The Team Sundae

This might be seen as just another ice cream recipe, but no! It is an entire experience. This is designed for those team dinners, where the sense of community created by O'Donovans' mood lighting is just as important as its gourmet fare. If you want raw, unadulterated satisfaction, this is it.

Ingredients:
Cookie Crumbs
Ice Cream (several flavors)
Sprinkles
Butterscotch Chips
M&Ms
Cookie pieces
Hot Fudge

Special Equipment:
Pasta/Stir-fry size bowl
Several Spoons

First of all, make sure your bowl is COLD!  Create a bottoming base of cookie crumbs. Then fill it with 7-10 scoops of ice cream, strategically placed for optimal complimentary flavors. This means separate raspberry from mint and peanut butter, use chocolate as a transition, etc. Add toppings--again strategically distributed with respect to their proper ice cream bases, i.e. no Reeses' on the Raspberry Road Runner. Top with 3-4 cookies, broken into smaller pieces, add a sliced banana, and load it up with hot fudge and/or caramel. Serve with many spoons for your many co-diners to enjoy.

Simple Pleasure Mondays: Best (and worst) of the Bistro

We hope that all you Hoyas had a revitalizing Passover (shoutout to all my Jewish friends in the yay area) and Easter break; Scott ventured back to the untamed woodlands of New Jersey whilst I played countless hours of frisbee golf and pokémon at Georgetown. We both enjoyed taking a break from Leo's food, and were two of only 10 brave souls on the Catholic Justice ultimate frisbee team to capture 2nd place in the Colonial Conference! #300-esque ratio of warriors to ass-kicking

Onto the good stuff, this week's simple pleasure gives insight into many students' go-to quick eating station: the Bistro. The hallowed grounds of unlimited pizza and other grilled/roasted entrées, the Bistro is a time-sensitive station that lets you and the entire Georgetown football team carboload in a matter of seconds. Here are our picks for the most delectable--and unsatisfactory--dishes that the Bistro offers.

Gourmet:
-Barbecue Chicken Pizza: this pizza is garnished with just the right amount of chicken pieces, combined with an exquisite tangy bbq sauce and an underwhelming yet robust amount of garnish. A must-have for those who have realized that a bbq chicken MYOP is not the way to go (give it up already!).
-White Pizza: a surprisingly quaint and delicious pizza, this pie is made simply with dough, cheese, and olive oil. It may come out a little greasy, which is why patting it down with a napkin before diving in might not be a bad idea. The white pizza lends itself to being topped with your preference of oregano, parmesan cheese, and/or crushed chili flakes.
-Grilled chicken: this protein-packed staple is rather succulent by itself, but the true magic of the grilled chicken lies in its versatility. It can be used on many MYOP dishes, or as per the previous post, a meat add-in for pasta.
-Grilled Vegetable Medley: This delightful combination of grilled carrots and onions is the perfect compliment to the Bistro's heavier dishes. Far preferred to the spinach (see below), these veggies are cooked just right and pack a surprising amount of flavor. Cmon, who doesn't like grilled onions? Admittedly, it's not great date food, but if you're having a date at Leo's then you have bigger problems to address...

Stay away:
-Meat lovers pizza: although we appreciate the concept of the meat lovers, the overwhelming combination of sausage and pepperoni simply doesn't cut it. The sausage is perhaps the least complimentary to the pizza, adding unnecessary girth to an already heavy pizza. If you thought dabbing the white pizza was a good idea, you'll need a role of Bounty triple-ply to get through this one.
-Spinach: We like to think that spinach has gained a bad rap as America's least favorite green along with brussel sprouts, but the Bistro's rendition definitely doesn't do the vegetable justice. Often overcooked and soggy in its own juices, we recommend going for a salad at the Deli station and holding out until the grilled vegetable medley makes an appearance.

Meat Add-Ins for Pasta

I had seen people doing this on occasion, but it was only yesterday that I truly realized the value of this delicious combination. I love pasta, but I am continually bored by the limited options for special sauces and dishes that Leo's offers. One of my favorites is the occasional "Penne with Italian Sausage," but even this sometimes tastes slightly unsatisfactory. However, I now know you can truly "Make your own" (which we're clearly a fan of) Pasta, using whatever meats are available on a given day. Bear in mind 2 things: 1) This is extremely dependent on what is available. I can't quite imagine pasta mixed with turkey pot pie. 2) The Pasta Palate is vegan: do not attempt to have them cook meat into your pasta, as they will not let you.

Ingredients:
Pasta with sauce (either from veggie station or the Pasta Palate)
Vegetables (optional)
Sausage/steak/chicken

Assembly is relatively simple. Top your pasta with your desired vegetables and meat, and that's it. However, many diners may choose to challenge the stir-fry chefs to toss up their pasta with some meat. The stir-fry station is known to be lenient in allowing other add-ins, and we encourage you to try some out. You can of course ask to have the stir-fry meats added, but I'd be willing to bet that they could also just cook up a pre-assembled mixture for you if you asked nicely. Keep in mind that you should cut up your sausage, steak, or chicken into smaller pieces to allow for even mixing and cooking.

My personal favorite for this is quite simple. Get pasta from the veggie station, top with marinara sauce and some cheese, and add an Italian sausage, peppers, and onions from the Flavors of Home, if you're blessed to be at Leo's on one of those days. Credit to Matt Kerrigan on this one.

