Cheapskate Rural Dweller: July 2016

This Week's Menu: Barbecued Pizza and Buttermilk Pancakes

Nothing says summertime like cooking outside. Pizza is a baked item but no one wants to turn on a hot oven in the kitchen during this hot season...especially in our neighborhood where over-100 temps are the norm this time of year.

But pizza is still a great summer food, especially with an ice-cold beer in your hand. If you have a gas grill with a lid, you've basically got an outdoor oven...perfect for baking.

We'll use that to make our pizza.

For breakfast, we put up our third pancake recipe, this time it's the very classic buttermilk pancake recipe.

Everything you need are at the links below.

BREAKFAST: Buttermilk Pancakes

DINNER: Barbecued Pizza

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

BREAKFAST: Classic Buttermilk Pancakes

So far on this blog, we've had a recipe for 49'r flapjacks (our favorite) and the Maui Jim pancakes, a good, no-baking-powder recipe. Both are great but sometimes you want the classic.

Here it is, just the basic buttermilk pancake recipe. And it's delicious.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons melted butter
Ghee (clarified butter)

Whisk all ingredients, except for the ghee, into a bowl.

I have a batter dispenser that I got from Amazon. You can ladle in the mix but I use the dispenser.

On a hot, flat griddle, brush on a thin layer of ghee.

Put three or four 4 inch disks of batter on the grill. When slightly brown around the edges and bubbly in the middle, flip over. Cook until golden brown on each side.

Put the finished pancakes on a covered plate until all are done.

Makes 10-12 pancakes.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

DINNER: Barbecued Pizza

Well, technically, grilled pizza but we're cooking it outside on our gas barbecue grill.

Dough is premade from Trader Joes and so are the canned San Marzano tomatoes (which I substitute for fresh tomatoes in our regular pizza sauce recipe...click on that link).

After rolling the dough and spreading it out on the baking pan, I ladle on and spread the San Marzano tomato sauce evenly on it.

A layer of shredded prosciutto, mozzarella, and Parmesan go next.

Finish with another layer of mozzarella and Italian sausage.

Get the temp on the grill to 400. This is a little hot so we need to turn it down a bit.

Put pan on grate.

Cook covered for ten minutes.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

This Week's Menu: The Magic of Compounding - Pan Fried Rib Eye Steak with Compound Butter and Chilaquiles con Huevos

We're doing our pan-fried rib eye steaks again on the gas barbecue but the catch this week is adding a bit of compound butter on top to compound the taste. This is a very easy way to add a deeper level of flavor to the meat.

For Breakfast, it's one of my favorite Mexican specialties, Chilaquiles con Huevos (or tortilla chips and eggs).

Recipes at the links below.

CONDIMENT: Compound Butter

DINNER: Pan-Fried Rib Eye

BREAKFAST: Chilaquiles con Huevos

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Compounding Good Taste - Rosemary, Garlic Compound Butter

You want to add a ton of flavor to your meat? You want it to be easy and quick? Compound butter is your answer.

Butter always gives a flavor boost but adding more flavors to it takes it to another level. This is super quick and super easy.

INGREDIENTS

3 oz. butter
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (maybe a little less)
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

Melt the butter in a mixing cup. I like to use the comal that we use to heat our tortillas. Works better than the microwave, which spatters the butter too much.

Sprinkle just a touch of the Kosher salt into your molds. I bought these little glass bowls specifically to make compound butter. I like to have a few crystals of salt on the top of my butter, so when I flip over when done, they will form a little crown.

Mix the rosemary and garlic into the melted butter.

Pour the mixture into your molds

You should have about a pat's worth of butter in each mold. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

We're using our compound butter on our pan-fried rib eye steaks.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

An Amalgamation of Classics

Sometimes, in my kitchen or even the bar, I'm kind of like a Dr. Frankenstein...mixing different things together to get a hybrid result. Or would that be Dr. Moreau, crossing different species to rush along evolution? Anyway, this dish...very suitable for a sunny, summer day barbecue...is one of those creations

Go to Minnesota and you need to try a Juicy Lucy (or 'Jucy', depending on where you get it). This burger is a specialty here where the cheese is put inside the meat patty before cooking.

Here in Southern California, there's another local chain that has made its mark with the 50~50 burger. This burger features a patty that is half ground beef and half bacon.

Here at the Sunday Sauce blog, we figure why decide between one or the other? We'll make both, hence the 50~50 Juicy Lucy.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 strips cooked bacon, cut into thirds
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Slap ya' Mama
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheese
6 slices of colby jack (or your favorite) cheese

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl (except for the bacon and cheese), cover and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

I cover a large cutting board with wax paper and do the same with a handy plastic bowl. Years ago, my cousins gave me a burger press, one of the handiest gadgets I own. I'll be using that to press out the patties.

I'm doing double burgers with two quarter pound patties. I put about an eighth of a pound down on the wax-paper covered cutting board and sprinkle a bit of the shredded cheese on it. Another same-size bit of meat goes on top.

I press down with my press as hard as I can. Some meat will squeeze out the bottom. I lift up, put that meat back in the middle and press again.

This is the patty I get as a result. With my fingers, I press gently all around the patty to spread it out a bit. I like to have a finished patty that's about an inch wider in diameter than my bun because it will shrink that much in cooking. That way, I'll have perfectly sized patties for the bun.

Put the finished patties on wax paper in the plastic bowl. I'm doing six patties for three double burgers. In the end, I think maybe one patty for each one would have been plenty but make as much or little as you'd like.

Cook over the coals in direct heat for two minutes per side.

Finish with 4-6 minutes on each side over indirect heat, covered, putting cheese on top for the final few minutes.