Copycatting Papa John.

Time to copycat another food item, this time from Papa John's.  Papadias are inspired by the ‘piadina,’ an Italian folded flatbread sandwich from Northern Italy, but Papa John's uses their original pizza dough instead of flatbread.  Sort of like making a calzone, but not sealing the ends.

There are four varieties, each hand-stretched, oven-baked and hand-folded to order. 

1 - Italian: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with Alfredo sauce, spicy Italian sausage, salami, real cheese made from mozzarella and banana peppers; served with a pizza sauce dipping cup.

2 - Philly Cheesesteak: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with sliced Philly steak, fresh-cut onions and green peppers, real cheese made from mozzarella and "Philly" sauce; served with a garlic sauce dipping cup.

3 - Grilled BBQ Chicken & Bacon: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with grilled chicken, bacon, fresh-cut onions and real cheese made from mozzarella, drizzled with sweet and smoky BBQ sauce; served with a BBQ sauce dipping cup.

4 - Meatball Pepperoni: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with spicy meatballs, pepperoni, pizza sauce, real cheese made from mozzarella and classic Italian seasoning; served with a pizza sauce dipping cup.

With the name ending with "dia", you can't help but think, "quesadilla"?  Normally made with tortillas, a quesadilla has a filling (yes, you can use what's listened up above), placed on a grill; the tortilla is browned, folded, cut into sections, and ready to eat with a favorite dipping sauce, salsa, and/or guacamole.

When in the mood for pizza, but no fresh dough available, having a package of tortillas comes in handy for a quick, crispy pizza on the fly.  We keep Naan bread in stock as well, and it makes a pretty tasty, spontaneously in the mood for, pizza.

So, why not make one of these "Papadias", but using the original bread type, a flatbread, and that is what Naan is.  By the way, I named my version, MamaMiadias.

To keep ingredients from falling onto my oven bottom, I preheated (tempered) a 16 inch pizza pan, in the oven, at 425F.  Just in case any oils happen to leak through (holes in the bottom of the pan for air circulation), I also have a sheet of heavy duty foil on the oven's bottom.

American (left), Italian (right)

While preheating was going on, I prepped the Naan bread.  One was an American cheeseburger style, with seasoned, and cooked, ground beef (salt and cracked black pepper only), slices of bell peppers, onions and shredded Cheddar cheese.  

The second was an Italian style, with the cooked ground beef containing an Italian herb blend, the bell peppers and onions, diced tomatoes, but shredded mozzarella and provolone cheeses.

Once the oven hit 425F, I placed the prepped breads onto the pizza pan, popped it back into the oven (on the center rack), and let it bake for 15 minutes.  Once out of the oven, I quickly folded the breads and cut them in half.  

Holy Dias Batman!  They were so full of flavor and texture; no need to dip into a sauce, or add anything else.  We did try a couple of sauces, but they actually took away from the initial flavor instead of  enhancing.  This was a truly satisfying sandwich!

...and so, the MamaMiadia was born in the Cokenour kitchen.  Of course, Papa John's gets credit for introducing the idea, to us, via television commercials.

Mary Cokenour

PJs Restaurant; Small Menu, Big Food

PJs Restaurant

216 East Center Street
Monticello, Utah, 84535

Phone: (435) 587-2335

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pjsofmonticello


Located on Center Street aka Route 491, the colorful building housing PJs is up for sale, but still open for business.  The interior is divided up into two sections; the restaurant and the pool hall which also has tables for dining.

Lets get to my favorite part, the menu and ordering; the menu is on a board next to the kitchen counter where you place your order.  Whether it is take out or dine in, the food will be brought out to you with a smile.  The menu itself is small in comparison to most places that also serve burgers and fries; but this is great food done up right, not fast food sitting under a heat lamp.

After ordering a cheeseburger which comes with fries, I asked about the Buffalo Wings.  I love Buffalo Wings, but only if they're deep fried, then sauced.  Many places bake the wings; and I abhor mushy, gummy skin on my wings!  For all you lovers of authentic Buffalo wings, I have found nirvana for you...PJs does them right, deep fried and sauced!!!


