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In the past few months, I've visited Texas twice. Once was purely glutinous to Austin in search of the best barbeque! The second time was a less exciting trip to Dallas (which btw, totally love that city too!). Anyway, back to BBQ...
I've really liked Austin, since I first visited a few years back. It reminds of my hometown of Madison, WI - a college town where people live in a yuppy bubble. H and I had 2 days to eat our hearts out and boy did we! From BBQ, to food trucks, to probably one of the best "high-end" restaurants I've had the privilege of trying. Here are our recommendations based on the limited places we were able to try in this eclectic town! BBQ - Franklin BBQ. Totally worth getting in line at 7am and waiting for them to open - everyone's basically tailgating anyway! Their beef ribs were insanely good! Honestly, just about anything on their menu had me drooling. The owner is crazy nice and actually walks around and asks how you're doing, he even took us to check out the smokers and gave us tips for where and what we should get for dinner! Unfortunately we also hiked out to Salt Lick to try it's famous BBQ and were sorely disappointed. The atmosphere is definitely something that one up's all the other BBQ places we researched, but they had NOTHING on the taste of Franklin BBQ. If you have a choice, skip Salt Lick. Food Trucks - Dude, these are everywhere and all good! There are pockets of where most of them set up, we tended to circle around the ones on 6th street. It's great if you don't know what kind of food you're feeling, because you can find most all cuisines all in the same lot! Rainey Street - I remember visiting this neighborhood a few years back, where it was a little old school and run down, but had some quality restaurants operating out of these renovated homes. This visit, I barely recognized it. It's definitely lost some of it's eclectic swag and traded in for the sleek modern look and high rise apartments. However, the restaurants and bars in this area were still fun to visit and offered for the most part good food. I was a fan of G'Raj Mahal. I place that was basically set up under a cruddy wedding tent the first time I visited it, and is now brick and mortar-ified. We just snacked on a few items this trip, but if I remember correctly this place was so good the first time I visited, that it has the honor of being my first yelp review. Uppity Restaurants - Ok, I hate to say it since I'm a big Paul Qui fan, but his restaurant 'Qui' was so unimpressive. Maybe I had high expectations, but I found the food to be underwhelming. Now what did impress me was the sister restaurant to the one he trained in - 'Uchiko' (also an Aaron Franklin recommendation). I can say without hesitation, this was some of the best food I'd had in my life. This is also the place where H fell in love.... with a dessert. The 'fried milk ice cream' is so unique and delicious. If you get a chance, do not forgo this dish! In addition to all the food - We had a nice experience staying at the new and beautiful JW Marriott, however the pool did get obnoxiously busy in the afternoons. We enjoyed talking the walking path along the river and witnessing the bats fly at sunset. Lastly, we really enjoyed the unique experience at Barton Springs Pool as it was an scalding hot day! If you find yourself in Austin, I hope that you in the very least get some good Franklin BBQ. I recently returned from a fabulous food binging trip to Austin (more on this later). My husband and I agreed that we needed to give our digestive system a break, especially after all the BBQ... so we decided to be kind to our bodies and go vegetarian for week. An easy vegetarian meal is always a salad, we wanted a filling salad. I remembered liking a beautiful picture on my instagram feed from one of my favorite food bloggers, What's Gaby Cooking. I semi-recreated this delicious and filling salad (which has served for lunch for the past few days) and discovered her amazing recipe for Basil Vinaigrette... which my husband and I are now hooked on! We didn't have any chickpeas on hand, though I'm sure they enhance the dish, but we didn't end up missing them. Make yourself a delicious salad and try out What's Gaby Cooking's awesome Basil Vinaigrette recipe! Here in Wisconsin - we've been hit by our inevitable bipolar weather. This past week we started to get hit with some of these below 60 evenings, last night was such an evening and I decided to make some soup. I had some frozen lobster meat in the freezer and had a game plan. Lobster Bisque.
I used the following recipe and subbed out the white wine with white grape juice. I wanted a little more flavor so I ended up adding a large pinch of red chili peppers to give it an extra zing. I initially used the immersion blender, but ended up putting it in the upright blender for a smoother texture. This was super easy and delicious! It's perfect for the Fall! Pretty sure this will be becoming a staple in our household. This past weekend, my sister showed up with 2 - 5lb zucchini's (I kid you not, they were like a toddler's limbs), that her coworker had grown in her garden. Thinking of all the dishes I could make with this vegetable, I settled on starting with zucchini bread. I'd never made zucchini bread, but stumbled upon this lovely recipe found here. This recipe is moist and delicious. I unfortunately didn't have any nuts to throw in, but think that would have only elevated the bread. Take this recipe for a spin, it's delicious!
