Ok, some recent stuff.
Coupla porkies the other day, turned one into carnitas to take to work for Taco Tuesday/Cinco de Mayo, the other into just plain pulled pork. I think I've eaten off these 4 or 5 times this week.
The Boy called me at work the other day and asked me if I would make smashburgers for him when I got home. A request like that can't be denied, can it? Not sure if I posted this one earlier already, but oh well.
I used dual 3.5oz patties, the time before I did 2.5oz, I think next time I'll go with 3 oz and call it good. Didn't get any other pics, because doing smashburgers goes QUICK and I don't have much time to do anything but cook 'em. American cheese is the only way to go with these, and toasted brioche buns is the bomb. I did mix in a little Italian sausage with the ground beef. Could definitely taste it. I had 2 lbs of beef and ended up putting in, oh, maybe 10 oz of Italian sausage. I don't think I'd want to do more, it is pretty strong. Maybe next time even less, you want it to be a burger with a little extra kick, not overly heavy on the sausage flavor IMO. If I had some straight ground pork, maybe go 1/2 and 1/2.
Last night I decided to try something new. I got a hankerin' for cornbread, and found a packet of cornbread mix in the cupboard - Shawnee Mills, not Jiffy. I didn't want it to be dry, though, so I changed it up a little bit and it came out great. It calls for 3/4 cup milk and 1 egg. I cut the milk to 1/2 cup and added about 1/3 cup sour cream and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Also just a smidge of sugar - maybe 1 1/2 teasons or so, 2 max. I didn't want it truly sweet, just a tiny hint, perhaps. If you like sweet cornbread, then 1-2 tablespoons in this mix - but this was for a savory/Mexican dish. Then I added in about a 1/2 can of leftover canned corn from the fridge and mixed in some cheese - I used about, oh, 1/2 cup of mixed colby jack and muenster. I grated them up to use in what is below.
So here is the finished product:
Cast iron, preheated in oven at 425.
I mixed up some cooked breakfast sausage I found in the freezer - maybe a little over a pound? Pound and a half? You could do this with ground beef, too, or a mix of ground beef and sausage, which is a combo we use a lot for nachos, tacos, burritos, various things. So I mixed this cooked sausage with a drained can of corn and Ranch Style beans. Of course, you could add about anything you want to this. Laid all this down in the cast iron, sprinkled some salt, Tony Chachere's and some chili powder, then covered it quite liberally with the mixed muenster/colby jack grated cheese, and poured over this mixture the cornbread batter with the corn and cheese in it. Threw it in the 425F oven for 20 minutes, checked it, did another 3 minutes, and it was perfect.
You can see my fine china here.
I'll tell you, for a super super easy dish - literally 10 minutes' prep and that was hand grating two blocks of the cheese - this was incredible.
Adding the sour cream and vegetable oil changed the texture of the cornbread immensely. It wasn't dry and crumbly, it was moist and had a little 'pull' to it (probably a little of the cheese in there helped, too), just a fabulous texture for this dish. So this ends up being kind of like a Mexican-style shepherd's pie, and we loved it. I am going to eat it today for lunch, hell, I'm salivating wondering if I should eat it for breakfast! lol
You could throw in green chiles, you could use cheddar (I really love muenster with most all Mexican dishes), add in some jalapenos, i would have done a little more salt. Could add in some more veggies in the filling, like some little finely diced potatoes, I thought about some peas or green beans, but didn't think they would go well with the Mexican theme. To the beans, sausage/beef and corn you could add a can of Rotel, something like that. I do think the absolute key, though, is a heavy layer of cheese between the bottom filling and the cornbread.
One packet of cornbread mix ended up giving me about 1/2-3/4" of cornbread layer on top. I thought it wasn't going to be enough and wished I had done 2 packets (didn't have 2), but it actually ended up being about the right ratio, really. More would have been too much, I think. Although, I can't stress enough how changing up the cornbread batter with the sour cream and vegetable oil changed the texture and made it absolutely perfect for this dish.
Oh, and the cheese bubbled out the sides and formed a little layer of crusty/crispy cheese around the edges of the cornbread against the cast iron... yowza, that was good stuff. I was contemplating a little more cheese on the top of the cornbread just before finishing cooking, but honestly, the cornbread was moist enough and held together well, it really did NOT need it.
You guys gotta try this recipe. My wife didn't believe I 'made it up' outta my head, I didn't get the idea somewhere. I really didn't. I wanted to make the cornbread more moist, so I did look up the sour cream and vegetable oil trick, but the rest was just outta my noggin. I'm super proud of myself, lol, if you can't tell. Next time, I'll go a little heavier on the salt, and I'll think of something else to throw in the bottom filling mixture, but overall I give this dish a 9 for taste and a 10 for super duper ease of prep.
