help preserve the controllers night vision – which is a good thing. Basically, the only light was coming from the dozens of computer screens and radar displays in the circular room. It was not terribly busy when we were there so we actually got to talk to the controllers a little bit and ask questions about the gear and the job. Speaking of the gear, that building houses some of the most advanced gear I’ve ever seen. From a 10″ square box that controls dozens of phone lines and a dozen radio frequencies to touch screen monitors that control every light on the tarmac, everything up there is state of the art. However just a few minutes up there and you realize that as handy as all of the gear is, it really is up to one human talking to another human to make sure the hundreds of other people on the plane get where they’re going safely and on time.

This is where I would love to show you pictures, but for obvious reasons, no photography was allowed.

After 1/2 an hour or so, we headed back down and visited approach control for awhile. This room is also kept dark. Although current technology allows for there to be much more ambient light in the room while controllers work, force of habit keeps them in the dark. If you fly within 60 miles or so of the Indianapolis International Airport, you will likely be talking to the people in this room. They control all the airspace 13000 feet and below inside that ring. Anyone coming into or going out of KIND or low flying aircraft just passing through are all customers of these controllers.

The guys and gals in approach and departure control sit behind huge radar displays. Take 3 30″ computer monitors and stack them on top of each other and that’s the size of screen they look at. I can’t even begin to explain what it looks like – but I’ll try. The back ground is black and the dominant color on top of that is green. Green is used to indicate airports, runway, approach paths, terrain, towers – basically anything except airplanes. Blue hash marks are planes in the scope of the radar not being controlled by the KIND facility. Yellow hash marks with info tags are planes being controlled by KIND and white hash marks are planes that a particular controller is responsible for at any given moment.

It is incredible to watch. The amount of planning and math and knowledge required to perform the most basic of tasks is amazing. Say you have a Cessna 172 and a Boeing 747 coming in to land at roughly the same time. The Cessna is 9 miles out and traveling 90 knots and the 747 is 20 miles out and traveling 240 knots. Knowing you have to leave 3 miles between planes at touch down point, how much to you have to slow the 747? You have 3 seconds to do the math and tell the 747 – GO! (The numbers in that scenario are completely made up and are possibly not realistic – I’m just trying to illustrate a point.) :)

If you are a pilot or just want to learn more about air traffic control, I highly recommend you figure out a way to visit a tower. I’ve been to 2 towers and Chicago Center now and I’m still blown away by the system and the people who make it go. So next time your flight is delayed by 20 minutes, just remember it is only 1 of 85,000 or so that the controllers handle EVERY DAY – cut them a little slack :)

Cheers!!

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