An Amazing Mango Barbecue Sauce AND A Fantastic Coconut Curry Sauce

 

Sorry for my irregular posting lately, but I had a young man, known as my son, visiting. I made him one of my new favorite recipes. Well, it was new to ME, it was actually posted in 2008. I love it when I find a new recipe I like so much that it turns into a regular addition to my repertoire.

This Mango Barbecue Sauce was originally written for swordfish. I have been making it with chicken, though. There is also an amazing Coconut Curry Sauce, which gets stirred into the accompanying rice and served on the side as well.

I changed up the coconut sauce to adapt it to what I had handy at the time. I liked it so much that I’ve actually never tried the original recipe.

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The first thing to do is to make a batch of my favorite barbecue sauce. (You can freeze whatever you don’t use for this recipe.) Then you add all kinds of good things to it. THAT becomes the Mango Barbecue Sauce. The original recipe calls for bottled sauce. I have tried it with KC Original and it’s okay. But homemade is always better. 

The barbecue sauce goes over the chicken as it cooks and is served alongside it too. The Coconut Curry Sauce is wonderful with the rice, but it would make a flavorful base for any main dish from chicken to vegetables.

Both sauces are so good, you’ll have no problem using them up. But if you need to, you can freeze them and then you’ll always have some on hand.

Chicken with Mango Barbecue Sauce (serves 4)

Printable recipe here.

4 large boneless and skinless chicken breasts (or any cut you prefer)
1 cup Mango Barbecue Sauce (recipe below)

1 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
1 cup Coconut Curry Sauce (recipe below)

chopped parsley, scallions or cilantro to garnish

Make Mango Barbecue Sauce and Coconut Curry Sauce.

Rinse rice well. Place in large heavy pot with 2 cups cold water. Bring to boil. Cover, turn heat down to low and cook for 15 minutes. (Some brands may say 20 minutes.) Remove from heat. With a fork, stir in ½ cup Coconut Curry Sauce. Cover and set aside on back of stove until ready to serve. It will stay hot for about 15 minutes.

Coat chicken generously with some of the Mango Barbecue Sauce. Grill, broil or sauté chicken breasts about 5 minutes on first side and 4 to 5 on the second side or until done and nicely browned.

Place a spoonful of rice on plate and a piece of chicken next to it. Spoon some additional mango barbecue sauce over the chicken and a bit of extra coconut curry sauce over the rice. Sprinkle over herbs or scallions. Serve with homemade mango or other fruit chutney, if desired.

  

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Mango Barbecue Sauce (makes 1 cup or so)

Adapted from Weheartfood.com's Mango Barbecued Swordfish recipe

 

½ cup My Barbecue Sauce (recipe below)

½ cup coconut milk
½ cup mango chutney
1 mango, peeled and diced

Combine all ingredients in food processor and purée until smooth. 

My Barbecue Sauce (makes 2 cups) 
Adapted from James Beard's Barbecue Sauce 

2 tbls. olive oil
1 enormous onion or 2 cups onion, chopped
½ tsp. Kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tablespoons supermarket chili powder
½ tsp. cayenne
1 cup ketchup
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. Tabasco
2 tbls. fresh lemon juice
2 tsps. dried basil or 2 tbls. fresh basil, chopped

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed medium pot. Add the onions and salt. Stir to mix well over medium high heat. When you hear a sizzle, stir in the garlic, cover and cook on low heat for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

When you lift the lid, there should be plenty of steam. If there isn't, raise the heat a bit, cover and continue to cook. The onions should be completely softened before you go any further. With heat on low, add the chili powder and cayenne. Stir over lowest heat for 3 minutes. (Okay, 2 minutes is better than nothing.) 

Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, covered. Use as is...OR let cool slightly and pour into food processor, fitted with the metal blade. Process until smooth. Cool before freezing.  

I like to put a bit on the chicken before it gets baked, broiled or grilled. Then about 15 minutes before the end of cooking, brush it on liberally. Serve (a lot) on the side too.

Coconut Curry Sauce (makes 2 cups)
1 cup coconut milk*
2 tbls. lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 cup peanut butter
½ cup chicken stock, plus more if needed.
2 tbls. red Thai curry paste

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine all ingredients and simmer for 8-10 minutes until somewhat thickened. If sauce is too thick, stir in a bit more stock. This will probably be necessary when heating up leftover sauce.

