This easy Caesar dressing is easy to make in your blender or food processor and requires no eggs, so it lasts a long time. And it’s SO tasty! Scroll down for video.
Essentially, Caesar salad came into my life when Philip Haymaker came into my life. Well, when he came into my life full-time, anyway (since we knew each other for four years before we started dating).
I remember what he ordered on our first date: angel hair pasta with tomato-basil sauce and a Caesar salad. That was on a Tuesday night. We went out again on Friday…I don’t remember what entrée he ordered, but I remember this: he ordered a Caesar salad. And almost ever restaurant salad that he has ordered in the last fourteen and a half (!) years has been the same.
I don’t mean to imply that I had never encountered (or eaten) a Caesar salad before that first date. I recall a Caesar salad at a Red Lobster in California when I was visiting my aunt the summer before eighth grade. I also remember telling my mom about it and her saying, “Do you like Caesar salad?” in a shocked sort of way. It’s just that my family didn’t eat too many Caesar salads back then….most of our salads were of the iceberg variety, with tomatoes and maybe some green peppers or avocado mixed in, usually with a creamy ranch or blue cheese dressing. It’s actually funny to think about that now because my mom and my sister are pretty much completely enamored with Caesar salad these days and the four of us threaten each other with steak knives to see who’s going to get the last of the salad (not really but almost).
Caesar dressing is an enigma of sorts and there are all types of stories about what Caesar salad is supposed to be. You know what I say? Caesar salad is supposed to be good. I don’t think when Caesar Cardini threw together the first Caesar salad in his Tijuana hotel kitchen that he swore then and there under his breath to seek revenge on anyone that dared to change the recipe.
So here’s how it goes…you can put eggs in….or leave them out. You can use anchovies, or maybe you prefer paste (I do) or maybe you’d rather just use Worcestershire sauce (which contains anchovies)? Okay. Maybe you like your cheese shredded, or maybe you like it grated. Whatevs. Do you like to rub the bowl with garlic or do you like to crush the garlic into your dressing? Have it your way. Would you rather make a pourable dressing or would you rather assemble the salad in the bowl then make the dressing right there on the lettuce (as I did in this post)? The world is your oyster.
I’ve been doing it that way for a while: lettuce in the bowl, then egg yolks, garlic, cheese, lemon juice/vinegar, olive oil, and cheese plus croutons. I like it that way….but here’s what I don’t like: one-day salad. Make that one-hour salad. We all know that once you dress lettuce it’s done for….so I was happy when my aunt gave me her easy Caesar dressing recipe (which I used to have before the blog but lost). It doesn’t contain eggs so it’s got a relatively long shelf-life (I’ve kept it for up to four days in my fridge) and it emulsifies beautifully if you blend it just fast enough, and you just use what you need.
As you can see, this is not a very “traditional” salad I’ve photographed for you here….I didn’t have bread to make croutons so I crushed up some Stacy’s Simply Naked pita chips. They were perfect. And while I prefer shredded cheese on my salads because it coats the leaves oh so perfectly, cheese (Grana Padano in this case but usually Parmigiano Reggiano) shaved with a vegetable peeler makes a nicer visual impact for photos. My easy Caesar dressing pairs perfectly with this fresh salad.
This easy Caesar dressing is quick enough that you can keep it in the fridge all the time. Which you’ll want to do.
Mary
Yield: 12 servings
2 tablespoons
Easy Caesar Dressing10 minPrep Time:
10 minTotal Time:
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon anchovy paste (or 3-4 flat or rolled anchovy fillets)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2/3 cups neutral-flavored oil (I use grapeseed, but canola, safflower, or vegetable oil will work as well)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Press the garlic through a garlic press or grate on a Microplane or fine grater. Place in a food processor or blender or a container you can fit your immersion blender into (like my homemade mayonnaise, a pint-sized Mason jar works well here) along with all of the other ingredients except the oil and vinegar.
- Mix well, carefully breaking up/mashing the anchovy fillets if you are using them.
- Add the oil and vinegar and blend on the highest speed that your machine allows until completely smooth and emulsified. Use a leaf of the lettuce you will be using to make your salad to taste; adjust seasonings. Store in the refrigerator.
