…if what they want is GOOD food.

Mac and cheese recipes are a dime a dozen on the net.  If you have a food blog and are even remotely tolerant of dairy, odds are you’ve posted a favorite recipe or unique rendition.  From bacon and blue cheese to truffles and lobster, there are countless offerings out there that claim to offer the ultimate mac and cheese experience. Whether it’s topped with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven or fresh from the stove top, oozing with a gooey melted cheese sauce, I’ve never met a version I haven’t liked.  That being said, in my mind one version stands out among the rest as a truly extraordinary and distinctive twist on the original: green chile mac and cheese.

I first had green chile mac and cheese on a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona for Spring Training with my Dad where we dined at chef Robert McGrath’s flagship, Roaring Fork restaurant.  After amazing, back-to-back dinners we decided to buy the cookbook and attempt to replicate his signature riff on the comfort classic.  Needless to say, the results were a near perfect match.  Simple to prepare, this dish gets it’s deep, smoky flavor from the addition of a puree of roasted poblano chiles.  Add in some heavy cream, a confetti of red bell pepper, sweet corn kernels and a healthy dose of piquant pepper jack cheese and you have a mac and cheese dish worthy of a little excitement.

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When I told my friends I was planning on making homemade mozzarella sticks for a guy’s weekend out of town the idea was met with a profound lack of enthusiasm.  Everybody knows that I like to experiment in the kitchen, but somehow the idea of making a bar food staple like mozzarella sticks from scratch seemed like a complete waste of time to the group.  After being lectured about the innumerable brands available in the freezer section at the grocery store and a heated debate about whether marinara or ranch is the better dipping accompaniment, I decided to risk further heckling and see if I couldn’t one-up T.G.I. Friday’s in my own kitchen.

It might have been the alcohol, but the first batch was gone within a matter of seconds.  Simultaneously crispy and gooey, these mozzarella sticks seem to defy the laws of physics and flavor.  After the second batch had been demolished, a few halfhearted concessions came my way; they had to admit,  homemade outranked frozen by a long shot.

With the right breadcrumbs, fragrant Italian spices and an organized assembly line for the essential double-dredging technique, perfect, scratch-made mozzarella sticks can be made at home in no time and with little effort.

With the question about whether or not it’s a waste of time to make mozzarella sticks at home answered, the question of the perfect dip remained.  We decided to go with a buttermilk dip that was tangy, cooling and delicious.  But I wouldn’t mind trying these with a marinara sauce, too.

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The stuffed grape leaf, oftentimes referred to as dolma, is an under appreciated member of the meze family.  In favor of the ubiquitous hummus and pita or cucumber and yogurt salad, stuffed grape leaves tend to get passed over.  In fact, one of my closest friends and my own mother find this Middle Eastern staple off-putting.  I, too, remember a time when I shied away from stuffed grape leaves based solely on the fact that the dish involved the use of a leaf. (Then again, I was 9-years-old; I’m not sure what their excuse is.)  Expecting a vegetal, grassy flavor, I was caught off-guard by the savory, sweet, and sour flavor packed inside of each tiny bundle.

Having made many different versions of stuffed grape leaves, no recipe renders more consistent and flavorful results than that of Claudia Roden’s in her spectacular cookbook, Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon.  After making these from scratch you’ll find that the flavor of a homemade stuffed grape leaf is light-years away from those that come from a can.

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