Todd's "Five for Flamin'" Burgers

So, your favorite hockey team is out of town, but they are on TV tonight! A couple of questions probably come to mind. What drinks or EANABs (pronounced ee'nab, Equally Attractive Non-Alcholic Beverage) should I get for the game? And, what should I make for dinner when the action starts? It's cold outside so something warm would be great. Todd's "Five for Flamin'" Burgers will cure the hunger pangs and set the proper mood!

Ingredients
1 lb. 80% lean ground beef
1 egg
4 oz. sharp cheddar, cut into small cubes
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. thick, smoked bacon, sliced into 1/2 strips
2 jalapenos, sliced
1/4 cup chipotle mayo (recipe follows)
1 Tomato, sliced
Lettuce
4 kaiser rolls

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, place the ground beef, egg, cheddar, onion, garlic, bacon and jalapenos. With your hands, thoroughly combine all ingredients. While the mixture stands, make the chipotle mayo and cover a large plate or platter with wax paper. Form the burger mixture into 4 patties. Cook the burgers outdoors on a grill or indoors using the stove top and a grill pan to medium (since this recipe uses raw bacon, make sure it gets cooked!). Once done, set aside on a platter and briefly toast the kaiser rolls. Assemble each burger topping with a tablespoon of the chipotle mayo, tomato slice and a leaf of lettuce. Serve with some curly fries and enjoy!

Here are a couple pictures I took during preparation:



The ingredients sans the egg.

Five for Flamin' Burger patties

Chipotle Mayo

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise
2 chipotles in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1/2 lime, juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Add all the ingredients to a food processor or blender and puree. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Five for Flamin'!

Some years ago, my bud and fellow culinary enthusiast Kent Scantland and I decided to get into one of those chili cookoffs to see how we'd fare with our recipe's against others. So, off to Winter Park we went for the annual Rocky Mountain Region Chili Cookoff. We both went in fairly confident that we'd do OK and at least not embarrass ourselves. Kent decided to compete in the green chili competition and I decided to complete in the classic red (chili con carne). We even invited a few friends over to my house a couple of weeks before the cookoff so we could practice and determine exactly what we needed to bring with us to Winter Park. The practice went well, notes were taken, lists were made and we were ready.

Well, it turned out to be a very educational experience. There were about 50 teams from all over the west including Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas and Colorado. People really get into this and take it very seriously. Most teams claimed their area by staking up a decorated Easy-Up, set up their team flag and/or banner, decorated said Easy-Up, dawned their team shirts and provided their music to their fans. Hell, all we had was a table that the event people provided us.

We learned that the time lines for doing the cooking seemed much tighter when in the competition than during the practice at my house. We also learned that having some shelter, although the weather wasn't too bad sans a bit of wind, would have been nice. But, all in all, the cooking went pretty well. The people who sampled each of our chilies seemed to like them based on very positive comments! Finally, the call to bring the chili to the judges came and we submitted our entries. We also learned that with all the cooking activities, dealing with the patrons and everything else was quite tiring!

After the awards ceremony for each chili classification were over - we got shut out - the participants could go read the judges comments on their dish. I was shocked when I read mine. I came in about 5 from the bottom with most comments saying that my chili was bland. One person even said about my chili, "not bad for prison food." I was certainly disappointed, but after talking to some event organizers and judges that all my chili probably needed was more salt.

So, Kent and I went back up to the competition the following year. I once again wanted to cook the traditional red to redeem myself. That year we were much better prepared. During that year, I purchased an Easy-Up of my own. We brought up some simple decorations for our "booth", wore some hip chili themed shirts and had Kent's kids help us run some of the patron interference for us. I even came up with a name for my chili. Being a huge hockey fan, I decided on the name, Todd's "Five for Flamin'" Red Chili, in reference to hockey's five minutes for fighting major penalty. I really didn't change my recipe or techniques at all from the previous year except for one thing. About 2 minutes before I turned in my chili to the judges, I added a ton of salt. To me, it was way too salty, but I had learned the year before that since the judges are tasting about 45 different chilies, some of which are fairly spicy, hot, if your chili doesn't have a bunch of salt, it will just taste bland.

I really didn't have any hope of winning anything, but I wanted to improve on my previous result. I was ecstatic that my name was called as a runner-up in the traditional red chili category - tied for 4th place! Not too shabby.

Two important things came out of the competitive chili cooking experience. One, I learned the chili you make at home and that everyone loves it not the same as competition chili. The second is the name I came up with for when I create tasty, fiery dishes: Five for Flamin'!

If you'd like to learn more about ICS Chili Cookoffs, go here: International Chili Society

Todd's "Five for Flamin'" Jambalaya

I'm a big fan of Cajun food and a good jambalaya is always a great meal. Over the last month or so, I've been researching jambalaya recipes and put together one of my own. I have been making and tweaking this recipe for the last four weeks straight and am very happy with how it tastes now, so I'm going to share it. It's "Five for Flamin'" due to how much cayenne pepper I add, which is around 2 teapsoons (I think, LOL), so it comes out quite spicy hot. However, the cayenne is added at the end, so one can only add as much as they wish. This recipe is actually surprising easy to make and doesn't take much time. It makes 8 hearty servings. Schwing!

Ingredients

24 medium to large shrimp, peeled, deveined, cut into thirds

8 ounces boneless chicken breast, diced

12 ounces andouille sausage links, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into half moons

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped,

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 tablespoons garlic, chopped

2 15 ounce cans diced tomatoes (with jalapeno if available)

6 bay leaves

6 cups low sodium chicken stock

4 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

two teaspoons hot sauce

1 3/4 cups long grain rice

ground cayenne pepper

salt

black pepper

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine the shrimp, chicken and Cajun seasoning working in the seasoning well. In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the celery and allow to sweat for 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and onion and cook 5 more minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Let cook for 1 minute while stirring to mix well. Stir in rice and then slowly add the chicken broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs the liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally but careful not to over stir, about 15 minutes. When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture and andouilli sausage. Cook until meat is done, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and cayenne pepper. Serve immediately and enjoy!