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
-
Calories
45
% Daily Value*
- Total Fat:
1 g
1.54%
- Saturated Fat:
g
0%
- Cholesterol:
mg
0%
- Sodium:
mg
0%
- Potassium:
mg
0%
- Total Carbohydrate:
8 g
%
- Sugar:
g
- Protein:
0 g
- Vitamin A:
0%
- Calcium:
mg
0%
- Iron:
mg
0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and MyPlate Info
7.8.1.0433https://chattavore.com/easy-caesar-dressing/
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate.
Kale Pesto
This kale pesto with almonds is a quick and easy sauce that is great on pasta, breads, and sandwiches or mixed into vegetable dishes.
Real talk: is there anything tastier than pesto? If there is, I haven’t found it yet. I remember when I first discovered it, back when Philip and I were first married. A friend at work was talking about it (her girls called pasta with pesto “green noodles”) and I decided that I needed to try it. Armed with my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and a super cheap mini food processor that I bought from Target (seriously, some piece of plastic broke off of it every time I used it), I whipped up some amazing spinach pesto. Philip and I developed a serious pesto addiction.
We don’t eat pesto quite as much these days as we did way back then (almost 16 years ago!) but I still love a good pesto. And homemade is always, always better than store-bought. And why not? It takes about 10 minutes to make, aside from the toasting of the nuts.
Pesto is traditionally made with basil, but it takes a LOT of basil so I like to bulk it up with spinach. However, I had some kale that I bought at Earth Fare a couple of weeks ago and I really needed to use it up. Voilà: kale pesto. I have to say, it was fantastic. I made it with almonds instead of pine nuts, mostly because I didn’t have pine nuts but also because I recently read about something called pine mouth and I’m a little bit paranoid. It might be a minute before I am brave enough to eat pine nuts again.
Kale pesto isn’t just for pasta, you guys. I mean, of course it’s perfect on pasta. It’s also amazing slathered on a sandwich (hello, rotisserie chicken & ciabatta???) or just on a hot baguette, mixed with cream cheese to dip a cracker into, stirred into a vegetable side dish, or even whisked into a vinaigrette. No matter what, kale pesto is absolutely fabulous!
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate!
Ingredients
- 2 tightly packed cups of torn kale
- 1 cup torn basil
- 1/2 cup toasted almonds
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pulse the kale, basil, almonds, and Parmesan cheese in a food processor until finely ground. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the food processor running, pour the olive oil very slowly through the food processor chute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week.
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
-
Calories
37
% Daily Value*
- Total Fat:
1 g
1.54%
- Saturated Fat:
g
0%
- Cholesterol:
mg
0%
- Sodium:
mg
0%
- Potassium:
mg
0%
- Total Carbohydrate:
4 g
%
- Sugar:
g
- Protein:
3 g
- Vitamin A:
0%
- Calcium:
mg
0%
- Iron:
mg
0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and MyPlate Info
7.8.1.0501https://chattavore.com/kale-pesto/
Baked Brie with Jezebel Sauce
If you need an appetizer that is special but OH SO EASY and versatile, baked brie with Jezebel sauce is perfect and has a little Southern flair!
I recently did a kids’ cooking class where we made baked sesame chicken. It was delicious – panko crusted chunks of chicken thighs tossed in a sweet and sticky honey soy sauce. As I am typing this, I am wondering if I can find an excuse to make that for dinner tonight instead of the tacos I’m supposed to be taking pictures of.
Thing about it, though…one of the kids wanted his chicken unsauced. And this kid, according to his mom, is not a picky eater. He just. doesn’t. like. sauce. What is that? Like, I cannot even begin to wrap my head around this concept. No sauce? Does not compute. I can remember dipping my chicken McNuggets into ketchup as a babe then later becoming 100% obsessed with creamy honey mustard and finding new things I could dip into it.
This is why I have grown to love brie. Baked brie is the perfect vehicle for sauce…it goes just as well with sweet sauces as it does with savory. Need an appetizer? If you aren’t sure what to serve, pour some sauce over some baked brie and shazam. There you go. Whatcha gonna dip into it? Who cares!!! Crackers, vegetables, fruits…whatever you want.
