Monthly Archive: June 2023

Frozen Bananas

This is the absolute simplest of summer treat recipes, and it is actually quite healthy. Frozen bananas are covered with dark chocolate and rolled in nuts, for a cold, sweet, bitter and crunchy treat. They have it all!

Simple Ingredients

2-3 large bananas, 1 tbsp. peanut or almond butter, 1/4 cup dark chocolate (chips or broken bar, for melting), 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 4 wooden craft sticks

Instruction

Cut bananas in half. Insert the stick into the cut part of the banana, ensuring it is in about half of the length. Freeze bananas on a tray for 3-5 hours. Melt chocolate and peanut butter in double burner. Stir to combine until completely smooth. Remove from heat. Note: the double burner is a pan of boiling water with a bowl placed over that has no contact with the water. The chocolate is then melted slowly in the bowl and not over direct heat. For this recipe, you will want a rather large bowl in order to be able to roll the bananas in the chocolate, once melted

Here is where you need to work quick. Have your nuts spread on a large and shallow enough plate that you can roll the banana, with the stick into the nuts. Roll each banana into the chocolate and VERY quickly into the nuts. If you work too slowly, the chocolate will harden and nuts will not stick

Freeze until nuts and chocolate are completely set on the bananas, roughly another 1 hour. Then, ENJOY!

Strawberry Muffins

A couple weeks back, the local grocery store had a deal on strawberries. 2 pounds for $5, which is a pretty darn good price! They were a rich, deep red color and looked too attractive to leave at the store! I immediately pulled out my phone to scroll around looking for recipes that I could use this yummy looking fruit in. I landed on strawberry muffins. Muffins seemed easy and practical, because they can be eaten with coffee in the morning or as dessert after dinner. As well, they can be frozen and used another day.

The recipe that I found and used, just about to the letter, was from a blog called Inspired Taste. The recipe is for Perfect Strawberry Muffins and it definitely was one worth keeping!

Things that I loved about this recipe:

  • There is just a little hint of black pepper added to the batter to add some interest
  • The topping is a simple mix of vanilla and white sugar, giving the finished muffin just a bit of crunch on top. I am looking forward to trying this recipe again, substituting in apple or apricot and using almond extract, rather than vanilla
  • It was rather flexible. After hulling and cutting my strawberries, I had 2 extra ounces of fruit. I used it all, and the finished product was still light, but very, very moist!
  • It was simple

Ingredients

  • For the muffin batter
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar

  • 2 tsp. baking powder

  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. fine black pepper

  • 1/3 cup grapeseed (my choice) or vegetable oil

  • 1 large egg

  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup 2% or whole milk

  • 1 1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract

  • 8-10 ounces diced strawberries

  • For the topping
  • 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instruction

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with standard muffin liners
  2. Whisk all dry ingredients in large bowl until well combined
  3. Using 1+ cup measuring cup, measure the oil. Add the egg and then fill with the milk until it reaches the 1 cup line
  4. Add the vanilla extract to the oil/egg mixture and stir to combine
  5. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and slowly combine with fork. Do not overmix
  6. Fold in strawberries gently, until evenly distributed
  7. Divide the batter across the 12 muffin cups
  8. Combine topping ingredients in small bowl and then distribute across 12 muffins
  9. Bake for 15-25 mins, checking with toothpick for doneness at the 15 min mark. When slightly crumbly crumbs come out with toothpick, they are done. The top should be nicely browned with bits of crisp sugar yumminess!
  10. Set aside on wire rack to cool. Do not remove from muffin liners until completely cool, or serve directly in liners

Chicken leg tray bake

I love when I stumble on something on the sale rack at my local grocery that I have never used to cook with. I am a huge fan of capers, regularly going for the picatta if I am splurging on a pasta meal. However, when I saw jarred caperberries, such as these from DeLallo marked down at 50% off, I simply had to buy and try! I immediately started a search for recipes that could use this unusual ingredient and found a chicken leg tray bake that would fit the bill.

