CHICKEN AVOCADO BURGER

Posted: May 14, 2015 in bacon, chicken, Food, frying, Recipes
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I love avocado, and I’m always trying to find new ways of using it. This recipe is simple, low-carb, gluten-free, and really delicious. I prefer using ground chicken over ground turkey, which can dry out.

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1 lb. ground chicken
1 ripe avocado, sliced into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

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Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly but carefully so that you don’t squash the cubes of avocado. Form the meat into burger patties. It will be sticky, but just make sure you get the avocado evenly distributed. Chill the patties in the freezer for about 10 minutes before cooking to firm them up.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a little oil in an ovenproof pan, and place the burgers in it when hot. Let the burgers sear on one side, then flip them. Place the pan in the oven to finish cooking.

Serve with a slice of bacon and Awesomesauce! (http://wp.me/p1c1Nl-gT)

It also makes a great breakfast sandwich: bacon, lettuce, tomato, a fried egg, and the chicken avocado burger!

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AWESOMESAUCE

Posted: May 12, 2015 in barbecue, beef, burgers, crab, Food, grilling, New York City, Recipes, seafood, shrimp, Uncategorized
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The inspiration for this sauce was my attempt to replicate the “Shack Sauce” they use at Shake Shack , a high-end burger joint owned by restaurateur Danny Meyer. Since it opened in New York City’s Madison Square Park in 2004, Shake Shack has expanded to many other locations around the world.

I don’t know if I captured the Shack Sauce secret. But I do know that my Awesomesauce makes every burger I grill taste amazing. It’s also fantastic for shrimp, crab or lobster salad…a dip for veggies or boiled shrimp…a dressing for tacos…and great on salads.

Awesomesauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon dill pickle relish
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Pinch cayenne pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Refrigerate covered for a few hours to blend the flavors.

A PHOTO TOUR OF SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN

Posted: May 10, 2015 in Food, seafood, Spain, travel, Uncategorized, wine
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San Sebastian, Spain is one of the major food meccas of the world: wonderful shops, pintxos (tapas) bars, and some of the top restaurants On earth, all on the north coast of Spain in Basque country, off the Bay of Biscay, just a stone’s throw from the French border.

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Pintxo bars are everywhere, especially in the old part of town where the narrow streets are for pedestrians only, and many bars specialize in just a few prepared foods, like the beautiful sautéed fresh mushrooms, above.

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Some joints, like Cuchara de San Telmo, jam every night until they literally run out of food.

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Clearly, we couldn’t get enough of the mushrooms!

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No shortage of fantastic Basque cheeses and charcuterie in local San Sebastian shops, either.

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Not all the best pintxo bars are in old town. This one, Restaurante Ni Neu,  is just across the waterway from the classic Hotel Maria Christina.

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Need a break from all that rich food? Craving a burger, a salad and a beer? Head down the boardwalk on La Concha Beach for the Wimbledon, a tennis club that has a great pub open to the public.

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Many great family-run restaurants. Often, like with Munto and Egosari, you’ll find the first floor is all about the pintxos, and the second floor has a more formal dining area where you can sit down to a wonderful meal. Others, like Astelena, are finer dining experiences. And Narru has indoor dining as well as al fresco dining with a view of La Concha beach.

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San Sebastian is home to many of the world’s finest restaurants, including Arzak, rated the #8 restaurant in the world. Here’s the gazpacho at Arzak…

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And an incredible plate of fish, served on a clear dish so you can see the video of ocean waves crashing on the shore on the iPad the dish is served on!

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The talented Elena Arzak was named best female chef in the world in 2012.

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At the #3 spot on the top restaurants of the world, there’s Mugaritz, another amazing dining experience.

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One incredible dish after another. An experience hard to put into words, but I tried. Read about it here: http://wp.me/p1c1Nl-vn

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The “Linking Dish,” one of the most memorable moments of the evening at Mugaritz.

And no evening was complete without a tour of the kitchen…

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Just a short drive from San Sebastian, we visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, a day trip I highly recommend. Even if you’re not an art fan, the architecture of this building is out of this world.

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And the bistro at the museum, where we had a wonderful lunch, was worth the price of admission.

