Medianoche Sliders

I'm back in Baltimore for my family's Christmas Eve extravagaannzzaaaa and to destroy my mothers kitchen in a boozy flurry of baking, roasting, sautéing, and probably something involving my new smoking gun. 

I can make a truly excellent mess in a kitchen. 

Every year for our Christmas Eve party, I get to make an apetizer, a side dish, and my absolute favorite Garden and Gun bourbon punch. I've been striclty assigned those three items in a futile attempt to limit my mess. But this year, I'm allowed to do more!

This Christmas Eve party stared small, but over the years it has grown to almost 100 people. Kids outnumber the parents, which actually made things easier at one point. Throw some frozen chicken nuggets in the oven and heat up some mac and cheese and us kids were good. Leave the fancy roasts and side dishes for the grown ups.  

But now the "kids" are graduating college, getting married, and the BABIES that I remember being born are old enough to drive. Oh, and we all want to eat the grown up food. 

Which brings me to these sliders. Instead of preparing enough steak for 100 "adults" (!?), I get to make one more dish! 

YAY. 

These sliders aren't your typical cold weather, curl up by the fire, burrow in a blanket with a good book food. But they are sweet, salty, savory, and oops-did-I-just-eat-the-entire-tray delicious. 

They're really great for all seasons, the pulled pork makes them feel like fall, the pineapple makes them feel like spring, and they can be served hot in the winter or cold in the summer.

I've made these sliders so many times for so many different occassions. For the boyfriend's law school class, for my golden birthday, and for a honeymoon-themed Bridal shower to name a few. They're called "medianoche" because they're what you want to eat in the middle of the night, which happens to be when the Christmas-eve party ends. Whether you spent the night drinking, partying, studying, or netflixing in sweats, these are the perfect late night snack. 

They are also SO EASY and as close to mess-free as you can get. They only need 25 minutes in the oven, and if you have pulled pork in the fridge (or if you just leave it out of the sliders), the sandwiches can be put together in less than 10 minutes. Perfect for those times you forget that you are supposed to bring food to a party. If that doesn't sound like you (aka if you are an organized and put-together human being)... you can assemble the sandwiches two days in advance. 

medianoche sliders

for the sandwiches: 

• 2 packs Hawaiian dinner rolls

• 2-3 packs deli ham (go with 3 if leaving out the pulled pork or if the ham is thinly sliced)

• 2 packs sliced Swiss cheese

• 1 jar sweet pickles

• pulled pork

for the pulled pork (you will have extra):

• 2 lbs pork loin

• 1/2 cup smoky BBQ sauce

• 1 can pineapple

• 1 tsp liquid smoke

for the sauce: 

• 1 stick butter

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 1/2 small sweet onion

Preparation:

to make the pulled pork, rub salt and pepper over the pork loin and place it in the slow cooker. Whisk the BBQ sauce, pineapple (liquid and all), and liquid smoke in a bowl, and pour it over the pork. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred with two forks (or use an electric mixer to shred). Discard all but 1 cup of the liquid in the slow cooker, and return the shredded pork and the reserved liquid to the slow cooker, and set aside. 

to assemble the sandwiches, put the bottom half of the Hawaiian rolls in the casserole dish. Layer in the ham, followed by the pulled pork, then the pickles, and finally the swiss cheese. Add the tops of sandwich rolls, and cover & refridgerate if you will not be baking right away. 

to bake with the mustard sauce, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Finely dice the onion and melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk the Dijon mustard and diced onions with the melter butter. Pour the sauce over the sandwiches and cover with foil. Bake covered for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes or until the top is crispy (but not burnt). 

slice and enjoy hot or cold for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as a midnight snack. 

Seafood Paella

In high school, I somehow managed to travel to Spain not once, but twice. I have no idea how I got so lucky. Over two summers, I spent time in Barcelona, Madrid, Segovia, Zaragoza, Toledo, Oviedo, Cudillero, and Gijón. Everything about it was amazing and everything we ate was seafood. I'm talking endless fish, octopus, and massive shrimp with the heads still on. And I didn't appreciate it at all. 

I was not a seafood person. The smell of fish made me gag and popping the heads off shrimp was not even the tiniest bit appealing to me. I would be presented with a plate of beautiful, fresh seafood, and I'd stuff it all into a giant baguette until all I could taste was bread. I wasn't even into octopus! If I could go back in time, I would slap myself silly.