*Don’t use light coconut milk. It does nothing for the sauce. If you want to save some calories, use only ½ cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of stock. The sauce will be thinner, but you’ll have enough richness. You can freeze the leftover coconut milk. 

A Bacon Shortage – Is It Really From A Lack Of Soy Beans And Corn OR Is It Of Our Own Making?

A bacon shortage is coming. So says The National Pig Association of Britain in predicting an inadequate supply of bacon for the coming year.

I can’t help but think that part of this is our own fault. The many wacky new ways that folks use bacon has got to be at least a small factor in the impending bacon shortage.

Did we really need a Bacon Martini, otherwise known as a Bacontini? And what’s it made with? Bacon Vodka, of course. Was it really necessary to push Bacon Lollipops or Bacon Pickles?

And when Burger King adds bacon to a sundae, isn’t that a sign that the whole idea of adding bacon to just about anything has jumped the shark?

I never thought of myself as a bacon purist before. And maybe that's part of the problem. When all of us - as a collective nation - saw this bacon craze getting crazier and crazier, we just said, "Oh those wacky chefs and foodies. What will they think of next?" Well, THIS is what THAT has wrought! 

So much bacon has been dispensed in unlikely, and frankly unholy, places that those of us who have a piece (or two or five) with eggs every once in a while or a VERY infrequent club sandwich will now have to suffer!

What good did it do for the pet population to bulk up on bacon, or for kids to crave it in their popcorn if what’s left is not enough bacon for even the simplest uses? I’m very dis – GRUNT - led (get it?) with what may happen in the near future to these universally loved and now habitually overused strips of fatty and salty deliciousness.

Will I stockpile it? Absolutely not. The only thing I believe in stockpiling is ketchup and chocolate chips, because a shortage of those would be life-changing. However, if we had just said no when the first piece of bacon was dipped in chocolate, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. I urge everyone to stop putting bacon where it doesn’t belong! Maybe then we will have enough to go around when we really need it.

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Does this recipe qualify as one that requires bacon? I think so, because I would really hate to have to rethink it. It’s so super-easy and delicious. Maybe I could substitute kale for the bacon.

I’ll leave it to you to decide how much bacon to use. Using 4 pieces is grand, but you can certainly get away with 2 pieces if you’re conserving your bacon stash.

Scallops with Bacon (serves 3 or 2 nicely with leftovers)

Printable recipe here.

 

2 to 4 pieces of thick cut bacon

10 sage leaves

9 to 10 large sea scallops, scored with a small knife in a checkerboard pattern

¼ cup white wine

Fry bacon on medium low heat to render the fat. Pour out fat and reserve. Turn up heat to medium high and cook bacon until crisp, turning once. Remove from pan and set aside.

Pour bacon fat back into pan. Turn up heat to medium high, add sage leaves and fry until crisp. 

Remove and set aside. (You don’t really need all 10 sage leaves. You can test a few in advance of plating the scallops.)

Add large sea scallops to the pan and sear on one side for 2 minutes. Turn over and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. 

 

Meanwhile chop up the cooked bacon and reserve. Remove scallops from pan. Stir in white wine over medium high heat to deglaze the pan quickly.

Place hot Smashed Potatoes (recipe follows) on plate. Top with scallops and spoon over the deglazing juices. Top with the chopped bacon and fried sage leaves. (Peas and carrots make a nice accompaniment.)

Easy Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Cut 4 Yukon gold potatoes into large chunks. (Sometimes I peel them and sometimes I don’t.) Place in cold, well-salted, water with 3 or 4 unpeeled garlic cloves. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10 to 12 minutes until just done.

Spoon out the garlic cloves and set them aside. Drain the potatoes in a colander, reserving about a cup of the cooking water. Put the pan upside down on top of the potatoes and leave another 10 minutes. 

This will finish the cooking and they’ll be perfectly done.

Return the potatoes to the pan, press the boiled garlic on top using a garlic press, add about a quarter cup of the reserved cooking water, a bit of butter and some salt. Stir with a wooden spoon or mash with a potato masher. Taste for seasoning. Add more water if you need to, or butter or salt. Stir over heat until hot. 

Boys, Girls and Pasta Primavera Plus What Does It All Mean To Pioneer Woman?

