Crock Pot Sliders

Somehow I must have known I wouldn't feel like cooking.
And then I got a cold (well an ear inflection really . . . but I digress).
I started this dinner yesterday in my trusty crock pot.
I dumped (there is no other word for it) in 2 peeled chopped apples, a small jar (about 7 ounces) of homemade apple jelly, 1 1/2 cups of ketchup, 1 bottle beer, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/3 cup honey, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 jalapeño pepper (seeded and cut in half), about 1 TB chili powder, and 1/2 tsp ground celery seed. Now all of that may have been measured more or less, and in truth I had to taste it and make revisions as the cooking went on but I think that's where it ended up. All of that cooked on low in the crock pot for about 6 hours.
When the sauce was thickened (after a good whisking) I added in 4 chicken breasts (well okay 2 breasts or 4 half breasts if you want to be chicken technical) and let everything cook for about 4 hours more until the chicken was ready to fall apart.
I shredded the chicken, mixed it back down into the sauce and let it wait until we were ready for dinner . . . today.
When the time came I toasted James' favorite, King's Hawaiian Rolls -- prepared each bun with sliced red onion and homemade dill pickles (maybe a little mustard wouldn't be a bad addition) and spooned on the warmed up barbecued chicken.
Easy, tasty, and done.

Welcoming In The Holiday Weekend

All American food for an all American holiday.

Saturday Night Sliders

King's Hawaiian Rolls, tiny broiled burgers topped with buttery sautéed shallots. One of James' all-time favorites.

No Debate Over Homemade Chips

October is the month for quality TV. The baseball playoffs start Friday, Homeland is back on the air, and last night the first of four debates winding down to November's presidential election. Our friends from down the road came to watch at our house. James and I decided on snacks, not really a full menu. I knew we wanted food that is easy to eat, didn't require a lot of conversation or cutlery clacking, and didn't need an oven. Ours is still on the fritz. I started with a recipe I've been saving, meatball sliders from New York's Little Owl restaurant. We served these tiny meatballs drenched in a rich fennel flavored tomato sauce on soft Hawaiian dinner rolls (a favorite around here) with fresh basil, parsley, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

I just flew back into town yesterday ( a couple hours before our debate dinner) and grocery shopped without looking in our kitchen at home. That led to a near crisis. When it came time to make the sauce for the meatballs, I tore through the house looking for two cans of tomatoes I swore I had on hand, but every cupboard was bare. I was stumped for a minute trying to figure out my options -- if any -- when I suddenly (and stupidly) realized I was sitting on a gold mine of tomatoes. Right outside my kitchen window are the bushy, overgrown tomato plants I have been coddling since May -- heavy with bright red and yellow deliciousness. Who needs cans when I had the real thing? I gathered up all the ripe and over ripe and not so beautiful fruits for a mellow, sweetish, beautifully orange sauce straight from the garden.

Alongside our mini meatball sandwiches a bowl of homemade chips. Simple thinly sliced yukon golds (soaked in cold water to remove as much starch as possible) quickly fried in olive oil and lightly salted. Unlike fries these potatoes can be cooked in advance and are better cold than hot -- perfect for extended (dare I say longwinded) TV viewing.

Next match up -- October 11th in Kentucky.

Cuban Sliders

A new twist on an old favorite for father's day.

I made Cuban style sliders (well burgers dressed up like Cuban Sandwiches). I dressed the buns with mustard and Swiss cheese on the bottom and avocado and ham on the top and slid a just broiled mini-burger, topped with pickles inside. Instead of toasting the buns I took the whole sandwich and pressed it in a hot frying pan (cheese side down) so the bread was crisped and the cheese melted and gooey.

Happy Father's Day, Honey.

Basketball Burgers

Sliders ready to pop in the oven.

To say James is always in the mood for burgers is a bit of an over statement. Sometimes he is in the mood for pizza. Honestly he is usually happy with whatever I decide to make but some days he has something in mind and today he asked for sliders. I figured I should go all out and whip up some bacon avocado burgers on mini King's Hawaiian dinner rolls with a big batch of yukon gold french fries. We had dinner watching UConn squeak by Kentucky on the way to Monday's finals.

Raising The Bar On Sliders

The Oscars are my favorite holiday. I met James at an Oscar party and even before I loved to watch and wonder about the dresses wandering up the red carpet.

Since I get to loll about gaping at the TV it seems only fair that James get to pick the menu. Sliders and fries, one of his favorite meals. For the Superbowl I tried something new and added bacon and avocado and peppered cheddar -- today I wanted to slide up, dare I say, and went for bacon, morbier cheese and peppery arugula. Good but honestly it's hard to beat peppered cheddar. Good thing the fries came out just right.

Superbowl Sliders

Mini beef burgers with shallot butter, bacon, avocado and delicious pepper cheddar. A gameday treat, with homemade fries of course.

Slider Snack

I spent today helping my friend Karen throw a birthday party for her four year old son. Our house favorites, sliders and onion rings, were on the menu so of course there was a little slider snack for James when I got home.

Weekend Update

Two days, two sets of guests, and a perfect summer cake.

Saturday night we had some friends for dinner (What Deb and Leslie Had For Dinner?) --- Bucatini with Sorrel Pesto, Olive Oil Fried Egg (Thanks Girls!) and Roasted Tomatoes, Pan Roasted Wild Salmon and Broccoli Rabe and Rosemary Anchovy Sauce, Frisée Radicchio and Raw Artichoke Salad, Brown Butter Raspberry tart for dessert.

Sunday was more of a family event. House specialty Sliders and Crispy Onion Rings, Sour Slaw (Not pictured), Watermelon Salad (champagne vinegar, mint, ricotta salata, olive oil, chili, S&P), Corn on the Cob, BBQ'ed Drumsticks, Root Beer Floats, Nectarine Raspberry Pie (not pictured) and what may be my new go to summer cake -- layers of yellow sponge filled with lemon curd and "frosted" with a soft meringue -- Lemon Meringue Cake.