Now that I am obsessed with seafood (and live between two mountain ranges with little access to seafood), I can share my seafood paella with you. The best thing about working on a paella recipe is that I get to make and eat paella, like, every night. And that is exactly what I've done for the past week. 

This is actually the perfect party recipe. I've written the recipe for 4, but you just need to double the paella part of the recipe for a larger crowd. I wouldn't go further than doubling it unless you have a ridiculously large cast iron on hand. I mean, I use a pan that's 18 inches in diameter for serving 8, and it takes up my entire grill! Doubling the recipe can easily feed a party of 15+ by loading up on chicken, sausage, and seafood.

But back to what a great party recipe this is... All the prep and clean up is easy and can be done before guests arrive. All you need is sa food processor, a knife, a cutting board, and some plastic baggies, so clean-up is a breeze. Once guests arrive, you can hang out outside and socialize with your guests because all the cooking is done on the grill. It's also such a show stopping dish. You'll easily impress your guests with barely any effort. That's the goal. Lazy girls rejoice.

Serves roughly 4 very hungry adults 

for the P A E L L A 

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 2-3 bay leaves

• 1 healthy pinch of saffron

• 1 bunch of fresh parsley

• salt and pepper

• 1 large (or two small) heirloom tomato

• 2 lemons

• olive oil

• truffle oil

• 1 small jar stuffed green olives. I use olives stuffed with blue cheese, but garlic or pimento should work as well.

• 1 cup rice (i know bomba rice is more authentic, but I use jasmine or basmati rice because my Kroger only sells bomba rice in TWO POUND bags)

• 2 cups chicken or seafood stock

• 1 ½ cups sofrito

• your choice of surf and turf. I always seem to use 16 oz shrimp and 2 lobster tails (split because everybody wants a lobster tail). Then I will also add clams (usually around 12), sea bass, and/or chicken breasts. You can also add mussels, prawns, cod, halibut, monkfish, and chorizo.

S O F R I T O  

• 1 ½ lbs onion

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 yellow bell pepper

• 2 peppers (Serrano, Habanero, or Padròn)

• 1 handful chopped cilantro

Optional Ingredients: 

S H R I M P    M A R I N A D E 

• 1 ½ teaspoon paprika

• ½ teaspoon cumin

• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

• ½ teaspoon cayenne

• ½ teaspoon onion powder

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• Olive oil

L O B S T E R   M A R I N A D E

• ½ cup oil

• 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika

• ½ teaspoon crushed garlic

Let's Get Cooking:  

01. Prep your ingredients.  Like I said, this is the perfect party recipe. Do all this before the party, clean it up, and the rest of the cooking can be done using a cast iron pan and the grill.

• Make the sofrito by roughly chopping the onions and peppers and removing the stem from the fresh cilantro. Toss it all into a food processor, and store in the fridge for later.

• Crush the tomatoes using your hands, a grater, or the food processor. Make sure you don't lose any of the juice. I opted for the food processor since it was getting dirty anyway.

• Mince the garlic or just embrace the laziness and buy pre-minced garlic.

• For chorizo: Cut into ¼ inch slices.

• For chicken: Parboil the chicken. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, chop the each chicken breast into 6 pieces, and boil the chicken peices for 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and discard the water. Toss the chicken in a plastic bag with the juice of 1/2 a lemon and some chopped parsley. Store in the fridge.

• For clams: Keep submerged in fresh tap water for at least 20 minutes before grilling.

• For mussels: De-beard the mussels and scrub the shells. Discard any that are open or cracked.

• For shrimp: Peel shrimp. Combine ingredients for shrimp marinade in a sealable plastic bag. Toss in marinade, seal bag, and store in fridge.

• For lobster: Halve the tails and make marinade by combing all ingredients . Do not combine, set both aside in fridge for later.

02. PARTY TIME! Heat a large (at least 12-inches in diameter) cast iron pan over a medium-high grill

03. Add oil, and when the oil is hot, toss in minced garlic, smoked paprika, and chorizo. Let the chorizo brown a bit. Put the chicken on the grill at this time to caramelize it. If you are using fish, add it to the pan now.