On the way back from Bilbao, we stopped at the small village of Getaria, where we visited the hard-to-find mountaintop vineyard of Bodega Elkano. The Zimmerman family has made the wonderful wine known as Txakoli here since 1830, and we visited with Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman, neither of whom spoke any English. Fortunately, my Spanish was up to the task! (They do have a son and daughter, both of whom do speak English, but they weren’t in the area at the time of our visit.)

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They welcomed us with open arms, and it was one of the most awesome experiences I’ve had in my travels.

We had dinner back down by the waterfront, at the port of Getaria, at Restaurante Kaia-Kaipe. Excellent seafood.

Back at San Sebastian, we spent our days burning calories at La Concha beach…IMG_9451

…and visiting what is considered the oldest hilltop water ride in the world at the park at Monte Igueldo, just a short and fun funicular ride up the mountain.

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Of course, the view doesn’t suck, either.IMG_9453

Amazing food and drink, a beautiful beach, wonderful friendly people, world-class dining, down-and-dirty bar hopping, art appreciation, a world-class aquarium…San Sebastian has it all. This was our second trip in 10 years. And one of the very few places I’ve ever been to where I started talking about coming back while I was on the plane going home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

STUFFED CABBAGE

Posted: May 6, 2015 in bacon, beef, Food, pork, Recipes, Uncategorized
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If there’s a dish that my Mom made all the time, but I didn’t appreciate until I got older, this is it. Stuffed cabbage, cabbage rolls, or balandėliai, as we say in Lithuanian, was a staple in our home and one of my Dad’s favorite foods. 

I had seen my Mom make these beauties so often in my childhood, I didn’t even need to check online recipes out for guidance. That doesn’t mean I make them exactly like Mom, but my version came out pretty damn good. I think Mom would be proud.

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4 strips of bacon, chopped
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 lb. ground grass-fed beef
1 lb. ground pastured pork
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1 large head cabbage
1 pint homemade chicken stock
750 mg diced tomatoes (1 Pomi container)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon granulated onion

Chop the bacon into small pieces and fry them until crisp. Finely chop the onion, and add it to the bacon in the pan, cooking until the onions are translucent. Add the salt, pepper and garlic. Mix well, and remove from the heat. Let it cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, and cooled bacon and onion mixture. Place in the fridge to firm up.

Let a large pot of salted water come to a boil. Core the cabbage, leaving the leaves whole, and carefully immerse the head of cabbage into the hot water. Little by little, the outermost leaves of the cabbage will come off the head, and you can remove them with tongs, so you don’t burn yourself with the hot water. Set the leaves aside to cool, and continue doing this until you can no longer remove leaves from the remaining head of cabbage.

Remove the remaining head of cabbage from the hot water, and using your hands or a knife, break it into flat pieces. Line the bottom of a roasting pan with the pieces. These will keep the stuffed cabbage from burning and sticking to the bottom.

Time to roll the stuffed cabbage. Take the meat out of the fridge. Lay a cabbage leaf flat on the counter, and add some of the meat mixture inside. Roll the cabbage around the meat, folding the sides in as you go, much like a burrito. You might need to slice away the thickest part of the leaf stem to make rolling easier. Lay the stuffed cabbage in the roasting pan on top of the leftover cabbage pieces. (Unlike Mom, I don’t use toothpicks to hold the stuffed cabbage rolls together.)

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Continue stuffing and rolling the cabbage leaves until you’ve got a pan full of them, shoulder-to-shoulder.

In a blender, combine the chicken stock, diced tomatoes, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic and onion. Pour this mixture over the top of the cabbage rolls in the roasting pan, covering them.

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If you have leftover cabbage, you can place another layer of them on top. Otherwise, cover the roasting pan with foil and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Cook for an hour.

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After an hour, remove the foil and cook further for another 45–60 minutes.

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MARGARITAS FOR CINCO DE MAYO

Posted: May 4, 2015 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, margarita, mixology, Recipes
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Recovered from Derby Day’s mint juleps just in time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo tomorrow? Here’s my favorite margarita recipe.