This baked brie with Jezebel sauce is where it’s at. Have you ever had Jezebel sauce? With pineapple preserves, apple jelly, whole grain mustard, and horseradish, it’s sweet and a little bit tangy, and it’s great in so many applications. Can you imagine dipping fried chicken into this? Or maybe drizzling it on a sandwich (oh, wait, I’ve got that one covered – stay tuned for that later this week)? It’s absolutely fabulous, and served over baked brie it just POPS.
Serve this baked brie with Jezebel sauce the next time you need a great appetizer – you’ll be glad you did!
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!
Ingredients
For the Jezebel Sauce- 1/2 cup apple jelly
- 1/2 cup pineapple preserves
- 1/4 cup whole grain brown mustard
- 2-4 tablespoons prepared horseradish
For the Baked Brie- 1 wedge brie cheese
- 1/2 cup Jezebel sauce
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Place the brie in a small baking pan. Place it in the oven for 8 minutes.
- While the brie is baking, whisk together Jezebel sauce ingredients in a medium bowl. Remove the brie from the oven and pour the brie over. Place the walnuts on the side so that they will toast. Place the pan bake into the oven for 7 more minutes.
- Remove the brie from the oven and serve immediately with crackers, crostini, vegetables, or fruit. I like to bake this in a dish/pan that is nice enough to serve it in.
7.8.1.0494https://chattavore.com/baked-brie-with-jezebel-sauce/
Pan Fried Honey BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger
This honey BBQ bacon cheeseburger is perfectly pan-fried in cast iron and topped with bacon and creamy bbq sauce. It’s hard to beat!
Summer won’t start officially for another few weeks now, but everyone knows that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer. School’s out and, here in the South at least, it definitely feels like summer. Summer is cookout season, and I can’t even imagine how many burgers will be grilled over the next three months or so. Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows that burgers are kind of my “thing”. I’ve made lots of burgers over the years, and while they were edible, the perfect burger has eluded me. I’ve been eating a lot of burgers lately in preparation for updating my top burgers list, and with a more strategic approach to choosing my favorites I’ve learned a few things about just what makes the “perfect” burger.
I always thought that grilled burgers were the pinnacle of burger perfection, until I discovered that this was not the case. That’s right…this bacon cheeseburger here does not bode well for your summer cookouts. The best burgers? Pan fried over high heat. Preferably in a cast iron skillet. My 12-inch Lodge skillet is just perfect for that. I made them thin (double patties = greater surface area = more crispy bits = yaaaaaasssss) and cooked them hot till they were crusty on the outside and juicy on the inside.
The meat has to be just right. I like to grind my own, and I’ve found that a blend of skirt steak and boneless short ribs provide just the right fat content and texture for my liking (by the way, you can grind your meat in a food processor if you don’t have a grinder-I use a KitchenAid attachment). If grinding your own meat isn’t your thing, buy 80/20 meat at the store…this is not the time to worry about fat content…especially considering what I’m about to tell you. I add butter to my burgers. Yep, butter. The extra fat amps up the flavor. I also season the meat before forming the burgers so you can taste the seasoning throughout.
Another thing-the perfect burger (in my house, anyway) always has cheese-melted cheese. You have to find a good melting cheese, and in this case, a good quality American cheese (i.e. not the kind that is individually wrapped in plastic) is perfect for melting and doesn’t distract from the flavor of the burger. Sometimes, a strong cheese is a good thing, and I do love a good Cheddar, Gruyere, blue, or Gouda. But it must.be.melted.
I have also discovered that minimal toppings make the best burger. I’ve done something I never thought I’d do and started requesting my burgers without lettuce and tomato. I love lettuce and tomato (and kind of feel like a picky toddler when I ask for them to be left off) but often I think they cause a breakdown in “structural integrity”-i.e. how well the burger holds together. In this case, a creamy honey BBQ sauce (which is really just my Chick-Fil-A sauce copycat recipe), caramelized onions, and bacon (crumbled and tucked under the melted cheese) work together for a pretty heavenly bbq bacon cheeseburger.
A soft bun is paramount…I like Martin’s potato rolls (which I buy at Publix) most of the time, but for this sweet and savory burgerI used a King’s Hawaiian bun. The bun should be sturdy enough to hold up to the toppings (you don’t want your burger to fall apart halfway through like one I ate in a restaurant a couple of months back) but soft enough to not cause you to choke when you try to swallow.
And now…I never have to leave my house for the perfect bbq bacon cheeseburger (but I will anyway).