I'm one of those picky eaters that can't deal with boned meat. Yes, I've heard time and time again (thank you Husband!) about how I'm nuts to eat boneless when boned meat has so much more flavor. This anti-bone mentality has made appreciating Pakistani food very difficult for me and is the topic of many heated discussions in our household... That said, my husband decided to make me these wings he'd seen a recipe for on Food Network's "The Best Thing I've Ever Made". I promised to be a good sport and try at least one or two, since he had put so much effort into making them. After my first bite, I was hooked. No joke, like sauce-all-over-my-face-I-don't-got-time-to-wipe-it-off hooked!
The flavors are insanely good! The crispy slightly charred texture of the wings mixed with notes of citrus, honey and heat! And the accompanying sauce -- divine. The recipe can be found here. If you're anything like us, you may end up making this for dinner every night for a week... or two. Harris has fond memories of his family visiting Mackinac Island when he was younger. I on the other hand, didn't even know this quaint place existed! We were going through old pictures once (many of which we successfully recreated) and he enlightened me of it's existence. He finally had a weekend off and we took off driving up Lake Michigan's coast, deep into the UP, to check this place out. I totally fell in love! Mackinac is only accessible by ferry and once there your only modes of transportation are bikes or horse drawn carriages. I really feels like you've on a movie set or have taken a step back in time! Mackinac is mostly made up of a national park and the town has been well restored and preserved by it's historical society. The island is most famous for it's Mackinac fudge (we taste tested - Gloria's smoked the competition).
There are a few hotels and handful of bed and breakfasts on the island, but we found that you need to book them more than a few weeks in advance. The Grand Hotel - is by far the hotel you want to be at. We stopped in to view the eclectic decor and try their afternoon tea. Normally, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to afternoon tea, however this was one of the best experiences I'd had. Everything about this place screams charming! Try the fudge, take a bike ride around perimeter of the island (8 miles), go paddle boarding or kayaking, and try the afternoon tea at The Grand Hotel. If you're looking for a quick summer weekend getaway definitely consider a trip up north to Mackinac Island. I'm sure there's a mix those of you over the kale and others deeply submerged into a kale-session! I'll throw it into my smoothies or juices, just as long as I can disguise it with something. Rarely do I enjoy raw Kale, except for in this copycat recipe I've created for Sweet Green's Chicken Kale Caesar wrap (which, HORROR! They don't do wraps anymore!). It's so simple and so delicious! I can make the night before and it's still good the next day for lunch. Enjoy! Servings Size: 2 Wraps Ingredients: 1 Grilled Chicken Breast 1/2 Cup Cherry Tomatoes 1/2 head of Romaine Lettuce 1 Cup Kale 1 Lime (squeeze 1/2 a lime per serving) 2 tbs of Caesar dressing (adjust to your liking) Parmesan Cheese Parmesan Chips (recipe below) Large Tortilla Wraps I typically grill my chicken so that I have enough for a few days. I'll usually just season it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Sometimes I'll add some garlic and parmesan to my seasoning to create a nice flavorful crust when grilling. After grilling and letting the chicken cool, I'll chop it up and store in a container until I need to add to my salad mix.
As I said, very simple. I start by slicing my cherry tomatoes in half and chopping my romaine lettuce. Toss the kale, lettuce, tomatoes, chicken with the caesar dressing. Add as much parmesan as you'd like and squeeze about 1/2 a lime per serving (again, this is to your liking). Last thing to toss in are your parmesan chips (recipe below). I like to warm up my tortillas for about 15 secs in the microwave before I add my filling. Once you've wrapped, try not to drool as you take a bite! Parmesan Chip Recipe: Pre-heat your oven to 400° F. Place some wax/parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Create small mounds of shredded parmesan cheese about the size of a quarter. Sprinkle with a a little black pepper. Place in the oven for about 5 mins. Remove and let the chips cool before popping them into your salads or wraps. I know my blog has been very food centric - I promise to try to add a little variety to future posts. However, this is a special submission from my husband who has been working to create the perfect burger recipe. I've taste tested more burgers than I care to admit this summer, and agree that this is the purest of burger that he has come up with. Enjoy! Submission from Husband: I made hamburgers for one month straight, and tested every option: grilling, sauteing, grill mats, different buns/cheeses/meats/toppings/sauces, various fix-ins to the meat, when to season, different shapes/sizes, etc to come up with the best possible cheeseburger one can make at home. But as a warning, it will ruin eating fast food burgers for the rest of your life, something I used to love eating. Took the best from almost 15 different recipes plus put in own touches to make this