Don’s Monte Cristo
This is loosely based off something I caught while watching Rachael Ray the other day. I cooked up my version today and it was fantastic. I’ve tried Monte Cristo’s before, but haven’t been happy with the results. This recipe rocks. We generally have all these ingredients around the house, so it’s not a stretch to make it. When it comes to the ‘amount’ of the ingredients, I’m not going to get to particular, so in this case, amount of some of the ingredients will be covered in the instructions. Ingredients Dijon mustard Black pepper Butter Flour Milk Bread (we like Italian 5-grain) Cheese slices (we like colby-jack, swiss is good, Rachael uses Gruyere)…anything but American Sandwich sliced ham (we like tavern ham,...
Easter Morning
Sunrise, Easter morning. We traditionally join the Catholic Mass on Cocoa Beach. Then our family, and our extended family joins us at our house. Menu: Toasted bagels Cream cheese Thin sliced lox (smoked salmon) Onion (diced bermuda) Minced egg Capers And whatever else anyone brings. The goal is to toast the bagel, put on some cream cheese, top it off with the salmon and your topping of choice. To get it right, you really need everything. We then sit around our deck and pool and chat…and drink coffee until we are awake, then everyone goes home to get some sleep. It’s a great...
Don’s ‘Fidel’ Sandwich
OK, normally this would be “A Cuban” But Don’s ‘take’ on the Cuban is so far off mark, it needs to be called something else. So, of course, it needed to be something left of a Cuban (1950s) , and that would be Fidel. While we love Cuban sandwiches, Don is not big on the hard, pressed cuban bread. No sandwich should physically hurt to eat it. Thus the he created the “Fidel”. The recipe below is not based on volume. Just what you need for a single sandwich. We usually cook two sandwiches at a time in a large skillet. Two sandwiches takes about 10 minutes. Ingredients 2 pieces of Italian 5 grain bread. This is a sturdy five grain bread with texture and taste. You could pull this off with a whole grain bread as well. But...
Don’s Nude Wings
This is our basic hot wing recipe. We spent years of messing around trying to make the perfect wings, but never really quite nailed it. Then we discovered Frank’s Wing Sauce, and with a little tweaking, made this very simple recipe. You can fry them if you like, but we avoid the wheat and oil this way, so it’s a ‘bit’ healthier. Ingredients 1 stick up butter 1 bottle of Franks Hot Wing sauce 1/2 bottle of Chululu hot sauce, regular, Tabasco or other hot sauce would be OK 1/2 cup chopped jalapenos (we used mild, jarred, pre-sliced) 1 tsp fresh ground pepper 1 tsp paprika 1 large package of chicken wings, or 2 or 3 small packages. This makes a good amount of sauce, so you might even be able to stretch it and do 2 large packs of chicken...
Standing Rib Roast
One of our holiday traditions is cooking a standing rib roast on Christmas day. This year’s was an original, instead of following a recipe, Don improvised the rub and cooking time based on previous experience. The amounts below are guestimated, we just ground stuff into a small mixing bowl. Just go with what feel right, but these amounts should be close. WARNING: Cooking and prep time is 5 hours, plan accordingly. Ingredients: Sanding Rib Roast, we buy around 8 lbs. Rub ingredients: 1 tsp fresh ground sea salt 1 tsp paparika 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper 1/2 tsp fresh ground white peppercorn 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp dried parsley 1 tsp dried basil Instructions: Take the rib roast out of the fridge at least an...