3 Pies in a row? This is an over the top version of shepherds pie I made this past weekend. The idea was to combine the flavors of an end of summer backyard BBQ, pulled pork sandwiches, and shepherds pie. It was a complete success and I suggest anyone to try this update on an old recipe. My only complaint was that I didn’t get to keep the leftovers!
A pasta timpano filled up with meatballs, sausage, chicken parm, and mozzarella sticks!
I was looking up ideas for a grilled scallop dish when I saw a picture that had scallops on a skewer that looked like marshmallows. This got my mind rolling in a ton of different ways that involved scallops as a marshmallow replacement. The problem with this dish is that s’mores are pretty much the best thing on the earth. When you make one thing look like another, you need to be sure that the new thing is just as tasty as the old. These scallop s’mores were pretty incredible, but there is nothing that can contend with real s’mores in the flavor department. I am not even that big on sweets but I still think they are the best. I recommend having some marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers ready to go for dessert after you make these scallop apps.
I have wanted to make a timpano for a long time. I have seen Mario Batali make a few, and hmm where else have I seen one? These Italian pies are made for special occasions. There are a few different varieties, but really you could throw anything you want in there! I think I will probably make another one soon and just throw anything I can think of in. This dish is totally worth the effort, and honestly it isn’t even that much work! More time consuming than anything. When you unveil the pie from its baking container, it is just as much of an event as it is in that movie… So what was our special occasion? Mandi’s sister visiting of course!
So what topic am I skirting around in that first paragraph? What other time have I seen one? What movie? Well Big Night of course. Apparently on the internet, you can’t cook a timpano without talking about big night! (yes every word is a different website) So what do I have to say about it? Nothing that hasn’t been said already, just that if you haven’t seen it, watch it because it is great.
I was sitting at a relative’s house in Rhode Island this past weekend enjoying the New England summer and (comparatively to Bermuda) low humidity. We were having a bit of a post wedding hang out and grill session, exchanging stories from the night before, All my cousins being sure not to take their sunglasses off. As the burgers were on the grill, I couldn’t stop staring at the basil plant behind it. My mouth was salivating for basil! I have a basil plant in my own yard, but for some reason when I see one I have the need to eat basil immediately. Of course I snuck over and grabbed a few leaves to put on my burger only to be called out 3 seconds later. I thought I had been sneaky! The burger was fantastic and I don’t know why I have never thought to put basil on one. This got me thinking, we already have a tomato, the addition of basil means I only need to switch the cheese to mozzarella and we have a caprese burger. A Hamburger Today in 2006 says caprese burger is a bad idea, but after making one, I disagree! The picture on that post looks awful, any burger that looked like that, caprese or not, would be gross! The key to this burger is nice fresh thick summer tomatoes.
A vibrant green stovetop mac and cheese colored and flavored with kale, basil, spinach, scallions, and jalapeno
frozen yogurt from super scratch with homemade yogurt.
Hello! Hello hello, sorry I’ve been away so long! I never meant to leave you… I have to admit, I got the idea for these burgers from Throwdown. You know, Bobby Flay’s show where he challenges people at their own specialty? I normally don’t like the show very much, but there was nothing on, and it was a burger challenge. If anyone can do burgers, it’s got to be Flay. The competitor was pretty interesting too. I kept the channel on and was pretty happy with all the burgers they made. My favorite was the one Bobby made to be the burger version of a Cuban sandwich. His method of pressing the burgers with a brick right on the grill was pretty neat. I liked it too because when cooking burgers for a bunch of people, normally everyone wants their bread toasted and it is kind of annoying keeping track of everything. This way you can build all the burgers on the grill and just hand them out to people.
Fresh tuna in a burger is cooked medium rare and served with a spicy Asian slaw
As the Summer slowly approaches, pesto is on my mind. This weekend we made a few great ones. One of them needs to be developed a bit further, but one is perfect just how it is, and that’s the one I am going to show you today. This pesto can be made in a blender, or with a knife. Both ways are very different and delicious in their own right. I have both ways shown here.
Trashy \”sushi\” rolls made with mac and cheese and ground beef
Risotto made with a rich broth flavored from dried chiles and filled with beef and pork to emulate a bowl of chili