Not only did this recipe have a cut of chicken that my husband loves and is incredibly inexpensive (chicken legs), it also is a tray bake, which is one of my absolute favorite types of easy, weeknight meals. A one pan wonder, with the addition of bread, which adds a heartiness to the meal, but also the glorious crunch when the bread takes on the fat from the chicken while roasting in the oven.

I am a lover of the lemon. If you give me a recipe that roasts, toasts, warms or broils a lemon, I am all about it!! The original recipe that I found is called Chicken Roasted on Bread with Caperberries and Charred Lemons, from Food and Wine. The ingredients are simple and include my ever loved lemon, as well as these mystical caperberries! I have made this recipe a couple times now and have added my own spin and can provide some advice. I also make this for 2, which is roughly (I went heavy on the bread) half of the original recipe, but you can double to make 4 servings. My adusted ingredients and instructions below:

Ingredients

2 large whole chicken legs

2 medium red onions – slice off the top just enough to allow the onions to sit flat. Leave root end intact, but peel outer layer off and discard. Sit onions up and cut into 4 quadrants, just leaving a about a quarter to a half inch left at bottom, so it appears as an onion flower. See pic below as example of cooked red onion:

1/4 – 1/2 pound of crusty bread. Original recipe calls for sourdough, but a day old French baguette or Ciabatta could do the trick. Rip the bread into 1 inch square pieces (roughly). Do not go too small on these. You want them to crisp on the outside, but leave a little bit of moisture in.

1/2 cup of jarred caperberries, drained. If you are buying this item to simply try it, do not be tempted to add all of them to use up the jar. It will cause the chicken dish to be too briney in the end. Put aside the others and use on a charcuterie board for your next hosted gatheting. If anything, these caperberries present themselves well. Any tray is sexier with them on it!

2 lemons, cleaned and halved

3 Tbsp. cup of grapeseed oil – stick with me on this one. If you are not buying this amazing oil, go out and get it. EVOO is only made for low temp cooking. We are going to blast the fire in this recipe, so go with the tried and true grapeseed. If you do not have this on hand, vegetable or canola will do!

8 garlic cloves, in the skin, but smashed a bit to let out flavor

Salt, Pepper, and if desired, a dash or 2 of rosemary or thyme

Instruction

This is where the simplicity comes in. Everything goes into one tray! Limiting the mess is always a benefit!

As well, I learned that this can make a heck of a mess on your baking tray, so a layer of parchment will be your savior. Aluminum foil, if you do not have parchment

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the caperberries, bread, onions, garlic and lemons in a large bowl with roughly a tsp. of salt and pepper and other spices you may want to add. Especially ensure that the bread is fully coated. If you need a bit more oil, drizzle more on and mix it all up.

Put mixture on baking tray and arrange the chicken legs on top. Brush legs with a bit more oil, season generously with salt and pepper

Roast until the chicken leg is registering 160 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh. Start checking temp at about 40 mins, but expect anywhere between 40-60 mins, depending on your oven. You will have a crispy skin on the chicken, tender, juicy meat, sweet red onions, crunchy bread nuggets, briney caperberries and lemons that, when squeezed over top, are like candy on the dish!! Enjoy!

If you like this recipe, you may also like my recipe for Rotisserie Chicken!

Puff Pastry Caprese Tart

Puff pastry is one of those items that I keep in the freezer at all times. In a pinch, you can do all sorts of fun and yummy things with it. Think sweet, such as rolling up a cinnamon and nuts mixture for cinnamon rolls, or savory, such as this heirloom tomato Caprese Tart recipe. Spinach and feta, cream cheese and roasted tomatoes. Any and all combination of fruits or veggies that you and your family enjoy.

