Sunday, April 24, 2016

Patty Melt Sandwich

One of my favorite sandwiches is a Patty Melt. 
But...

It has to be on Rye Bread.
If it's on any other kind, it's just a hamburger sandwich.  Which, while good, is not a Patty Melt.

Patty Melt Sandwich
And you can't make it with lean ground beef.  You just can't.  You need some grease in there.  Not a whole lot, but some.
You do.

I don't indulge in these often, but when I do, I make them the right way.
My way.
I actually made one a couple of weeks ago, and ate it and then realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the process or the finished product.
I restrained myself last night and managed to get a few pictures taken before I ate the 'whole thing'.
And it was just as good as I remembered it.


Recipe: Patty Melt Sandwich

1 hamburger patty per sandwich, 5-6 oz. of meat.
2 slices Rye Bread
2-4 slices Swiss Cheese
Caramelized onions ( I make one onion per sandwich)
seasoning for the meat
1 tablespoon butter for grilling the bread.
Seasonall or Seasoned Salt 

Make some caramelized onions, I figure on 1 onion per sandwich.   Of course, that's only if you like onions.
And since the bird loves caramelized onions, I made enough for her as well. 

Caramelized Onions
Otherwise fuggedaboutit.    
Form a patty of hamburger meat, that is a little wider/longer than the bread slice.  The meat will shrink up a little as you cook it and I like my meat to have a patty that fits the bread.  Season it however you like, personally I like Seasonall on mine. 
Fry the meat patty in a little butter until it's done to your liking. Take off the heat, but keep warm. 
Melt the butter in a cast iron pan over medium heat, and then add two slices of rye bread.  Top with a slice of Swiss Cheese on each piece and then add some of the caramelized onions on top of the cheese.
Caramelized Onions on Swiss Cheese on Rye Bread
(BTW, this is a killer sandwich as well, you don't always need meat in the middle.  Just Rye bread, Swiss Cheese and caramelized onions, yum). 
Add the meat patty on one side of the bread, and top with the other slice of bread and cheese. 
Patty Melt in pan
Continue to cook in the pan for another minute or so, or until the cheese is really melty.
Patty Melt Sandwich in panPlace on plate, cut in half and admire for a minute.

Patty Melt
Then throw all caution aside, and dive in.  

***Sid's Sea Palm Cooking does promote Amazon Products on the site as a means of advertising.   It is  an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Mojo Pork Bites

There's always one.
or sometimes more than one, who does not like seafood or shellfish or who are simply allergic.

So when I made the Mojo Shrimp last week, I also marinated some pork and served that alongside the shrimp as an appetizer. 
I hate it when someone's left out.

I shoulda made more.

Mojo Pork Bites
They disappeared.  

I used the same marinade that I used for the shrimp, just put them in a separate container, no cross-contamination here, stuck them in the fridge for a couple of hours, sliced the pork thinly, then broiled them til done.

The combo of the Marinade and the Orange Marmalade took these over the top flavour wise.

Recipe: Mojo Pork Bites
Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

Marinade:
20 oz. bottle of Mojo Marinade
4-6 dried Thai Chile Peppers, crushed (less if you like less heat, or more if you stand it.)
1/2 cup sugar (optional, but I didn't want the marinade to be too sour)
1/2 cup Orange Marmalade ( or more to taste)
1/2 cup EVOO

Bring to a boil and take off of the heat and let sit for at least 2 hours so the peppers can soften and impart a little heat.  This is the sauce you will use for marinating the pork.
  
3-4 Loin Pork Chops, sliced thinly, lengthwise.
Pour half the marinade over the pork chops, and let it marinade at least two hours, in the fridge.
Loin Pork Chop
 After two hours, remove from marinade and place the strips in a single layer on a rimmed cooking sheet, on top of some parchment paper.  I used my reusable Parchment Paper, (I can't say enough good things about this stuff.  I love being able to wash it and reuse it.  You need this in the kitchen if you bake or roast meat, it makes cleanup so easy.)
Broil for about 5 minutes, turn over and broil other side another couple of minutes.  You want a nice caramelization on the pork from the sugar and marmalade in the marinade.
Serve with a chopped green onion on top so it looks pretty.  


