Bobby Flay's Twice Baked Potatoes

This recipe was really called Horseradish Twice Baked Potatoes, but I figured if I put that in the title some people would quit reading right there because horseradish is one of those love/hate ingredients.
     Personally, I'm not a lover of the horseradish and I can only take it in small doses. Like, I don't really want to taste it, I just want to wonder if that's horseradish that I'm tasting. So just a hint of it is a good thing. Ya with me? 

I know what you're thinking...her potatoes don't look anything like Bobby's. It's true and I'm a bit embarrassed to even show these pictures because my potatoes look NOTHING like my Bobby's beautiful puffed up, golden brown, nicely crisped spuds. I hate it when that happens!

     Mine look more like burnt, runny, weird tubers. ↑  ↓  See for yourself. 
 
I'm throwing Bobby under the bus for this. You know I make no apologies nor have regrets for cooking with a lot of butter and cream but I think the recipe called for (I can't believe I'm saying this) too much butter. Butter burns and I think that's why mine got more black than brown.

The other thing is, I think the recipe called for (I can't believe I'm saying this either) too much cream. I didn't even use all of the cream it called for and mine were preeeeety runny. Bobby did mention that the "potatoes should not be dry," but dude, should they be swimming in cream?

Anyhow, they were very good despite of how they looked.  Just a nice hint of horseradish, not overpowering and the skins were beautifully crisped. And see those pretty chives? I picked them from my herb garden  ~ the only herb (besides mint) that waited for me to come home, so I was happy to find a use for what remains of them.

Anyhow, the recipe is super easy and and it was tasty.  Just don't add all that butter and cream (There, I said it!) and adjust the horseradish to taste. You can find it under the "Soups-Salads-Sides" tab. I may have to ask for a do-over on this one....Thanks Bobby, love ya, call me, mean it!

Because I have an unusual fetish for Pig Candy, up next is my Bobby's Mango Glazed Bacon....mmmmm......stay tuned!

My Latest Addiction: Pig Candy

I said, "Lord, you can take me now. I've had what surely must be a taste of Heaven!" 
     I'm talking about Pig Candy. You heard me right...Pig Candy. If it's on the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet in Heaven I'm ready to go. Where does the line form?

Last week my friend Karen N. brought me a box of the stuff, which she got in Jackson from a restaurant called Cafe Genevieve.  Cute packaging, I thought as I opened the box, and then I saw that it was real bacon! It was ♥ at first bite. I dropped to my knees and prayed to the bacon gods that Pig Candy would would be fat-free. Well you can't have everything. 

Never, ever, EVER in my forty or fifty or whatever-some years have I ever eaten anything as heavenly as Pig Candy. I mean it...and I've eaten really good food in a lot of other parts of the world.
     (Side note:  Pig Candy could stop wars. If the Muslims would just stop being so sensitive about pork and would try a little a piece of Pig Candy all this hatin'-terrorism bullshit would come to a halt because they'd be busy wiping drool off of their beards instead of strapping bombs on their babies. But hey, that's another story for another time.)   

Ok, seriously...If you had asked me in the five seconds before I ate the Pig Candy what was THEE BEST thing that I have ever eaten in my life I would have said the seafood cannelloni in Sorrento, Italy. It was so amazing that we went back the next night and ate it again. I don't recall the name of the restaurant, but this ↓ is a dinner that I will never forget!

Or I might have said it was one of our more memorable recent dinners ~ the giant red snapper from our favorite restaurant, La Estacion in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Four pounds of a tender, grilled, just barely out of the water, fish served with mango salsa, johnny cakes, and green papaya salad.  We won't likely ever love a snapper again like we loved this one. ↓

But never in a million years would I have to expected to add Pig Candy in Dayton, to that prestigious list. But I'm hooked. Pig Candy is my meth...or my crack or whatever it is that you get hooked on.
     So to avoid becoming a gluttonous-two-fisted-poke-it-down-the-ole-pie-hole-piggy, I hid the box from myself on a high shelf in my pantry. I knew that if I left it sitting on my counter only bad things could happen. 1) I may have to share it with The Big Guy; 2) I would eat myself into Hog Heaven or; 3) I may have to share it with The Big Guy. A definite lose-lose for me.

The picture above is what Pig Candy looks like on the flip side. It's all that brown and crunchy goodness of brown sugar and cayenne pepper that I assume makes it so damn good. The idea of making my own is now rattling around in my head since I am down to one piece. 

Confession to make:  I have now, on more than six occasions went to bed only to get up at an hour when most addicts are sleeping off their drugs, and have gone downstairs and rummaged in the far corner of my panty to get out that beautiful brown box, just to break myself off a sliver of Pig Candy.
     This is just crazy, I said to myself the other night at around midnight, when I was standing on a chair to reach it. So the next day I did what most junkies do. I gave my dealer (Karen) a hundred bucks so she could get me some more. A hundred bucks, you say?  Why only a hundred? Well it was because I didn't have an extra thousand laying around.
     If anyone one wants in on my stash when it gets here let me know. I can hook you up....but it's gonna cost ya, so bring cash!

My Sixth Date with Bobby ~ Another Killer Quesadilla

I swear, Bobby Flay must have me on speed dial! When he called me last week to try out another one of his recipes I was thinking, shit, not another quesadilla, but when my Bobby calls...well I fire up the grill because I'm his grill, errrr girl.
     
One of the things that put this quesadilla over the top was my Bobby's brilliant paring of  jalapeno and basil.  Jalapeno + cilantro = predictable, but jalapeno + basil = totally unexpected and unbelievably delish. It goes in the inside with a mixture of  Monterey Jack and goat cheese and then the cotija cheese goes on top.
 

But that's not what really made this dish so good. No...the thing that bumped this quesadilla up a notch was the Charred Corn Relish and I just happened to have some fresh picked corn that I had bought at a little roadside stand in Loveland. Charring the corn brings out its natural sweetness and if that isn't great enough on its own, the touch of balsamic vinegar and honey paired perfectly with taste of the grilled corn. Someone was seriously licking the plate!

Like my Bobby, I am an over-achiever so I went all out and made the (optional) Smoked Red Pepper Sauce too. Even though there was only a splash of the sauce called for on the quesadilla, it's a BIG sauce and the roasted sweet pepper and the smoky chipotle added one more layer of flavor. The three components of the grilled corn, the roasted red pepper, and the jalapeno-basil, turned this quesdalla into a party in your mouth. With fireworks!

For some reason Bobby seems to think that a quesadilla has to be three layers and I've been meaning to have a word with him about that.
     I say why waste the calories on that third tortilla?  Skip it. Go for more veggies and/or cheese, because the tortilla shell is just a vehicle to get the thing to your mouth, and I only need two. At the very most. Actually one tortilla and a fork and I'm there and I've saved a good 200 calories. Right?

But back to the recipe....don't make one without the other....the charred corn relish and the smoked red pepper sauce, that is. They neeeeeed to be on the same plate so unless you have a piano tied to your ass I say get off it and make them both. The good news is that you can make them ahead of time and if  you do, this dish comes together in a flash.

So pour yourself another glass of wine...you deserve it for making both and  being an over-achiever like me and Bobby.  If you don't love it I'll have Bobby come wash your dishes.  
      Thanks Bobby, love ya, call me, mean it! ♥

This recipe is under the "Appetizers" tab so go there to check it out. And by the way, this quesadilla kicked the Mushroom with White Truffle Oil Quesadilla's butt. Not just to the curb but out the front door, down the street and OUT OF TOWN! If you don't believe me ask The Know-It-All...she sampled them both and she knows, it all.