Bobby Flay's Crunchburger

This gets a five star rating from everyone in my family. Actual quote from my wife: "This is the best burger I've ever had."

Tilapia with Citrus Bagna Cauda

OK, I changed my mind. I kept looking at the last tilapia recipe but just wasn't too excited about it. So I switched to a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis (by the way, my wife said that I should put a picture of Giada here to increase readership of my blog...will it work?) The kids once again thought it was "ok" and were willing to eat their portions. I thought it was good. My wife really liked the sauce, but didn't like the texture of the fish. The only two times she has had tilapia have been the two times I have cooked it, so is it that she doesn't like tilapia, or just that I can't cook it? In any case, I'm going to try this recipe again with halibut to see if that makes a difference. This recipe was very easy to make and didn't take much time at all. Next time I will also use dried basil instead of fresh, since I liked making the sauce a day in advance and I think the dried will be fine for this. It is also much cheaper. :)

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
• 4 anchovy fillets, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 6 (6-ounce) skinless tilapia fillets
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Melt the butter and olive oil in a heavy medium saucepan over low to medium heat until the butter is melted, stirring frequently. Add the anchovies and stir until the anchovies dissolve, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Stir in the orange juice, basil, and lemon and orange zests. Season to taste with salt.

The bagna cauda sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before using.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 degrees F. This step is only needed if you can't fit all of the fillets in your pan.

Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper and brush both sides of the fish with remaining 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil. Working in 2 batches, fry the fish until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer fish to platter. Cover with foil and keep warm in the oven while cooking the second batch of fish. Drizzle the sauce over and around the fish and serve.

Bobby's Baked Tilapia

I made tilapia for the first time last week. The reviews were mixed. :) PJ and Alex both thought it was "ok" (which is a win, really). Stephanie thought it had too strong of a lime flavor to it. I thought it was too bland. I got the recipe from here and followed it exactly. I'm going to modify the recipe this week, and will post a photo and a detailed list of what I did then.

Buttermilk Biscuits

I love buttermilk biscuits, but I've never been very successful at making them myself...I've always resorted to buying the vacuum packed tubes at the store. Shameful, I know. :) So I finally decided that I had to conquer. I used a recipe from Fanny Farmer and the biscuits were barely ok...so I pulled out the heavy guns and used this recipe from Tyler Florence. I was very happy with the results. The minor differences from the Fanny Farmer recipe (Tyler recommended folding 3 or 4 times instead of kneading 14 times and using chilled shortening, among other things) made the difference. I give his recipe and instructions below. He suggests brushing them with butter before they go into the oven...I brushed half with butter and half with buttermilk and preferred those that were brushed with buttermilk (although not by much). I also used only 1/2 tsp of salt.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions
In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients together with a fork. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender (note from Dan: I used two butter knives to do this) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk. Quickly fold dry ingredients into buttermilk with your hands until a sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Gently fold the dough over itself 3 or 4 times to create layers. Roll dough out to 3/4-inch thick. Cut with a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Transfer dough rounds to a sheet pan. Gather scraps and repeat. Make a dimple in the center to help the top rise evenly. Brush with butter. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven until golden brown.

Bacon Cheddar Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze

I found this recipe here on Foodtv.com. I was looking for something new to try and thought this looked great. We all thought that it tasted really good, and it left plenty of leftovers to eat the next day. I made a couple of changes to the recipe...the original calls for ground veal and I substituted ground turkey. It also asked for ground pork and I used plain pork sausage instead. I also used 3 pieces of bacon instead of two because I couldn't stop myself.

Ingredients
Loaf :
3 pieces bacon, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground beef chuck
8 ounces pork sausage
8 ounces ground turkey
8 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded (2 1/3 cups)
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Glaze:
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook bacon over medium-low heat until crispy. Remove bacon, leaving grease in the pan. Cook the onions and garlic in the pan drippings until brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, mustard, hot sauce, Worcestershire, cream, salt, and pepper. Add the meat, cheese, parsley, and cooked onion. Chop and add the bacon. Mix with your hands (or a fork) until blended.

On a foil-lined cookie sheet, pat mixture into a loaf shape. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf registers 155 degrees F, about 1 hour. While the meatloaf is baking, whisk the glaze ingredients together in a bowl. Spread the glaze onto the meatloaf after about 50 minutes. Let loaf rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.