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!
Yield: 4 servings
Pan Fried Honey BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger35 minPrep Time:
10 minCook Time:
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Ingredients
For the creamy honey barbecue sauce- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- dash paprika (smoked if you have it!)
- dash cayenne pepper
For the burgers- 1 pound skirt steak
- 8 ounces boneless short ribs
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil
- 4 Hawaiian rolls
- 4 slices good quality American cheese or 4 ounces grated cheddar
- 4 sliced cooked bacon, crumbled
- caramelized onions or Oven Fried Onion Rings , for topping (optional but highly recommended)
Instructions
- To make the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Cut the skirt steak and short ribs into large chunks. Freeze for 15 minutes. Grind using a meat grinder or in batches in a food processor.
- Melt one tablespoon of the butter. Spread the ground meat onto a sheet pan and sprinkle evenly with the melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Divide the meat into 4 piles then divide each pile into 2 smaller piles. Carefully pack each pile of meat into a ball then press into a thin patty. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWORK THE MEAT! I would rather have a slightly "loose" patty than overwork it and have a tough patty!
- Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Split two buns and brown the insides. Remove to a plate and repeat with the other two buns.
- Heat 1/2 teaspoon of the oil in the 12-inch skillet (cast iron is my favorite) over high heat. Place four patties in the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Make two stacks and top each with a crumbled slice of bacon and a slice of cheese or an ounce of grated cheese. Cover the pan and cook until the cheese has melted. Remove from the pan and repeat the process with the four remaining patties.
- Open each bun and spread the top and bottom bun with a thin layer of the barbecue sauce. Top each burger with caramelized onions or a couple of onion rings, if using. Place the top bun and serve immediately.
Notes
If you prefer not to grind your own meat, use 1 1/2 pounds 80/20 ground beef.
7.8.1.079https://chattavore.com/pan-fried-honey-bbq-bacon-cheeseburger/
Oven-Fried Onion Rings with Comeback Sauce
Coated with a combination of cracker and potato chip crumbs and served with a spicy, creamy sauce, these oven-fried onion rings are a perfect side or snack!
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure statement.
I have a weird relationship with onions; I always have. I’ve shared pretty openly here about my disdain for raw onions, which I can oddly eat chopped up finely in salsas or on Mexico City-style tacos but otherwise they make me cringe and I am not lying when I tell you that they bring tears to my eyes. Really. It’s a taste/texture thing. That crunch combined with the sharpness…sends me over the edge.
Cooked onions are something completely different, though. It’s a rare dish that I make that doesn’t include some onion, diced or caramelized or otherwise. What’s really funny about it is that even as a kid, when I would pick the tiniest bits of cooked onion out of my dinner, I loved onion rings. I really don’t remember ever not loving onion rings.
Here in Chattanooga there’s a local chain of restaurants (they have several locations around Chattanooga) called Ankar’s Hoagies and one of my favorite memories of my childhood is going to Ankar’s with my grandparents. I’d always have the fried chicken rider (chicken tenders in a pita with mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes) and a cherry-lime drink that they served, and we’d get a couple of orders of their fabulous onion rings to share at the table. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much my standard order at Ankar’s to this day, minus the drink (which I’m sure is still delicious, but I usually just drink water these days).
As a kid, I’m sure that the shatteringly crisp coating on the gigantic onion rings at Ankar’s was what drew me to them, and I kind of remember discarding the onion from the middle when it would fall out while I was eating one. Over time, though, I grew to love everything about those onion rings, and to this day onion rings bring back fond memories of those lunches with my grandparents. I am not really a fan of frying, though, so they aren’t really something I’ve made at home much. Until, that is, I found a recipe for oven-fried onion rings in my copy of The Cook’s Country Cookbook. What could be better than soft onions coated in a crispy, salty coating of crushed potato chips and saltine crackers…I mean, really?!?!
I had never heard of comeback sauce until a few years ago while eating at the now defunct Market Street Tavern, but apparently it’s a Southern standard. It’s worth taking a few minutes to whisk these ingredients together to have a dipping sauce that’s a little more special than ketchup. And these onion rings are PERFECT on top of my bacon cheeseburgers with honey BBQ sauce.
These oven-fried onion rings take just a little more than thirty minutes from start to finish…well worth the time to not have to put on your shoes, get in the car, and head to a drive-thru.