Mojo Pork Bites



In fact I have a little marinade left and I'm going to use it to glaze the Pork Loin Roast I have in the freezer.

Waste not, want not...

***Sid's Sea Palm Cooking does promote Amazon Products on the site as a means of advertising.   It is  an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. 


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Friday, April 15, 2016

Camarón entero Mojo (Whole Mojo Shrimp) for #FishFridayFoodies

Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla issued a challenge to a bunch of food bloggers who are part of a group called Fish Friday Foodies.    Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm co-ordinates the whole thing.  Camilla was the host this month who came up with the overall theme.  We share our recipe on the third Friday of the month, which this was.  

The challenge she gave us was to cook a whole fish or seafood for #FishFridayFoodies.

I took the challenge, then I tried to find a local fisherman who could get me a whole flounder, cause I had plans on how to make it.

But life gets in the way and the calendar ticks down and suddenly it's TIME for Fish Friday Foodie!!!!

Luckily for me I got an invite to dinner at a friend's house and since we all bring stuff, I asked if I could bring an appetizer.  (I needed an excuse to get off my ___ and make this).

Mojo Shrimp

Since it was a Cuban style meal, I decided to use the bottle of Mojo Marinade I'd picked up on an impulse a few weeks ago and put that together with some whole, head on shrimp and came up with this.

I call it Camarón entero Mojo loosely translated, it means Whole Mojo Shrimp.  

So here's how I did it.

I took the bottle of marinade and heated it up with a couple of teaspoons of sugar, then added a bunch of Thai Chile Peppers and let it sit for a couple of hours.   I wanted a strongly flavored dipping sauce, one with a touch of heat to it.  Then I decided to add some more peppers, only this time I crushed them up. 

Recipe: Camarón entero Mojo 
Serves 6-8 as an appetizer

Mojo Sauce for dipping and Marinade
20 oz. bottle of Mojo Marinade
4-6 dried Thai Chile Peppers, crushed (less if you like less heat, or more if you stand it.)
1/2 cup sugar (optional, but I didn't want the marinade to be too sour)
1/2 cup Orange Marmalade ( or more to taste)
1/2 cup EVOO


Bring to a boil and take off of the heat and let sit for an at least 2 hours so the peppers can soften and impart a little heat.  This is the sauce you will use for dipping the shrimp and for marinating as  well.

Pour 1/2 of the marinade over 1 pound head on shrimp and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.  If using peeled and deveined shrimp, don't marinate for more than 15 minutes.  (It turns the shrimp to moosh otherwise).
Whole Shrimp

Take the shrimp out of the marinade and drain.  Heat up a medium saute pan coated with 1-2 Tablespoon EVOO, just til the oil starts to shimmer.  
Add the shrimp in a single layer, cook for a couple of minutes, then turn the shrimp over and continue to cook until they are cooked through.  You can tell it very easily, because the shrimp will turn bright pink and start to curl.  Add more EVOO as needed, for each panful.
Shrimp in pan

***You could also cook these Aussie style and throw them on the barby...***

Take off the heat and remove to a platter to keep warm, cook the remainder of the shrimp.  Pour a little of the reserved marinade over top and serve with the rest of the Mojo Sauce. 


I did do a taste test before I brought them to the party, and they were so good.   
Definitely a dish I'll make again.   
My friends all gave them a thumbs up as well. 
I like having friends...

I also made a second appetizer but I'll wait and share that one later on. 

***Sid's Sea Palm Cooking does promote Amazon Products on the site as a means of advertising.   It is  an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. 

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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Boat Club for April

I'm a little late in posting this, but I wrenched my back the other day and it hurts to sit for very long.

