Did another round of Cajun Paella on Saturday with legit Andouille from Best Stop. My weekend neighbor flys F-18s for his day job and had some of his pilot buddies/trainees out of Kingsville over. We typically host troops for Thanksgiving but this was a good reminder how much our servicemen appreciate a good meal.

My Lazy Pasta Bake.

1# pasta shapes (macaroni, rotini, fusilli, whatever you like)
1# Italian sausage, bulk, or casings removed
2-24 oz jars of your favorite pasta sauce
1# low-moisture mozzarella cheese (3/4 of it cut into 1/2" cubes, the rest grated)

Cook the pasta to about 3/4 doneness on the low end of the range on the box. (If the box says 10-12 minutes, cook it about 8 minutes.)

In a large pot, brown the Italian sausage. Add the pasta sauce, and heat through. Add the pasta, and mix to combine. Quickly mix in the cubed mozzarella (you don't want it to start melting while mixing it). Pour into a casserole dish (that was a 2.5 quart dish, and it barely held it. Use a 3-quart dish), and sprinkle on the grated cheese. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until the top is browned and the pasta is cooked.

This is one of those I do when I'm feeling lazy and just want to throw something together that's easy. It can be better if you make the sausage and a homemade sauce. Next one I'm making is a Pizza Hut pasta bake copycat.

The Leroy and Lewis smoked burger, potato wedges, and green pea salad. Props to Beef Cheeks and crew for coming up with the beet bbq sauce and mayo burger sauce. The burger was fantastic. Here's how you build it.

Finally remembered to snap a pic before serving. Belize Stew Chicken. Next time I will use more achiote to get a more traditional red color. Flavor was on point.

Pizza night

HTownAg98 said:

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The Leroy and Lewis smoked burger, potato wedges, and green pea salad. Props to Beef Cheeks and crew for coming up with the beet bbq sauce and mayo burger sauce. The burger was fantastic. Here's how you build it.

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Looks delicious!! I've made the smoked patties the L&L way several times and they are astoundingly good. Their 2:1 pepper to salt ratio is perfect on brisket as well. Makes it super easy to apply liberally and evenly without worrying about overseasoning. Need to try their BBQ sauce soon.

I see you with that Whataburger ketchup as well! Ha.

Pepperoni rolls

Paella with tomatoes. Recipe here. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018606-paella-with-tomatoes?unlocked_article_code=1.eVA.Dg-e.kXSTpDaiVGWN&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

Backyard Gator said:

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Pepperoni rolls

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I can feel the edges of the light cardstock coupon book pages roll off my thumb looking at this picture.

Backyard Gator said:

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Pepperoni rolls

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Recipe please. I miss the days of Double Dave's $1 Peproni Rolls.

Boneless chicken leg quarters stuffed with a chicken, basil, and sun dried tomato sausage. I took one of the chicken quarters where the skin was scalped and used that to make the sausage. Trussed them to hold everything together, and put on a 350 degree grill. Worth doing again even if the butchery is a bit of a pain.

HTownAg98 said:

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Backyard Gator said:

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Pepperoni rolls

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Recipe please. I miss the days of Double Dave's $1 Peproni Rolls.

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I put 10 pepperoni slices in each roll, so it took one whole package of pepperoni slices.

3 cups of flour
1 1/3 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of instant dry yeast
teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of cooking oil or olive oil
1/2 lb of shredded low moisture mozzarella

I mix by hand, and this makes for a wet dough. You want pliable and soft, but not so wet it sticks to your hand.

Pour water in bowl, add yeast, mix until dissolved. Add flour and salt, mix and knead until soft dough is formed. If dough is too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time. You want it tacky and soft.

Kneading should only take about 2-3 minutes. Once dough ball is formed, pour cooking oil/olive oil over ball, and coat on all sides. Leave ball in bowl or put in separate bowl and cover with plastic wrap and towel to allow it to rise for one hour.

At 30 minute mark, turn oven on and preheat to 550.

After dough has risen, roll out and shape by hand into flat pizza disc.

Start arranging pepperoni slices in a triangle in eight sections, going 4/3/2/1 slices in each section. Take block of low moisture mozz and using a box grater, shred the cheese right over the pepperoni going around the dough in a circle. Make sure you have an equal amount of mozz on each section. This takes about 1/3-1/2 of the block for me.

Using a pizza slicer, slice all eight sections like you would a pizza. Pull one 'slice' out, and starting from the larger end, roll the pepperoni and cheese down into the triangle, pinching the ends to seal it.

Spread some semolina flour or corn meal on your pizza peel, then slide all eight rolls into the 550 degree oven. I find it is best to use a stone or a steel, if you don't have one, use a pizza pan, and slide it onto the top rack.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove rolls from oven, let them sit for 5 minutes, and then enjoy.

Anybody else like fried chicken hearts and gizzards? When the picky eater wife is away……

"Popcorn hearts"

B-1 83 said:

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Anybody else like fried chicken hearts and gizzards? When the picky eater wife is away……

"Popcorn hearts"

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I'm a sucker for hearts and gizzards when I find them at mom and pop chicken joints. No livers, those should go in the trash.

Speckled trout with salsa Veracruz, and yellow squash with tomato sauce and parm. Fish came from South Padre last night, and everything else was thrown together from what I had on hand.