Mary
Yield: 4 servings
Oven-Fried Onion Rings with Comeback SauceThe onion rings are adapted from The Cook's Country Cookbook, and the comeback sauce is adapted from My Recipes via Southern Living .
20 minPrep Time:
15 minCook Time:
35 minTotal Time:
Save Recipe
Ingredients
For the Onion Rings- 2 large yellow onions, cut into rings 1/2 inch wide, rings smaller than 2” in diameter reserved for another use
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cups kettle-cooked potato chips
- 40 saltine crackers
- 6 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
For the Comeback Sauce- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (I used sriracha, but I’m sure something like Tabasco is more traditional)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pour half of the oil into each of two baking sheets.
- Process the potato chips and saltines in a food processor until they form very fine crumbs. Place 1/4 cup of the flour in a bowl. Whisk together the remaining flour, the egg, the buttermilk, cayenne, salt, and pepper in another bowl. Pour half of the cracker/chip mixture into a third bowl.
- Dredge the onion rings into the flour, then the wet mixture, then the potato chip mixture to coat completely. Place the coated onion rings on plates or cooling racks as you work. Halfway through the process, refresh the crumb bowl with the remaining crumbs.
- Place the oiled baking sheets into the oven until the oil is smoking, about eight minutes. Remove from the oven and, working quickly, place the onion rings onto the pans. Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully flip each onion rings. Place the pans back into the oven, reversing their position in the oven. Bake for another 7 minutes.
- While the onion rings are baking, whisk together the sauce ingredients. Serve the onion rings hot with the sauce for dipping.
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
-
Calories
397
% Daily Value*
- Total Fat:
24 g
36.92%
- Saturated Fat:
g
0%
- Cholesterol:
mg
0%
- Sodium:
mg
0%
- Potassium:
mg
0%
- Total Carbohydrate:
40 g
%
- Sugar:
g
- Protein:
6 g
- Vitamin A:
0%
- Calcium:
mg
0%
- Iron:
mg
0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and MyPlate Info
7.8.1.0249https://chattavore.com/oven-fried-onion-rings-comeback-sauce/
Yield: 12 servings
2 tablespoons
10 minPrep Time:
10 minTotal Time:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 tablespoon anchovy paste (or 3-4 flat or rolled anchovy fillets)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2/3 cups neutral-flavored oil (I use grapeseed, but canola, safflower, or vegetable oil will work as well)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Press the garlic through a garlic press or grate on a Microplane or fine grater. Place in a food processor or blender or a container you can fit your immersion blender into (like my homemade mayonnaise, a pint-sized Mason jar works well here) along with all of the other ingredients except the oil and vinegar.
- Mix well, carefully breaking up/mashing the anchovy fillets if you are using them.
- Add the oil and vinegar and blend on the highest speed that your machine allows until completely smooth and emulsified. Use a leaf of the lettuce you will be using to make your salad to taste; adjust seasonings. Store in the refrigerator.
- Calories 45
- Total Fat: 1 g 1.54%
- Saturated Fat: g 0%
- Cholesterol: mg 0%
- Sodium: mg 0%
- Potassium: mg 0%
- Total Carbohydrate: 8 g %
- Sugar: g
- Protein: 0 g
- Vitamin A: 0%
- Calcium: mg 0%
- Iron: mg 0%
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and MyPlate Info
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate.
Kale Pesto
This kale pesto with almonds is a quick and easy sauce that is great on pasta, breads, and sandwiches or mixed into vegetable dishes.
Real talk: is there anything tastier than pesto? If there is, I haven’t found it yet. I remember when I first discovered it, back when Philip and I were first married. A friend at work was talking about it (her girls called pasta with pesto “green noodles”) and I decided that I needed to try it. Armed with my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and a super cheap mini food processor that I bought from Target (seriously, some piece of plastic broke off of it every time I used it), I whipped up some amazing spinach pesto. Philip and I developed a serious pesto addiction.
We don’t eat pesto quite as much these days as we did way back then (almost 16 years ago!) but I still love a good pesto. And homemade is always, always better than store-bought. And why not? It takes about 10 minutes to make, aside from the toasting of the nuts.
