a barbecue staple

Now, where I’m from a “barbecue” doesn’t necessarily mean the meat. A barbecue, as I was raised to call it, is what some of y’all folks call a “cookout“.

Whatever you call it, there are some staple foods that appear at the typical barbecue, including my grandma’s deviled eggs and some form of potato salad. Potato salad happens to be one of my very favorite foods to eat at a barbecue or in any other circumstance. And I especially like the kinds that aren’t totally doused in a creamy mayonnaise sauce. A little mayo goes a long way.

One of the best potato salads I’ve ever eaten was made by my Aunt Josette and I remember it well because it was the very first time I ever ate fennel. Because of all the summer barbecues being talked about in the universe, I started to reminisce about this delicious fennel and potato salad and I ventured to create my own version.

If you are a fennel virgin, let me enlighten you about this delicious plant vegetable thing. (What exactly is fennel?)

Fennel tastes like licorice in a crunchy, fresh way. Still following me? You’re going to have to trust me. To some, it tastes really strong on its own so putting it in something like potato salad is a great way to experience the flavor but not overwhelm your palate (big word for “taste buds”). When you cut the fronds off the bulb, cut the bulb in half and remove the “core”, then chop/dice roughly like you would an onion. Do your best. Also, save the fronds because you can cut up the herby part and use it for seasoning.

The crunch of the fennel is so perfect with the softness of the potato and since the dressing is light you can taste everything without feeling overwhelmed by mayonnaise. Make this for your next barbecue. Or with my Black Olive & Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers as we did!

Potato and Fennel Salad (serves 4)
2 lbs small red potatoes, washed
1 bulb fennel, fronds removed
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 T dijon mustard
1 T olive oil
juice of 1 small lemon (or 1/2 medium lemon)
rosemary, chopped
fennel greens, chopped
salt & pepper
Bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat, then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and place a dish towel over them, allowing them to steam for another 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Once cool, slice each potato into fourths and set aside. Remove the fronds from the fennel bulb but don’t discard. Slice the fennel bulb in half and remove the core. Continue to slice the bulb into small pieces and set them aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Chop fresh rosemary and the greens from the fennel fronds. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, fennel, herbs, and the mayonnaise mixture, folding gently so as not to mash up the potato pieces. Allow to chill for at least an hour and serve cold.

what I’m into lately

So lately I’ve been into pizza. Like, really into it.

I’ve been making up my pizza dough and dividing it up into portions (personal pizzas, strombolis, and pizzas for 2). Once the dough is ready, it is so easy and simple to throw together a pizza for a quick dinner. Keep some sauce, cheese, and your favorite toppings on hand and voilà — pizza!

This has been my favorite combination so far: fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and Italian sausage! The sun-dried tomatoes burned a bit, but it made them crispy and delicious. So yummy! I’m also partial to onions and goat cheese.

Pizza is great at all times of the year, but I find I want it most during the early summer because of all the fresh herbs and toppings. There is never a bad time for pizza, y’all! What are some of your favorite pizza toppings?

bacon at the end of the world

So apparently Saturday was supposed to be the apocalypse. Well, I’m still here so either Heaven is exactly like earth, complete with rainstorms and cupcakes, or the world didn’t end.

But Saturday night, just in case, I made preparations for the end of the world the best way I know how: wrapping something in bacon.

Previously, I’ve had dates stuffed with goat cheese. And recently, Emilie had dates wrapped in bacon. Saturday, I was inspired to combine them all into one delicious appetizer. Because really, anything stuffed with goat cheese AND wrapped in bacon has to be good. And signify the end of days. Or any diet.

