We braved the mosquito-y back deck at my parents house (well, Joe did) to grill up some GREAT blue cheese burgers. We are crashing with my rents for a week, and then Joe’s for a week before heading up to Boston. I made sweet potato fries using Joe’s recipe and discovered that the taste can vary considerably using someone else’s spices. My mom’s taco seasoning was a lot heavier on the red pepper than ours and needed to be balanced out by more cinnamon.
Joe wrapped the corn in foil and cooked it on the (hot) grill for 12-15 min. The kernels practically fell off into your mouth and yet were not too soft. The brown areas were nicely caramelized and sweet.
Sweet Potato Fries for 4
- 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fries
- 3 T canola oil
- 3 T taco seasoning
- heavy pinch of cayenne powder
- heavy pinch of cinnamon
- 1 t salt
- toss the fries together with all the seasonings in a large bowl.
- spread out as far apart as possible on 2 baking sheets.
- preheat oven to 425° and bake for 25 min, then flip them and bake another 20 min, until brown on both sides.
- serve with ketchup!
This is what cleaning out the fridge looks like for two skinny jenkins. Macaroni and cheese is an old reliable recipe in our house. The brussel sprouts were doused in ketchup immediately after taking this photo.
here’s the recipe: link. The only change is tonight i used half cheddar and half asiago cheese, and sprinkled a little extra asiago on top.
so, this is the selfish, food-diary portion of the blog. our burgers are not very complicated, or unique, but we think they’re good. they were easy to make for our last dinner here at the beach.
- 1 lb lean ground beef (we use Laura’s beef from Whole foods – no hormones)
- sprinkle of Worcestershire sauce
- splash of soy sauce
- bit of garlic powder on each side
- for well done burgers, heat grill on high and cook each burger for about 12 minutes total, flipping at 6 minutes.
also, for appetizer, we had crostini (from the bread bakers apprentice challenge Ciabatta) with a bit of sauce from last night’s pizza, and the tapenade i made earlier in the week.
so… i was going to make plantain chips as an appetizer tonight, but when i went to peel one, it was NOT RIPE. The middle felt ripe, and is turning color, but when i went to open it, it was just like a bright GREEN banana.
JOE ended up making mac n’cheese for dinner tonight, and it was perfect. it is so satisfying and easy to make. we had some yummy cabbot sharp cheddar to use up, too.
here’s the RECIPE. ENJOY!
this is secret family recipe material. it is SOOO good! it is one of joe’s recipes and this is the first time i have made it. unlike boxed mac n’ cheese, it actually tastes good the next day! I used some nice sharp Cabot cheese (we usually buy store brand but it was on super sale) and i think that added a lot to it. Next time i might use a tad more Worcestershire sauce.
- 2 C elbow macaroni
- 2 C skim milk
- 2 T corn starch
- 6-8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
- S+P to taste
- cook macaroni in pot of boiling water 1 min less than indicated, then preheat oven to 350°
- in a small saucepan, whisk together milk and corn starch, turn to medium heat and continually whisk until it begins to bubble
- take milk off the heat, stir in cheese, Worcestershire, and s+p.
- mix together pasta and sauce in baking dish and cook for 12-15 min in preheated oven.
two skinny jenkins 