Pioneer Woman with Ree Drummond

Girl Time and Burger Time

Fry Sauce

Pasta Primavera

Perfect Bacon Cheeseburgers

Perfect French Fries

Cantaloupe Granita

I’ve said this before. I don’t hate Pioneer Woman, BUT am I alone in thinking that this "Girl Time and Burger Time" show was a throwback to a time that I don’t really want to go back to?

This is how Ree puts it at the beginning and then at the end of the show: “The guys are away for a couple of days so it’s quality time for us girls and that means plenty of gardening, which WE love." (Yeah, right…) "And Pasta Primavera, which is the girls’ and my idea of heaven.”

Later: “Then it’s back to the real world – THE GUYS ARE COMING HOME! What better way to welcome to them than with one of our family’s favorite meals - perfect Bacon Cheeseburgers and homemade French fries and luscious ‘fry sauce’”? That last thing turns out to be Russian dressing, BTW.

Is it going overboard to think that Pioneer Woman is a bit of an anachronistic fossil, who is a horrible example to her girls and an even worse one to her sons?

Listen, I’m all for Girls Only occasions – shopping, drinking cosmos, going to chick flicks. But when these “special” days involve Girls Only manual or household labor, I just think WTH?

On “Day One” of “Girl Time”, PW asks the little Pioneer Teen-gals what they should all do while the boys are away.  They say, “Work in the garden.” 

Does Ree seriously expect us to believe that these two American teenagers are actually picking USING a hoe over shopping like one? But somehow, Pioneer Woman has two daughters who prefer the land over the mall.  

It’s not that I’m against manual labor for kids, especially if they’re doing something that I’m supposed to do and now I don’t have to, BUT I’m against GIRLS ONLY manual labor in exactly the same way that I would be against an activity reserved only for boys. (Okay, the boys can have football, as long as the girls can be way ahead in college attendance.)

Ree leaves the girls slaving in the garden, while she starts the Pasta Primavera. She isn’t allowed to make this when the guys are around BECAUSE REAL MEN ONLY EAT MEAT. She should tell that to the arteries of her little boys in 40 years (heck TWENTY!) when there’s a problem. They DO get a lot of exercise, but does that counteract the effects of a complete lack of a plant-based diet?

The basic idea of Ree’s recipe is to sauté the vegetables in groups depending on their cooking time. Butter and oil go into the pan before each band of vegetables gets its turn. Carrots and broccoli go in first with a red pepper thrown in at the end. That gets put to one side and, after more butter and olive oil, the next bunch goes in – yellow squash, zucchini and mushrooms.

Ree tells us she’s so glad that she has daughters so she has automatic help in the garden every year. AHEM. Boys can weed too! “There’s something about country boys. They do NOT like helping with the garden. They just want to have grass everywhere…” I guess it’s for their roughhousing and wrasslin’ and tumbling around like BOYS do.

Ree removes the second group of vegetables. She adds more olive oil and more butter – we’re up to 6 tablespoons now – to the pan with half an onion and some garlic.

Next she adds wine, because she can’t do that “when her husband is around, because he can detect the slightest amount of wine in any recipe and who needs that hassle?” She adds just a little bit, because “her girls are joining” her. I wish she would make a project of sneaking as much wine as possible into everything her hubby eats. I think he could use some loosening up.* (See note at end.)

Ree adds chicken broth next and reduces it by half. We see the girls picking lots of basil (which Ree had requested) and putting it in a pretty woven basket. Lo and behold when they arrive at the house, they’re holding only a few sprigs in their hands. (Creative editing, I guess.)

Ree adds a ¼ cup of cream, seasonings and Parmesan and then frozen peas with the cooked vegetables and stirs that together. She says, “I just love it when my husband and boys go out of town. Just kidding, just kidding,” she hastily adds, lest we think she means it.

A bit more cheese and the chopped basil gets added to the pasta and Ree serves it up. Ree asks her girls what they should do with the 24 hours they have left until Daddy and the boys are back. They say (kind of under their breath and very well-rehearsed) “Gardening!” Ree is delighted.

The rest of the show is taken up with Ree forgetting about her special time with the girls and rushing around making sure everything is ready for the guys when they walk in the door.

She says since the guys will be home they need to bring the food “back down to earth”. Ummm, aren’t vegetables the most down to earth you can get…literally???!!!