Update: I went back on January 24, 2015 and got the Buffalo Wings with fries.  You have a choice of two sauces: hot or sweet and spicy; I chose sweet and spicy.  By themselves, these wings are uplifting; dip them into the ranch dressing that comes with the meal and you won't want your feet to touch the ground again.










Anyway, the cheeseburger is massive; 4 and 1/2 inches in diameter making it stick outside the 4 and 1/4 inch bun, and its 1/4 inch thick; lettuce, pickles, onion, ketchup and mustard are the toppings.  The French fries were so loaded up (crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside), they were spilling off my plate; and yes!  they come with Utah's favorite, fry sauce.







Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; if you need a meal to take on a hike or picnic, PJs can box it up for you, no problem.

Thankfully, PJs has stayed open while it has been for sale; just hoping that whoever eventually buys it will keep the concept of good food done right, not nasty fast food...and don't do away with those authentic buffalo wings!

Mary Cokenour

Move over Big Mac, here comes the Big Mother.

Now if you're a fan of my food blog, you've seen me write, on occasion, about where I now live which is Monticello, Utah.  If you're new to my writings, put Monticello into the Search box on my blog and bring up the previous posts about it.   Since moving here in May 2009, I have been one of the residents pushing for development whether by writing letters to appear in the San Juan Record, or here in my food blog.  I'm not in a minority for development, but it seems when it comes to actual decision making, our voices keep getting ignored.  The point of all this is that Monticello, Utah's all time residents want to keep the town in the 1840's when it was founded.  However, they also want the sales tax coffers to be full and pay for all their needs without having businesses that locals and tourists can take advantage of.  The gist of it is, you cannot have it both ways, and if there is anyone reading this that wants to bring development to Monticello, Utah, especially a big business that will attract tourists......COME ON IN!!!!!!

During the spring, it came to my attention via three reliable sources that McDonald's would be setting up shop here.  Not even Blanding, only a 30 minute drive south towards Monument Valley, has a fast food business such as McDonald's.  The nearest is either in Moab, Utah or Cortez, Colorado; either is an hour drive from Monticello.  So when anyone here sees a commercial for a Big Mac, Chicken McNuggets, or even a Happy Meal for their kids; it's not going to be purchased unless they want to take that one hour drive.  Such was my mood yesterday, saw the commercial, wanted the Big Mac, wasn't going to drive an hour to get one.  Did I sit and sulk?  Heck no, I made my own and call it the Big Mother; there's another version for the husband, the Big Daddy.  So enough about Monticello and its need for coming into the 21st century, lets get to cooking up some burgers.

 

The Big Mother Burger

 

Ingredients:

 

2 quarter pound all beef burgers (90% lean)

Seasoning Mixture: dash each of ground black pepper, salt and onion powder on each side of the burgers.

3 slices English Muffin bread

1/4 cup chopped lettuce

3 slices American cheese

2 thin slices tomato

4 pickle ovals (Claussen brand is best)

1/4 diced onions

Special Sauce: 1/4 cup each ketchup and mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp. each yellow mustard and sweet pickle relish, 2 dashes hot sauce, 1 tsp. minced roasted red bell peppers

 

 

Normally I would grill the burgers, but it being 10 degrees outside made me say, "oh hell no!".  I don't like frying burgers for the most part, all that grease is a turn off; so I put the Seasoning Mixture on each side of the burgers, and bake mine in the oven at 400F until medium-well.  Then I put on the broiler to high and give them a little cookoff for one minute on each side.  Again I'm using the English Muffin bread; the toasted texture gives crunch without allowing the bread to fall apart like those untoasted sesame seed buns do.  Could I toast up a sesame seed bun?  Sure, but once moisture from vegetables and condiments get onto them, they seem to get mushy and fall apart anyway.  The thin slices of tomato will give you that nice, sweet tomato flavor, but not be so thick that it's moving all over your sandwich.  Don't you just hate when it does that!?!