My friend Emilie and her new beau came over to hang out with me and Rahul and make these yummy appetizers. And then, in the event that the world didn’t end (which, clearly, it didn’t), we had plans to eat dinner at Buenos Aires Café Este (which was fabulous!). The night turned out to be great, despite the continuance of human existence.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese (serves 4-6)
16-20 medjool dates, pitted and sliced to open
2-3 ounces soft goat cheese
4-5 slices of bacon, cut into quarter strips
If the dates are not pre-pitted, slice them open to remove the pit. If they come without pits, make a small slice into one side of the date to create a pocket. Using a spoon, scoop a small amount of the soft goat cheese and put it in the pocket created in the date (should be about a teaspoon worth of cheese). Repeat until all of the dates are filled. Next, slice bacon strips into 4 pieces. (Tip: Put the bacon in the freezer for 20 minutes before slicing so it is a bit easier & less slippery!). Wrap each date with a piece of the bacon and place on a cooking sheet. Once all dates are wrapped, bake at 400* for 10 minutes then set to broil for another 4-5 minutes until the tops are crispy but not over-done. Remove dates from the sheet and place on paper towels to absorb some of the grease. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes, then serve!

an Austin barbecue secret

I’m going to let y’all in on an Austin barbecue secret. Sure, Salt Lick is amazing and the experience of driving out in hill country and seeing the meat smoked on the open pit is one not to be missed. I plan on taking all of my out of town visitors to Salt Lick still. But if you’d rather stay in Austin and eat the best barbecue I’ve ever eaten, you’re going to go to Franklin’s.

Yes, Franklin’s BBQ. The one that used to be the trailer on the side of the highway. It is now a proper restaurant that just so happens to be nextdoor to my boyfriend’s apartment.

The wonderful thing about Franklin’s is the ritual involved. It is open “11am-sold out” and they mean it. I’ve been twice now and each time, upon getting in line at 10:30am along with several other die-hards, it still took over an hour to get through line. There is nothing like waiting outside in the Austin sun for over an hour and then finally getting inside the restaurant and smelling the food. 

We chose to take the food back to his place to eat this time, but when the weather is nice I recommend sitting outside and soaking in the barbecue. Rahul and I actually went on our second date to Franklin’s so it is his fault I’m so obsessed.

(sorry for the blurry photo!)

I recommend getting the two-meat plate (which we split) and some extra meat on the side to share as well. The pork ribs are my personal favorite, being a Virginia gal, but the brisket (lean and fatty) is out of this world. The pulled pork is good by Texas standards (but not by Virginia standards) and I have yet to try the sausage but it looks great. The pies look delectable, too.

So get your butt to Franklin’s BBQ around 10:30am, prepared to stand in line for a while, and earn yourself the best barbecue I’ve ever eaten.

a baking lovechild

Today I simply wish to show you one of my very favorite cookies made in my family. They are the lovechild of a Snickers bar and a chocolate chip cookie and I love them.

I suppose you could switch out Snickers for any other mini candy bar, but why would you?

Stuffed Snickers Cookies (makes 16-18 cookies)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16-18 mini Snickers bars, unwrapped and set aside
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Slowly beat in the egg. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. When fully incorporated, gradually add it into the butter mixture, mixing well to form a soft dough. Using your hands, pinch off a ping pong ball sized piece of dough and roll it completely around a mini Snickers bar. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat to use up all of the dough and Snickers bars. Space evenly with 2-3 inches between the cookies. Bake at 375* for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool upside down on a baking rack (trust me: put them upside down in case some Snickers caramel is dripping from the bottom and sticks to your counter). Allow to cool for a few minutes then devour!

holy stromboli!

In light of Mother’s Day this past weekend, I wanted to share one of my mom’s favorite foods with y’all. After a phone consultation and her insistence that I remake a traditionally unhealthy classic with a lighter version, we decided that our favorite comfort food would be the best: stromboli.

Stromboli, in essence, isn’t that unhealthy. It depends on what you fill it with and some self-control with the portions of cheese, but it was not hard at all to make a filling, healthier alternative to a greasy, cheesy, oversized restaurant stromboli.