An additional option that I developed after a home-cooked meal is as follows. Start by going to the Pasta Palate, and in your bowl put spinach, mushrooms, onions, and anything else you might want. Cook that up with some pasta and a little bit of pesto sauce. I would suggest asking them to use less sauce than normal, I tend to find that it's too much. Afterwards, you can add some cheese, then bring it over to the stir-fry station, have them add in chicken, and maybe some peppers. Enjoy.

White Pasta/Chicken MYOP

Thanks to Heather Flynn and The Hoya staff for the article in today's paper! Sadly, there is no link in the article, so I hope those of you coming from there could find us. For our regular readers, please share your knowledge with others interested. In the meantime, enjoy more new recipes!

Following a suggestion from Fonzi, I tried out this pizza and was enormously satisfied with the results. In terms of flavor, it's not that revolutionary, but it's a lot more full-bodied than the typical MYOP. It's also slightly less work than some of our other pizzas, provided that you remember to grab pasta and alfredo sauce from upstairs before you go down to the Bistro.

Ingredients:
Pasta-from veggie station, penne or rotini
Alfredo sauce
Grilled Chicken (1.5-2 pieces)
MYOP crust
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza additions- Parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, crushed red pepper
Spinach leaves

Start by getting a large bowl about half full of pasta and a small bowl with some Alfredo sauce. Go downstairs and get grilled chicken and cut it into small pieces. Spread a MYOP crust with Alfredo sauce, then spread the pasta on top of the sauce. Fill in the spaces with the grilled chicken, making an almost uniform layer on top of the crust. Then top with the mozzarella cheese, additions (oregano is a MUST), and several spinach leaves for color and texture. Hand in your pizza and enjoy.
The main difference with this pizza is that most of the toppings are under the cheese. The pasta doesn't change the flavor much, but the added starch and volume makes it seem almost like a thick-crust pizza, which falls more to my preferences. The chicken is most of the flavor, along with the oregano, so don't be shy on either of those. The cheese melts on top of the pasta and chicken, creating a nice blanket that blends very well. This is definitely worth investigating.

Simple Pleasure Mondays: Custom Orders at The Diner

Beloved readers, thank you for your patience during our rather sparse past week of posting; Scott and I have been swamped with both ultimate and essays. Of course I struggled to embellish the wording of my sentences to have my paper reach the lower page limit (the COL way) while Scott struggled to cut 1000 words from his paper in order to reach the upper page limit (the SFS way). Nevertheless, Simple Pleasure Mondays are back and better than ever.
This week's hidden gem hails from the mezzanine level of Leo's: the Diner. The paragon of what you wished your middle school lunches had been, the Diner offers a virtually infinite supply of battered, fried, and grilled entrées. Although many O'Donovan's regulars are privy to this special inconspicuous aspect of the Diner, patrons are actually able to write in the margins of the Diner order sheets to request items/add-ons that (within reason) the kind Leo's staff will make especially for you. A few of our favorites include medium rare burgers, grilled cheese, a fried egg on top of a burger (now a special called the egg burger), and adding bacon.
Keep in mind that if you ask to customize your order during a time that is not incredibly busy, the Leo's staff is more likely to accommodate your request. Also we've found that writing "thank you" on your order is a great idea; it's courteous to let the staff know you appreciate their hard work, and it appears to make your order come faster.
Enjoy your newly discovered culinary freedom, and stay tuned for more ODOTW posts this week!

Fruit-on-the-bottom Yogurt

I must preface this by explaining how my mother has eaten Dannon Coffee Yogurt for breakfast nearly every morning since before I was born. She was furious when they dropped from 8 oz. to 6, and even got a voucher for some free yogurt when she complained about the consistency of several containers. Thus, I always tried to eat yogurt, but could never really get too into it. However, I do know the value of the "Fruit on the Bottom!" types, and the surprising sweet deliciousness of getting bits of fruit with your yogurt. It was that experience that led  me to this O'Donnovation. Admittedly, it's not very difficult, or even different from our other yogurt parfait. But there are a few options to vary it, and it was quite delicious.

Ingredients:
Fruit (from near waffles, or other fruit station)
Plain Yogurt
Granola
Honey

The only truly revolutionary part of this is the use of new fruit. This morning, I went with the strawberry topping by the waffles. It helps to get as little syrup as possible and as much fruit. However, you can also use the applesauce there, or even the peaches from the regular fruit station. Put this in your bowl first, and top it with plain yogurt. Sprinkle with granola, drizzle with honey, (less since the fruit is already sweet) and enjoy.

Thai Noodles

Due to the fact that approximately half our blog is devoted to MYOP recipes, we're hoping to branch out a little more in the future. The following is a variant on Scott's Thai Chicken Pizza: a noodle dish that incorporates the same peanut sauce. The sauce when made right is a perfect compliment to stir fry, and is a great alternative to those pre-made sauces that contain twice your daily value of sodium per teaspoon. This simply prepared dish leaves much up to the preferences of the chef, however I suggest my favorite combination of items:

Ingredients:
Chicken from stir fry station
Noodles from stir fry station
Bell peppers from stir fry station
Water chestnuts from stir fry station
Ginger from stir fry station
Peanut Butter from Deli
Water

Directions:
If you haven't guessed already, order a dish at the stir fry station with chicken, noodles, bell peppers, water chestnuts, and ginger (add or subtract items as desired). After the dish is finished, go downstairs and put a scoop or two of peanut butter in a bowl. Add a small amount of water to the bowl (Scott prefers milk; either works, but don't do both) and mix at least a little bit. Place the bowl in the microwave for 15-20 seconds--not longer or things will go wrong--and continue mixing/adding water until you get a nice syrupy consistency. Mix the peanut sauce in with the stir fry until evenly coated, and enjoy.