Aloha Burger

I don’t often make burgers for home consumption, although I do often ORDER a burger at a restaurant. And I really do enjoy burgers of all shapes and sizes (with fries, gotta have great fries!) But I think they are one of those things that seem really simple to make, and they really aren’t. First you have the patty. Gotta figure out what kind of meat, and do you want to add any seasoning or anything to pep it up. It’s hard to make the perfect patty. Then come the toppings. And when do you prep those? Do they go on the burger while it’s cooking or after? And the bun! There are a thousand buns to choose from. English muffin is a personal favorite, but the classic is good too. So, as you can see, there’s a reason why I’ve never posted a burger on this site before. But I decided that I’d try one for the July Fourth weekend. This aloha burger caught my eye because it has pineapple on top! Yes, pineapple! It seems a little strange, but it actually tasted really good. We had some issues with our patty, but I’m modifying the recipe below to reflect changes I would make to solve the meatball effect. I would definitely make this again.

Patty Ingredients

½ pound ground beef

½ pound sausage (I used Hot)

1 medium onion, diced small

1 jalapeño, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano (or basil)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons barbecue sauce

Toppings

Barbeque Sauce

Pineapple Slices

Bacon

Cheddar (or your favorite cheese)

This makes about six big patties. We actually only cooked half and froze the others to make later! If you want to make it with all beef, that’s fine too. I just like the extra flavor that sausage brings. Take your beef and sausage out of the fridge while you prep so that when you mix with your hands you won’t freeze your fingers. Sauté your onion and jalapeno for just a few minutes in a little olive oil to soften them up. Add the garlic and stir for another 30 seconds before taking it off the heat and letting it cool. You can skip this step if you aren’t feeling it, but the heat helps bring out the flavors a little and I think helps it feel more incorporated into the patty. Sometimes raw veggies want to separate from the meat a little more than sautéed ones do.

In a bowl, mix together the beef and sausage with the cooled onion, jalapeno and garlic. Add in your spices and barbecue sauce and mix those really well with your hands. I’ve found that using cooking gloves really helps with the mess here. Seems a little excessive but no one likes raw meat under the fingernails.

Once the meat is thoroughly mixed, form it into patties and cook on your grill! Add the cheese towards the end to melt onto the patty. Give your buns a light toast while you’re at it. And don’t forget to grill the pineapple! Then build your burger. I opted to put the pineapple on top of the burger so that it wouldn’t get the bottom bun all soggy. So, cheese, pineapple, a little BBQ sauce (Stubb’s Spicy is my favorite!) and a few strips of bacon. Then say Aloha to your hunger!

Spicy Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Last Memorial Day, our lives changed forever. We had gone back home to Indiana to visit my family, and my chef brother casually mentioned that he’d be smoking some ribs for dinner. Well, if you know anything about smoking, you know that there’s nothing casual about it. It was an involved, 8 hour process, and the results were delicious enough that we decided on the spot that we needed to own a smoker and produce such delectable meats at home. Since then we’ve smoked ribs and chicken wings with mouth-watering success, but we’d never tried a whole pork butt. That’s a 12 hour deal, with injecting and rubbing beforehand, so maybe the whole thing intimidated us. Well, we decided to step up to the plate and smoke some Boston butt. And it was worth it. Our house still smells of smoke and delicious pig. Worth it. And I’ve eaten pork every night for the last few nights (and will in the next few). Worth it.

But enough about butts! My husband handled the butt (teehee) from start to finish, so it’s all his deal, not mine. I handled the sauces. I made four sauces: Spicy Honey Chipotle, Hot Vinegar, Sweet Original and Kahlua Coffee. They were all pretty good, but the Spicy Honey Chipotle was a clear favorite (with vinegar coming in second for the fans of that style). I found it on a site called Little B Cooks, and it’s good enough to make even if you’re just having regular old pulled pork and not fantastically amazing smoked pork. It's definitely very spicy, but I find that the fat of the pork and some nice creamy slaw balances it out nicely. 

Ingredients

Olive Oil

1 cup onion, minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup ketsup

1 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1 tsp dry mustard

1tsp chipotle chili pepper powder

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium low heat, and add the onion and garlic, sautéing for about ten minutes until the onions are translucent. Stir to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir. I found that it helped to have all the ingredients out and ready to go before hand so I could just toss them in on cue. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, giving it a stir every once in awhile. The instructions said to puree it with an immersion blender, but I found that there wasn’t enough liquid to do so without splattering it all over myself and the kitchen. I would recommend putting it in the blender or food processor to get it smooth. And that’s it! This sauce plus some amazing smoked pork butt and you’ve got something magical, friend.  

