Big Mac at Home

Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on a sesame seed bun! My favorite fast food burger is the Big Mac, but I can't remember the last time I ate one. I only eat fast food out of necessity when I need to eat in my car, and a Big Mac can not be eaten while one is driving. It's way too messy! But, hallelujah, I found the special sauce recipe. You may think that it's just French or Russian dressing, but it is not. The special sauce has a base of mayo and mustard, but also includes onion and garlic powder. When you put it all together this burger is quite tall, so be sure to make your patties very thin. To make it double- decker like the real thing use two bun bottoms. I promise you if you like Big Macs, you will love this messy burger in the privacy of your own home!




Ingredients for 2 Burgers
2/3 lb ground chuck
salt and pepper
4 slices American cheese
1/2 cup chopped onions
6 hamburger dill pickles
Shredded lettuce
2 soft hamburger buns plus 2 more bun bottoms
Special Sauce

Special Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1 TB white wine vinegar
1 TB onion powder
1 TB garlic powder
1 TB paprika
2 TB sweet pickle relish

Directions
Combine all Special Sauce ingredients in a small bowl. (Can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.) Make 4 thin burgers with ground chuck. Cook on the flat side of a grill pan or in a frying pan on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Flip burgers and top each with a slice of cheese. Remove after another 2 - 3 minutes.

To build burgers put Special Sauce on a bun bottom. Top with a burger and onions. Add another bun bottom topped with Special Sauce. Add lettuce, another burger, onions, pickles and bun top.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef

Yes, we had this for St. Patrick's Day last Sunday, but honestly who doesn't love good corned beef anytime. Other than being delicious, this is like most slow cooker recipes, super simple. Put your corned beef in the slow cooker with the pickling spices in the package. Add one beer and top with some peeled potatoes. If you want cabbage to got with your corned beef and potatoes remove the them  after 8 - 10 hours on low, leaving all the liquid in the slow cooker. Add your cabbage, over with water and cook on high for another hour. Yum!

Ingredients
1 package uncooked corned beef brisket
1 beer
4 -5 five medium potatoes, peeled and halved
1 head cabbage, quartered

Directions
Rinse liquid off corned beef after removing it from packaging. Place in slow cooker. Add pickling spices from package. Pour in beer. Top with potatoes. Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours or on high for 4 - 5 hours. Then remove meat and potatoes from slow cooker to an oven proof dish. Put in a 200 degree oven to keep warm. Add cabbage to liquid remaining in slow cooker. Add enough liquid to cover cabbage. Cook on high for another hour. Remove and serve with corned beef and potatoes.

Caesar Salad with Caesar Grilled Chicken

Pup Daddy and I have dabbled in vegetable gardening over the past few years with varying results, mostly poor. This year we finally figured out that in tropical St. Petersburg we needed to start in January, seriously amend our soil, and use drip irrigation on a timer (I have a real problem remembering to water regularly). Voila! It worked. Now I'm searching for ways to use our bumper crop. Right now I need to use lots of Romaine and what better way than Caesar Salad. I'm not kidding you, this was THE BEST Caesar Salad I have ever had, including the those from super fancy restaurants like Bern's Steak house. Even better, it's super easy. You will always want this dressing in your fridge.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. The base for the dressing is mayo rather than raw eggs, which makes sense. Mayo is just raw eggs and oil. And yes, there are anchovies in it. If you have an aversion to them, you'll just have to get over it! You absolutely can not have Caesar Salad without them! If you can't make yourself chop them up, you can buy anchovy paste in a tube and squirt it in.

You can use store bought croutons, but fresh ones are very easy to make. Besides, I always seem to have left over bread to use up. For these croutons I used my favorite Fresh Market bread, Rosemary and Sea Salt, but any bread will do. Brown up some garlic in olive oil. Remove the garlic and add the bread, turning it over when it gets brown. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper as soon as you take them out of the pan.

 

For the chicken I marinated bone-in, skin-on thighs in my own Caesar Marinade and cooked it on my gas grill. I love chicken thighs because they have such great flavor and stay moist. You could absolutely use any cut of chicken you like and use your favorite method to cook it.

 

You should seriously try this!!!!

 

Ingredients

 

Chicken

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 TB fresh lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 TB anchovy paste or minced anchovies

1 TB Worcestershire sauce

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

salt and pepper

 

Salad

6 cloves garlic, peeled

3/4 cup mayonnaise

5 anchovy fillets, minced

6 tablespoonsgrated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup olive oil    

4 cups day-old bread, cubed

1 large head of Romaine, torn into bite sized pieces

 

Directions

Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste and Worcestershire. Add chicken and marinate from 1 hour to 8 hours. Grill over direct medium heat for 24 minutes flipping half way through cooking.

 

Mince 3 cloves of garlic, and combine in a small bowl with mayonnaise, anchovies, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cut the remaining 3 cloves of garlic into quarters, and add to hot oil. Cook and stir until brown, and then remove garlic from pan. Add bread cubes to the hot oil. Cook, turning frequently, until lightly browned. Remove bread cubes from oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Place lettuce in a large bowl. Toss with desired amount of dressing, remaining Parmesan cheese, and seasoned bread cubes. Serve with grilled chicken.