 

So the burgers are cooked and the bread is toasted; lets put the Big Mother together.  Oh, you will need a thin, wooden skewer to hold it all together once it's built; it is four inches high!

 

Preparation:

 

This will basically be a building plan.

 

Slice of toasted bread.

Slice of cheese.

Generous spread of Special Sauce.

2 pickels.

Half the diced onions.

Burger.

Slice of toasted bread.

Slice of cheese.

Remaining pickels.

Remaining onions.

Tomato slices.

Burger.

Lettuce.

Slice of cheese.

Final slice of toasted bread with generous spread of Special Sauce.

 

Skewer down the center to hold it all together. 

 





 

Pressing down slightly, the sandwich is still three inches high; and I cut it in half to make for easier eating.  Even then, I was only able to eat half of a half before I started to feel full.  To say it's a mouthful is an understatement indeed.

 

The Big Daddy Burger for my husband is basically the same kind of sandwich as The Big Mother, but with a few substitutions.  Instead of a Special Sauce, I use a zesty barbecue sauce; instead of diced onion, I use sauteed onions and mushrooms; and here's the kicker, I add 3 slices of crispy, thick cut bacon on top of each burger patty (that's 6 in total!) and 2 slices of my brown sugar/maple glazed baked ham.  Does my husband adore me?  Oh yes he does!!!

 

Craving a Big Mac, the heck with that...make yourself a Big Mother or a Big Daddy.  Enjoy!

 

Mary Cokenour

Fattboyz Grillin' kicks out the Old Tymer.

Fattboyz Grillin

733 South Main Street
Blanding, UT, 84511

(435) 678-3777

Facebook Link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fattboyz-Grillin/135856886470228

On December 26, 2011, Fattboyz Grillin officially opened at its new location, the former Old Tymer restaurant. First, let me inform you that while the Old Tymer sign is still displayed outside, that will be taken down in due time. Don't bypass that location any longer for Fattboyz has taken it over and are serving up awesome barbeque.

The interior of the building is still the same decor and that will be changing also. The bar area is still going to be a bar - a dessert bar! Unfortunately, Blanding is a dry town, so alcohol cannot be served, but don't pass Fattboyz over on that account; you want to go there for the food. The majority of the menu items are now housemade due to the fact that a larger kitchen facility is available with the take over of the restaurant.

For an appetizer, we ordered onion rings; now don't go by the photo on the amount served. My friend and I lost our heads and drove into those rings before I could take a photo. Even though the rings are purchased from an outside source, the onions were tender and sweet while the batter was crispy with a slight smoky flavor. They came with the infamous "fry sauce" which is a Utah thing, but the rings were tasty with or without the sauce.

Fattboyz has a different lunch special daily costing around $5.

Saturday's special was a cheeseburger loaded down with veggies and a mountain of fries. My friend had that and ended up wishing for enough room in her stomach to have another. It was that good!

Fattboyz has an extended salad bar with many choices available. Whether you choose the one trip for $5.99 or the all-you-can eat dinner for $9.99; you will not be disappointed by their salad bar. Also, with the sandwich and burger items, the choice is 2 sides or one trip to the salad bar. As much as I like the sides, that salad bar is worth foregoing the fries.

Now as much as I like Reed's barbequed ribs, I believe my new favorite is his BBQ Chicken Sandwich. The sauce is sweet, tangy and smoky; the chicken was not swimming in it, so you could get a full taste of the chicken. I don't know what Reed does to the chicken, but it was tender and juicy and oh so delicious...just looking at the photo is making me start to drool for another one.

When you go to Fattboyz Grillin, expect friendly service and a happy atmosphere. Need a party place for a special event, they can do that for you too. Remember, when you are traveling through Blanding, Utah and feeling hungry, you want to stop at Fattboyz and get your grub on. Ignore that Old Tymer sign, there's a new sheriff cooking inside and his name is Reed Sampson.

Mary Cokenour

UPDATE: Reed Sampson has announced plans to expand to Monticello, Utah by opening up a second Fattboyz Grillin on Center Street, located across from the new Maverik Station. The grand opening is scheduled for March 16, 2012.