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ALGARITA:

3 oz. Patron silver tequila
1 oz. Cointreau orange liqueur
4 oz. pineapple juice
1/2 a fresh lime, squeezed

Add ice to a tall glass and add Patron, Cointreau, pineapple juice and a good squeeze of lime juice from 1/2 a lime. Pour into a margarita glass (salt rim optional) and garnish with a lime wedge.

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR!

THE PERFECT MINT JULEP FOR DERBY DAY

Posted: April 30, 2015 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Recipes, Uncategorized
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The Kentucky Derby revs up this Saturday at 6:24PM Eastern, and I’ll be watching. Not because I’m a huge fan of the horses, but because it gives me an excuse to sip on Mint Juleps!

The Mint Julep is such a perfect, classic and historic bourbon drink, it seems silly to wait until Derby day to have one. Of course, as any aficionado of spirits will tell you, there are as many right ways as wrong ways of making one.

The first step in my Mint Julep is making the simple syrup. I use the standard ratio of 1 cup of clean, filtered water to 1 cup of sugar, but I use an organic product like Woodstock Farms Organic Pure Cane Sugar. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until just boiling. I’ve found that it needs to reach this stage for the unbleached sugar to really dissolve. As soon as it starts to boil, remove the saucepan from the heat, and throw in a handful of freshly picked mint leaves. Stir to make sure the mint gets in there, and then leave the saucepan to cool to room temperature. Once it’s at room temp, strain the simple syrup into a bottle with a tight sealing lid, and place in the refrigerator to cool. It will keep for about a week.

The next step is the tough part: the battle of the bourbons! The recent explosion of choices on the bourbon market has made it all but impossible for the average imbiber to know which bourbon is best for their tastes. My suggestion for this is to go to a trusted bartender and explain that you’re new to the bourbon world, and could you have the tiniest of tastes and sniffs of what he’s got at his bar. Chances are, you’ll get a sampling of some of the better known brands: Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, perhaps Buffalo Trace or Bulleit, and the standard Jim Beam. This is a very good start. If you have deeper pockets, go to the manager of a trusted higher end liquor store and explain that you’ve had all the rest, now what does he think is the best? And of course, hinting to wife and friends that “I’m trying new bourbons” around your birthday, Father’s Day, or the holidays inevitably gets you a few bottles as well!

A key ingredient for a perfect Mint Julep is crushed ice from clean, filtered water. Don’t even think of using tap water for any quality cocktail much less this one. Why ruin an expensive bottle of bourbon by going cheap on the ice? My fridge filters the water before making ice, so I put them in a canvas ice bag and bash them to the perfect crushed size.

And a Mint Julep needs a metal–not glass– Julep cup. Made of pewter or aluminum, it frosts on the outside as you stir your drink, keeping your beverage ice-cold on even the hottest of days. You simply need to have one to make the perfect Mint Julep.

So many choices...

From left to right: the now hard-to-find Eagle Rare 17-yr-old, Bulleit, Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and the now impossible to find Pappy Van Winkle 15-yr-old.

 

ALZ MINT JULEP

 

3 oz. bourbon (my go-to these days is Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel)
1 oz. mint-infused simple syrup
crushed ice
Julep cup
Fresh mint for garnish

Crush the ice and pack it into the Julep cup, letting it dome slightly over the top. Don’t worry…the alcohol will melt it.

I like to add a jigger of bourbon (1.5 oz.), then the shot of simple syrup (1 oz.), then another jigger of bourbon on top. Break off a few mint leaves from the stem and push into the ice. Using a long spoon, stir the drink well. A beautiful layer of frost will form on the outside of the cup. Add more ice, if necessary, and garnish with a sprig of mint.

 

GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIES THAT ROCK

Posted: April 28, 2015 in Food, Recipes, Uncategorized
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Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of many gluten-free desserts or snacks, because they claim to be healthy by avoiding wheat, then compensate for the lack of flavor and texture by overloading with bad fats, salt and sugar. These brownies, which have more of a cake texture than a brownie, are the exception. Thanks to our friend, Linda, who brought these over one night, and got us addicted!

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9 oz. ground hazelnuts
5 1/2 oz. (2/3 cup) sugar
8 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 eggs
1 oz. cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder

 

If you’re using whole hazelnuts, pour them into the food processor and grind them into a powder. Pour the ground hazelnuts into a separate bowl.