Ree peels and deals with FIVE pounds of potatoes. She shows us different ways that she gets them into French fry shapes – with a knife; with a metal French fry molder; and a plastic box with blade assembly.

That last one is interesting. Ree puts the potatoes on top of a grid-like blade and then pushes down really hard. The potatoes get cut into perfect long fries as they fall into the box below.

Ree prefers this method because she says it allows her to get her aggressions out. Hmmm, interesting. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t see the plastic box that the French fries are trapped in as a metaphor for her own life, but I kind of do. (I may be reading more into all this than is warranted…but I like figuring out the esoteric meaning behind kitchen equipment.)

Ree soaks her potatoes while they wait to be cut and she soaks them after cutting them too...in order to remove excess starch. She’s still talking about how great her French fry cutter is. “There’s something strangely satisfying about getting all these aggressions out. I never knew I had such anger inside of me”  Wow! She’s really letting loose. See what happens when she’s man (and boy)less for a few days.

Back to the French fries, Ree says to soak them for at least 2 hours. It takes off the starches from the outside, she says, which can cause a problem when you fry them.

                         

Now she’s on a cooking countdown, because my, oh my, the guys will be home soon.

For the “fry sauce”, which is a sauce TO GO WITH THE FRIES, (lest you thought it was something more complicated) Ree mixes equal amounts of mayo and ketchup and calls it a day. I have no problem with that, but how about a bit of pickle juice and a chopped pickle? Oh wait, that might qualify as a vegetable and so the boys won’t eat it. Gawd!

Ree is apparently a proponent of the James Beard method of burgers. She adds a bit of heavy cream (with some Worcestershire sauce and seasoning) to her ground beef. She has 3 pounds of beef and she’s making SIX burgers, which, she proudly tells us, means that each burger will be a half pound each. I know there will be some shrinkage, but isn’t a burger that big kind of unnecessary?

Ree makes 6 identically-sized burgers, just by eyeballing it, which is kind of impressive. As she does that, she completely coats the griddle with butter and gets three buns going. Why do I think that the 3 buns made in advance (and, thus, not the freshly crisp and crusty ones) will be for her and the girls? And the boys will get the ones fresh off the grill…’cause they were away doing MAN things and they’re hungry!!!

Ree drains and dries the potatoes really well before frying. Next she is doing exactly the right thing. She follows the classic approach of twice-frying the potatoes in two different oil temperatures. The only thing that’s weird is that she acts like she invented the idea. She says she used to fry them in a single pot of oil and they didn’t come out right. Now that she gives them two fryings, they are perfect. Well, yeah, that’s how the French do it, and they know a thing or two about fine cookin'.

Ree fries the potatoes in vegetable oil first at 300°F for 5 minutes to soften them, but not to brown them. Then she raises the temperature to 400°F and fries them for a few minutes more. She does take them out a bit prematurely for my taste. (I like them browner.) But Ree makes the point that they continue cooking after coming out of the oil. She also reminds us to put hot oil on the back burner if you have kids around. 

She’s happy Ladd (Lance?) isn’t around because he always eats all the fries before she can serve them.

Ree cooks the burgers and tops them with cheddar. She sprinkles some sea salt on the fries and assembles the burgers on the “yummy buttery buns” and tops each one with a piece of bacon. Her timing is perfect, because, lookie here, the boys have JUST arrived. Ree yells Yay! Little Whoever He Is says “Hi Mama.” She piles the burgers on the plates with fries. Not even a tomater on the plate. I’d even count ketchup as a vegetable at this point.

The recipes list a Cantaloupe Granita. I don’t know where I was when she made that, but maybe I would have been in better mood if I’d seen a lovely finish to the meal. (PS Adding a bit of vodka to it would ensure that it didn’t freeze solid. Oh, but maybe Mr. Cow-Husband would object.)

So what have we learned? It’s more fun when the guys are away. (Can’t really disagree.) And gardening is the main thing to get accomplished during that precious time. (Couldn’t disagree more.) 

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*Note: I’ve really come a long way (or regressed you might say). Apparently, at one time, I was completely against Ree sneaking alcohol into Ladd’s food.  Now? Not so much. The kitchen appears to be the one place where Ree has a modicum of independence and I think she should do whatever she has to in order to hold on to her own identity…even if it’s a splash of vodka or wine here and there. A few shots probably wouldn’t hurt either. 

