Southern Summer Series: Just A Few Miles South #1 {Ale-8-One Sloppy Joes and Wallace Station Red Bliss Potato Salad}

Every summer I like to chose a cookbook or a special focus and do a summer cooking series. Some of the summer series that I've done in the past are: popsicles; ice creams; cookies; salads; and healthy recipes. One series I've always wanted to do is a series of southern summer recipes. So, this summer I chose a local cookbook from James Beard Nominee, Ouita Michel. Each week I will be cooking recipes from Ouita's Just A Few Miles South Cookbook. 

 

Chef Ouita has six restaurants in the Lexington, Kentucky area where I happen to live. The restaurants range from upscale to down home and locals simply love everything she does. Ouita uses local ingredients, something I am passionate about. Recipes focus on old vintage southern recipes, as well as modern twists on new southern favorites. All of the recipes have a Bluegrass Kentucky vibe.

First up we have an Ale-8-One Sloppy Joe served alongside some Wallace Station Red Bliss Potato Salad. Now, if you're native to central Kentucky you know that Ale-8-One is a ginger ale type soda created in Winchester, Kentucky back in the 1920's. The soda was an entry in the Clark County Fair in 1926 and the name Ale-8-One was chosen through a naming contest at the fair. In the 1920's a slang term for "the latest thing" was simply "A Late One." If you're familiar with the Kentucky drawl, you know how easy "A Late One" can be Ale-8-One. This soda is still made and bottled in Winchester, Kentucky and it has quite a following. If you don't have Ale-8-One in your area you can always use ginger ale.

Back in the 1980's Sloppy Joes were everywhere. If you found yourself at a cookout, a potluck, or a backyard birthday party the chances were you'd be eating some Sloppy Joe! Back in those days a lot of people bought a can of Manwich and called it a day. For these Ale-8-One Sloppy Joes Chef Ouita crafts a careful combination of several ingredients: Kentucky beef; onion; garlic; flour; ketchup; Ale-8-One; tomato paste; tomato sauce; apple cider vinegar; Worcestershire sauce; honey; dry mustard; chili powder; and finally, salt and pepper. All of this gets cooked together to make one very delicious and quite classic Ale-8-One Sloppy Joe. Do you taste the Ale-8-One? Not necessarily, but it does provide a liquid base to help cook down all the other ingredients and meld the flavors together. On a toasted bun, this Ale-8-Sloppy Joe was milder than the Manwich all of us old-timers know and love. Ouita's Sloppy Joe is definitely a step above and we really enjoyed it with some Ale-8-One on the side.

Next up, is Ouita's Wallace Station Red Bliss Potato Salad (image of her Wallace Station restaurant above located in beautiful horse country). You simply cannot go wrong here. This is a classic potato salad made with red potatoes. The potatoes boil until tender then get doused with a dressing of mayo, Dijon mustard, celery, red onion, a splash of water, and salt and pepper. This is a really great classic potato salad and we loved it very much, especially on the first day. I would recommend making this and eating it on the day of. On the second day, the red onion flavor was more pronounced and it was still good, but it did get a very pronounced oniony flavor.

It was a great first roundup of Just A Few Miles South recipes. Next week is sure to bring another Bluegrass favorite! Over the summer I hope to get some in person pictures of her restaurants and food and maybe do a few side-by-side shots of her dishes in the dishes versus my dishes at home!

 See ya'll next week!

Ale-8-One Sloppy Joes

Adapted from Just A Few Miles South

by Ouita Michel

Serves 6-8

1-1/2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)

1 clove garlic, minced

1-1/2 tablespoons flour

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup 

Ale-8-One

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

salt to taste

6-8 sturdy burger buns

Note: This makes about 1 quart of sloppy joe mixture.

Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Remove from the stove and carefully drain excess fat. Return pan to medium heat and stir in flour. Cook about 2 minutes, then stir in remaining ingredients. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes. To make the mixture extra sloppy, add more Ale-8-One. Taste for seasoning. Remove from heat and allow the sloppy joe mixture to rest about 5 minutes before serving, which helps it tighten up. Serve warm on buns.  

Wallace Station Red Bliss Potato Salad

Adapted from Just A Few Miles South

by Ouita Michel

Makes 2 quarts 

Serves 12-16

3 pounds small red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed and eyes removed

1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 cup finely chopped red onion

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 cups mayonnaise

1 tablespoon water

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place potatoes in a small stockpot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Simmer about 13 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and cool slightly. Cut potatoes in a medium dice, add remaining ingredients, and mix thoroughly. Taste for seasoning. Chill at least 30 minutes before serving. 

Summer Series: Just A Few Miles South #1
 

Attention All Pickle Lovers: Hot Dogs with Pickle Slaw! {You Need It At Your Next Cookout}!

If you want to level up your next cookout, whip up a batch of this Pickle Slaw and you'll have all the pickle lovers swooning! Why stop at plain ol' relish when you can whip up a batch of pickle slaw with relish and cabbage for double the crunch!

It's really easy as pie. What a minute. Pie isn't really easy, but this pickle slaw is! You just need a couple cups of very thinly sliced green cabbage. Put it in a bowl and add fresh chopped dill, a couple tablespoons of sweet relish, a couple tablespoons of dill relish, olive oil, red wine vinegar, dill pickle juice, some honey, and finally some salt and pepper to taste. Mix up this zingy fresh slaw and let the flavors meld for about an hour, or as long as you can.

Grill up some hot dogs, put them in a nice soft buttery brioche bun, and dress with pickle slaw, ketchup, and mustard. The pickle slaw is somewhat mild in flavor, adding some zip but not a punch. The pickle slaw lends a freshness to the hot dog that is real nice, light, and summery! We really loved the pickle slaw and could see adding it to BBQ sandwiches, burgers, steak, chicken.  The sky really is the limit with this pickle slaw! It's even good on it's own.

