Running Fat Chef
  • Welcome
  • Home
  • Learn About Me
    • About Me
    • Press
    • Videos
    • Partnerships
    • The Long Run Podcast
  • RFC Blogs
    • Endurance Blog
    • Journey To Tri
    • Fat Girl Guide to the Spartan Ultra Beast
    • Recipes >
      • Nom Nom Gallery
  • Shop
    • Shop RFC >
      • Clothing >
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Cropped Hoodie
        • I Am Powerful Sweatshirt
        • University of Promoting Obesity Cropped Top Hoodie
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Hoodie
        • University of Promoting Obesity Hooded Sweatshirt
        • Un Fck Yr Self Cropped Tee
        • University of Promoting Obesity Cropped Top Hoodie
        • Running Fat Chef Unisex Crew Neck Descriptors Sweatshirt
      • Accessories >
        • Unf*ck Yourself Tote
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Tote
        • RFC I Am Powerful Mug
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Mug
        • Running Fat Chef Postcard + Sticker Pack
  • Calendar
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies

5/28/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Make these cookies when you're bored in the house and in the house bored or need to quarantine and bake.

I don't talk about it much but I ran a cake business out of my home for a bit before culinary school. Those conversations don't come up much anymore because a lot emphasis is placed on my fitness. I lost a bit of time while traveling to different races and my husband watched me have anxiety about a few cake orders that went to hell.

Baking is a science and requires you to be much more meticulous about your effort than most stove top adventures. you haven't lived until you watched your cake make a big ass donut sized hole in the center or cried over an uncalibrated oven -- meaning one side might be baking at 275 degrees and the other at 350 degrees F.

With that said, I love cookies -- I cried less over a fucked up batch of cookies than an aggravating cake. These might piss you off but if you follow these steps, you might not encounter too many issues. To those who watched me experiment on Instagram and Facebook stories, thanks for riding out with me until 2AM: The Ungodly Quarantine Hour.
​

Read More
0 Comments

How to Spatchcock Your Next Whole Chicken

5/17/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Looking to cut down on some cooking time? Consider butterflying your chicken by following these easy steps.

I don't know too many people who enjoy waiting for food to cook when they're hungry. If you have a pulse, all of us encountered a day or two where we've babysat an oven waiting for the meal to magically float into our mouths. If it's a chicken, quail, Cornish hen, turkey or anything of that nature, I got you covered.

To spatchcock a chicken - or most birds - is much simpler than you think And if you are wondering what the hell spatchcock even means, it is the act of butterflying a whole bird and removing the backbone. If you watched enough of my Instagram or Facebook stories, I've done it dozens of times right before sectioning off an entire chicken.

Read More
0 Comments

Beef Ragu with Mushroom, Shallot & Cheese Stuffed Shells

5/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Entertain your taste buds with this fun yet sophisticated pasta dish. 

While I cannot recall what food I ate during my short time in private school, I can tell you a crap ton of stories about NYC public school lunches. If you grew up in 80s or 90s, anyone can tell you that you might find some questionable meals on your tray. For instance, beef patties were hit or miss and chicken nuggets always caught the side eye.

My best memories are associated with the infamous burger in a bag, Elios style pizza and stuffed shells. All of the legendary elementary school fist fights came to a halt on those days. Nobody wanted to be forced to eat at the teacher's lunch table and stuck with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

As an adult, I wondered how could I make those stuffed shells better. There were days that there was too much cheese or my prepubescent mind didn't know how to describe texture conflicts with my palate. If you're craving a taste of my childhood with an adult flair, test this recipe:

What You Need

Ground Beef Ragu

Recipe for 6 - 8 people (Depends on serving size)
  • 1  1/2 pounds ground beef (or consider half ground beef and ground veal)
  • 1 shallot, small dice
  • 2 celery stalks, small dice
  • 2 carrots, small dice
  • ​3/4 cup of red wine (Aim for something dry)
  • 3 cups beef broth or stock, preferably unsalted
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • dash or two of salt, preferably kosher or sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 12 - 16 ounces tomato sauce (or supplement with 1 cup San Marzano tomatoes)
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream (or 1 cup whole milk)

Mushroom, Shallot & Cheese Stuffed Shells

Picture
Recipe for 6 - 8 people​​ (Depending on serving size)
  • 24 - 28 ounces of tomato sauce
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded (prefer to shred blocks of cheese over pre shredded cheese and whole milk mozzarella if you can)
  • 4 cups ricotta, preferably whole milk
  • 2 eggs, medium or large
  • 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • dash or two of salt, preferably kosher or sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • dash of nutmeg
  • 12 - 16 ounces baby portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 shallot, small dice or thinly sliced