Coupla porkies the other day, turned one into carnitas to take to work for Taco Tuesday/Cinco de Mayo, the other into just plain pulled pork. I think I've eaten off these 4 or 5 times this week.
The Boy called me at work the other day and asked me if I would make smashburgers for him when I got home. A request like that can't be denied, can it? Not sure if I posted this one earlier already, but oh well.
I used dual 3.5oz patties, the time before I did 2.5oz, I think next time I'll go with 3 oz and call it good. Didn't get any other pics, because doing smashburgers goes QUICK and I don't have much time to do anything but cook 'em. American cheese is the only way to go with these, and toasted brioche buns is the bomb. I did mix in a little Italian sausage with the ground beef. Could definitely taste it. I had 2 lbs of beef and ended up putting in, oh, maybe 10 oz of Italian sausage. I don't think I'd want to do more, it is pretty strong. Maybe next time even less, you want it to be a burger with a little extra kick, not overly heavy on the sausage flavor IMO. If I had some straight ground pork, maybe go 1/2 and 1/2.
Last night I decided to try something new. I got a hankerin' for cornbread, and found a packet of cornbread mix in the cupboard - Shawnee Mills, not Jiffy. I didn't want it to be dry, though, so I changed it up a little bit and it came out great. It calls for 3/4 cup milk and 1 egg. I cut the milk to 1/2 cup and added about 1/3 cup sour cream and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Also just a smidge of sugar - maybe 1 1/2 teasons or so, 2 max. I didn't want it truly sweet, just a tiny hint, perhaps. If you like sweet cornbread, then 1-2 tablespoons in this mix - but this was for a savory/Mexican dish. Then I added in about a 1/2 can of leftover canned corn from the fridge and mixed in some cheese - I used about, oh, 1/2 cup of mixed colby jack and muenster. I grated them up to use in what is below.
So here is the finished product:
Cast iron, preheated in oven at 425.
I mixed up some cooked breakfast sausage I found in the freezer - maybe a little over a pound? Pound and a half? You could do this with ground beef, too, or a mix of ground beef and sausage, which is a combo we use a lot for nachos, tacos, burritos, various things. So I mixed this cooked sausage with a drained can of corn and Ranch Style beans. Of course, you could add about anything you want to this. Laid all this down in the cast iron, sprinkled some salt, Tony Chachere's and some chili powder, then covered it quite liberally with the mixed muenster/colby jack grated cheese, and poured over this mixture the cornbread batter with the corn and cheese in it. Threw it in the 425F oven for 20 minutes, checked it, did another 3 minutes, and it was perfect.
You can see my fine china here.
I'll tell you, for a super super easy dish - literally 10 minutes' prep and that was hand grating two blocks of the cheese - this was incredible.
Adding the sour cream and vegetable oil changed the texture of the cornbread immensely. It wasn't dry and crumbly, it was moist and had a little 'pull' to it (probably a little of the cheese in there helped, too), just a fabulous texture for this dish. So this ends up being kind of like a Mexican-style shepherd's pie, and we loved it. I am going to eat it today for lunch, hell, I'm salivating wondering if I should eat it for breakfast! lol
You could throw in green chiles, you could use cheddar (I really love muenster with most all Mexican dishes), add in some jalapenos, i would have done a little more salt. Could add in some more veggies in the filling, like some little finely diced potatoes, I thought about some peas or green beans, but didn't think they would go well with the Mexican theme. To the beans, sausage/beef and corn you could add a can of Rotel, something like that. I do think the absolute key, though, is a heavy layer of cheese between the bottom filling and the cornbread.
One packet of cornbread mix ended up giving me about 1/2-3/4" of cornbread layer on top. I thought it wasn't going to be enough and wished I had done 2 packets (didn't have 2), but it actually ended up being about the right ratio, really. More would have been too much, I think. Although, I can't stress enough how changing up the cornbread batter with the sour cream and vegetable oil changed the texture and made it absolutely perfect for this dish.
Oh, and the cheese bubbled out the sides and formed a little layer of crusty/crispy cheese around the edges of the cornbread against the cast iron... yowza, that was good stuff. I was contemplating a little more cheese on the top of the cornbread just before finishing cooking, but honestly, the cornbread was moist enough and held together well, it really did NOT need it.
You guys gotta try this recipe. My wife didn't believe I 'made it up' outta my head, I didn't get the idea somewhere. I really didn't. I wanted to make the cornbread more moist, so I did look up the sour cream and vegetable oil trick, but the rest was just outta my noggin. I'm super proud of myself, lol, if you can't tell. Next time, I'll go a little heavier on the salt, and I'll think of something else to throw in the bottom filling mixture, but overall I give this dish a 9 for taste and a 10 for super duper ease of prep.
