Spiced

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Burgers with King’s Hawaiian Buns

May 22, 2013 by David Leave a Comment

How many of you out there love buffalo chicken wings? I know I do! But I have a confession: I actually didn’t like buffalo chicken wings until just a couple of years ago. They say our taste buds change every 7 years, and I’m pretty sure mine became addicted to buffalo chicken sometime during the Winter of 2010-2011. Now I find every excuse I can to add buffalo chicken to the menu. Buffalo Chicken salad? Yes, please. Buffalo Chicken Dip? Oh yes, I made that one for the Super Bowl, and it didn’t even make it to game time! So it’s only natural that I decided to create a Spicy Buffalo Chicken Burger this past weekend. And it was delicious! And for a special treat, I used King’s Hawaiian Hamburger Buns for this recipe. The slight sweetness of the buns complemented the spiciness of these burgers quite well.

I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical of a Spicy Buffalo Chicken Burger. I mean, I love buffalo chicken…but as a burger? But they were amazing! I added a few spices (including hot sauce) in with the burgers themselves, and then I topped each one with homemade Blue Cheese Dressing. (As a side note, this Blue Cheese Dressing is delicious…and easy. It took all of 2 minutes to make, and my wife and I were snacking on it with celery and carrots while the burgers were on the grill. Actually, we almost ate all of it just as a dip…oops!)

I enjoyed these burgers so much that I’ve already invited the neighbors over for a Memorial Day picnic…and you can be sure that these will make an appearance. So if you find yourself wandering aimlessly through the grocery store aisles wondering what to make for your summer picnic, these Spicy Buffalo Chicken Burgers and King’s Hawaiian Hamburger Buns both get a huge 2-thumbs up from Spiced. Wondering where to find King’s Hawaiian Hamburger Buns in your area? Check out their product locator. Happy Grilling!!

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Yield: 4 Burgers

Ingredients

For the Burgers

1 pound ground chicken
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup hot sauce
1 egg
12-14 saltine crackers, crumbled
4 King's Hawaiian Hamburger Buns
lettuce, for topping

For the Blue Cheese Dressing

1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp milk, to loosen the dressing (optional)

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the ground chicken, paprika, pepper, garlic, onion, hot sauce, egg, and crumbled saltine crackers. Gently mix until incorporated.
Divide the chicken mixture into 4 equal portions and gently shape each portion into a patty about 3/4" thick. Take care not to overwork the meat (see tip below).
Grill the burgers for approximately 5 minutes per side, flipping only once. (Also, resist the temptation to press on the burgers with your grill spatula!)
Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the Blue Cheese Dressing and stir until well combined. (This dressing tastes even better if you mix it a day in advance.)

Notes

Burger Making Tip #1: Don't overwork the meat. Handle the burgers as little as possible when making them to prevent the grilled burgers from being too tough.

Burger Making Tip #2: Use your thumb to create a small indention in the center of each burger before grilling. This will help create a perfectly shaped burger when it comes off of the grill.

http://spicedblog.com/spicy-buffalo-chicken-burgers-with-kings-hawaiian-buns.html

Â© Spiced 2012

King’s Hawaiian® wants to know how you bring people together. Reply below for a chance to win a $200 gift card! Sweepstakes Rules.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kings Hawaiian. The opinions and text are all mine.

Peach Bellini Pound Cake

May 20, 2013 by David 2 Comments

Peaches are one of my absolute favorite summer fruits. I remember as a kid going out with my grandfather to the orchard to pick fresh peaches. We’d bring a basket of peaches back, and my grandmother would make peach cobbler…which is still one of my favorite desserts to this day! Even when I grew older and moved to Atlanta, I would still go in search of South Carolina freestone peaches. I know some people are thinking…wait, isn’t Georgia the Peach State? Well it is, but South Carolina peaches are just better in my opinion. (Of course, maybe the memories of picking peaches with my grandfather creates a bit of bias here!)

