Independence Day At Almost Heaven South

Our original plan, to celebrate America’s Birthday on the dock, got changed due to rain and I was happy to move to the house considering an alternative now being experienced in the American West.  We decided on a very traditional meal of burgers, beans, and potato salad and, as usual, I went to your blogs for our meal recipes and had two that were recently posted. 

For the beans, I used the recipe posted by Mary at Deep South Dish for Baked Bean Medley  except I used her crockpot instructions rather than heat up the house with the oven.  I followed her recipe as written so just click on the link to view it - in addition to the Bush's Baked Beans, we used the canned beans we had on hand: kidney, black, cannellini.

When Chris at Nibble Me This posted his recipe for Pimento Cheese Burgers, it really spoke to me – I love homemade pimento cheese.  Please click on the link for the recipe, which we followed as written, except we used all cheddar cheese.

For the burgers, I adapted Chris' recipe for the ingredients we had on hand, added one, and up sized for our crowd.

Independence Day Burgers – Adapted from Nibble Me This

4 lbs. ground beef

1¾ tsp. salt

7/8 tsp. black pepper

1/3 tsp. onion powder

1/3 tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. Worsey Sauce

Mix all ingredients and shape into eight half pound burgers (it was a celebration you know).

Being the anal guy that I am, I made a little menu (spreadsheet) for everyone to fill out with their burger options (it had the gridlines showing):

Burger Orders Grilled  Toasted Doneness Cheese Bacon Onion Bun R, MR, M Below Y/N Y/N Y/N Bonnie Laurie Beverly Pat Madison Bill David Larry None Cheddar Provolone Pimento

As usual, I got the burgers about one level more done than requested.  I need to use the charcoal grill with it's hotter fire to be able to get an outside crust quick enough to not cook the inside as much then move to indirect to finish cooking.  Rounding out the meal was delicious potato salad provided by our guests.  Check Chris' site for a good burger shot.

We also had some chips with queso and guacamole dips, several adult beverages, and peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert.  The cobbler, made with a recipe from Allrecipes, seemed to be a big hit.

As expected, I thought everything was very good and thank Chris and Mary for their fine recipes and Bonnie for the potato salad.  Good food and good company made for a fine way to spend our Independence Day.  

Perhaps we should have offered a Publix Italian sausage dog as a burger alternative - it was awesome a few days earlier.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/4/2013 meal date

Grilled Shrimp Scampi

Bev and I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the birth of our magnificent nation.

The following was not our Independence Day meal.  Bev wanted shrimp scampi and loves grilled shrimp so we decided to combine the two dishes.  We used the same recipe for our scampi sauce as last time and got it going when we put the pasta in the water and when the pasta was about half done, I started the shrimp.

Sauce:

3 T. butter

2½ T. good olive oil

1½ T. minced garlic (4 cloves)

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

1/3 C. chopped fresh parsley leaves

½ lemon, zest grated

¼ C. freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)

¼ lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds

1/8 t. hot red pepper flakes

Pasta:

¾ pound pasta (we used thin spaghetti)

Kosher salt

Shrimp:

1 lb. large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined

½ stick melted butter

S&P

Directions:

1. Preheat grill and start pasta water heating – when boiling add about  1 T. kosher salt and the pasta and cook al dente.

2. Meanwhile, in a 12-inch heavy-bottomed sauté pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat, add the garlic saute for 1 minute.  (Be careful, the garlic burns easily)   

3. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

4. Toss the shrimp with oil and season with pepper and salt (unless using salted butter).  Grill over a hot fire for a minute and baste the top with butter, flip and grill for 1 ½ minutes basting the top with butter, flip a third time for about 30 seconds and remove from the grill.  Quickly toss with the sauce to coat the shrimp, add the pasta, and toss everything together.

We grilled up a little cheesy garlic bread to go with it.

I cooked everything on the grill, using the side burner for the pasta and the regular grates for the pan of sauce.  It was very good and grilling the shrimp added an extra dimension of flavor to the dish.  I think it could have used about 25% more sauce though.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/25/2013 meal date

Cuban Sandwiches

We love Cuban sandwiches and enjoy getting them from the Aroma Café in Maryville where they seem to be authentic - our first was in Little Havana in Miami.  Since we had some pork left form our Luau Blogger Party (header shot above), Bev decided we should make them for supper.  A Cuban sandwich is basically roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard, and dill pickle on Cuban bread (we had to use French). 

One of the things we like from Aroma Café is their Mojo Sauce and we decided to try making our own using a recipe from food.com because it contained cumin and both oregano and cilantro.

Mojo Sauce – adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

10 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup lime juice

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped fine

Directions:

1. In a medium or large saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat.

2. Add garlic and cook until JUST light brown.

3. Turn off heat and let stand 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the sour orange juice, water, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.

5. Heat mixture on high until a full, rolling boil is reached.

6. Boil for 2 minutes stirring a few times.

7. Remove from heat and allow mixture to come to room temperature.

8. Stir in cilantro.

9. Pour into a jar or shaker bottle with a tight fitting lid and shake well before using.

Notes: The recipe called for sour orange juice and has a different ratio of orange to lime juice than the one we used to make it.  Also the directions mention water but there was none in the ingredients list.