I use Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry sheets. They defrost quickly and puff up nice and flaky. They can be cut into any size or shape that you want, so there is potential for some crazy cute desserts. Fourth of July is around the corner. I could imagine cream puff stars would be pretty snazzy at your cookout! For this recipe, I went as straight forward as possible and used the entire sheet.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 smaller heirloom tomatoes, 5-6 ounce fresh mozzarella, such as Galbani, 1 sheet puff pastry, 3 ounce shredded parmesan or asiago cheese, dried oregano, salt and pepper and some fresh basil leaves for serving

Simple Instruction

Defrost the pastry per the package instructions. Using a sharp knife, score the pastry about 1/2 inch from each side, careful not to cut all the way through. This will create a defined box for layering in the ingredients. Slice the mozzarella and the tomatoes into roughly 1/4 inch thick chunks. Pat both as dry as you can get them. Create an overlapping layer of tomato and mozzarella to cover the base of the Caprese Tart. Do not layer too heavily, to ensure the puff pastry will crisp up and not sog up on you.

Sprinkle oregano, salt and pepper over ingredients. Lastly, sprinkle the parm or asiago cheese over entire tart, allowing some to land on the 1/2 inch edge of the pastry. This will give a crunchy cheesy crust.

Cook in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 15-20 mins. Crust will be nicely browned and cheese will be bubbling! Let cool and eat!

An alternative ingredient tart

Cream cheese base with pre-roasted cherry tomatoes

Dilly, Minty Tzaziki (Savory yogurt dip)

I love Greek cuisine. Actually, I love anything Meditteranean, if I am going honest with you. Lots of fish, veg, good quality meats. In a new development….I actually have some interest in Lamb. This is something I would not have dreamt of eating even 5 years ago, but have put into recipes such as Kofta and kibbe. But, I am getting off track here…those recipes will make their way here soon enough!

This post is about a very simple something in the Greek cuisine that I fell in love with years ago when I visitied my sister, who was living in Athens at the time. It is tzaziki.

To boil it down, it is simply a strained yoghurt with a sort of mix of herbs, salt and almost always cucumber.

Ingredients

10 ounce Strained plain Greek yogurt, such as this strained, plain yogurt

Handful of mint as well as handful of dill (this is really to your taste, so chop a bit, add, taste and adjust). I am a mint fan, so I go heavy with it! Leave out the tougher part of the dill stems. All herbs chopped super fine

1 Garlic clove, minced fine into the yogurt, preferably with a microplane, to make it almost liquid

1/4 of an English cucumber shredded and then squeezed in paper to remove as much liquid as possible

Kosher salt. Start with a teaspoon and adjust as you see fit!

Instruction

Combine yogurt, cucumber and garlic. Add half each of the herbs and then taste. Continue to add until you are satisfied with the amount of herby deliciousness. Add salt to taste and serve!

If you like this recipe, serve it with either my Weeknight mediterranean smorasbord or my Fatayer – stuffed meat pie!

Fatayer – Stuffed meat pie

For me, nothing is better than a recipe that includes a number of ingredients that would be at the top of my “yes” list for things we love. This recipe for meat pie is one that I saw Joanna Gaines cook on her show, “Magnolia Table”. Her original recipe is here. I loved the story about her mother being Korean and her father being half Lebanese and half German. Food coming from all of these cultures are things I aspire to learn about and perfect in my kitchen, so this first episode that I happened to watch was a wonder for me!

One of the things that I liked about the recipe was the ability to cut some corners, if wanted, or make it all hand made, if time is on your side. I, of course, took some liberty and added my own twist and spices, but the core elements remain…meat, onion, cheese, potato and spice wrapped in a type of bread or biscuit. Come on….no one can argue that that does not sound amazing!

The available shortcuts

Like any meat pie or veggie pie, there is an outer layer, that is hopefully, crusty and delicious. You can make this crust from scratch, or you can take the short cut that I took away from the Magnolia Table recipe and use store bought biscuits. There are other cuts, such as buying frozen hash browns for the potato or pre-shredded cheese. I went scratch for these because I had the ingredients on hand and it would take only a little extra work to do it myself. However, as you look through ingredients, I will point out where you can cut corners to make this as quick and easy as you want.