The Rundown

Ground Beef Ragu

  1. Brown up your ground beef in a large preheated pan- a rondeau, Dutch oven or saucepan works well- and cook on medium fire.  Break up the meat with a spoon until it's no longer pink. This process is roughly 6 or so minutes. Typically if you use beef under 85 percent, it'll render off fat. Drain off some of the excess fat.
  2. Add in shallot, carrots, garlic and celery and cook for another 5 minutes max. Vegetables should soften by this point.
  3. Fold in seasonings, salt, pepper, and add in red wine. Allow most of the wine to cook off for a few minutes. 
    1. Chef Tip: If your wine comes in a glass bottle, consider pouring into a cup over doing a free pour. It looks cool but accidents happen. Alcohol plus heat means accidental flambé
    2. Chef Tip: Stuck on which wine to use? Rule of thumb is to use something that you would drink but not something that you purchased at 50.00 a bottle. I'll do a blurb about this in the future. Cheap bottle of red will work here and your kids will not get drunk. We're burning off most of the alcohol. Plus, all of those sweet notes of whatever you like will probably get lost.
  4. Build your flavor by adding in beef stock/broth and tomato sauce (or canned tomatoes).  Allow it to cook down for 30 - 40 minutes. 
  5. Add in warm milk or cream and cook for another 20 - 30 minutes. 
  6. Garnish with parsley, parmesan or parmigiano reggiano. 
  7. If you don't want to make shells, fettuccine and linguine are excellent pasta pairings. Cook pasta according to package, drain, add on olive oil to prevent pasta from sticking and season with garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Mushroom, Shallot & Cheese Stuffed Shells

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Grab a 4 quart pot, pour in a generous amount of salt-estimate of 4 to 5 tablespoons-and cold water into a pot, crank up the fire and bring your water to rolling boil. Prepare pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions. If using fresh pasta, cooking time is drastically shorter. Drain from water but don't rinse.
    1. Chef Tip: I prefer to cook my pasta until al denté (firm to the bite) or a minute over to preserve the integrity since it's going into the oven. I practice this technique for lasagna and baked ziti.
  3. Sauté mushrooms and shallots on medium fire until soften. Place into a freezer or fridge to cool down for a few minutes.
  4. In an medium sized bowl, combine cheeses, eggs, dried seasonings, dried herbs, mushroom and shallot and stir together.
  5. Pour half jar of tomato sauce into a 13x9 baking pan
  6. Fill each shell with mushroom, shallot and cheese mixture.
    1. Chef Tip: If you have a pastry bag or Ziploc bag, snip the end of the bag, fill it up and pipe cheese mixture into each shell. If not, use a tablespoon. 
    2. Each shell should fill up close to the top but not overflowing
  7. Top with remaining tomato sauce, dried parsley and extra parmesan cheese if desired.
  8. Cover baking pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. 
    1. Cheese may slightly bubble, will be hot and be semi firm if picked up.

Other Suggestions & Tips

  1. If you have leftover cheese mixture, consider stuffing it into manicotti shells.  Top it with a dope ass cheese or tomato blush sauce. 
  2. If you're not a fan of mushroom, consider swapping out mushrooms for sauteed spinach, butternut squash or kale. 
  3. Leftover ragu mixture and tired of pasta? No problem. Throw it on some slider buns or if you're feeling adventurous, you could make a really great messy quesadilla or taco--use your imagination.
  4. It's easy to think that bolognese and ragu are the same--it's not.  Ragu is a meat based sauce but minced items are thrown into it (i.e. chopped carrots and celery). Although my recipe is missing pancetta, which would make it a soffritto, cream or milk is thrown in and changes the color and adds on a different flavor. Bolognese dates back to the 15th century in Bologna, Italy. They are both incredible sauces but you'll see bolognese paired up with hearty, thick pastas. Ragu is usually paired with thin or flat pastas like spaghetti and linguine. Clearly I don't follow those rules.
0 Comments

    Latoya Shauntay Snell

    Thanks to friends and loved ones, I managed to financially foot part of the bill for some fancy classically French training school called Star Career Academy of NY before the school ran off and stole everyone's money.  At least the instructors were real deal and I graduated before they closed.

    ​Nevertheless, after 10 years in the industry, I find joy in sharing some of these recipes here.  Mangia.

    If you want to donate to my one woman operation, please feel free to hit the button below.
    Donate to RFC

    Archives

    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    January 2017
    December 2016

    RSS Feed

2016 - 2020 rUNNING FAT CHEF

  • Welcome
  • Home
  • Learn About Me
    • About Me
    • Press
    • Videos
    • Partnerships
    • The Long Run Podcast
  • RFC Blogs
    • Endurance Blog
    • Journey To Tri
    • Fat Girl Guide to the Spartan Ultra Beast
    • Recipes >
      • Nom Nom Gallery
  • Shop
    • Shop RFC >
      • Clothing >
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Cropped Hoodie
        • I Am Powerful Sweatshirt
        • University of Promoting Obesity Cropped Top Hoodie
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Hoodie
        • University of Promoting Obesity Hooded Sweatshirt
        • Un Fck Yr Self Cropped Tee
        • University of Promoting Obesity Cropped Top Hoodie
        • Running Fat Chef Unisex Crew Neck Descriptors Sweatshirt
      • Accessories >
        • Unf*ck Yourself Tote
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Tote
        • RFC I Am Powerful Mug
        • Running Fat Chef Signature Mug
        • Running Fat Chef Postcard + Sticker Pack
  • Calendar
  • Contact
  • Subscribe