This is the last Boat Club for many of our snowbirds before they head back north, so it was well attended.    And as usual, lots and lots of great food.
I took pictures of all the dishes, but one.
Mine.
Yup, I totally spaced taking a picture of the French Waffles I brought. sigh. (But I have lots of pictures of them on my computer so I'm using one of them.)
Here's the line up.
 We had appetizers, lots of those.
 Deviled Eggs
Cheese and Crackers
Sliced Tomatoes
Cowboy Caviar
Fresh Baked Bread
and there was one other dish I missed getting a shot of, and that was the Beer Bread.
There was a Three Bean Salad.
 
Collards
Potato Salad, and you know me, I love to see the pretty serving dishes, and this was pretty.
Stewed Apples, they went very well with the Pork Chops.
Pork Chops
And there was also another Pork Dish, which was very tasty.
Chicken ala King 
Beef Stroganoff
Lentil Salad
Waldorf Salad
Pizza
Taco Bake
And then there were the desserts...
I'm calling this a Baked Lemon Custard, I could be wrong but it tasted great.
Pie
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Pistachio pudding topped cake. (I think, I didn't get a chance to taste it.) 
French Waffles (I'm using one of my other pictures here, since I forgot to take a picture.
Fransk Vafler
This is what the counter looked like, loaded down with food.
And my plate...
All I can say is this, there's always lots and lots of great food, and the company is even better.

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Sunday, April 10, 2016

Sunday Musings - My week

I had plans this week, plans to explore a couple new recipes, try out some new stuff, but as so often happens, life got in the way.

In a good way that is.

We had dinner at a friends house last weekend and I made some cupcakes to bring, cause I was asked to bring dessert.
These are Black Forest Cupcakes, and I didn't get a great shot of the finished cupcakes, but here they are anyway.  I made some Ganache for the frosting, and then piped it on and finished with a cherry on top. 

Black Forest Cupcakes
And then we got invited to go for a boat ride one day, and that was fun. I made cookies to take along.  Some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and some Kitchen Sink cookies.  We finished off the day by going out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  The second time we've eaten there recently and it was so good.
Really.
I'm up for going there again, soon.

I basically did the tried and true most meals this week, Chile Verde, Taco's and Huevo's Ranchero's.
I love it when I get the yolk nice and 'dippy' as my friend Donna says.  The yolk makes such a great addition to the sauce.  (these pictures were all taken with my camera, I was too lazy to go and get the 'big' camera out).

Huevos Rancheros
I also made some Meatballs in Mushroom gravy (soup), simple and yet I like it.
Mushroom gravy on rice

Along the way I did play with one new recipe, and as soon as I get that one down, I'll share it.   But as a teaser...
I made some cultured butter, and it tasted pretty darn good.    I'll share the how to's on that soon.  I want to try it one more time before I get into specifics.
Cultured Butter

Well, that was my week, and who knows what is going to come my way over the next few days.

Although I do have plans for that cauliflower I have in the fridge and the eggplant and mushrooms and...

Monday is also Boat Club, can't wait to see what everyone brings.  I'm making French Waffles.
Cause I can.

***Sid's Sea Palm Cooking does promote Amazon Products on the site as a means of advertising.   It is  an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. 

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Monday, April 4, 2016

Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Casserole

It's that time of the month again,  our Secret Recipe Club reveal.

Broccoli Bake

The Secret Recipe Club are a bunch of bloggers, divided into four groups, A, B, C and D.  Each group makes a recipe from an assigned blog within their group and then has to keep it a secret until their particular group's reveal day.
I'm in Group A, and our reveal day is the first Monday of the month, Group B gets the second Monday, Group C the third Monday and Group D,  gets the last or rather the fourth Monday.   And if we're in a month with five Mondays, we generally make a themed reveal in which anyone from any of the four groups can post a recipe.  We are assigned a blog to make a recipe from as well.  We did that in February, with  our Bunnies and Leprechauns reveal.   I made a Spring Green Risotto which was pretty awesome.