 If you're a pickle lover, or you know a pickle lover, give it a try this season!

Pickle Slaw

Adapted from How Sweet Eats blog

Yields 2.5 cups

 4 cups thinly sliced green cabbage, very thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh chopped dill

3 tablespoons sweet relish

2 tablespoons dill relish

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons dill pickle juice

1 teaspoon honey

salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage and dill with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Whisk together the relishes, olive oil, vinegar, pickle juice and honey. Pour over the cabbage and toss well to combine. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. This stays great in the fridge for a day - you can also make it a fewh ours ahead of time and refrigerate, then bring it out for a party.

NOTE: Pickle slaw would be great for any BBQ or cookout! It's incredible on hot dogs and burgers, pulled chicken or pork, tacos, steak, and sky is the limit!

For The Picnic @ IHCC!
 

 

How Sweet Eats Korean Beef Bowls

I started this blog when my youngest child was about 18 months old. He is now 18 years old and graduating high school in a matter of days.

There are quite simply 87,900 things to do each and every day to prepare for this graduation. In a way, this is a good thing because we are so busy "doing" we don't have time to think. The last band concert was followed by Prom; Senior Skip Day; Senior Awards Night; the Throwback Field Trip to their elementary and middle schools; not one, not two, but THREE graduation practices, Senior Sunset Cookout; Senior Breakfast, the Senior Parade through town; 70 other things I'm forgetting (like ordering the Senior Yard Sign, Filling out Graduation Announcements, Buying All the Clothes, Ordering the Cake); and finally Graduation itself. A mom can't even breathe. I'm serious. And if she does breathe that means she's crying.

After 25 years of parenting the child raising has come to an end. It's a lot to have on your mind.

The kitchen continues to be my saving grace. I just don't have the time to get lost in big cooking projects, so I find a 30 minute recipe like these Korean Beef Bowls. This can be ready in the time it takes to make some rice.

Get the rice started, make the sauce for the steak, cut up some fresh veggies, saute the steak real quick, assemble. It's a perfect dish for this time of year when you want something lighter but satisfying. It's fresh and crisp with lots of flavor and it certainly is pretty. A really good weeknight meal.

A new season is almost here. Summer. We will see what it brings.

Korean Beef Bowls

Adapted from A Pretty Dish

by Jessica Merchant

Serves 2

1 pound sirloin beef, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1-1/2 cups cooked jasmine rice

2 large carrots, peeled and spiralized*

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds*

*Note: If you don't have a spiralizer you can use a vegetable peeler to create ribbons of carrots, curl them around your finger and place in ice water to hold their shape. Also, I have a seed-free diet so I garnished with the sliced green onions, cucumber, and red pepper flakes.

Toss the beef with the flour. In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. 

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Add the beef and cook for 1 minute, searing until golden brown. Turn the beef pieces and cook for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium and pour in the sauce. Cook, tossing occasionally, for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the beef and any extra sauce in a bowl.

To assemble the bowls, divide the rice and carrots between 2 bowls. Top with the beef, then add the scallion and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. If desired, you can add another drizzle of toasted sesame oil. 

30 Minute Meals @ I Heart Cooking Clubs
 

 

For Cinco de Mayo: How Sweet Eats Crispy Cheesy Breakfast Tacos with Carnitas {So good and easy}!

Doesn't everyone want to wake up to a breakfast taco crisped up with crunchy fried cheese?

This looks like it takes a lot of effort and it does not! All you need to do is scramble some eggs. Make a quick pico de gallo and chunk up some avocado. Or, make this however you wish. Buy some pico and guacamole if you want to make things easier on yourself.

After you scramble your eggs, all you need to do is put some grated cheese in your skillet and let it start melting before topping it with a flour tortilla, fill the tortilla with more cheese, scrambled egg, any kind of meat or veggie. Like I said, make it whatever you want!

Let the cheese underneath cook and crisp and let the insides cook, warm through, and melt. Then fold the taco in half, crisp up both sides (it helps you have a really good pan that is either cast iron or nonstick), and serve! Top with whatever toppings float your boat. 

We had carnitas the night before, so I added some carnitas to my scrambled eggs and I already had homemade pico de gallo, cilantro, red onion, and guacamole on hand for topping.

This makes for a delightful weekend breakfast and one that I will make again and again! 

Crispy Cheesy Breakfast Tacos

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

by Jessica Merchant

Serves 2-4, depending

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 lime, juiced

1 avocado, cubed

1 tablespoons butter

6 large eggs

1 tablespoon milk or cream

salt and pepper, to taste

3 green onions, thinly sliced

8 small (4-inch) flour tortillas

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside - don't add the avocado until right before serving.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-ow heat. Whisk together the eggs, cream and a big pinch of salt and pepper until combined. Whisk in the green onions. Swirl the melted butter around the pan and pour the eggs in the skillet. Add carnitas, salsa, or whatever you desire. Push gently with a spatula often, until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Transfer to a bowl.

Keep the same skillet over medium heat. To make the tacos, sprinkle cheddar in the skillet. You want enough cheddar to essentially cover the outside circumference of your tortilla. The cheese should start to melt right away. Place your tortilla directly on top of the cheese.  Add another bit of cheese to the inside of the tortilla. Top with scrambled egg mixture. Let the tortilla cook until the cheese is golden and getting crispy on the outside edges. Fold the tortilla in half and make sure each side of the tortilla is golden and crispy cheesy goodness!

Put the taco on a serving plate and garnish with pico de gallo, onions, cilantro, avocado or guacamole.  

April IHCC Potluck!