The ingredients

  • 1 Pound ground beef – we are huge fans of the Panorama 80% lean beef from Crowd Cow
  • 1 Package of large biscuits, such as this Shaws brand or the Pillsbury style we all know
  • Half of a large onion, diced finely
  • 2-3 ounce of shredded cheese, prefereably cheddar, but any good melting cheese will do, such as fontina, young gouda etc. This is about your taste and what makes you happy!
  • 1 medium to large gold potato, shredded. I went old school and used a hand shredder, but here is where you can cut some corners. Use approx. 3/4 -1 cup of defrosted frozen hash browns, such as these from Target
  • 3 Tbsp Zaatar spice. This is something you can find in your regular grocer. If you cannot find, no whoop. Spice this with your favorite herby spices
  • 1 Tbsp. harissa spice – this is totally optional. I used one that I found locally, called Pride of Africa, Tunisian Harissa. It appears hot to the tongue, but once in food, it not hot at all. It just adds some mystery!
  • Salt and fresh ground pepper to your taste (roughly 2 tsp kosher salt and 1 tsp course pepper)
  • 1 Tbsp. grapeseed or veggie oil
  • 3 Tbsp. butter – melted

Instruction

This could not be a more simple and easy recipe, if you enjoy a quick weeknight meal!

Let biscuit roll sit on counter for 20-30 mins while you prep the cheese and onion

Chop onion into a fine dice. Set aside

Shred cheese and set aside in refrigerator. If using pre-shredded cheese, move to next step

Remove the biscuits from container, flour broad surface and roll out each biscuit until thin and about 8 inches in diameter. Do not get precious here, a little bigger or smaller is not going to make these meat pies any less delicious! And, if you do not have a rolling pin, grab a bottle of wine, booze or soda, wipe down with lysol or similar wipe (yes, I am a bit anal in this area), dry completely and then flour it up. Just as good as any rolling pin you could find!

Put the onion into a non stick or HexClad pan with oil . Once the onions are becoming translucent, add in the beef. Add in 2 Tbsp. of the Zaatar spice as well as the Tbsp. harissa spice. Stir and continue to break it up into small pieces as it cooks.

In separate bowl grate the potato. If using frozen hash brown, still use a side bowl and defrost. In both cases, squeeze the bulk of water out of the potatoes using a towel or a load of expensive paper towels (yeah, flexing my inner cheepy and saying that paper towels should be used sparingly…they are expensive and..well, a bit wasteful! IMHO).

Allow the beef/onion mix to cool and then add to the potato mix. Add in salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Separate the mix into 8 equal parts. Place into center of each rolled out biscuit and then fold up the bisciut over the mixture. Brush with butter and sprinkle top with remaining zaatar spice and salt to your taste

Bake for 30-40 mins on middle rack, checking in at about 25 mins to ensure they are not cooking or browning too quickly. Remove when browned and cutting through one shows a hot, delicious and steaming center!

Serve with my amazing recipe for dilly, minty tzaziki!

The Poems – Dew Drops and Butterflies

If you read my initial post about my elementary school poem about Thanksgiving, you know now that I have always wanted to write and have always been, well, a bit of a mind-wanderer. How I landed in an engineering field is a bit of a mystery and a bit of a typical story where you can be good at what you do, but you may have fit somewhere else comfortably. I was a writer and a Nancy Drew fan as a kid. Lover of mystery and crime solving. I assumed going to college and becoming an attorney was a great path because, as attorney, I would be solving and putting to bed those involved in a crime. When my first semester ended and I had taken no classes of interest to me, other than economics, I began questioning my path. When I looked deeply into the legal classes and options, I realized, this may be expensive for a life and career I was not sure I wanted.

So, I became…DA, DA, DA…an Industrial Engineer. This career has afforded me the ability to travel all over the world! India, Australia, all over Europe and North Africa, as well as many spots in the US. I am about efficiency and optimization in my life, so extending this to work was not a stretch. I am thankful for all of it.

