Fennel & Apple Soup

Last year I took a trip to Blue Hill, Dan Barber's all-local restaurant in the West Village. One of my favorite dishes of the meal was an apple and fennel soup. Low and behold, the recipe appeared online a few weeks later. I tried the recipe last December and posted about it on my blog, Two Fat Als. It's a wonderful winter soup, and I highly recommend it!

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 small shallots, minced
3 1/2 cups diced fennel, white part only, reserving green fronds for garnish
1 apple, peeled and diced
salt and ground black pepper
1 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed
4 cups vegetable stock (Mr. Barber’s recipe is online)
1/2 tsp chopped thyme

Instructions:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pot. Add the onion and shallots, and sweat until translucent. Add the fennel and apple, season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes before adding the fennel seeds and stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a blender and purée, adding the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil. Return to saucepan and heat gently. Garnish with fennel fronds, and serve.

Homemade Mac & Cheese

One of my favorite family recipes... this makes awesome comfort food.

To serve a couple of people, you will need:
1/2 lb macaroni
5 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
Milk
Plenty of shredded cheese (parmesan & cheddar work well together, but you can use any kinds you like)
Tomato sauce
Salt
Pepper
Mustard

Directions:

• Boil the macaroni.
• For the sauce -- have all ingredients ready.
• Melt the butter in a large skillet.
• Remove from heat.  Add the flour.
• Return to medium-high heat and cook to a bubble (approx. 2 minutes), stirring continuously.
• Add a dash of milk, then continue stirring.  
• When the mixture forms sticky lumps, add more milk and stir.
• Keep adding milk in small amounts and stirring until the sauce is the consistency you'd like.
• Add a lot of cheese (exactly how much depends on how cheesy you like your sauce).  Stir the cheese into the sauce until it melts.
• Add salt, pepper, and mustard to taste.
• Mix the cooked macaroni with the cheese sauce in an oven-safe dish or saucepan.
• Put some tomato sauce on top.
• Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Place under the grill in your oven until the cheese bubbles.
• Enjoy! 

Granola bars

When I stopped bringing baked goods to sell in class, I received a number of requests for the granola bar recipe I had been using.  Here it is--it's a pretty stress-free recipe, even for somebody like me (meaning, someone who possesses next to no cooking skills)!  It's also kind of cathartic to crush the peanuts.  ;)  Enjoy.