Yum, nothing says hamburger like, well, taking out the ham and replacing it with the musical fruit. For me, it has the primary taste that my family used to have on their hamburgers which was not the ground beef, but a nice slathering of worcestershire and garlic salt just before going into the pan.

Wet Ingredients

1 15oz can of black beans (drained)
1 egg
Splash of worcestershire sauce

Dry Ingredients

1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 small onion
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Cayanne pepper to taste
Pinch of garlic salt and pepper

Put all the dry ingredients into a foot processor and blend until chopped rather fine. Add the wet ingredients and pulse until the beans are broken up but not completely blended. Let sit in the fridge for about 10 minutes, then divide into 3-4 patties. Sprinkle patties with more worcestershire and garlic salt prior to putting into the frying pan (optional). The mixture will be fairly sticky, but if it won’t hold together, you can add more breadcrumbs.

In a small fry pan, heat enough olive oil in the bottom to cover the pan. Add patties (in my case 2 at a time) and brown on each side (about 3-4 minutes per side). Serve on a toasted hamburger bun with your favorite cheese and condiments.

A swagged vegetarian trio tonight:

Acorn Squash with Cinnamon Walnut Butter

What you need:

1 acorn squash (split lengthwise, seeds removed)
1 big handful of walnuts
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (to taste)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of brown sugar (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash face down on a pan and roast for 25 minutes. While the squash is roasting, put the walnuts in your food processor and run it until the walnuts are chopped very fine and the oil starts to come out. Add the cinnamon, butter and brown sugar and blend until smooth.

After 25 minutes, flip the squash halves over so they are face up. Put some of the walnut butter in the each one and roast an additional 25 minutes, or until soft.

Stuff mini-belas

6 mini-portabela mushrooms
2 tablespoon fresh chopped parsely
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 cup of bread crumbs
1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
1 large shallot (or 1/2 a small onion)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
A few grinds of pepper

Remove the stems from the muchrooms and set aside. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spoon mixture into the caps of the mushrooms. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes at 350.

Sauteed Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus trimmed, washed and dried
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Garlic Salt

I always have luck with thin stalks of asparagus. I always avoid the thick woody ones that need to be peeled. Heat olive oil in a heavy cast iron skillet or other oven proof pan. Add the asparagus and some garlic salt (to taste) and sautee just until softened (about 5-7 minutes). Add the balsamic vinegar, mix and place under the broiler for a few minutes until the outside is slightly browned. Serve right away.

Made this last night while in a hurry to throw something together.

1 can of navy beans (drained and rinsed)
1/4 pound of merguez sausage (or something smoked n’ tasty)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 tomatoes, diced (peeled if possible)
1/4 cup of celery, chopped fine
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped fine
1 1/4 cup of chicken broth
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of white wine

(Spices to taste)
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt n’ Pepper

Cut the sausage into small rounds and sautee with the olive oil until browned. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic and sautee until onions start to soften. Add the wine to deglaze (scape the bits off the bottom of the pan) and toss in everything else. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 mins.

Yum.

I heard sad news that Baldy’s in Iowa City closed about two years ago (news travels slow out to SF). I ate many wraps there and at one point was a regular before my 9:30 M/W/F Calc II class. Nothing primes the mind for learning about integration like a heavy breakfast. Their happy hour was the best and Ass Masterson had some run-ins with the football and basketball team. In fact, I think there might be a Pierre Pierce story in there somewhere too.

In any case, from the bacon-ranch cheeseburger wrap to the breakfast special wrap, nothing came close to the Blackened Cajun Chicken. For years, i’ve tried to reproduce it, and now since I’ve heard they closed, I’ll release my version which is about as close as it’s going to get.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 box of Zatarain’s black beans and rice (do NOT get the red beans)
1 package of medium flour tortillas
1 bottle of hot sauce. I love Cholula
2 tablespoons of blackening seasoning. I use this stuff or you can roll your own
2 tablespoons of paprika
Pepper jack cheese
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Here’s what to do: Preheat your oven to 350.

Make the black beans and rice to instructions. Slowly simmer it and you don’t want a soupy consistency. If it comes out soupy, keep it on low heat and stir until the extra moisture is gone. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes before using. The test is whether or not juice runs out of the final product. If you have a runny wrap, you had too much liquid in the beans.

While the beans are cooking, get a cast iron skillet (don’t get no pansy ass non-stick, go buy one if you don’t have one). Put the heat to it for a good 5-10 minutes to get it nice and hot. Cover the chicken breasts with a good dose of blackening seasoning and give it a 5 minute rest. Pour the olive oil into a small bowl and dip the chicken into the oil to get a light covering and put each piece in the cast iron skillet leaving room around the pieces. Brown for a few minutes on each side (keep checking, you want them dark brown but not completely burned).