For the sandwiches, we sliced the pork and nuked just enough to take the chill off, and built the sandwiches.

Two 1/8" slices of pork

Two slices deli ham

Two slices baby Swiss cheese

Layer of 1/8" dill pickle

Spicy mustard on one bread half

Mayo on one bread half (not normally used)

Pam sprayed on outside of each bread slice

Then we grilled them in our Panini press.

The trick is to keep moving the jar to keep it level as the bread settles and this was the result.

Not to take anything from the Cuban restaurants I've been to, but this was as good as I've ever had and the sauce was very good as well.  All of the sauce recipes I found used oil in the sauce, but Aroma Café’s seemed to just use water and we may give it a try next time.   I also may have to cook up and freeze a couple more pork butts like I did for the luau while I have banana leaves available.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/26/2013 meal date

Western Trip Planning

I’ve been working on this year’s trip west and have the itinerary pretty well finalized as shown below.   It is planned to include places we all want to see and things we think will be interesting for Madison.  Since we’ll be traveling during summer vacation time and I wanted to ensure camping spots, I have made reservations through the West Yellowstone stop. 

If you travelers out there have any suggestions for routes, sites, campgrounds (pos. or neg. - reservations are changeable if need be), restaurants, etc. please let me know.  Also, I've recently began reading several blogs from folks traveling in the areas we plan to visit and getting lot's of ideas. 

As you can see, our major stops are: Black Hills, Glacier NP area, Yellowstone area, Southern Utah, Durango Co, and Denver with shorter stops in Salt Lake City and Kansas City plus six days out and five days back.

Day	Leave	Arrive	Miles
1	Home	Paducah, KY	311
2	Paducah, KY	Goodfield, IL	307
3	Goodfield, IL	West Salem, WI	321
5	West Salem, WI	Salem, SD	340
6	Salem, SD	Hill City, SD	340
11	Hill City, SD	Billings, MT	333
12	Billings, MT	Garrison, MT	315
13	Garrison, MT	Kalispell, MT	178
19	Kalispell, MT	W. Yellowstone, MT	389
26	W. Yellowstone, MT	Salt Lake City, UT	320
28	Salt Lake City, UT	Kanab, UT	313
32	Kanab, UT	Durango, CO	336
38	Durango, CO	Littleton, CO	331
46	Littleton, CO	WaKeeney, KS	312
47	WaKeeney, KS	Higginsville, MO	350
50	Higginsville, MO	Sikeston, MO	335
51	Sikeston, MO	Home	361

The RV is currently at the shop for warranty work and we plan another short shakedown trip before heading west.  We hope to meet up with several bloggers and friends along the way, a couple of which we have yet to meet.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Fire Roasted Cordon Bleu & Grilled Potato Salad

Bev wanted to make Chicken Cordon Bleu and I remembered a recipe for a grilled version I had saved.  When I went looking, it turned out to be from friend Chris at "Nibble Me This" and posted on the OurKrazy Kitchen blog in July, 2010.  We sided it with grilled potato salad using a recipe from Mary Constantine’s column in the Knox News Sentinel on May 22, 2013.

Grilled Potato Salad - Adapted from Mary Contantine

Ingredients: 

2 pounds medium Yukon gold potatoes

2 medium yellow onions, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rings and skewered with toothpicks

1/4 cup white- or red-wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for coating the potatoes and onions

Salt and black pepper to taste

4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Place potatoes in a large saucepan of water and season with a few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender. Drain and slice into 1/4-inch-thick disks (I made them a little thicker and cut them to serve).

2. Preheat a grill over medium-high heat. Drizzle potatoes and onion slices with enough olive oil to coat. Grill potatoes for about 5 minutes per side, until the surface is browned and crisp. At the same time, grill onions for about 4 minutes per side, until lightly caramelized and soft.

3. Combine vinegar, mustard and sugar. Whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Remove potatoes and onions from the grill to a cutting board and quarter (or halve).
5. Combine potatoes, onions, bacon, bleu cheese and parsley in a large mixing bowl. 
6. Toss with dressing and serve warm - makes 6 servings.

Note - I cooked the potatoes and onions over the direct heat while the chicken was over indirect.

Fire Roasted Chicken Cordon Bleu - Adapted From Our Crazy Kitchen

We used the recipe ingredients as written except we doubled it to get the one below.  I changed the directions a little.

Chicken Ingredients:

6 ea chicken breast, boneless skinless

2 Tbsp kosher salt

2 tsp black pepper

6 slices smoked ham

6 slices Swiss cheese

2 ea egg

2 Tbsp ice water

2 cup panko bread crumbs

3 Tbsp butter

Sauce Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

2 ea shallot, diced

½ cup white wine

1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place the chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound to 1/2" thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Top with smoked ham and swiss.

2. Roll the chicken up lengthwise and seal up as best you can, using toothpicks to secure the edges. Make an egg wash by whisking the eggs and ice water. Roll the breast in the egg wash and then the panko. Place in a baking dish. Top each with 1 Tbsp of butter.