Pesto is traditionally made with basil, but it takes a LOT of basil so I like to bulk it up with spinach. However, I had some kale that I bought at Earth Fare a couple of weeks ago and I really needed to use it up. Voilà: kale pesto. I have to say, it was fantastic. I made it with almonds instead of pine nuts, mostly because I didn’t have pine nuts but also because I recently read about something called pine mouth and I’m a little bit paranoid. It might be a minute before I am brave enough to eat pine nuts again.
Kale pesto isn’t just for pasta, you guys. I mean, of course it’s perfect on pasta. It’s also amazing slathered on a sandwich (hello, rotisserie chicken & ciabatta???) or just on a hot baguette, mixed with cream cheese to dip a cracker into, stirred into a vegetable side dish, or even whisked into a vinaigrette. No matter what, kale pesto is absolutely fabulous!
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate!
Ingredients
- 2 tightly packed cups of torn kale
- 1 cup torn basil
- 1/2 cup toasted almonds
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pulse the kale, basil, almonds, and Parmesan cheese in a food processor until finely ground. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the food processor running, pour the olive oil very slowly through the food processor chute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week.
- Calories 37
- Total Fat: 1 g 1.54%
- Saturated Fat: g 0%
- Cholesterol: mg 0%
- Sodium: mg 0%
- Potassium: mg 0%
- Total Carbohydrate: 4 g %
- Sugar: g
- Protein: 3 g
- Vitamin A: 0%
- Calcium: mg 0%
- Iron: mg 0%
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and MyPlate Info
Baked Brie with Jezebel Sauce
If you need an appetizer that is special but OH SO EASY and versatile, baked brie with Jezebel sauce is perfect and has a little Southern flair!
I recently did a kids’ cooking class where we made baked sesame chicken. It was delicious – panko crusted chunks of chicken thighs tossed in a sweet and sticky honey soy sauce. As I am typing this, I am wondering if I can find an excuse to make that for dinner tonight instead of the tacos I’m supposed to be taking pictures of.
Thing about it, though…one of the kids wanted his chicken unsauced. And this kid, according to his mom, is not a picky eater. He just. doesn’t. like. sauce. What is that? Like, I cannot even begin to wrap my head around this concept. No sauce? Does not compute. I can remember dipping my chicken McNuggets into ketchup as a babe then later becoming 100% obsessed with creamy honey mustard and finding new things I could dip into it.
This is why I have grown to love brie. Baked brie is the perfect vehicle for sauce…it goes just as well with sweet sauces as it does with savory. Need an appetizer? If you aren’t sure what to serve, pour some sauce over some baked brie and shazam. There you go. Whatcha gonna dip into it? Who cares!!! Crackers, vegetables, fruits…whatever you want.
This baked brie with Jezebel sauce is where it’s at. Have you ever had Jezebel sauce? With pineapple preserves, apple jelly, whole grain mustard, and horseradish, it’s sweet and a little bit tangy, and it’s great in so many applications. Can you imagine dipping fried chicken into this? Or maybe drizzling it on a sandwich (oh, wait, I’ve got that one covered – stay tuned for that later this week)? It’s absolutely fabulous, and served over baked brie it just POPS.
Serve this baked brie with Jezebel sauce the next time you need a great appetizer – you’ll be glad you did!
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup apple jelly
- 1/2 cup pineapple preserves
- 1/4 cup whole grain brown mustard
- 2-4 tablespoons prepared horseradish
- 1 wedge brie cheese
- 1/2 cup Jezebel sauce
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Place the brie in a small baking pan. Place it in the oven for 8 minutes.
- While the brie is baking, whisk together Jezebel sauce ingredients in a medium bowl. Remove the brie from the oven and pour the brie over. Place the walnuts on the side so that they will toast. Place the pan bake into the oven for 7 more minutes.
- Remove the brie from the oven and serve immediately with crackers, crostini, vegetables, or fruit. I like to bake this in a dish/pan that is nice enough to serve it in.
Pan Fried Honey BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger
This honey BBQ bacon cheeseburger is perfectly pan-fried in cast iron and topped with bacon and creamy bbq sauce. It’s hard to beat!