cheeseburger. Yield: 6 - 8 burgers HAMBURGER PATTY INGREDIENTS 1 lb Fresh ground chuck --The exact quantity that is best for cheeseburgers is 0.4lbs of FRESH ground chuck (80/20) per person. Ask your butcher to go through a medium grind twice. Getting fresh ground meat like this is absolutely non-negotiable. This is the only way to get a truly tender burger. Don't buy pre-ground meat in a styrofoam package! This small adjustment will change how you feel about hamburgers for the rest of your life. 1 Red Onion 1 tbs. Worcestershire Sauce 1/2 C Panko Bread Crumbs 1 tbs Ketchup 1 tbs Dijon Mustard 1/4 tbs Paprika 1 Egg 1/4 C. Unsalted Butter Kosher Salt (to season) Fresh Coarse Ground Black Pepper (to season) BUN AND TOPPINGS INGREDIENTS 1 block Extra Sharp Cheese 1 Spanish Onion 1 - 2 Beefsteak Tomatoes 1/2 head Lettuce 6 - 8 Fresh Baked Soft Burger Buns (nothing fancy like pretzel buns, etc..) SAUCE INGREDIENTS 3 Tbsp mayonnaise 3 Tbsp ketchup 1.5 Tbsp Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp sour cream 0.5 Tbsp prepared horseradish 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar RECIPE The meat is the star here, don't put in too much of anything except for the salt/pepper! --Add to meat which is spread out over a large pan: small amount of small cubed unsalted butter (I find it is easier to cut this up into manageable tiny cubes once I put it in the freezer for a few minutes), paprika, small amount of bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, small amount of ketchup, small amount of dijon mustard, only 1 egg per 2lbs of meat, finely diced red onion (NO SALT or PEPPER yet) --Form into patties (do NOT overwork your patties, as they will toughen), these patties should be larger than your buns (they look larger than you would expect them to be, it's ok, will shrink) --Refrigerate for one hour, no more (this is both for flavor to set in and for patties to have some form so as to not fall apart on the grill) --After removing from fridge, now season both sides with lots of kosher salt and black pepper. You don't want to season your burger with salt before making your patties because it will leach out water, drying out your burger. Also salt/pepper directly on the outside of your patty helps contribute to a nice crust when grilling. --On one side of the patty make a good size dent in middle with thumb. If this isn't done your meat will look like a huge meatball after it cooks. COOK --Time to grill, do not saute, broil, bake, or use a grill mat. Charcoal grills will give you better flavor than a gas grill, but gas is better than any other option if charcoal isn't available. With charcoal make a hot zone and a cool zone (i.e. bundle charcoal on one side of grill). If you don't know how to properly light charcoal with a chimney, you should learn and perfect this skill first. --Place burgers dent side up over hot zone (should be so hot it sizzles as soon as it touches the grates). Don't cover the grill. Don't bunch up your burgers, you may have to cook in small batches. --Usually 4-6 minutes later you can flip your burger if you have been cooking over a very hot temperature. If you don't have nice grill marks and char by now, cook longer, then flip. As a note, always stay by your burgers as they cook so that you can tame any flareups as soon as they happen. None of your burgers should be cooking under direct flames. If using charcoal they should all be ashed over first. --Cook for another 4 mins or so to your doneness satisfaction (another point here, if you don't know how to check by feel your meat doneness, this is another skill worth perfecting before starting this recipe.) If it took you longer than 4-6 mins to get that nice crust and char on your first side, then it will take you longer on this side as well, so adjust as needed. --With about 2 minutes left to go with cooking, add extra sharp cheese to top of burgers (get a block of this cheese and cut it by hand into medium thickness slices). Move your burgers to the cool side of your grill. --Close grill cover to let cheese melt (make sure your air holes are open on top of your cover otherwise you will extinguish your heat). --Grill burger buns for about a minute (they should be cut 2/3 top bun, 1/3 lower bun) on your hot zone, let it come into contact with the burgers juices left on the grate for extra flavor. Don't overdo grilling these either. Just a nice barely firm texture is what you need. --Remove burger and let rest for a few minutes before eating. SAUCE Combine the sauce ingredients listed above. ASSEMBLY This should be the order of your ingredients: Lower bun, then burger, then thin-medium slice of tomato, then thin-medium sliced spanish onion, lettuce, top bun (that is pre-slathered with your sauce). Enjoy! For a cheeseburger, this is all you need. Simplicity is your friend, I don't recommend any fancy ingredients. I've tried them and they take away from the star of this meal, which is the actual burger.Paprika Kosher Salt (to season) This carrot cake blew everyone away! Every bite had a fresh kick to it. The recipe for both cake and frosting can be found here. I used edible flowers from the local Dane County Farmer's Market. I would have preferred more yellow and orange flowers, but the purple buds looked beautiful. Even if you're typically a fan of carrot cake, you'll find it hard to resist a slice of this! |