Slow-cooker North Carolina style Barbecue

My husband had a really depressing weekend last week. His Phillies, who were expected to easily make it to the World Series, fell to “The Freak,” the San Fran Giants’ Tim Lincecum. His Eagles and their ever-going quarterback controversies had a heart-attack inducing loss to Tennessee. He's collecting tied games in his fantasy league. What do you do with a husband with a playoff beard with no playoffs? I knew I had to do something to cheer him up. Isn’t the way to any man’s heart through food?

Personally, I love a different type of barbecue, but Frank’s favorite barbecue is North Carolina style: vinegar based. Any excuse to use my slow-cooker and have my house smell glorious for hours of the day is worth using, though.

Ingredients: 
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Three chicken breasts

Stir all ingredients (minus chicken) together inside crock pot. When thoroughly mixed, add chicken breasts. Cook on low for eight hours. When it’s ready, using two forks, shred chicken (this is really, really easy). Serve alone or on a bun.

Honestly, this recipe didn’t impress me, but as I said, I’m not a huge vinegar based barbecue fan. Frank, on the other hand, absolutely loved it, eating ever last bit of the left-overs for lunch the next day. So maybe it was awesome, and I just didn’t appreciate it. If you’re a NC-style barbecue fan, I hope you like it!

Happy cooking!

-KSP


(Click here for printable recipe)

Pulled Chicken Barbecue & Sweet Potato Fries

Do you ever have a plan that you talk about that never seems to happen? I’m not talking about redesigning the kitchen or starting an organic herb garden. I’m thinking of much simpler plans: scrapbooking those photos, exchanging those Euros back to American dollars, writing a blog entry…

For about a year now, I have had a plan to make barbecue in my slow cooker. In the summer, I plotted; in the fall-time, I mused, but the seasons turned; I was distracted by hearty casseroles, then spring salads, then a new, Warsaw-inspired plan for making pirogues! (Yes, watch out. This is coming soon!)

Today, I finally did it, though, and I feel absolutely silly. This was easy! This was fabulous! My entire home smelled delicious for hours! To redeem myself, I added homemade sweet potato fries.

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons red hot pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix all ingredients (minus the chicken) together in crock pot (before it’s turned on). When mixed well, add chicken and coat thoroughly. Cook for 7-8 hours on a low setting or 3-4 hours on a high setting. After the time has passed, pull chicken apart with two forks. It tears apart easily in juicy, luscious pieces.

Sweet Potato Fries. (enough for 2 people)

(This one was a total experiment, but I’m calling it a huge success. If my oven only cooked evenly, it would have been perfect).

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet potato (yes, this really is enough for two people)

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Peel the sweet potato and then chop it into French fry-like strips. Put on a baking tray; drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Happy cooking!

-KSP


(Click here for printable recipe)

Iron Chef Melon: Chicken Meatballs in a Barbecue Sauce and Watermelon Puree

Iron Chef strikes again, and this time, I decided it was time to up my game, both on my recipe and my presentation.

When I was a kid, my mother used to always wow friends and neighbors at Fourth of July barbecues with her watermelon bowls. These were not simple affairs. After gutting the melon of its fruit in perfect red balls, the rind was cleaned into a flawless bowl. Edges were curved or decorated with zig-zags. Sometimes, the melon would be more of a basket, with a wicker-like handle carved with an artist’s hand. My mother was a melon master, and maybe those genes were what led to my creation.  


Or maybe, I just got carried away…

My entry was Chicken Meatballs in a Barbecue Sauce and Watermelon Puree, and my watermelon bowl was formed with an artist-want-to-be’s hand into a hedgehog (toothpicks giving the creature its spikes).

Ingredients: 
5 pounds of ground chicken
5 eggs
2.5 cups of Panko breadcrumbs 
Roughly 3 cups of Carolina Treet barbecue sauce
Roughly 3 cups of pureed (seedless) watermelon.

Mix ground chicken, eggs, and panko breadcrumbs, and form into small balls. Brown balls in a skillet until cooked through (roughly 20 minutes). As meatballs are finished (this took me a few batches), place into crock pot to keep warm. Scoop out watermelon and puree in a blender. Mix pureed watermelon with barbeque sauce and pour over meatballs in crock pot. Stir to cover evenly. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Hedgehog watermelon bowl inspired by this website: http://www.watermelon.org/recipe_detail.asp?recipeDisp=360

This was my first time making meatballs, and apparently it was a success. I walked away with my first Iron Chef winning night.

Happy cooking!

-KSP


(Click here for printable recipe)