End of Summer Barbecues

If you’re looking to change things up over the Labor Day weekend or the UK Bank Holiday, why not try homemade caramelized onions and blue cheese burgers? It’s a lot easier than it sounds I promise! I was inspired by watching Sandra Lee on the Food Network. While she isn’t exactly a gourmet chef and doesn’t always use fresh ingredients, she does come up with some great quick recipes. Check out her Ale House Burgers with Red Onion Compote.

 The onions are really easy to make and can be done ahead of time and reheated when ready. Sandra put the cheese inside the burger patties which results in a gooey burger, but I like to see my melted cheese. You can see I went with pepper jack in the picture below, but the red onion compote would go really well with some crumbled blue cheese. You could even go a step further and mix some blue cheese with mayonnaise for a spread. OR! in a small food processor combine some Gorgonzola, mayonnaise, splash buttermilk and freshly cracked black pepper. Then you’d have a nice spread that could also be a dip. You could even use leftovers to make a white pizza. If you’re going the blue cheese route, I’d suggest some arugula/rocket as the greens. Either way, this burger is sure to be a big hit!

PS. I apologize for the dirty plate. I was in charge of grilling and by the time I got to sit down I was starving.. barely managed to get a photo in before I inhaled this burger!

To go with that burger, I highly recommend my Corn Casserole. I won’t take all the credit on this one as I’ve simply added to Paula Deen’s recipe. But this is a classic and goes with any barbecue or roast dinner. You can either make it Paula’s way or add a bit of kick with two chopped (de-seeded) jalapeños and topping it with shredded pepper jack cheese. The most difficult thing about this recipe is being patient enough to wait for it to finish cooking! It’s slightly sweet but savory. If you can’t get your hands on ready made corn muffin mix, here’s a recipe to make it from scratch (US recipe or UK recipe). Simply use all the dry ingredients in these recipes and add to the corn casserole.

To finish it off, how can you go wrong with some fresh guacamole?? The key to really good guacamole is ripe avocados and good seasoning. You have to take into account that people will be dipping salty tortilla chips in too!

• The Avocados – slice in half lengthways, twist apart, squish the seed out or spoon it out, using sharp knife, gently cut slices lengthways and then across (to make squares), then scoop it all out into a mixing bowl, this makes it easier to mix.
• The Limes – it makes the biggest difference to have fresh lime juice. I usually use a whole lime for about two avocados, but add a half at a time until it’s flavored to your liking. Also if you have slightly firm avocados squeeze the lime juice over it immediately and smash together a bit. Then go onto other ingredients and let the juice soften the avocado.
• The Other Good Stuff – for me, guacamole must have these ingredients but some may disagree. I like very finely chopped red onion, de-seeded jalapeño, cherry tomatoes (must be cherry or grape) and cilantro/coriander.
• The Seasoning – if you can use kosher or good quality sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. This can easily elevate the quality of any guacamole.

Hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend or Bank Holiday for you Brits out there!

Read Full Post »

EXPLORING ARIZONA – PART 3

Hiking Camelback Mountain

This is a very delayed post, but (as I was reminded by my good friend Ana) I have forgotten to mention the last adventure in Arizona. Ana came to visit me there in the beginning of May before we drove to LA (where I flew to the UK, and she flew back to NY). We didn’t have too much time to explore, so we decided Scottsdale was the main area she needed to see.

We started off in Chandler and took some back routes up through the Arcadia area and ended up by the Scottsdale Waterfront. We were getting a little hungry, so we decided to stop for a ‘snack’ at The Culinary Dropout. We needed to kill some time before we attempted to hike up Camelback Mountain and give ourselves a little fuel as well. We ended up sharing a light salad and some ridiculous pork ribs. I’m really sad we didn’t have the time/appetite to stay for a full meal because this place did not disappoint. Culinary Dropout is actually one of the new concepts started by the Fox Restaurant Group. It’s the first gastropub in Arizona whose food scene is slowly becoming more well known. There’s even a celebrity chef on Food Network who is an executive chef in Arizona! (Beau MacMillan, co-judge on Worst Cooks in America, Exec Chef at Elements at the Sanctuary in Scottsdale)