Since my gas grill won't get to the desired 375*, I cooked them a little differently - click the above link to see Chris' original.

3. Preheat your grill and set up for indirect heat (fire/burners to the sides but not directly under the cooking area) and cook them until the breasts hit an internal temp of 150*.

4. Move them over direct medium cook to an internal temp of 155* or until lightly browned if sooner.  Then flip and cook to an internal temp of 160 or until browned.  Find or make a clean place on the pan or you will have burned cheese on the crust.

5. If the browning comes before 160*, move them back to indirect until it's reached.

6. Remove from heat, tent and allow to rest - they should go up to the desired 165* temp while resting.

7. When the cordon bleu gets flipped, start the sauce on the grill side burner.

8. Melt the butter and saute the shallot over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine and continue cooking until the wine is almost evaporated

9. Reduce heat to medium, whisk in the cream and parsley. Cook until the volume is reduced by half. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

10. When ready to serve, carefully remove any toothpicks from the chicken, ladle some of the sauce onto the serving plate and top with a cordon bleu.

I thought the potato salad was excellent and the chicken was so good I had to call Chris and tell him so.  Both were also good leftover.  I now want to try the grilled potatoes with our normal mayo based salad dressing. 

Thanks Chris and Mary for an outstanding meal.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/23/2013 meal date

A Marriage Of Chipotle Pork And Chipotle-Cherry Salsa

Earlier this month, Kathy, from A Spoonful Of Thyme, posted a recipe for Chipotle-Cherry Salsa and I went to my blog recipes in search of a pork recipe to go with it, discovering Steph’s recipe for Chipotle Marinated Pork Tenderloin at Plain Chicken.  I didn’t have enough tenderloin in the freezer so I a halved loin roast lengthwise so it would cook faster - faux tenderloin J. 

I made the marinade as written, except for mixing, and introduced it to the meat at 2pm for a three hour soak.

Pork - From Plain Chicken

2 # pork tenderloin or pork of choice

1 ½ T. chipotle in adobo (Steph made a puree but I chopped fine)

½ cup orange juice

1½ t. red wine vinegar

3 T. lime juice

1 t. dried oregano

½ t. cumin

1 cloves garlic
S&P

Add everything to a deep container, give it a spin with the stick blender to puree the chipotle, and pour over the meat - I used a two gallon plastic bag and flipped it every 45 minutes.

I removed the pork from the marinade and cooked it over indirect heat to a temperature of 130* then put it over high direct heat on all four sides to develop a crust and took it to a 140* internal temperature.  

It rested for a few minutes before slicing.

Salsa - From A Spoonful Of Thyme

2 cups cherries, pitted and chopped

1/2 cup red onion, diced

1 Tbsp chipotle chile in adobo, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced

3 Tbsp fresh lime juice

Add everything to a bowl and mix well – I made it three hours ahead of time and let it set at room temp for the flavors to marry.

For a side dish, I par-boiled some sliced sweet potatoes, brushed them with oil, and dusted with my pork rub, which has a cherry component.  I grilled them over high heat to get a little crust and brushed each side with butter after turning.

Everything was delicious and I thought the marinade and salsa worked well together.  Bev, who likes everything spicy, said that next time sh'e add a little jalapeno to the salsa to kick it up a notch – thanks Steph and Kathy for a very fine meal.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/19/2013 event date

Rving at Lake Junaluska & The Grove Park Inn

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our RV trip into Western NC was anchored around providing a place for son Eric to bunk while attending a conference at Lake Junaluska and do a little visiting with him.  We left Franklin on Jun 9 and moved 40 miles north to the Outdoor Adventure Campground which is owned by the church and exists to provide a camping facilities for folks attending the various events that take place.

Its reason for existence is obvious in the fact that it is not very well maintained in an effort to attract drive-in campers and I would not recommend it to other RVers.  Other than visiting with Eric, the highlight of this stop was a drive over to Asheville and lunch at the Grove Park Inn - a place the SIL had been wanting to visit for a long time. 

It is a spectacular hotel, opening in July, 1913 as a place for the rich and famous to cool it and get well (if ailing) in the North Carolina mountains – not everyone could hang out with ole George at the Biltmore House.  Ten US presidents along with many wealthy businessmen and celebrities have been guests – check the Wikipedia site for some of them.

I’ve included a few of my photos, but stopping by here is a must see.  My first shot is half of the outdoor Sunset Terrace Restaurant and the second shot is the view from it.

The next shots are of the Great Hall which has massive working fireplaces (blurry shot) at each end, lots of seating, and a bar.  I can imagine a winter visit sitting in front of the fire, watching it snow, and sipping something warm.  The granite stonework in the place is incredible.

These shots are of the grounds just below the restaurant (upper right) and include the top of the $44 million Subterranean Spa – through a window made the color a little off.

If in the area, it is definitely worth the short drive to see this awesome place - wish I had the few hundred dollars a night to stay there.  From there we headed down to the famous Farmers Market to pick up a few things for supper.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/9 - 6/14/2013 event dates