Where the Wild Things Are Recipes

Book

Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak

One night in Max’s room, a forest grows and an ocean appears. Max sails across the sea to discover new land, and makes friends with the inhabitants - the Wild Things.

Join Max and his monster friends by eating Messy Monster Goulash and Roasted Carrot Bone Sticks.

Don’t go to bed hungry! Cuddle up with your family after your adventure with a blanket and a warm dinner of Snuggly Corn Chowder and Grilled Brie Sandwiches.

Cook

Messy Monster Goulash

Complexity: Simple dish – uses the stove, but easy prep.
Time: 10 minutes prep plus 50 minutes cooking.

Ingredients

2 pounds lean ground beef
2 large yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cups water
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried Italian herb seasoning (see note)
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon seasoned salt, or to taste
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

Note: Italian herb seasoning is easy to make if you don’t want to buy some. For this recipe, we use ½ T dried oregano, ½ T thyme, ½ T rosemary, ½ T dried basil, and red pepper flakes to taste.

Directions

Cook and stir the ground beef in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking the meat up as it cooks, until the meat is no longer pink and has started to brown, about 10 minutes.
Skim off excess fat and stir in the onions and garlic.
Cook and stir the meat mixture until the onions are translucent, about 10 more minutes.
Stir water, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and seasoned salt into the meat mixture and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir macaroni into the mixture, cover, and simmer over low heat until the pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Check the pasta after 15 minutes and every 5 minutes after until it is tender.
Remove from heat, discard bay leaves, and serve.

Cook

Roasted Carrot Bone Sticks

Complexity: Easy – just prep the carrots, add a few spices, and roast!
Time: 10 minutes prep plus 40 minutes baking.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of 5 inch long young carrots, rinsed and scrubbed clean, patted dry, carrot greens cut to 1 inch above top of carrot
1 medium red onion, halved lengthwise (root to top) and cut into 8-12 wedges.
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.
Place the carrots, red onion wedges, and crushed garlic cloves on the pan and sprinkle with chopped rosemary.
Drizzle with olive oil and toss to combine so that the carrots and onions are lightly coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast at 400°F for 30 to 40 minutes until well browned and caramelized around the edges. Remove from pan and place in a serving dish to serve.

Cook

Snuggly Corn Chowder

Complexity: Involves chopping, cooking corn on the cob (optional) and cooking on the stove.
Time: 15 minutes prep plus 40 minutes cooking.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/3 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup small diced carrot
1/2 cup small diced celery
4-5 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs (about 3 cups), cobs reserved
1 bay leaf
4 1/2 cups milk, whole or low fat
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and large (1-inch) diced (about 3 cups)
3 teaspoons of Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Note: If you don’t have corn on the cob available, it’s fine to use frozen corn; just make sure to get sweet corn.

Directions

Place butter and bacon into a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot. Heat on medium heat until the bacon renders its fat, 3-4 minutes.
Add the onions, bell pepper, carrot, and celery. Then, lower the heat to medium low and cook until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
Add corn cobs (stripped of corn), milk, and bay leaf to pot. Break the corn cobs in half (after you've stripped off the corn) and add the cobs to the pot. Add the milk and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes. Make sure the heat is as low as can be and still maintain a gentle simmer to prevent scalding the milk on the bottom of the pan.
Add potatoes, salt and thyme to the pot. Increase the heat to return the soup to a simmer, then lower the heat to maintain the simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.
Discard cobs and bay leaf, then add the corn and black pepper. Raise the heat to bring the soup to a simmer, then lower the heat and cook for another 5 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Cook

Grilled Apple Brie Sandwiches

Complexity: Easy – just assemble and place on the griddle!
Time: 5 minutes prep plus 5 minutes cooking.

Ingredients

Makes four sandwiches.

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
8 ounces brie cheese, sliced
1 apple, thinly sliced (we like Honeycrisp)
8 slices sourdough bread (or other sandwich bread)
4 dill pickles

Directions

Heat cast iron skillet or griddle over medium low heat.
Butter one side of each piece of bread. Place the butter sides down on the plate so that the un-buttered side is facing up.
Assemble sandwiches by layering brie and apples on bread. Place a second piece of bread on top, butter side up.
Place in skillet, butter-side down. Cook until cheese is slightly melted and bread is toasty and brown.
Flip sandwich and cook until cheese is completely melted.
Slice and serve with a dill pickle