Summer won’t start officially for another few weeks now, but everyone knows that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer. School’s out and, here in the South at least, it definitely feels like summer. Summer is cookout season, and I can’t even imagine how many burgers will be grilled over the next three months or so. Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows that burgers are kind of my “thing”. I’ve made lots of burgers over the years, and while they were edible, the perfect burger has eluded me. I’ve been eating a lot of burgers lately in preparation for updating my top burgers list, and with a more strategic approach to choosing my favorites I’ve learned a few things about just what makes the “perfect” burger.
I always thought that grilled burgers were the pinnacle of burger perfection, until I discovered that this was not the case. That’s right…this bacon cheeseburger here does not bode well for your summer cookouts. The best burgers? Pan fried over high heat. Preferably in a cast iron skillet. My 12-inch Lodge skillet is just perfect for that. I made them thin (double patties = greater surface area = more crispy bits = yaaaaaasssss) and cooked them hot till they were crusty on the outside and juicy on the inside.
The meat has to be just right. I like to grind my own, and I’ve found that a blend of skirt steak and boneless short ribs provide just the right fat content and texture for my liking (by the way, you can grind your meat in a food processor if you don’t have a grinder-I use a KitchenAid attachment). If grinding your own meat isn’t your thing, buy 80/20 meat at the store…this is not the time to worry about fat content…especially considering what I’m about to tell you. I add butter to my burgers. Yep, butter. The extra fat amps up the flavor. I also season the meat before forming the burgers so you can taste the seasoning throughout.
Another thing-the perfect burger (in my house, anyway) always has cheese-melted cheese. You have to find a good melting cheese, and in this case, a good quality American cheese (i.e. not the kind that is individually wrapped in plastic) is perfect for melting and doesn’t distract from the flavor of the burger. Sometimes, a strong cheese is a good thing, and I do love a good Cheddar, Gruyere, blue, or Gouda. But it must.be.melted.
I have also discovered that minimal toppings make the best burger. I’ve done something I never thought I’d do and started requesting my burgers without lettuce and tomato. I love lettuce and tomato (and kind of feel like a picky toddler when I ask for them to be left off) but often I think they cause a breakdown in “structural integrity”-i.e. how well the burger holds together. In this case, a creamy honey BBQ sauce (which is really just my Chick-Fil-A sauce copycat recipe), caramelized onions, and bacon (crumbled and tucked under the melted cheese) work together for a pretty heavenly bbq bacon cheeseburger.
A soft bun is paramount…I like Martin’s potato rolls (which I buy at Publix) most of the time, but for this sweet and savory burgerI used a King’s Hawaiian bun. The bun should be sturdy enough to hold up to the toppings (you don’t want your burger to fall apart halfway through like one I ate in a restaurant a couple of months back) but soft enough to not cause you to choke when you try to swallow.
And now…I never have to leave my house for the perfect bbq bacon cheeseburger (but I will anyway).
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!
Yield: 4 servings
35 minPrep Time:
10 minCook Time:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- dash paprika (smoked if you have it!)
- dash cayenne pepper
- 1 pound skirt steak
- 8 ounces boneless short ribs
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil
- 4 Hawaiian rolls
- 4 slices good quality American cheese or 4 ounces grated cheddar
- 4 sliced cooked bacon, crumbled
- caramelized onions or Oven Fried Onion Rings , for topping (optional but highly recommended)
Instructions
- To make the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Cut the skirt steak and short ribs into large chunks. Freeze for 15 minutes. Grind using a meat grinder or in batches in a food processor.
- Melt one tablespoon of the butter. Spread the ground meat onto a sheet pan and sprinkle evenly with the melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Divide the meat into 4 piles then divide each pile into 2 smaller piles. Carefully pack each pile of meat into a ball then press into a thin patty. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWORK THE MEAT! I would rather have a slightly "loose" patty than overwork it and have a tough patty!
- Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Split two buns and brown the insides. Remove to a plate and repeat with the other two buns.
- Heat 1/2 teaspoon of the oil in the 12-inch skillet (cast iron is my favorite) over high heat. Place four patties in the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Make two stacks and top each with a crumbled slice of bacon and a slice of cheese or an ounce of grated cheese. Cover the pan and cook until the cheese has melted. Remove from the pan and repeat the process with the four remaining patties.
- Open each bun and spread the top and bottom bun with a thin layer of the barbecue sauce. Top each burger with caramelized onions or a couple of onion rings, if using. Place the top bun and serve immediately.