Back in the food processor bowl, add the sugar and butter and pulse until combined.  Crack the eggs in a separate bowl, and add them slowly to the sugar and butter, pulsing to mix in between each addition.

Pour the ground hazelnuts into the mixture a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add the cocoa powder, straining  through a sieve to keep out lumps, and pulse again. Add the baking powder and  pulse again. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and give it all one last mix.

Pour into a buttered pan and cook at 350 for 30 minutes. Use a deeper pan so that the brownies don’t overflow as they rise while baking.

 

 

PICKLED ASPARAGUS: THE NEW SEASON HAS BEGUN!

Posted: April 24, 2015 in asparagus, pickling, Recipes
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The home garden is already showing signs of activity. Overwintered kale and arugula plants are springing back to life, enough for a quick salad. Cool weather seeds that I’ve sown early: peas, turnips, radishes, broccoli raab, and others are sprouting. But nothing says the gardening season is here like my patch of homegrown asparagus taking off!

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Granted, a few shoots breaking through the soil doesn’t qualify as “taking off,” but it’s an exciting time of the year in the home garden.
Asparagus is really easy to grow. You just need the space, and the plants practically do the rest. Space them about a foot apart, and before you know it, you will have a vast network of tasty stalks sprouting through the soil every spring. They are so much better than anything you can buy in a supermarket.
In the start of the growing season, the stalks don’t even make it into the house. I cut them and just eat them straight out of the garden. Eventually, they make the move to the kitchen, where I love to simply place them on a baking sheet and drizzle a little olive oil over them, salt and pepper…and then in a 400-degree oven until they’ve caramelized.

Midway through the season, I have so much asparagus that I just don’t know what to do with them all. My friends don’t want anymore and I can’t bear to throw them into the compost pile. So I pickle them…a really easy process that ensures I’ve got delicious asparagus year-round.

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Several bunches of asparagus spears
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups water
20 peppercorns
Garlic cloves, peeled
Salt (1 teaspoon per quart-sized Mason jar. Use less for smaller jars.)
Bring vinegar, water, sugar and peppercorns to a boil.
Trim the bottom of the asparagus spears so that they are just slightly shorter than the height of the quart-sized Mason jar you will use. Or cut them into pieces that will fit a smaller jar.
Pack the jars as tightly as you can with asparagus spears. (They will shrink when processed.) Add a garlic clove and 1 teaspoon of salt to every quart-sized Mason jar…less for smaller jars.
Fill the jars with the vinegar mixture and seal.
Process the jars for 10 minutes. Let them cool before placing them in refrigerator.
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THE AGE OLD QUESTION: WHY DOES YOUR PEE SMELL WHEN YOU EAT ASPARAGUS?

Asparagus contains a sulfur compound called mercaptan. It is also found in onions, garlic, rotten eggs, and in the secretions of skunks. The signature smell occurs when this substance is broken down in your digestive system. Not all people have the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan, so some can eat all the asparagus they want without stinking up the place. One study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that only 46 percent of British people tested produced the odor while 100 percent of French people tested did. (It has to do with your DNA.)

45th ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY

Posted: April 22, 2015 in Rhode Island, Southern New England, Uncategorized
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I remember when Earth Day was first organized…the enthusiasm we all had to do our part to get our neighborhoods clean. For years, our radio station sponsored Earth Day clean-ups all over southern New England, and we got a firsthand look at just how badly we treat the environment around us, and how we could make a difference.

Today, it seems that Earth Day is simply something on a calendar.

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For me, Earth Day is the real start of spring. I think about the new growing season and the things I can do in my own backyard to help the planet, even on a very small scale.

 

COMPOST!

If you’ve got a corner in your yard big enough to hold a trash can, you can compost. Now, you’ll never get that “ultimate” compost pile you read about, steam rising out of a pile that’s cooking away, producing usable compost in just a few months. Even the pros really need to work hard to make that happen. But…you can get the pile to warm up and become a happy haven for a colony of worms that will gladly eat your kitchen scraps and make wonderful soil for you in return. And it’ll take about a year to get usable compost.