Now, I used goat cheese (in addition to skim mozzarella) because I’m obsessed with the stuff, but my mom hates it so if I were actually making this for her in person I’d omit that. But if you like goat cheese, I recommend a hearty sprinkle of the crumbled stuff for some added creaminess in your stromboli.

Also, if you live alone as I do, you can definitely make all 3 strombolis at once and pop them in the fridge or freezer to eat later in the week. Or you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze it for any time. It makes the perfect dough for both strombolis and personal pizzas!

Individual Whole Wheat Stromboli (makes 3)
Dough:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp olive oil + extra
1/2 tsp salt
Filling:
mozzarella cheese
goat cheese
turkey pepperoni
onions
mushrooms
In a mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, brown sugar, and 1 tsp olive oil. Mix gently and let yeast become foamy. Using a dough hook, slowly mix in flour and salt until the dough comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl and put a drizzle of olive oil in the bottom of the bowl. Replace the dough in the bowl and roll it around in the olive oil so it is fully coated. Cover the bowl with a cloth and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Once the dough has risen, flour a board and knead the dough gently. Divide into 3 equal parts and roll each out into a circle (hint: use a pie plate!). Place all desired filling ingredients onto one half of the dough and fold the dough over the filling. Press the dough together tightly with your fingers. Brush a bit of additional olive oil over the dough and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Repeat for each stromboli. Bake at 475* for 10-12 minutes until the dough is golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with marinara sauce for dipping on the side.

my Mama knows best

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about my Mama here on the blog. I’ve talked about our drive from Virginia to Texas when I moved. I talked about our trip to San Antonio in March for my Spring Break. I’ve made her meatloaf, her mac n cheese, and a host of other dishes that I grew up eating.

I usually call her “Mama” but when I’m trying to get something out of her or I’m in need of a hug, I call her “Mommy”. And sometimes I call her just plain “Mom” but not often. And I only call her “Mother” when I’m annoyed or trying to get her attention when she isn’t listening to me.

I don’t look much like her, but I share some of her strongest character traits, such as never being afraid to speak my mind, compassion for others, and crying too easily. She’s short. All the best advice I’ve ever received has come from her. She taught me about the wonders of washing my face with Noxema. She still lets me sit in her lap. She has an affinity for horrible reality television. She knows every word to Les Mis and taught them to me by age 10. She held my hand at my dad’s funeral. She’s loved me unconditionally since all screaming 7 lbs of me entered the world 22 years ago. She even put up with me during my horrible teenage years when I told her that she loved Hunter more and I rolled my eyes at her more than I did anything else.

Last year on Mother’s Day, I graduated college and made her cry. This year on Mother’s Day, she has one of her kids at home (my brother got home Friday after being deployed overseas for a year!), but I can’t be there with her. I don’t know if we’ve ever spent a Mother’s Day apart. She’s probably crying again this year. This year, she’s still putting Hunter and I first and being the incredible mother she always has been. If there’s one thing I know, it is that Mama knows best. 

I love you, Mama. Happy Mother’s Day!

Jai ho!

There’s no point to the title of this post other than the fact that it is one of my cellphone ring tones and I have it stuck in my head 24/7. Now you do too. Also, I spent a good part of summer (winter) 2009 learning the movie dance in my unheated office in Argentina to keep me warm. It has sentimental value.

Okay maybe the title of the post does have a bit of a point, as it comes from India and so does my new favorite cookie. Have you ever had the urge to dunk a cookie into your tea or coffee? Have you ever wished you had the perfect cookie to do so? Well, I am here to introduce you to atta biscuits.

These little lumps of heaven and cardamom were introduced to me after a trip to a local Indian grocery store with Rahul. After dunking them in my tea and seeing how the texture got perfectly soggy and wasn’t overly sweet, I did more research. Turns out these babies are 100% whole wheat and don’t have butter (gasp!) so they actually aren’t a bad cookie choice. They aren’t super sweet and the cardamom adds a type of savory sweetness (does that even make sense?) that is out of this world.

