hotmesschefs

[hotmesschefs]

We’re baaack. On the menu: papas bravas

Everyone loves a good comeback. So after a brief hiatus, Hot Mess Chefs is back and the cooking commences again. This session: papas bravas aka POTATOES.

We were inspired by E’s recent solo trip to Spain! So we thought it only appropriate to cook (easy) Spanish cuisine and to eat it whilst E presents a PowerPoint she made about her trip to Spain. 10/10 would recommend making papas bravas and going to Spain.

P.S. if anyone needs any travel recs for Spain, E has plenty.

[hotmesschefs]

Baked Mac and Cheese

Back to back weeks of carbs.  It’s okay, here at HMC, carbs are the most important food group.  We usually try to make vegan recipes, but this week we couldn’t resist.  Plus, K made a vegan version, so it can be done, folks!  (Side note: you can tell a lot of a person from the type of pasta they choose)

E: classic elbow, classic cheese, classic bread crumbs -- all around classic baked mac and cheese.  Can’t go wrong.

J: You can’t tell from the photo, but this is rotini.  And as a twist, it was baked in the air fryer -- a game changer.

K: Baked mac and cheese - veganised!  Emulating the delicious Annie’s mac with the shells.  Oh yes.

P: Egg noodle mac and cheese with crispy shallots!  A super creamy, saucy mac for ultimate richness.

[hotmesschefs]

Penne Alla Vodka

Who doesn’t love a good penne alla vodka? A delicious, yet surprisingly easy dish to make!

E: No such thing as too much parmesan.  Especially when it complements penne alla vodka so perfectly.

J:  Add a bit of red chili flakes for an extra bit of pizzaz to the pasta.  So good. Forgot to add the butter at the end of the recipe, but I will be making this again, so next time I will remember.

P: Who says penne alla vodka needs to be penne?  Rotini alla vodka is just as good. 

[hotmesschefs]

Garlic butter noods

First cooking session where all of the Hot Mess Chefs are in different states! From west coast to east coast, we are now all scattered across the country accomplishing our goals. But we plan to continue our hot mess cooking because we need it now more than ever.

We kept things as simple as possible with this week’s recipe since most of us were just moved in to our new apartments and had little to no ingredients. So this garlic butter noodle recipe was perfect.

From top to bottom: the garlic butter noodles of HM chefs E, J, K, P

We all agreed that you should NOT go too heavy on the soy sauce. Even with a light hand, combined with the salt already in the recipe, it just turned out a bit too salty.

[hotmesschefs]

Scallion pancakes

Heard that scallion pancakes were easy to make and required less than 5 ingredients. The latter was true, but there was a steep learning curve. Reading the instructions on rolling the dough is not recommended. Just watch a video of someone doing it and it’ll make much more sense and save you the trouble.

From top to bottom: the scallion pancakes of Hot Mess Chefs E, J, K, and P.

Today we learned scallion pancakes come in all shapes, sizes, and colours. But hopefully yours don’t turn out as burnt as J’s first one (it also set off the fire alarm mid cooking).

[hotmesschefs]

Pizza Night!

Going back to our roots with simpler recipes and making homemade pizza.  There’s something special about making pizza at home -- whether you choose to make the dough or tomato sauce from scratch or choose the pre-made ingredients (we Hot Mess Chefs chose this route), it still comes out... chef’s kiss (pretty sure that’s Italian for delicious).

Top row: E went all out and made both a white pizza with olive oil, garlic, parsley, ricotta and mozzarella and a classic pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. 

2nd row: J went for your classic veggie pizza with onions, green peppers and mushrooms.  “The original plan was to leave it at just onions and peppers, because I didn’t want to wash the mushrooms, but I eat with my eyes and the pizza needed more color” 

3rd row: K made a gorgeous, artisanal pizza with homemade cheese (!!!) basil and finished off with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.  

[hotmesschefs]

Pi Day Fried Rice

This Sunday was pi day, so naturally, we made fried rice. None of us followed a recipe. This is why we’re hot mess chefs. But if you really must know, we used a combination of these 2 recipes and then did whatever else we felt like doing. Overall consensus: Sometimes you try making Asian fried rice and then you don't follow anything from the recipe so it turns out to be Spanish fried rice. But any fried rice is good fried rice.

Top row: E followed the egg fried rice recipe the closest, and it shows. Beautifully golden and exactly what you want from your take away. Last one to finish cooking, but worth the result.

2nd row: K's fried rice methodology followed a completely different route than what the rest of us took, but the beauty of cooking is that the fried rice turned out amazing and we're all jealous of the improv skills. And take K’s word for it, “I loved mine! I used sesame oil as a finishing touch after it was done cooking which I think made the dish.”

3rd row: J had a tough time with this one. From the hot mess chef herself, "Gordon Ramsay says to always taste as you cook, and no matter how many times I tasted it, it was bland. Made a last minute decision to dump in a bunch of soy sauce. Mistake and regrets." Will do better next time.

Last photo: P’s egg fried rice via lots of input from Papa P, the fried rice connoisseur. Hot mess chef P says, “mine was a bit overcooked and came out more like spanish rice, but was still very good!”

[hotmesschefs]

This Sunday’s brunch menu: granola.

Courtesy of the one and only Alton Brown, this recipe comes recommended by P, and you really can’t go wrong with an Alton Brown recipe. Although, there’s always at least one ingredient in his recipes that makes you go, ‘what the heck is this, I have never heard of it.’ And for this, it was wheat germ. What is wheat germ you ask? We’re still unclear, but it tastes like plain granola, so we’re just going to go along with it.

Top row: E’s version with a chocolately twist!  From the chef herself: ‘Apparently I was suppose to stick it in the freezer so the chocolate would harden.’  

2nd row: J’s slightly burnt granola (when the recipe says to stir occasionally, there’s a reason for that and you should stir occasionally). J decided to cut the granola into chunks to sprinkle on top of yoghurt, and highly recommends it.

3rd row: P’s picture perfect, classic granola bars. These are the epitome of what you envision a homemade granola bar to look like and we feel P’s previous experience with this recipe gave her the upper hand in this, but practice does indeed make perfect!