The chicken breasts won’t cook through on the skillet so after blackening the chicken, stick the skillet in the oven and check the temp every 10 minutes or so to make sure the breasts are cooked through. When the temp hits 180, pull them and let rest on a plate for 10 minutes. Cut the chicken breasts into slices, you don’t want big hunks.

Get a griddle or large skillet (this can be non-stick if you want) and warm it up over low heat. Place a tortilla on the skillet and add the cheese (out of a “standard” brick I cut two thin slices, but you can do this to taste). Get a spoon and put about 1/3 of a cup of rice on the tortilla. The idea is not to fill it too big. Get your paprika shaker and cover it with a good dose of paprika, in fact, there should just be a layer of the stuff on the beans. Put a few slices of chicken on top and add a few drops (to taste) or your hot sauce. Use a spatula and slide the whole thing on a plate and fold the tortilla. It should be slightly crispy on the outside but still flexible.

Optional: wrap it in aluminum foil and wash down with a pitcher of PBR from Joe’s

Photo: Slicing the chicken after it’s finished cooking:

This one is in honor of the 6-0 Hawkeyes and their defense. 4 meats, 3 types of beans, 2 types of chiles. This is a total “swag it” type recipe, thus the amounts aren’t super refined. If I make this several more times (which I hope to) then I’ll be able to solidify things a bit more.

2 links of andouille sausage
2 links of lamb sausage
4 slices of bacon, cut into pieces
3/4 lbs of Stew Beef, cuts into small 1/2 pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup great northern beans
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup red kidney beans
5 small poblano chilies
2-3 chipotle chilies with adobo sauce (sliced)
1 bottle of beer (Sierra Nevada in this case)
1 large sweet onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tea spoon tumeric
1/2 tea spoon oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons of cumin
10 ripe roma tomates (sliced then crushed)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1/3 cup of ketchup (optional)

Start by soaking the beans in a lot of water overnight, when the soak is finished, make sure you reserve the leftover water. When you’re ready to start cooking, brown the beef cubes over high to med-high heat with a pinch of salt, and the olive oil. Remove when finished. Brown the sausages and remove when finished (slice into small rounds after they’ve been cooked). Add the bacon to the pot and when the bacon fat begins to appear, throw in the onions and garlic and cook until semi-translucent. Deglaze the pot with the bottle of beer (mmmMMM!) and at that point, throw everything except the ketchup in. Keep on high heat until you get things boiling and then lower it to a simmer and cook for 3+ hours until the beans are falling apart and the chili begins to thicken. Stir every 30 mins or so, if you need more liquid use the reserved bean water.

Notes:

- You’ll want to peel the poblanos. Slice them in half and remove the seeds. Put them skin side up and broil in the oven until browned. Wrap them tightly in aluminum foil for about 5 minutes. When you remove them from the foil, you’ll be able to peel the skins off.

- Taste the broth about an hour in and make spice adjustments. If you need more tomato flavor ketchup works great.

- Beans + Liquid. With the beans thoroughly soaked, I added the following amounts to the pot, note that I packed the cup measure with beans and then added water to the cup to fill in the remaining space. Post soak amounts:

2 cups of great northerns
1 cup of black beans
1 cup of red kidneys

This Oculon.org original was rated 5/5 stars by our resident food taster (Jill). Served with a radish salad and roasted acorn squash.

3 Tbs of olive oil
1 sweet onion diced
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 large head of Cauliflower, stem removed
1 cup of white wine
1 quart of mushroom broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 tea spoon of oregano
1/2 tea spoon of thyme
1 cup of half and half
3 oz of shredded sharp white cheddar cheese*

Heat the olive oil over high heat in a heavy soup pot and saute the onions and garlic with a pinch of salt until soft and fragrant, about 4-5 mins. Deglaze with the white wine. Add cauliflower, mushroom broth, bay leaves, thyme and oregano. Heat to a boil and then reduce to low and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 30 mins.

When the cauliflower is tender, remove pot from heat, (remove the bay leaves!!) and use a stick blender to puree the soup until it is very smooth and there are no chunks. Blend in the half and half, then add the cheese and blend again until very smooth. Add fresh cracked pepper to taste. Serve with crusty white bread. Yum!

* I’m swagging the amount of cheese I used. So I should say “cheese to taste” and avoid the orange cheddar!

Also, while this probably deserved an AiF post last night, I just was too lazy. This recipe for Cacciucco alla Livornese was AMAZING. I paired with homemade tagliatelle instead of the crusty bread mentioned in the recipe. Have fun finding a fresh octopus, and if you’re in SF, tell me where you got it. I had to settle for frozen.