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to try Smirnoff Ice’s new seasonal drink: the Peach Bellini. How appropriate since I love peaches! My mind immediately started racing with all of the cool ways to use this drink in a recipe. Pound cake is another childhood favorite of mine, so I decided to combine these and create a Peach Bellini Pound Cake. I was a bit nervous as I had never made this type of cake before…but it worked out great! The cake was light (for a pound cake, that is) and it had a wonderful undertone of peach flavor. I also finished the cake with a glaze made out of the remaining Peach Bellini cocktail (I just couldn’t waste any!).

My wife and I shared a piece of the Peach Bellini Pound Cake for dessert, and then she took most of the leftovers in to work the next day. (I might have stashed an extra piece away when she wasn’t looking!) Now all of her coworkers are hooked on this cake, too. This is an incredibly easy recipe to make, and it’s the perfect dessert to bring to a Memorial Day picnic! For another pound cake idea, try the Homemade Vanilla Pound Cake with Seared Pineapple and Honey Sauce, too!

Peach Bellini Pound Cake

Ingredients

For the Pound Cake

2.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2.5 cups sugar
5 eggs, room temperature
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (recommended brand: King Arthur)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Smirnoff Ice Peach Bellini

For the Glaze

1.5 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp Smirnoff Ice Peach Bellini

Instructions

Using the paddle attachment in a countertop mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy (~5 minutes on medium speed).
Add eggs one at a time, and mix on low after each addition until fully incorporated.
Add salt and flour 1 cup at a time, and mix on low after each addition until fully incorporated.
Add peach bellini and mix on low until a smooth batter forms (1-2 minutes).
Pour batter into a greased tube or bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 90-100 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
Meanwhile, combine the powdered sugar and peach bellini and stir until smooth.
Once cake is finished, allow it to cool for at least 10-15 minutes before removing from pan. Pour glaze on top while cake is still warm.

http://spicedblog.com/peach-bellini-pound-cake.html

Â© Spiced 2012

Disclosure: I was provided samples of Smirnoff Ice Peach Bellini at no cost, but the recipe and opinions are entirely my own.

Homemade Spinach Whole-Wheat Pasta

May 16, 2013 by David Leave a Comment

Italian is absolutely one of my favorite types of food. It could be the fact that so many Italian dishes offer easy ways to include fresh produce. It could be because some of the best Italian dishes come from recipes which have been passed through families for generations. Either way, we eat a lot of Italian in our house!

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I’ve been eager to include more green colors on my plate. (In truth, we should be eating green-colored food throughout the year, but there is just something about the Spring that inspires me to make fresh, colorful dishes.) Every so often, I’ll get in the kitchen and make a big batch of fresh pasta. If you’ve ever made pasta before, then you know it’s a relatively easy process, but it can be time consuming. So once I get the pasta machine out, I usually make a lot! (It freezes well, or you can also dry it for future use, too.) This past week, I decided to combine my desire for fresh pasta with the urge to include green…and the result was this Spinach Whole-Wheat Pasta. Talk about delicious and healthy…not to mention beautiful! (That’s right, I just called my pasta beautiful.)

If you’ve never made your own homemade pasta, then you are missing out! Once you take a bite, you’ll never want to go back. Here’s a couple quick tips for making homemade pasta:

Homemade pasta is a process. Don’t try to rush it! And it also takes a bit of practice. If it doesn’t work well the first time, then try again!
Semolina is the traditional flour used in homemade pasta, but many people prefer a half semolina and half all-purpose flour combination. You could also go entirely all-purpose flour. Experiment with several different combinations to see which you prefer!
It’s a good idea to let your dough rest for about an hour after mixing. This not only allows the liquid to become fully absorbed, but it also allows the dough to rest…which will make it easier to roll out.
The ratios of flour to liquid are not necessarily exact. You may find that you need a bit more water if your dough looks too dry. Alternatively, you may find that your dough needs a bit more flour. The ratios in this recipe worked for me, but don’t hesitate to add a small amount of additional water or flour depending on your dough!
Fresh pasta cooks much, much faster than dried pasta, so once it goes into the boiling water, watch it closely. It should cook in several minutes at the most.