Paula Is Amazed By A $50,000 Burger And I HAVE To Try It

Chinese Chicken Burger with Rainbow Slaw

Paula's Best Dishes with Paula Deen

Burger Showdown

Macaroni Salad

Chinese Chicken Burgers with Rainbow Sesame Slaw

Butter Bacon Burgers

Paula is having a friend in the kitchen with her today – Brigitte Nguyen who won $50,000 for a Chinese Chicken Burger!!! Brigitte thinks it’s just a fun visit to show off her burger, but Paula hasn’t told her that she’s actually going to pit their two burgers against each other in an impromptu cook-off to see who will reign supreme. 

Apparently Brigitte is the host of “From the kitchen of...” I have no clue what that is, but maybe it’s a reworking of Diners, Dives… with less spiky hair. Dunno.

They start with Paula’s Butter Bacon Burger. Brigitte gets to work frying the bacon, while Paula seasons her ground beef with salt, pepper and garlic powder!!!* (See note at end.)  

Next Paula adds her secret ingredient – cold butter. She cuts up A STICK of butter and adds it to the meat so that as the burger cooks, the butter melts and results in a juicy, rich burger. She’s using one stick of butter for 2 pounds of ground beef.

Paula sprays her grill (I wish she didn’t do that) and asks Brigitte if she prefers a thin or thick burger. “I’ll have it any way you make it,” Brigitte says. Paula forms relatively thin burgers and puts them on the hot grill.

Paula says she never thought about participating in cooking contests. Brigitte says, “People have such amazing ideas.” We see the burgers sizzling on the grill. It actually looks like they’re swimming in butter. 

I like a slightly different approach, but using the same idea – putting just a SINGLE pat of butter in the middle of each hamburger. It achieves a similar effect, but with a lot less butter. Ina is one proponent of that method. (Of course, Ina also includes SIX – extra large - egg yolks in her recipe, which definitely cancels out the benefits of the smaller amount of butter. I don’t think hamburgers need egg yolks.) I just like adding some chopped onions, which Paula’s boy does.

Two other little trucs with hamburgers:

Put an ice chip in the middle of each burger to ensure a pink center. 

Add a bit of heavy cream à la James Beard. It guarantees a moist burger.

Paula tells Brigitte that she has inspired her to come up with all kinds of burgers. Paula gives Brigitte a tour of all the hamburgers she’s tried out. There are quite a few on display, the most notable of which is her “Hamdog” - an oval hamburger with a halved hot dog on top between two pieces of white bread.  

Paula gets her buns ready.  Oh, they’re REAL buns that have to be sliced in half. Then - this is smart - she puts them cut side down on the grill to soak up the buttery juices that the hamburgers left behind. I like that idea.

Paula tops the burgers with American cheese. She gives Brigitte the bun and burger and invites her to top it with anything she likes. They both put bacon on and Paula says she uses the things that her mother and grandmother put on the table – mustard and mayonnaise.

Brigitte says that’s why she cooks. “I’m always chasing that memory – that flavor…and when it smells like my mom’s kitchen, that’s when I know I’ve done something right.” Well said. Paula says, “That’s brilliant – chasing memories”.

They finish garnishing their burgers – lettuce, pickles…no ketchup? Brigitte says it’s going to be “a five napkin burger”.  Paula says it’s an elbow licker. Brigitte loves the Butter Bacon Burger. Of course, she does. Paula IS two inches away, but it does look really good.

Next they make Paula’s favorite side dish with burgers – macaroni salad. Brigitte admires Paula’s scoops. Paula says, “Don’t you just love those scoops?” I do too, but they ARE pricey.  $265!!! (That IS with the stand though.)

Paula has Brigitte chopping onions. She does it the classic way - root end on, then horizontal, vertical and downward cuts to produce a perfect dice.

Paula tells her she serves her macaroni salad WARM just like her pa-tay-da salad. Brigitte is impressed. I’m not sure I would like that.

Paula says she MAY HAVE failed to mention something to Brigitte. Brigitte sweetly asks what’s that? Paula basically says she's invited a boatload of people to taste both burgers, so they can have a contest to see who made the better burger. Brigitte calls Paula a “trickster”. Paula can handle it; she’s been called far worse. Brigitte gets over the shock and says it sounds fun.