And that's half the fun, stalking another blog, finding all kinds of recipes that sound good, and believe you me, I've found some good ones.

My assigned blog this month was The Wimpy Vegetarian.  Not only is Susan the leader of Group A, but she's also a chef,  a weekly contributor to FoodNetwork FN Dish blog  and Parade Community.
And...
She takes gorgeous pictures.
Very intimidating...
But I don't get intimidated easily.

At least I don't usually admit to it.
 

I had fun going through her blog, and found and bookmarked a few fun recipes for the future.  I wanted to make this one, but it was a Secret Recipe Club dish so I couldn't do it.  And I love, love, love celery root,   and this Celery Root Gratin looked so good and it has horseradish in it as well, and I love horseradish so gee, I'm going to have to make it.  I'm also going to make this dish soon, Spiralized Shoestring Garlic Truffle Fries. And since most of the time I'm all about appetizers, these Jalapeno Mac and Cheese Bites will be making an appearance at one of our many gatherings.  I mean, gee, Mac and Cheese and then you add Jalapeno's? 
Really, with my Mexican food addiction, this is a no brainer.

 But the one that caught my eye was this one.   Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Casserole Tart
I made it for an Easter Dinner we were invited to, and I was tasked with bringing the vegetable.  Well, I knew that a couple of the people there were not Broccoli lovers so I did make a second veggie, and it's a good thing I did, cause there wasn't much left of the casserole by the time dinner was over.  Even the avowed Broccoli haters ate some.  WOOHOO!!!!  
What's left of Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Casserole

I elected not to make it with the crust.

So here goes, along with my changes in parenthesis. 


Recipe: Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Casserole
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 25 minutes or until the eggs are set.
8x8 inch greased pan

 1/2 cup uncooked Quinoa
1 cup water or vegetable broth
1 green onion or scallion, chopped
4 cups Broccoli, stems and florets, cut into bite size pieces.
2 large eggs
2 cups shredded cheddar (I used an 8 oz block of medium cheddar)
1 cup plain low fat Greek Yoghurt   (I used regular plain Yoghurt and added a couple tablespoons of Creme Fraiche for the tang)
1/4 cup Half and Half
1 tsp. Salt  (I omitted this as we use very little salt and the cheese has salt in it anyway)
1 1/2 tsp. Dijon Mustard  (I used Stone Ground Mustard  Did you know that if you add a little bit of mustard to any dish containing cheese, that it makes it taste cheesier?  )
1 tsp. Fresh minced garlic
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire  (I used 1 tablespoon)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. Curry Powder  (I omitted the curry and cayenne, I knew a couple of the people there would not like the bite)
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

Par-cook the broccoli for about 5 minutes, or do as I did, zap them in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Set aside and let cool.  Cook the quinoa with the green onion according to the instructions, set aside and let cool.
Whisk the eggs, Yoghurt, half and half, Worcestershire Sauce and Mustard together along with the spices. 
Broccoli and Cheese and custard mixture
Add the cheese and cooked quinoa, and stir.   Place the par cooked broccoli in a well greased 8x8 inch pan and  pour the cheddar/egg/quinoa mixture over the broccoli and place in a 400 degree oven and bake for about 25 minutes. 
(Take lots of pictures, discover not one of them is even focused and then hurry up and take picture of the casserole in the oven.)
Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Casserole
Then, after you take it out, admire it while you try to get an artistic shot.
Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Casserole
and decide that this is as good as it gets, cause you're expected for dinner shortly and need to pack it  up and get going.

Then take a couple shots of the meal, with the casserole on it.
Turkey dinner with vegetables

 And your plate.
Plate with turkey, broccoli casserole, mashed taters and carrots
All in all., a great success.

This casserole got rave reviews, and it is one I will make again.

BTW, the leftovers, they taste great as a breakfast.  



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