For another style of homemade pasta, check out this post on How to Make Ricotta Gnocchi!

Homemade Spinach Whole-Wheat Pasta

Ingredients

1.5 cups spinach leaves, stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
3/4 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
3/4 cup King Arthur whole-wheat flour
1 cup semolina flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
water (for steaming spinach)

Instructions

In a medium sauce pan, steam the spinach until leaves are tender (about 8-10 minutes).
Transfer the spinach to a food processor, but don't discard the water used to steam the spinach.
Pulse the spinach in the food processor until it reaches a paste-like consistency.
Add all ingredients to the bowl of a countertop mixer with the dough hook attached.
Mix on medium speed for 5-6 minutes. Depending on the consistency of your dough, add the reserved spinach water 1 Tbsp at a time until dough becomes stiff but supple. (I used 3 Tbsp of spinach water.) If the dough tears when you try to knead it, then add another Tbsp of water.
Place the dough in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest for approximately one hour.
Using a pasta machine, roll the dough into desired shape and thickness. (I chose to make lasagna sheets, and I rolled the dough until it reached the 2nd lowest setting on my pasta machine.)
Either cook the pasta or place in ziploc bag and freeze. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta (a couple minutes at the most), so watch it closely! (If you freeze fresh pasta, dust it lightly with semolina flour to keep from sticking together.)

Notes

As you roll the pasta dough, keep both the rolled pieces and unrolled portion of dough covered. Pasta dough dries out quickly, so keep it covered at all times.

http://spicedblog.com/homemade-spinach-whole-wheat-pasta.html

Â© Spiced 2012

Old-Fashioned Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

May 14, 2013 by David Leave a Comment

Old Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuit from Spicedblog.com #biscuit

As many of you know, I live in upstate New York. (And yes, the temperature here dropped to below freezing last night. In May.) Prior to moving here a couple years ago, I had lived my entire life in the South. In fact, I lived all over the Southeast. I was born in Texas, but I grew up in the Carolinas, and I also spent time in Louisiana and Georgia. People often ask me what I miss the most about the South, and I must admit that biscuits are at the top of the list. No matter whether you’re in North Carolina, Georgia, or Louisiana, Southern chefs and bakers are rated on their biscuit-making ability. Every family has a secret biscuit recipe that is passed down through the generations. While the North certainly has a number of redeeming culinary qualities (ahem, the farm-to-table way of life in Vermont), it’s still pretty darn hard to find a good biscuit up here!

As a young boy, I remember spending the summers with my grandparents in a small town in upstate South Carolina. Every weekend, the entire family would gather for Sunday dinner, which typically consisted of fried fish (caught fresh the day before), fresh greens and beans from the garden, homemade ambrosia…and of course biscuits! This simple recipe produces biscuits that remind me of those Sunday family dinners in Belton, South Carolina. I often make a batch of these on a weekend morning and serve them with jam or honey for breakfast. Then I just lightly toast any leftover biscuits for lunch or dinner depending on the occasion. I hope these biscuits help create many wonderful memories for you just as they did for me when I was much younger!

Old-Fashioned Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

Yield: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
1 cup buttermilk
Butter, melted (for finishing)

Instructions

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until well combined.
Cut the butter into small pieces (~1/2" cubes) and add to the bowl of dry ingredients.
Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until butter pieces are pea-sized.
Add the buttermilk and stir until absorbed. (This dough will be somewhat sticky, but if it seems overly sticky, then just add more flour one tablespoon at a time until it becomes less sticky.)
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured countertop and shape into a rough square. (You will likely need additional flour here to keep your hands from becoming too sticky from the dough.)
Cut the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces.
Using your hands, shape each piece of dough into a rough circle about 1/2" thick. Place biscuits on a lined sheet-pan. (If you desire crispier edges to your biscuits, then space them further apart on the pan. If you desire softer edges, then place them closer together.)
Bake at 425 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until tops are golden in color.

http://spicedblog.com/old-fashioned-southern-buttermilk-biscuits.html

Â© Spiced 2012