They finish the macaroni salad with grated carrot (by hand on a box grater).

I really hate my box grater and, honestly, the only time it’s used is when I have someone in the kitchen with lousy cooking skills and I don’t trust them with a knife, food processor or, heaven forbid, my new favorite thing - the mandolin.

They mix the vegetables in a bowl – carrots, onions and celery (including the leaves). I just saw a recipe somewhere else too that uses the leaves of the celery. I never use them OR the inside stalks. They’re too bitter.

Paula adds A LOT of mayo, which she immediately justifies by saying that the pasta will absorb a lot of it.  I think she should just own it. She LIKES mayo. (SO do I. I would have it on toast every morning, if no one were watching.)

Paula lost me when she adds relish and pimento. “Pimentahhh”, Brigitte repeats. To me, jarred pimento is a total waste of space on any supermarket or pantry shelf. There’s only one place where I can stand it - tucked inside olives that get sliced for Chicken Marbella. The little red accents look really pretty.

Brigitte peels the hard boiled eggs. Paula says she normally just “does them up in her hand”. I guess she just squooshes them. But they’re too hot, so she puts them in the bowl and just loosy-goosy smashes them with a fork. Huh? Why?

She’s going to have irregularly-sized pieces of whites and mushed up masses of yolks throughout the salad.  If she wants mashed yolks, why doesn’t she add the yolks to the dressing and then chop up the whites properly and add THAT to the salad? I don’t get it.

Plus let’s be honest - serving the salad WARM and having hardboiled eggs in it is kind of icky.

Paula makes the excellent point that she needs to drain the pasta “real good”, because the elbows in the macaroni hold on to the water. Brigitte gets it. She says that will thin out the nice dressing that Paula made.

Paula pours the pasta into a huge colander and really shakes it with a lot of muscle. “Who said I don’t exercise?!!” she exclaims. It goes back in the pot and she stirs it over heat for a second to really make sure to get rid of the water. They mix everything together, taste it and love it.

They move on to making the $50,000 dollar CHICKEN burger. "CHICKEN???," Paula asks. Yup, says Brigitte. It’s good she brought her own ground chicken. Paula asks her about the win. She won it in 2009 on Derby Day, but not at Churchill Downs.

She has Paula mix together the ground chicken, soy sauce and sugar. SUGAR?!! Paula says. Yup, let’s sweeten it up, Brig says. Sesame oil is the next ingredient and Brigitte asks Paula if she likes sesame oil. She says she does but a little goes a long way. Read that as “I’ll add sesame oil if you tell me to, but my southern friends are SO voting for MY butter burger”.

Brig adds in SIX cloves of (fresh) garlic. How COULD Paula use garlic powder? Ick! Fresh chopped lemongrass and scallions also go in.

Maybe I misread Miss Paula. She says the sesame oil smells good, good, GOOD, as she’s mixing up the whole thing.

(Do you take off your rings when you cook? I love that Paula leaves her huge rocks on even when she’s diving into a mess of raw meat or chicken. The easiest way to lose a ring is to take it off.)

Brigitte tells her to divide it up into six little burgers. She throws them on to her grill pan. Paula has made Brigitte’s burgers really flat and they’re kind of uneven around the edges. Is she doing that to give herself an advantage in the burger contest?

They move on to the rainbow slaw and chat a bit about her big win. Paula says that the contest really changed her life. Brigitte explains that she got a cooking show on the Cooking Channel out of it. Oh, the Cooking Channel... That's why I’m unfamiliar with it. I really need to find out what number that channel is. Brigitte says all these good things came from cooking and entering contests. She seems really sweet.

Paula says,”SOMETIMES to win the game, all you have to do is show up.” I’m glad Brigitte takes that as a compliment. Couldn’t she also be saying it doesn’t matter what crappy thing you make as long as you put yourself out there?

They spend the next few minutes spouting truisms: Paula: “Be willing to SHOW up.” Brigitte: “Get your game face on.”  Paula: “Take a risk. Put yourself on the line.”  Brigitte: “It’s good to do something that scares you every once in a while. You can’t get too comfortable.”

I can’t disagree with any of that, even though I just want to see this $50,000 burger. I didn’t sign up for Tony Roberts in a big grey wig...or a sleek black one.  