Notes
If you prefer not to grind your own meat, use 1 1/2 pounds 80/20 ground beef.
Oven-Fried Onion Rings with Comeback Sauce
Coated with a combination of cracker and potato chip crumbs and served with a spicy, creamy sauce, these oven-fried onion rings are a perfect side or snack!
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I have a weird relationship with onions; I always have. I’ve shared pretty openly here about my disdain for raw onions, which I can oddly eat chopped up finely in salsas or on Mexico City-style tacos but otherwise they make me cringe and I am not lying when I tell you that they bring tears to my eyes. Really. It’s a taste/texture thing. That crunch combined with the sharpness…sends me over the edge.
Cooked onions are something completely different, though. It’s a rare dish that I make that doesn’t include some onion, diced or caramelized or otherwise. What’s really funny about it is that even as a kid, when I would pick the tiniest bits of cooked onion out of my dinner, I loved onion rings. I really don’t remember ever not loving onion rings.
Here in Chattanooga there’s a local chain of restaurants (they have several locations around Chattanooga) called Ankar’s Hoagies and one of my favorite memories of my childhood is going to Ankar’s with my grandparents. I’d always have the fried chicken rider (chicken tenders in a pita with mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes) and a cherry-lime drink that they served, and we’d get a couple of orders of their fabulous onion rings to share at the table. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much my standard order at Ankar’s to this day, minus the drink (which I’m sure is still delicious, but I usually just drink water these days).
As a kid, I’m sure that the shatteringly crisp coating on the gigantic onion rings at Ankar’s was what drew me to them, and I kind of remember discarding the onion from the middle when it would fall out while I was eating one. Over time, though, I grew to love everything about those onion rings, and to this day onion rings bring back fond memories of those lunches with my grandparents. I am not really a fan of frying, though, so they aren’t really something I’ve made at home much. Until, that is, I found a recipe for oven-fried onion rings in my copy of The Cook’s Country Cookbook. What could be better than soft onions coated in a crispy, salty coating of crushed potato chips and saltine crackers…I mean, really?!?!
I had never heard of comeback sauce until a few years ago while eating at the now defunct Market Street Tavern, but apparently it’s a Southern standard. It’s worth taking a few minutes to whisk these ingredients together to have a dipping sauce that’s a little more special than ketchup. And these onion rings are PERFECT on top of my bacon cheeseburgers with honey BBQ sauce.
These oven-fried onion rings take just a little more than thirty minutes from start to finish…well worth the time to not have to put on your shoes, get in the car, and head to a drive-thru.
Yield: 4 servings
The onion rings are adapted from The Cook's Country Cookbook, and the comeback sauce is adapted from My Recipes via Southern Living .
20 minPrep Time:
15 minCook Time:
35 minTotal Time:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 large yellow onions, cut into rings 1/2 inch wide, rings smaller than 2” in diameter reserved for another use
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cups kettle-cooked potato chips
- 40 saltine crackers
- 6 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (I used sriracha, but I’m sure something like Tabasco is more traditional)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pour half of the oil into each of two baking sheets.
- Process the potato chips and saltines in a food processor until they form very fine crumbs. Place 1/4 cup of the flour in a bowl. Whisk together the remaining flour, the egg, the buttermilk, cayenne, salt, and pepper in another bowl. Pour half of the cracker/chip mixture into a third bowl.
- Dredge the onion rings into the flour, then the wet mixture, then the potato chip mixture to coat completely. Place the coated onion rings on plates or cooling racks as you work. Halfway through the process, refresh the crumb bowl with the remaining crumbs.
- Place the oiled baking sheets into the oven until the oil is smoking, about eight minutes. Remove from the oven and, working quickly, place the onion rings onto the pans. Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully flip each onion rings. Place the pans back into the oven, reversing their position in the oven. Bake for another 7 minutes.
- While the onion rings are baking, whisk together the sauce ingredients. Serve the onion rings hot with the sauce for dipping.
- Calories 397
- Total Fat: 24 g 36.92%
- Saturated Fat: g 0%
- Cholesterol: mg 0%
- Sodium: mg 0%
- Potassium: mg 0%
- Total Carbohydrate: 40 g %
- Sugar: g
- Protein: 6 g
- Vitamin A: 0%
- Calcium: mg 0%
- Iron: mg 0%
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