I won’t lie… I was really hoping to post this if the Houston team made it to the Superbowl — how fun would that have been?  Even as a brand new Texan, it was hard not to get excited when every Monday, all anyone could talk about is whether or not the Texans would keep winning.  So this weekend was a little sad!

But no matter who’s playing, nachos are always delicious.  You can’t really beat a combination of chips, cheese, guac, salsa, sour cream and chives — throw on some grilled chicken and you’ve got yourself a whole meal! 

Chad and I used to regularly order nachos at one of our favorite restaurants in our neighborhood in New York, and while the Tex Mex here is pretty amazing, we somehow haven’t found a go-to nacho dish in quite the same way.  So for the immediate future, at least, I’m going to stick to making our own!

Nachos

INGREDIENTS

6-8 cups tortilla chips
3 cups shredded cheddar Cheese or Mexican cheese mix
2/3 cup salsa
2/3 cup guacamole
1/2 cup sour cream
3 large chopped scallions

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Arrange a layer of tortilla chips along the bottom of a wide, shallow baking pan.  Sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheese over the top of chips, and bake in oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  Add dollops of salsa, sour cream and guacamole, and another thinner layer of cheese, and broil at 500 degrees F for about 2 minutes.  Sprinkle with chopped scallions and serve.

So, one of my biggest Christmas presents this year was a huge addition to our kitchen: a sous vide machine! 

Because when Thomas Keller writes a book about a revolutionary cooking technique, most of us who love to cook immediately want to try it out!

Sous vide is a technique that starts with vacuum-sealing the meat or vegetables that you’re cooking, and then boils them at a low temperature for a long period of time, which breaks down proteins without toughening the meat.  You basically can’t overcook anything using this method — so long as you set the proper temperature for the water bath, you could leave the meat in it for anywhere from 90 minutes to about 8 hours with terrific results.  You can also cook foods at less than the temperature you’d need to oven-bake it to, because you’re holding the food at the temperature for longer.  Sounds good, right?  Add in dozens of people online talking about how sous-vide is the future of cooking, and I was extremely curious.

This machine is a pretty serious investment, and I’ve spent just about every weekend getting used to it.  What started with a so-so salmon filet (my fault, not seasoned properly or seared to finish) eventually became an absolutely perfect chicken breast (in bulk for weeknight dinners, even) and these terrific lamb chops.  I’m not usually much of a meat-eater (or -cooker), which you guys know already from reading this blog, but these were great.

Worth the investment?  Time will tell.  I’m still a little scared to leave anything cooking while we’re at work, both for food-safety and regular-safety reasons, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.  And to save me from being stuck in the kitchen during a dinner party while everyone else is having appetizers and drinks?  Priceless. 

Lamb Chops Sous-Vide

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound lamb chops
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Fleur de sel
Fresh cracked pepper

DIRECTIONS

Fill the sous vide machine with water and heat it to 132 degrees F.  Salt and pepper the lamb chops and rub a small amount of olive oil on each.  Vacuum seal the lamb chops.  Cook for two hours in the sous vide machine, and then sear them (in a preheated pan with a tiny bit of olive oil) on high heat for 30 seconds on each side. 

One thing you may not know about me: I’m half Greek.  That means that growing up, I learned to count to ten in Greek, celebrated a whole separate Easter (seriously!), baked bread with a dime in it, and ate the best baklava on earth, made by my grandmother. 

What it also means: I am extremely picky about Greek food.  Which is too bad, because Greek and Mediterranean dishes tend to be pirated on terrible menus more than just about any other type.  But one of my major pet peeves: when a Greek salad uses lettuce.

Greek salads are about thick, chunky vegetables and fresh, colorful ingredients.  And yet every diner and subpar restaurant I’ve ever been to seems to want to add lettuce to this dish — probably because it’s cheap?  But a real, true Greek salad consists of just a few ingredients, and it’s one of the freshest, most delicious meals you’ll ever eat.

And on that note, I want to introduce you guys to Costa Navarino, a gourmet food line that’s based in one of the most beautiful regions of Greece, and also happens to be run by one of my cousins!  Even better — their products are available at Dean & Deluca.  So you can bring a little Mediterranean sun (and salad) to your cold January day!

And speaking of color, I couldn’t resist breaking out my Noritake Colorwave plates — they’re 15% off on the Noritake website until January 8th!

True Greek Salad

INGREDIENTS:
1 package red or yellow cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 shallot
1/2 jar Costa Navarino olives, in olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup olive oil (you can use the oil that the olives were packed in if it’s good quality!)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Fleur de sel
Freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Dice tomatoes and cucumbers into 1/2″ wedges.  Dice shallot into 1/4″ pieces.  In large bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, onion and olives. Toss with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta cheese over salad, toss again lightly, and serve.