What Are You Eating?

Go hot or go home! Smash burgers are just fun! Tomorrow I am going to try some smash burger tacos with lettuce, tomato, red onion and cheese. Simple fare on the Blackstone complimented by a good ale.
I tried the smashburger tacos yesterday and they exceeded my expectations. I used 80/20 beef and a large 8 1/2'' tortilla and cooked them on the Blackstone at 485 degrees. The usual fare of tomatoes, onion, lettuce, cheese and sour cream but with a difference-there was room for a lot more of each! One of my gripes with the standard size taco is that it is so small that it holds few additions and many of those have a tendency to fall off. A couple of months ago my granddaughter took me to a boutique Mexican restaurant in Spokane where the tacos were so small you held them in two fingers. They were good but tiny and you needed at least a half dozen to get started.

Not so with the smashers! It takes 2 hands to hold them and eating 2 of them is a meal. I had about 4 ounces of the seasoned meat left so I tried another one today and I think it was even better now that I have some experience. There is little chance that I will go back to the tiny tacos now that I know how to make them man-sized.

I must have watched at least a dozen videos on how to make these things and tried to discard the bogus and use what I thought would be the best practice. I mixed the taco seasoning into the meat and marinated it for a few hours which I felt gave the richest flavor. Other than that it was a straight forward process as long as you smash the bejesus out of the meat. And brown the tortillas to a crisp.
 
I tried the smashburger tacos yesterday and they exceeded my expectations. I used 80/20 beef and a large 8 1/2'' tortilla and cooked them on the Blackstone at 485 degrees. The usual fare of tomatoes, onion, lettuce, cheese and sour cream but with a difference-there was room for a lot more of each! One of my gripes with the standard size taco is that it is so small that it holds few additions and many of those have a tendency to fall off. A couple of months ago my granddaughter took me to a boutique Mexican restaurant in Spokane where the tacos were so small you held them in two fingers. They were good but tiny and you needed at least a half dozen to get started.

Not so with the smashers! It takes 2 hands to hold them and eating 2 of them is a meal. I had about 4 ounces of the seasoned meat left so I tried another one today and I think it was even better now that I have some experience. There is little chance that I will go back to the tiny tacos now that I know how to make them man-sized.

I must have watched at least a dozen videos on how to make these things and tried to discard the bogus and use what I thought would be the best practice. I mixed the taco seasoning into the meat and marinated it for a few hours which I felt gave the richest flavor. Other than that it was a straight forward process as long as you smash the bejesus out of the meat. And brown the tortillas to a crisp.
Check out the YouTube Playlist for Meat Church. (BBQ in Waxahachie, TX.) Matt does a great job of explaining the dish as it's made. He's done several taco episodes.
 
Roasted eggplant dip, just picked matina and Cherokee purple tomatoes, pita, and a grilled lamb shoulder chop and a beer to wash it down. This was my first time cooking and eating a shoulder chop, usually it's smoked shoulder, loin chops, or leg roast. It might be my favorite lamb cut for grilling now.
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Roasted eggplant dip, just picked matina and Cherokee purple tomatoes, pita, and a grilled lamb shoulder chop and a beer to wash it down. This was my first time cooking and eating a shoulder chop, usually it's smoked shoulder, loin chops, or leg roast. It might be my favorite lamb cut for grilling now.
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Lamb shoulder blade chops are one of my go-to cuts. Relatively cheap, lots of character and bones to gnaw on when the meats all gone. Good camping fare if you want to feel like a caveman chewing bones around the fire 🤣

I’m about to harvest my first cluster of Matina and a few Cherokee Purps myself. Looking forward to some BLTs tomorrow.
 
Lamb shoulder blade chops are one of my go-to cuts. Relatively cheap, lots of character and bones to gnaw on when the meats all gone. Good camping fare if you want to feel like a caveman chewing bones around the fire 🤣

I’m about to harvest my first cluster of Matina and a few Cherokee Purps myself. Looking forward to some BLTs tomorrow.
The wife doesn't love lamb or eggplant, and hates raw tomatoes. She's outta town 🤣
 
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This guy tried to help himself to the 12 volt fridge in my buddies jeep parked in front of the cabin…he was dissuaded from continuing with a water bottle thrown at his head…he looked up with a quizzical look and sauntered down the street
 
Pretty busy day of harvesting, watering, cutting back and deadheading...Evidently I am sort of a bastard to work around after a while...so I hear anyway...a real pain in the ass.
😄
I take the 5th on that.

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So anyways...
Shoving stuff into a vase, check...
Locally grown...check
Oraganic...check
Hecho a mano...check
😅😅😅

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Went back to the Pasta alla Zozzonna
Good excuse for a nice Chianti.
😁

#Closecallsaturday
 
A bit of last years tuna to finish off before my first trip later this month. My wife made some pesto using basil from the garden. Added some homegrown cherry tomatoes as well.

She also preferred coho (bowl on right) for her pasta. That was caught yesterday.

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Between the plank and probe, pulling it off right at 147 degrees, this was so dang good. Thank you Coho for this meal 🙏

[Recipe] Marinate 1hr or so in: 1/3c olive oil, a couple teaspoons of ground pepper and salt, 1 or 2 lemons zested, some fresh thyme and rosemary and a couple garlic cloves minced. Cook on presoaked cedar plank leaving the marinade fixings on (hardware store $5, make sure you get the natural wood).
 
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