Paula is super-impressed with the way Brigitte cuts her red pepper. She tries it herself. Paula cuts the top and bottom off the pepper and cuts down the side “wedging” her knife between the skin and ribs, “unrolling” the pepper as she goes. . She continues on and she’s left with a flat pepper with no center stem or ribs. Very nice.

Paula flips the burgers. She’s kind of burned them. Oh, Brigitte says that’s what she wants - the caramelization from the sugar that she put in the burger.

Brigitte finishes her “Faux Slaw”. She shows Paula the jicama and says you can use cucumbers instead. Paula’s game for the jicama. Brigitte mixes in julienned sugar snap peas, some chili sauce and rice wine vinegar. The chili sauce looks like sriracha. (Oh it is. Good. And that's not in the recipe.) This next step is cool. Right before the chicken burgers come off the grill, Brigitte spreads some hoisin sauce on them. Yum.

Brigitte has Paula add soy sauce to the slaw as she adds sesame oil and a bit of sugar. She makes a spicy mayo with lime zest and juice and a squirt of hot sauce. 

That’s almost my recipe for chili lime mayo, which I put on everything from tortillas and frittatas to…well, actually that IS what I put it on – Spanish tortillas and frittatas. (I leave out the sriracha and put in tons of chili powder, which is the one and only time I don’t cook the chili powder before I use it.)

Paula says (to us) that she’s really, REALLY curious to see what a $50,000 burger tastes like. (She has a bit of an edge in her voice. Let’s she if thinks it was worth it.)

Brigitte puts the spicy mayo on each side of the bun. The burger goes on and is topped with the slaw. Paula takes a BIG bite and says, “It is SO good.” Brigitte says, “Music to my ears.” But then immediately after, Paula asks if she’s up to the competition. Brigitte says she’s ready.

Paula puts her hands on Brigitte’s shoulders and looks into her eyes and says, “No matter how this ends, we will still be friends.” She neglects to mention that she will never speak again to the people who dare to vote for Brigitte’s burger…but with Brigitte, she’ll be fine. Paula adds, “I will try not to get mad.” Then she gives a huge cackle. I think it may be all right, no matter the outcome.

They go out to the (beautiful) outdoor kitchen. Paula introduces Brigitte to her (bestest) friends – Coach Sam, Carolyn, Brandon, Donna and Sarah. Yeah, sure, Brigitte has a chance…Not! They dig in to each burger. Paula says (to us) she’s really not sure which one will be chosen. She says, “I could lose, y’all.”

Oh gosh, who’s going to win? I say they’ll tie. Let’s see:

Sam says he gives “1 pec dance” to the first burger and 2 to the second burger. I'm not sure which is which...

Paula gets a turn. She does? And she gives the same points to each WITH a pec dance thrown in. (THAT'S a sight!) Carolyn and Donna vote for the chicken burger, because it's so different. Brandon chooses the chicken burger saying it was like a party in his mouth. Brigitte votes for the classic butter burger. (Of course, she does. She knows which side of the bun her mayo is on…or however that goes.)

Paula says that means they’re tied – so I guess the Coach voted for hers and Paula's vote was cancelled out. Sarah has to break the tie. She votes for the chicken burger. Paula tells them whose burger was whose. I wonder if they really didn’t know. AND she tells them that Brigitte won $50,000 for this burger. Donna says WOW!!!

Paula says she will happily come in second and she says Brigitte’s burger really was unique and quite delicious. I love a gracious loser. Actually, I like a gracious winner too and Brigitte was that and more.

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I had to try this recipe. The burger was pretty fabulous and so were the extras.

A few notes: I ground my own chicken breasts, (that sounds like something Paula would say) by pulsing them in the food processor. There are a lot of liquid-y additions and so the mixture is pretty soft, but just do the best you can shaping it.

I wish I had made my burgers thinner like Paula did, because I had a bit of a hard time deciding when they were done. They definitely were not cooked inside when the outside was a gorgeous crusty (not burned) brown, so making them thinner would have helped.   

 

The dressing for the slaw was delicious, but I used whatever vegetables I wanted – red cabbage, red pepper and snow peas. Darn good. And the mayo was wonderful.

Was this recipe worth $50,000? Well, it wasn’t my money and I mightily enjoyed the burger and will be making them again, so, sure, why not? 