I have a small metal can with a lid under my kitchen sink and I toss all fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells and used coffee grounds into it–no meat products. When the can is full, I bring it out to my compost bins. Successful backyard composting requires a certain amount of “green” products (the kitchen scraps) and some “brown” products (leaves, newspaper, cardboard, saw dust.) Combined, they heat up and eventually break down into nice brown and crumbly organic matter  to be used in the garden. Leaves are the ultimate compost material, but to get them to break down properly, they need to be shredded first. (I use a leaf blower.)

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MULCH!

Spreading mulch on your garden means less weeding (as long as you use weed-free mulch!) Less weeding means no need for nasty weed killers. Mulching also helps the soil retain water, which means you don’t have to be out there with a garden hose every day.

 

KEEP IT ORGANIC!

No how matter how small a garden you have, you can make a real difference by laying off the pesticides and herbicides. Not only will the beneficial insects around “bee” happy, but you’ll be feeding your family healthy fruits and vegetables without harmful chemicals. And there’s no runoff of toxins that wind up in the water, either.

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LESS GRASS, MORE MEADOW

Golf courses are already poisoning the environment with an overload of chemicals. Why should you? I stopped fertilizing and spraying my lawn a long time ago. You know what happened? It’s still green. And in some areas, I replaced the grass with perennial flowers and grasses. You know what happened? I had less lawn to cut. And the toughest thing for me was to let dandelions grow in my yard. There’s something about those yellow flowers that I can’t stand. But they help the bees. Priorities.

 

PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG!

Dog feces on our streets is the #1 polluter of our waters. Most of the storm water that washes our streets clean ends up in the ocean completely untreated. If you’re a dog owner, one of the most significant things you can do is pick up after your dog and dispose of the poop in your trash. I had a teacher that used the phrase: “Every curb is a coastline.” She’s absolutely right.

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SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ORGANIC FARMER!

Organic farmers are a special breed. They work twice as hard to sometimes get half as much. But it’s worth it to them because they believe in maintaining a natural balance in their world. Organic fruits and veggies are not always as “pretty” as those grown conventionally, but they’re not genetically modified, showered with Round-Up or sprayed with dyes, either.

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All photos by me. Location: Earth.

BITE THE BULLETPROOF COFFEE

Posted: April 20, 2015 in breakfast, drink recipes, Drinks, espresso, Food, Recipes, Uncategorized
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One of the new all-the-rage health drinks is something called Bulletproof Coffee. Bulletproof is a brand name for a coffee that has had “toxins removed” through a special process, according to its creator. (According to my friend, Lee, a PhD in chemistry, that’s a load of crap.)

To make the drink, you combine Bulletproof Upgraded coffee blend, grass-fed butter or ghee (a clarified butter commonly used in Indian cooking,) and their special Bulletproof “Brain Octane Oil.” (The Octane Oil is another product that claims to have beneficial properties far beyond coconut oil. Again…I have my doubts.)

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They claim this coffee combination gives you a lasting lift, not a spike that many caffeine drinks can, and the good fats in the drink keep your brain and body satisfied all morning long.

Rather than buy all the expensive Bulletproof products, my friends Doug and Jenn here at the radio station decided to make their own version of this drink. Besides tasting incredibly awesome, it definitely feels like it does some good…for a much more reasonable price.

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It may sound bizarre at first, but you add a tablespoon of grass-fed unsalted butter or ghee (again, unsalted) to a blender. Then you add a tablespoon of coconut oil (replacing the expensive “Brain Octane Oil.”) Brew your favorite coffee (8 to 12 oz.) and add the hot coffee to the blender. Then turn the blender on and let it rip until all the ingredients have been thoroughly blended.

You need to use hot coffee for this so the fats melt and you get a nice mouth-feel. That’s it. Now drink! No cream or sugar needed.

The premise is that your body is starved for healthy fats. This drink supplies some. I’ll be trying this drink for a few weeks to see if it makes any difference in how I feel.

Just remember: just any butter won’t do. It has to be butter from grass-fed cows. (Many Irish brands are grass-fed…just make sure it’s unsalted.) If you can’t find it, ghee is a good substitute.

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