Kitchen Adventures

Steaks (New York strip), with a red wine jus
Scallion and garlic sauteed shrimp
Parmesan and rosemary mashed potatoes
Three-cheese macaroni
Steamed asparagus

Eats Meats West teamed up with arch-rival blog, I'm all about the food, for a rare detente dinner - furiously but hastily thrown together in about two hours. 

What may come off as a somewhat expected list of dishes should still be commended if not simply because of the shear speed and efficiency with which it was accomplished.  The grocery bags were not even in the trunk before we started planning out the use of the limited counter space and four burners. 

Upon return to the kitchen I instinctively tossed aside every utensil and spice from the stove before realizing that normal kitchens (unlike those in NYC) actually have space for more than two tiny pans.  What luxury! 

The macaroni and cheese was actually a joke suggestion from J, but of course neither my mother nor I took it as such and proceeded to make it from scratch.  Though I'm not saying it's exotic, I would like to point out that it's not realistically the easiest thing to make 1) in a crowded kitchen, and 2) without a recipe. 

In fact, nothing was from a recipe.  Someone at the table asked me what was in and how I made the jus, but I honestly couldn't remember.  Wine?  Yes.  Butter?  Probably.  Also, I'm pretty sure there was a sweet potato thrown into the mash, which explains the color.

Great thanks goes out to J, who tirelessly cleaned everything, including stray baby bottles left in the sink before we got there.  Also worth noting was my mother's ability to "save" any dish.  I was in sauce mode - barely able to speak in coherent sentences - and just pointed to the shrimp and said "can you fix this?"  And so she did. 

Finally, a special apology goes out to you, stainless steel All-Clad pan, for my marring of your otherwise beautiful face with burnt olive oil.  My bad.  It wasn't the first time...and it won't be the last.