I find myself now, after 17 years, not employed and enjoying some time to come back to me. Write, cook, have coffee early with nowhere to be. And I have to say that it is liberating and exciting…as well as a bit scary. Getting back to reflecting on what I really liked before pressure set in somewhere in High School reveals a lot..

Anyhow, I wanted to drop a couple other poems that I found in my garage while purging all of our junk. They are apparently odes to spring from a roundabout 8 year old and remind me that positivity is inherently inside me. I live for the cool and beautiful things out there, even when things are a bit off kilter!

Enjoy this masterful poetry from an 8 year old K. Jones!

The Poems

Just a note that if a butterfly were to land on me, I would 100% lose my $hit and freak like a maniac. Butterflies are great, but any flying creature is preferred to not be close to my being. Not sure why I was feeling brave on this poem writing day! hahaha

Cherry bourbon pork chops

Pork chops are a regular on the menu here at the Frias house. It is a rare occurrence that we do not have at least a couple packages in the freezer, waiting to be prepped for a weeknight meal. And what is better than pork with a sweet bourbon, cherry sauce? I daresay, nothing!!

We order kurobuta bone-in pork chops from a food delivery service called Crowd Cow. It is more expensive than running to the local grocery, but once we got a taste of these pork chops, they have remained a bit of a splurge. They are truly delicious!! The chops originate from a coalition of family farmers under the name True Story. In addition to being well marbled and tasty, they are also guaranteed to be humanely raised, which is always a good thing in my book. If you are a lover of a good pork chop, I 100% can recommend you check these babies out!

To brine or not to brine?

Brining is the infusion of salt and sugar into proteins in order to make them more tender and tastier, sometimes. This is achieved by dissolving salt and sugar into a liquid base, sometimes adding herbs or spices. Because these pork chops have beautiful marbling, they absolutely do not NEED to be brined. Simple seasoning will do the trick. However, I do brine on occasion, just to switch up the flavor profile. Also, if you order your meats from a company such as Crowd Cow or Butcher Box (also recommended), they come to you completely frozen. A trick that I use is to use the brine as a means to more quickly defrost the chops on the day that I want to cook them.

Because this recipe has bourbon and cherries to add natural sweetness, it would be perfect to simply season liberally with salt and pepper and save yourself some steps. If you decide to brine, my standby recipe for any pork chop, roast or loin can be found here below. If not, jump to the Ingredient list.

Simple Pork Brine

1 gallon cold water

1 cup kosher salt

1 cup white or light brown sugar

If desired:

1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half

Small handful of peppercorns

2 star anise

small handful or coriander and/or allspice seeds

Rosemary or Thyme sprigs

Instruction/Notes:

Add ingredients into large bowl. Cover and brine for 1hour in refrigerator, if not frozen. If frozen, expect 3-4 hours of brining time.

The above amounts will cover 4-6 pork chops, based on size. If cooking fewer, reduce all ingredients in half.

Ingredients

This recipe was based on a Jamie Oliver recipe for Peachy Pork Chops. I changed it up a bit in order to try something new, replacing peaches with cherries and upping the Bourbon content. You can find the original recipe on the Jamie Oliver website. Note that there are many free recipes on his site and most, if not all, are worth trying.

2 bone-in pork chops, 2 sprigs rosemary, 3/4 pound of cherries, 1/3 cup bourbon, 1 garlic head, cut in half, leaving top intact (see pic), 2 tbsp. grapeseed or veggie oil, salt and pepper

Instruction

Halve and pit the cherries

If you have brined your chops, pat completely dry and pepper both sides. Do not add salt. If you have not brined, pat dry and salt and pepper generously.