But back to the food! We started with the Artichoke Salad with asparagus, endive and parmesan. This salad turned out to be one of the most refreshing salads I have ever had. As you can see in the photo, it included artichoke hearts, frisee, a little radicchio, zucchini/courgette shavings, chives, parmesan and it was dressed in a very light lemon vinaigrette. Of course, this salad was especially perfect sitting in the hot Arizona sun. But I recreated a version of it here in England and it was just as refreshing. When I did my version, I blanched some fresh (in season) asparagus, made courgette shavings (super easy with a veg peeler) and served it on a bed of mixed greens. For the dressing, I just mixed fresh lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and finished it all off with fresh parmesan. You will LOVE this salad I promise!

Artichoke heart, asparagus, endive, parmesan salad

The funny thing is I just remembered a Giada (Food Network) episode I saw once where she made zucchini shavings, and I’ve just found the recipe. And guess what – it’s almost exactly what you see/read above. Here’s the recipe link anyway!

Now the ribs… So as you’ve read before, my Dad is quite the grill master/cook. He’s also in love with his giant smoker. Not only are my Dad’s steaks amazing, but his ribs.. mmm.. crispy, moist, tangy. As much as I love my Dad’s ribs, the ribs at Culinary Dropout were THE best I have.ever.had. They even beat what I had at the BBQ Festival! Maybe it was the jalapeno, molasses marinade/sauce. Or maybe they just cooked it for longer. All I know is that this meat not only fell off the bone instantly but was also flaky and moist. The flavor was the perfect balance of sweetness, spicy-ness, tangy-ness. Now I am no girly-girl when it comes to eating ribs. I have no shame in getting in there and licking my fingers throughout. But the meat was SO tender on these, it all came off in one bite! Mmm I can’t think about them for too long because I’m pretty certain I won’t be able to find anything like that in the UK. That means it will be a very long time before I get ribs like these again. But here’s a photo for you to enjoy!

Kurobuta Pork Ribs with jalapeno and molasses

I have some serious backlog of posts I have to sort, so stay tuned for lots more to come!

Read Full Post »

THE FIRST ANNUAL ARIZONA BBQ FESTIVAL

Last weekend I attended my very first BBQ festival right here in Scottsdale. Something that I’ve learned about Arizona is that, due to its almost-year-round sunny weather, locals are really into putting on outdoor festivals. They range from various music festivals (jazz and blues, etc) to cultural festivals (Asian themed or just ‘international’) to foodie festivals. Although this was the first time this event was put on, it seemed like it was a success.

Theme of the Day = Pig!

It was located down by the Scottsdale waterfront, across from Fashion Square mall on a large dirt parking lot with tents set up. With a $10 admission charge and $2 tasting tickets, it was a pretty decent set up. I liked that it wasn’t too spread out nor did it feel overcrowded. My cousin and I arrived around 2pm and there were still loads of people (the tasting ended at 4pm). We decided to just make our way around with no agenda other than to eat and get a cold beer (it was in the mid 80’s!). Our obvious approach was to go to the stands that had the longest crowds (assuming they’d have the best food).

First up was The Mission which is a modern, Latin restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale. They were not in the competition but were selling small versions of dishes from the restaurant. Tiff had already told me that I had to try this place as it’s one of her favorites. So we got the combo platter with a chicken taco, pork shoulder taco and grilled sweet corn. As we waited for our tacos the smells coming from the grill were intoxicating and made us all the more hungry. I must admit I am not a huge BBQ (sauce) person, but once you get that smell in your nose you really can’t say no. Plus you just think about the tender, smoked pork melting in your mouth and that memory reminds you that you’ll eat it even if you’re not hungry. As Tiff promised, the tacos were delicious. The pork shoulder taco is served with pineapple glaze, cilantro and cotija cheese. The chicken taco is served with oregano, lemon, aji Amarillo, cabbage and more cotija cheese. If you’ve never had cotija cheese, it’s a slightly salty yet mild Mexican cheese. The texture if very much like feta in that it’s firm and crumbly. One of my favorite ways to eat cotija is with grilled corn on the cob and lime juice. Both tacos were so refreshing and were packed with lots of flavor. I will definitely be making a trip to The Mission some time soon.

Read Full Post »