Rosemary Dijon Pork Cutlets

Sometimes there's no great story, it's just a really great dish. This is one of those times. I used pork cutlets because they caught my eye in the grocery store. After a long day on the road I knew they would cook quickly. The sauce is very creamy and the Rosemary, Dijon combination is perfect! This recipe is really more of a method. You could use any protein. Chicken, turkey, steak or even fish would be great. You can also flavor the sauce in a variety of ways. You could add your favorite cheese, herbs, even veggies like mushrooms or sun dried tomatoes. Get creative and give this a try.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 TB seasoning salt
1 lb 1/2 thin pork cutlets
2 TB butter
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 TB fresh rosemary, chopped
1 TB Dijon mustard

Directions
Heat oven to 180 degrees. Combine flour and seasoning salt. Lightly coat pork cutlets in flour mixture. Melt butter over medium high heat in a large skillet. Cook cutlets for about 3 minutes on each side in the skillet. Remove to a oven safe pan and keep warm in the oven while your make the sauce. Deglaze pan with  chicken stock, scraping up brown bits. Add heavy cream and reduce by half or until sauce reaches the thickness you prefer. Add rosemary and Dijon. Serve over pork cutlets.

Potato Turbate - AKA Pinellas County Schools' Shepherd's Pie

I rocked Pup Daddy's world this week. Yep, I made Potato Turbate. Many of you will ask, "What the heck is Potato Turbate?" But those of you who attended Pinellas County Schools know. For some reason the school cafeterias decided to call their Shepherd's Pie recipe Potato Turbate. Everyone I know has fond memories of it. In fact, when I worked for PCS I would be sure to put in my order early in the morning on Potato Turbate day to make sure I got mine. Pup Daddy has such fond memories of lunch in the school cafeteria, he has had a long time dream of opening a restaurant called, "School Food." Customers would line up, pick up their small carton of milk and be served the meal of the day by women in hairnets. Be careful, if you're too slow or talking too much you will get yelled at. Of course, the best meal on School Food's menu...Potato Turbate.

I found this recipe online in an article from the St. Petersburg Times. I tweaked it a bit, and it honestly tasted just like I remember. You should try it for some easy, yummy comfort food!

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onions, chopped
2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
1 ¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2  Tbsp. flour
1  Tbsp water
1/2 cup beef stock
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups mashed potatoes
 1 tsp paprika

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown beef and onions lightly in a saute pan. Drain off and discard fat. Add salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce garlic powder and onion powder to pan. Cook five minutes. Mix flour and water and stir into meat. Add beef stock or beef extract combined with water.

Put ground beef mixture in the bottom of a 9x11 pan. Top with cheese and then potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 for ½ hour until lightly browned.

Apple-Cheddar-Squash Soup

This past weekend was the coldest of the season this year. Brrrrrr, here in St. Petersburg, Florida the high on Sunday was 54! It was so cold I couldn't wear sandals, which is, of course, in Florida the meter for how cold it is. We wear sandals all year long. Also, of course, cold weather calls for soup and I made one of my very favorites. I had always stayed away from squash or pumpkin soup because I thought they would be sweet like pumpkin pie, but when I found this recipe in Food Network Magazine I decided to give it a try. While it does have apple in it, it's not sweet. It is quite savory and very creamy, but without heavy cream. In fact, the recipe calls for whole milk, but I used 2% and it turned out great. The potato and the squash really thicken it up. The recipe also says to blend the vegetables and apples immediately after you cook them.  If you've tried to blend anything hot, especially with liquid in it you know the steam likes to explode out of the top of the blender. You can do this if you must, but I like to cook them and let them cool for a while before blending. The garnish, prosciutto, fried in butter, just takes
it over the top!

Cold weather or not, you should try this soon!

Ingredients

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 medium apples, thinly sliced

1 large white potato, diced

1 1/2 cups chopped peeled butternut squash, fresh or frozen

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/3 cup apple cider

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup milk

2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish

Chopped chives, for garnish (optional)

Crusty bread, for serving (optional)

 

Directions

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-low heat and add the onion, apples, potato and squash. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in the sage and flour. Add the cider and cook over high heat, stirring, until thickened. Add the broth and milk, cover and bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the potato is soft, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the prosciutto and cook until crisp, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
Add the cheese to the soup and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Puree in a blender in batches until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the prosciutto, more cheese and chives, if using. Serve with bread, if desired.

Shrimp Tacos

One of my favorite restaurants in St. Pete is Red Mesa. One of my favorites there is the shrimp tacos. The shrimp are seasoned and grilled. They are topped with a bit of cabbage, pico de gallo and a habanero aioli. Yes, I wish I could get there recipe, but since that hasn't happened yet I just had to make my own version.

I seasoned the shrimp with Siesta Key Spanish Sazon from another of my favorite places in St. Pete, Savory Spice Shop. It was really cold last night so I didn't grill them, but they turned out delicious in a non-stick skillet with a bit of olive oil. I made my own pico de gallo with tomatoes, onions, green pepper, cilantro and lime juice. Instead of habanero  aioli, I made a chipotle mayo, sour cream sauce. I used a little bit of broccoli slaw to give them some crunch.

No, they're not Red Mesa shrimp tacos, but they are delicious.

Ingredients for 4 tacos
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 TB Siesta Key Spanish Sazon or other seasoning blend
4 corn or flour tortillas
1/4 cup cabbage or broccoli slaw

Pico de Gallo
1/2 cup tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper or jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced

Chipotle Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 TB chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped (to make it less spicy just use the adobo sauce and not the chiles)

Directions
Make pico de gallo and chipotle pepper sauce by combining ingredients.

Heat skillet with 1 TB of olive oil over medium high heat. Sprinkle seasoning blend on both sides of shrimp. Cook shrimp in skillet, 1-2 minutes per side, until they become opaque. Remove from pan. Heat tortillas one at a time for 1-2 minutes.

Assemble tacos with shrimp, slaw, pico de gallo and chipotle pepper sauce.