If there is a large fat strip on the edge of your pork chops, score with a sharp knife to prevent the chop from curling up

Heat oil in the pan on medium/high heat (I prefer cast iron or HexClad) until shimmering and place chops into pan, away from you. Make sure they have strong contact with pan for best browning

Cook chops 4-5 mins on each side. Using tongs, turn the chops onto their sides to ensure the edges get browned. Remove and set aside. Internal temp should be 140-145 F

Reduce heat to medium. Add a bit more oil, if pan is dry. Add the cherries, rosemary sprigs and garlic (cut side down) to the pan. Sautee, moving cherries about until slightly softened

Return pork chops to pan. Add bourbon and carefully light with match to set the flambee. Be sure to step back as you light it. As you can see below, it can get a little wild! If you prefer not to light the bourbon, simply allow to burn off for a few mins until the smell of the bourbon is not quite as strong and it has reduced. If you do Flambee, allow flames to subside and plate up, allowing pork to rest approx. 5 mins. Allow each person eating to squeeze as much or as little garlic out of the garlic head, to add some buttery garlic flavor to complement the sweet bourbon and cherries! YUM!

Note that the flame shown below subsided immediately and no family members, animals or husbands were hurt in the making of these pork chops!

Perfect accompaniment

If you want to add some color and additional nutrition to your meal, when you add the pork chops back to the pan, include a small bunch of cleaned and trimmed asparagus. Once you remove the pork chops and cherries, check tenderness of the asparagus and allow to cook up to 5 minutes more until done to your liking. And, this adds a bit of nutritional balance!

Pro Tip

If you are new to the flambee situation, be sure to have someone who can not only take your pictures, but take action when the fire gets out of hand! So, thanks, John, for the backup!!

If you enjoy cooking and eating this recipe, take a look at my recipe for a quick and easy pork loin, plantain and veg dinner!

Bun Cha – Grilled Vietnamese pork patties

This is a recipe that I saw prepared some years ago on America’s Test Kitchen. This one is right up my alley because it is bold in flavor and is not just about the protein component, ground pork. It also has an amazing sauce, noodles and loads of greens.

What makes Bun Cha extra special? The sauce is pure flavor, the pork patties are juicy due to the use of a small amount of baking soda used, and the addition of mint as a core green element adds an unexpected, but exciting twist to the dish.

I followed the core America’s Test Kitchen recipe, making a few tweaks that I will include in the below Bun Cha recipe!

Bun Cha – Grilled Vietnamese pork patties

Recipe by kristenCourse: Food, Kristen Cooks
Servings

6

servings
Cooking time

30

minutes
Calories

410

kcal

Ingredients

  • Pork Patties
  • 1 lb. ground pork

  • 1 large shallot, finely chopped

  • 1 Tbsp. fish sauce, such as A Taste of Thai

  • 2 Tsp. sugar

  • 1/2 Tsp. baking soda

  • 1 Tsp. ground pepper

  • Noodles and Salad
  • 8 oz. of rice noodles. I selected the wider, linguini style, but vermicelli would be amazing as well.

  • 2/3 of an English cucumber, peeled, cut in half, with seeds taken out. Slice into half moons, a little under 1/2 inch thick

  • 1 cup of fresh, washed cilantro, end of stems cut, but balance included

  • 3/4 cup fresh mint, very lightly chopped, leaving in large chunks

  • Lettuce of your choice. Typical recipe calls to chop Boston Bibb lettuce, but I love leaving the Boston lettuce in full leaves to use for wrapping, if making smaller pork patties