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*I feel there’s only one place for garlic powder and that’s in a rub used in blackened chicken, fish, or whatever. Real garlic would burn and turn bitter long before you got the blackened color you were after. 

Watermelon Gazpacho And A Delicious Invention

I had this thought to make gazpacho and to use watermelon in place of half of the tomatoes. I thought swapping out some of the tomatoes would...well, actually, I don’t know what I thought. I just saw watermelon in the store and the idea came to me.

Whenever I make gazpacho, I always double the recipe because I love it so much and I use no oil or bread, so it’s a guilt-free pleasure. That made it easy to make one batch with watermelon and one with tomatoes. It also allowed me to taste them separately...just for fun. The interesting thing is that I had NO idea how good the watermelon gazpacho would be on its own. It was sooo good, in fact, that I kind of regretted not making TWO batches of it and forgetting about the tomato gazpacho.

But since I had made both of them, I did some experimenting. I tasted my usual tomato gazpacho. Excellent, as always. Then, as I said, I tasted the watermelon gazpacho and it was SUPERB!

Left: Watermelon Gazpacho; Right: Tomato Gazpacho 

This may not have been a wine tasting, but I did seriously set to the task of tasting the differences between the two. With the watermelon gazpacho, I got more sweet notes. With the tomato, the sour, tangy taste of the vinegar was more pronounced. Also the watermelon one was definitely lighter. Interestingly, the tomato gazpacho tasted almost hearty next to the watermelon one. It was noticeably more filling.

Next, I mixed one spoonful of each together. Wow! It was amazing. I moved on to a half cup of each stirred together. I wasn't imagining it! It was seriously yummy. But just in case, I stored them separately and then I served H (who is a great fan of my regular gazpacho) a bowl of the two mixed together. He liked it too…A LOT.

Left: Watermelon Gazpacho; Center: both gazpachos mixed; Right: Tomato Gazpacho 

I had thought maybe the watermelon would overpower the tomato, but it didn’t. It smoothed out the rough edges and made the gazpacho even more delicious. The two together resulted in a slightly more mellow version of gazpacho, not as acidic.

So here are the two recipes. Most of the ingredients are the same, except I used a green pepper with the tomato gazpacho and a red pepper with the watermelon. Try what I did - Make them separately, taste them alone and then mix some together and see what you think. Let me know. The two together may become my new favorite gazpacho.

(What about gazpacho made with YELLOW tomatoes, YELLOW  peppers AND... YELLOW watermelon? Mmm.)

Watermelon Gazpacho (serves 4-6)

adapted from Penelope Casas’ Gazpacho Andaluz in The Foods and Wines of Spain

4 to 5 cups cut-up watermelon chunks

1 small can tomato juice (5.5 oz. to 6 oz.)

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and cut into 4 pieces

1 red pepper, cored and halved

¼ cup of roughly chopped onion

1 clove garlic, peeled and center stalk removed

4 tbls. red wine vinegar

¼ tsp. sugar

¼ Kosher salt

Optional for garnish:

watermelon balls, diced cucumber, green pepper and onion

Place all ingredients (except for garnish) in blender. Blend until smooth. Pass through the smaller disc of a food mill (easy) or strain through a large sieve (more difficult) pressing out as much liquid as possible. Taste for seasoning. Chill well. Serve with watermelon and vegetable garnishes, if desired.

Tomato Gazpacho (serves 4-6)

adapted from Penelope Casas’ Gazpacho Andaluz in The Foods and Wines of Spain

Printable recipe here.

4 to 5 cups cut-up fresh tomatoes (I used beefsteak. Roma are good too)

1 small can tomato juice (5.5 oz. to 6 oz.)

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and cut into 4 pieces

1 green pepper, cored and halved

¼ cup of roughly chopped onion

1 clove garlic, peeled and center

4 tbls. red wine vinegar

¼ tsp. sugar

¼ Kosher salt

Optional for garnish:

diced cucumber, red pepper and onion

Place all ingredients (except for garnish) in blender. Blend until smooth. Pass through the smaller disc of a food mill (easy) or strain through a large sieve (more difficult) pressing out as much liquid as possible. Taste for seasoning. Chill well. Serve with vegetable garnishes, if desired.  

Left: Watermelon Gazpacho; Center: both gazpachos mixed; Right: Tomato Gazpacho