Mine don’t look too pretty, but I promise you they’re delicious and taste pretty close to what came from the Indian grocery store.

Atta Biscuits (makes 9 cookies)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp cardamom powder
~2 T cold milk
In a small bowl, sift together the flour and the baking powder. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat together the powdered sugar and vegetable oil until smooth. Then, slowly beat in the cardamom until fully incorporated with the oil and sugar mixture. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and knead by hand until the dough forms a lumpy, loose texture. Add in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough sticks to itself loosely — you should be able to roll or press the dough in your palm to form a shape that doesn’t fall apart at this point. Form into whatever shape you want (I used a rounded rectangle as my shape) and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes and remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, about 1 hour, before tasting.

important facts about my life, vol. 3

For the previous installments of important and very random facts about me, please see volumes 1 and 2.

My favorite animal in the whole wide world is a shark. I own Shark Week on DVD.

My favorite color is green.

Babies and animals love me.

I don’t know my right from my left. Seriously, owning a GPS has saved my life.

The summer I lived in Mexico, I spent a week living on a beach and rescuing sea turtles. The braids were a very bad decision.

My favorite bread is sourdough.

I have spent approximately 5% of my life so far on crutches. I fall down a lot.

I can make a can of PBR stand on its side. It takes talent and a bit of time, but it stays like this as long as no one jostles the table.

meet-a-balls

All week I’ve been hearing about “pasketi and meet-a-balls” since they appeared at a meal on some random TV show I was watching with Rahul (my gentleman friend). I believe both of us made a comment about wanting spaghetti and meatballs. Only he chooses to pronounce “spaghetti” like a 3 year old and “meatballs” with a hand gesture like a mobster.

I’m not the biggest fan of Italian restaurants. They always sound good in theory but then I end up leaving with too many breadsticks in my tummy and too much cheesy, saucy leftovers in a box. Once I was certain the craving for spaghetti and meet-a-balls was not going to pass, I figured I’d rather try my hand at them in the kitchen than go to a restaurant and risk the breadstick situation.

They were really easy to make and made his whole apartment smell intoxicating. Choosing to mix the lean beef with the fatty pork made the meatballs just moist enough but I didn’t feel like a greaseball eating them. And you can easily use a pre-made sauce instead and still get delicious results. This makes a decent amount of food so you’ll have plenty of leftovers. Or, you could be social and invite over other people. But I’m far too protective of cold spaghetti leftovers to do that.

I was quite impressed with my first batch of homemade pasketi and meet-a-balls. I’m definitely going to be making this again and freezing it when I have room in my freezer!

Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs (serves 4-6)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb mild pork sausage (Italian spices)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 large white onion, diced
1-28 oz. can crushed tomatoes with Italian spices (or regular with 1 T Italian spices added by you)
1-15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
spaghetti
In a large bowl, combine pork, beef, parmesan, breadcrumbs, and egg with your hands until well incorporated. Roll tightly into balls, approximately 1-1/2 inches thick — this will yield 18-22 meatballs. In a sauce pot or Dutch oven with a thick bottom, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When oil is glistening, turn down the heat and carefully place several of the meatballs in bottom of the pot, being careful not to overcrowd them. Brown the meatballs on both sides, but do not cook through. Remove to a plate and repeat until all the meatballs are browned on the outside. Add a bit more olive oil to the pot as well as salt and pepper. Add the diced onion to the pot and stir, letting cook for a few minutes. Next, add the cans of crushed and diced tomato to the onions and stir. Allow the sauce to bubble and stir in the red wine. Turn the heat to medium-low and add in your meatballs. Stir to coat all the balls in sauce and cover the pot. Simmer for 20-30 minutes and the meatballs should be fully cooked. In the mean time, boil some spaghetti noodles. Serve the meatballs and sauce over spaghetti and garnish with parmesan cheese.