  • Sauce
  • 3 Tbsp. sugar

  • 1-2 garlic cloves, your choice

  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice

  • 2/3 cup hot water

  • 4-5 Tbsp. fish sauce. Start with 4, taste and adjust

  • 1 Thai or serrano chili, stem removed and minced

Directions

  • Cook rice noodles per package instructions. Rinse and lay out on tray to pat them dry. Set aside
  • Assemble cilantro, mint, lettuce and cucumber on serving tray and refrigerate until other ingredients are ready
  • Build the sauce – if you have a mortar and pestle, mash 1 Tbsp. of the sugar, chili, and garlic into a fine paste. Mix with the hot water in a bowl, add the remaining sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the fish sauce and lime, whisk up and set aside. Alternatively, if you do not have a mortar and pestle, add all ingredients into a small food processor and chop until chili is fine and all is fully combined
  • For the pork patties – combine the pork, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, baking soda, and pepper in a bowl. The recipe calls for dividing the meat mixture into 12 patties. I divide into 6, to make the grilling easier, but either way works just fine. It is a matter of preference
  • Grill patties as you would a typical burger on your charcoal or gas grill. For smaller patties, higher heat and quick 3-4 mins per side will do it. If dividing into 6 larger burgers, lower the heat slightly and extend cooking time to get an inner temp of 155-160 F. There should be a nice char on the outside with a deliciously juicy inside!
  • Here is where there is some ability to tailor to taste. Typically, the patties are put into the bowl of sauce and tossed to coat before serving. If some like it real zesty at your table and others do not, serve the sauce on the side, allowing each diner to decide the amount of sauce for their noodles, greens and pork patty
  • Serve patties on tray with veg. and bowl up the noodles and sauce so individual plates can be tailored to taste
  • ENJOY!

Notes

  • This is a perfect recipe for mixing things up. Vary your noodles and veg, perhaps adding in some crunchy elements, such as carrot or radish. Have fun with it!
Bun cha pork patties with rice noodles and zesty sauce

If this recipe tickles your fancy, check out my Asian inspired veggie salad feast recipe, which also is veggie forward with a bit of spice to it!

Turkey, cheddar, apple sandwich

Who doesn’t love a sandwich? Easy, flexible and quick! However, adding a small twist can take a sandwich recipe from run of the mill to ooh la la! Add a side of crispy fries or chips and you have a winning lunch or dinner!

Years ago, my husband and I stayed at a small inn in Newburyport, MA called the Garrison Inn. At breakfast, I opted for a bacon, cheddar and apple sandwich on an English Muffin. This, at the time, sounded very strange, but interesting to me. It was amazing and changed how I thought about everyday ingredients! I have since become a huge advocate of sweet mixed with savory. Think pork chops with cherry sauce, or chicken and apples. Simply delicious! This sandwich recipe is my ode to the Garrison Inn and the amazing, creative menu that they had and, it appears, still have!

Ingredients

Instruction

Heat half of the butter in a frying pan. Once it is just beginning to brown, press 2 of the slices of bread into pan, giving enough pressure to ensure entire surface is against the pan. I typically even put my tea kettle on top, to ensure the bottom is making good contact with the pan. Let sizzle until bread is browned and crispy and remove. Set aside. Repeat with other 2 slices of bread. I found this brand, “Jessica’s Brick Oven” and it is amazing! Hearty, healthy and delicious. However, I could see many other multigrain, hearty white or other breads that would fit the bill just perfectly.

Place apple on its’ side and slice 1/4″ slices from center of the apple. Snack on the outer bits, while you finish making your sandwiches! Note, for stability, if you cut one side of the apple flat and lay it on that flat side, you will have the stability to cut your slices without the apple rolling around. Just cut only enough to make a flat surface and not impact the ability to have round slices at the center of the apple.

Assemble 2 sandwiches, splitting the apple, turkey, cheddar and arugula amongst the slices of bread. Serve any remaining apple slices on the side. I think a sandwich is perfect with ruffled potato chips, like the reduced fat Utz ripples mentioned above, but an apple slaw, salad or any veggie side would be amazing with this sweet and savory treat!

Tips

Go for the salted butter and do not skimp! This gives a sumptuousness to the sandwich that allows you to skip adding condiments

Super sharp cheddar is what you want here. It has the bite that is the ying to the apple yang!

Sub in lettuce, if you do not have arugula on hand, but the arugula is the peppery bite that makes this sammie extra special!

If you are a huge fan of using condiments…go for it. Olive oil, mayo or even avocado could make this a flavor bomb, if that is your thing! Have fun with it!

If you like this recipe, you may also like my recipe for warm Venetian salad, which mixes greens, chicken, prosciutto cotto, sourdough bread and pears! Yum!