You know, only 4 months late…

Also, check out the gems from my iPhone that I finally dumped off:

gems from my iPhone

Reading the news about Arlen Specter and his party switch has been kind of interesting. Republicans have called it “an act of political desperation” while Democratic bloggers and their readers are quick to point out that he’s generally a “flip flopper” and can’t be counted on as a reliable Democratic vote. I’m wondering, why is everyone freaking out that Specter is sensitive to his constituency? Isn’t that the point of a representative Democracy?

Well, I’ll admit it, I’m falling a bit behind on making up recipes. Last evening I combined two recipes and made up a third.

Slaw #1: Better Crocker Slaw

1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 medium head cabbage, finely shredded or chopped (4 cups)
1 small carrot, shredded (1/2 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)

Mix the dressing together and pour over the carrots, onions and shredded cabbage. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Robert’s mods: homemade mayo (see the spring garlic recipe, sans garlic)! No onion, no celery seed, more carrot.

Slaw #2

1 bunch of chard
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sweet rice wine (Ajimirin)
1 tea spoon of roasted seasame seeds
Red pepper to taste

In a large pot, boil water and cook the chard until it’s just soft. Strain and cool with cold water. Press excess water out of the chard. In a mixing bowl, throw in the rest of the ingredients and toss thoroughly.

Red Snapper:

• 1 lbs Red Snapper Fillets, cut into portion sized amounts
• Your own homemmade blackening seasoning or a store bought kind (I used Chef Paul Prrudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic
• 3/4 stick of butter

Open your windows and get a big cast iron skillet (or something that holds a lot of heat) and heat it on high. The higher the better (I let mine heat up for like 10 minutes. In a separate pan, melt the butter and slather the fish in it and transfer to a plate. Coat both sides of the fillet with seasoning. Transfer to the skillet and let it blacken (but not burn). You’ll get a nice dark crust on one side. Flip the fillet and repeat on the 2nd side.

Plate the fish over both kinds of slaw and serve!

So on the hottest day ever in San Francisco (91 degrees) I decided it was a fine day to not only slow roast a pork shoulder, but also make a steaming hot pot of soup while the roast cooked. To start, open all your windows, place the cat in the other room and open your back door for maximum air circulation. First up, the pork… if you’ve got an oven safe pot with a tight lid, you should definitely try this:

Apple and Brown Sugar Slow Roasted Pulled Pork

1 pork butt [shoulder] roast (about 4 pounds)
1/4 cup of worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
1 cup apple juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Robert’s mods:

Less worcestershire sauce (enough to cover)
Garlic salt instead of plain salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle garlic salt on the roast, and slash the worcestershire sauce on there. Then pack in the brown sugar on each side taking care to rub it in so it sticks. Pour the Apple juice into an oven safe pot. Place the roast in the pot, fat side up. Cover tightly and put in the oven. Immediately turn down the heat to 200 degrees. Let it sit in the oven for at least 5 hours (I did about six).

When finished, the pork should easily pull apart with a fork. Shred the entire roast and place in a bowl, pour the remaining juice over the pork (you might want to skim it first). This stuff be fantastic.

Beef and Daikon Radish Soup

Now that the kitchen is heated up and starting to smell good (and the cat is going nuts in the other room), start on your second project which will make a good meal for the next day.

2 pounds of boneless chuckroast
2 large daikon radishes (sliced into rounds and split in half)
4 Medium sized carrots (chopped)
1 and 1/2 large yellow onion (chopped)
1 cup of chopped celery (more if you like celery)
1 small can of tomato paste
Lots of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon of oregano
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of garlic salt (ok maybe more)
1 quart of beef stock
1 quart of water
Cracked pepper to taste

Instructions:

Dice the chuckroast into small cubes (like 1/2 inch diameter) and trim as much fat as you can. Add olive oil to a large, heavy soup pot and over high heat, brown the cubes of chuck roast sprinkling worcestershire and garlic salt over it. You can add a turn or two of black pepper at this point. Make sure you completely brown the chuck until the water has cooked out and all you have left is beef and sizzling fat. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook until they begin to soften, 4-5 mins. Add radishes, carrot and garlic, sautee for an additional 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste, beef stock and water. While you’re bringing the whole mixture to a boil, add the oregano and put in about a tablespoon of fresh thyme (well to taste). I don’t remember how much I put in, but it was a lot.

Once the soup comes to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to simmer it for a good hour, or until the daikon has softened. You can serve it at this point or allow it to cool on the stove and place in the fridge overnight to let everything steep together. Your patience will be rewarded.