04.  Add 1.5 cup of sofrito. Lightly fry the pepper-onion mixture, add the crushed tomatoes, and stir. Once the tomato juice has been soaked up/reduced a bit, add the rice. Let it toast and then toss in a splash of wine and give it all a good stir.

05. Add the chicken/seafood stock, olives, saffron, bay leaves, and grilled chicken to the pan. Stir and cover the pan with foil for 15 minutes. 

06. Skewer the shrimp and grill (don't forget to flip). Brush lobster tails with marinade and put them flesh side down on the grill. Keep basting the lobster as it grills & especially when you flip it. Put the clams and mussels on the grill in a single layer, let sit until they open. Cut the remaining lemon in half and put the three remaining lemon slices on the grill slice side down. 

07. Check on the pan. If all the liquid is absorbed, add the seafood to the pan. Try to keep as much of the liquid from the clams in the shell when transferring it to the pans. 

08. Use the charred lemons halves as garnish along with the fresh parsley. Drizzle with truffle oil and serve straight out of the cast iron.

FINAL NOTES:  There will be a layer of burnt rice at the bottom of the pan. Scoop that shit up. It's the best part. You'll also have some leftover sofrito. Sofrito actually means lightly fried, so to finish it, toss it in a pan with some olive oil over medium high to high heat. It will keep in the fridge for three weeks and keep frozen for 3 months. It can be used as a base for so many easy weeknight recipes, just turn to Pinterest! 

enjoy darlings!!

& don't forget to pin the recipe for later!

No-fail Pizza dough!

I love pizza, but I haven't really had the chance to make it from scratch very often. Something about throwing food in the air and all the flour needed to roll out the dough frightens my mom. I think her aversion to it comes from the time my youngest brother threw full, open GoGurts into a ceiling fan in a newly painted room. But now that we are older, I finally got to make homemade pizza with my brothers! This base recipe is great on its own, but with a few changes it can make an awesome breakfast, dinner, or desert pizza!

Base recipe:

• 2 c. flour

• 1 t. salt

• 2 t. baking powder

• 2/3 c. water

• 1/4 c. vegetable oil

Preparation

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, add water. Next knead the mixture on a floured surface until it is easy to roll out onto a pizza pan. brush outer edges with vegetable oil. Cook at 425 for 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven and put whatever toppings you please. Return to the oven for 15 minutes. Remove, let cool, and enjoy!

Christmas Morning Casserole

When I was younger I would be up at 5 am digging through my stocking and then waiting at the top of the stairs with my brothers at 7 am, barely able to contain my excitement about running down and seeing what Santa left under the tree. Now things are a little different. We still have our Christmas Eve party, but now that everyone is older, the party usually doesn't end until 1 am. Then my brothers and I  are left to clean up after the party and set out the presents and get everything ready for Christmas Day. We usually don't get to sleep until 3 am, later if one of my brothers starts opening his presents instead of helping.

Thanks to years of 8 am classes, I can't sleep past 9 am... so Christmas Morning I sit in my room watching The Year Without a Santa Clause (the best claymation in existence), and waiting for my family to wake up. Patience is not my virtue and I get bored waiting for everyone in my house to wake up. In my experience, nothing wakes people up like the smell of a great breakfast. This year when I woke up at 9 am to the sound of my dad snoring two rooms away, I got my dogs and my DVD and went downstairs and brewed a pot of The Fresh Market's Christmas Blend coffee and baked a sausage and egg breakfast casserole. The smell of this breakfast woke up the house and started a wonderful Christmas!

This casserole is the perfect start to any morning, just pop it in the oven--the wonderful smell will wake even the deepest sleeper up and the savory taste will make sure they stay awake!

INGREDIENTS

• 0.5-1 lb sausage (I honestly cannot say how much sausage I used. I bought 1 lb, but then my dogs and I had a little snack as we waited for the oven to preheat)

• 6-8 slices of bread

• 6 eggs, beaten

• 2 cups milk

• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• pepper to taste

Remove sausage from casing and cook in a skillet over high heat. While the sausage is cooking, grease a 9"x 13" baking pan and line the bottom of the pan with slices of bread. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the milk, dry mustard, onion powder, and salt. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Add the cooked sausage to the baking pan as evenly as you can. Liberally add the cheese to the top of the casserole.

((Can be refrigerated for 24 hours))

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

Holiday kisses,

Megan