Pies Aren't Always Sweet.

When you hear the word pie, often times your mind thinks of something sweet such as fruit pies or perhaps a rich cream pie with a mile high meringue topping.  Pies can be savory too containing some type of meat and vegetables like Shepherd's or Cottage Pie or even sausage with peppers and onions can make a great filling in a pie crust.

Now how about taking an American classic sandwich, such as the Cheeseburger, and making that into a pie? Yes, it can be done; just check out online recipe sites or basic American cookbooks such as those put out by "Taste of Home" magazine.  Trying to come up with something new for dinner one night, I decided to try my own version of a cheeseburger pie.  Roy and I discussed what we like on a typical cheeseburger; simple items like cheese, of course, lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, mayonnaise, horseradish mustard, grilled onions and/or mushrooms.  Now how to make this into a pie of some sort and have it be edible; however we both didn't like all the items on one burger, so needed to compromise.

The first attempt wasn't very successful, too bland and if reheated, it was worse.  The filling was also too mushy, so the addition of a binder was needed.  The second attempt came out much better by adding some leftover ingredients from an Italian meal I made, plus using eggs as a binder...sort of like you would with a quiche.  I do intend to play more with this recipe eventually, so don't be surprised if you see an update at a later time.

Cheeseburger Pie

Ingredients:
2-9 inch, deep dish pie crusts (frozen in pans, refrigerated or homemade)
2 lbs lean ground beef
2 Tbsp Italian herbal mix
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 medium onion, diced
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 (12 oz) bag shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided into thirds
3 eggs, beaten
½ tsp each salt and ground black pepper
1 can Pillsbury Grands biscuits

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F; if refrigerated or homemade crusts, place in 9 inch pans; place pie crusts in oven for 5 minutes to set dough.

In large skillet, medium-high heat, brown beef; add Italian herbal mix, garlic, onion and mushrooms halfway through browning. Drain excess grease.

In large bowl, mix together beef mixture with tomatoes, tomato sauce, ricotta, 2/3 of the cheddar cheese, eggs, salt and pepper; mix thoroughly. Divide between two pie pans. Divide 6 of the Grands biscuits to form 12 thinner biscuits; press the 1/3 of the remaining cheddar cheese onto one side of the halved biscuit dough. Place 6 on top of each pie (1 in center, 5 around), cheese side up; bake for 20 minutes; let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 2 pies; 6 servings in each.

Mary Cokenour

All I want is a simple cheeseburger.

Sesame seed bun toasted, ketchup (sometimes a little mayo), crisp lettuce, American cheese and a perfectly cooked burger.  Or if I’m in the mood for something a little different: Swiss cheese, mustard with horseradish and lettuce.  Nothing complicated or haute cuisine about it; just a simple cheeseburger.  Since I form my own burgers, the weight is usually between ¼ and ½ lb and ½” thick; the meat is 90% lean, so I don’t have a lot of shrinkage as it cooks.  I hate, absolutely hate when a restaurant advertises ¼ lb burgers or ½ burgers and in small print it then says, “Weight prior to cooking”.  Excuse me!?!  How much weight exactly will it be after cooking?  If the fat content in the ground meat is high, the burger will be much, much smaller; if you’re offering me a ½ pounder, that better be what I get for my money!!!  The idea of adding more meat to the mix to offset the shrinkage is a completely foreign idea it seems.

When cooking the burgers, I only season with salt and pepper; what someone adds on afterwards is up to the individual.  I want to taste the beef most of all, so avoid masking it as much as possible with seasonings, sauces or condiments cooked in beforehand.

Cooking technique varies on time on hand, quantity being cooked, and/or weather conditions.  When it’s just hubby and myself; the gas grill works just fine when the weather is good outside.  I’ve barbequed in the winter, so long as it wasn’t snowing, sleeting or very windy.  If there are a lot of folks, the charcoal grill comes out of hibernation.  With either grill, I cook both sides of the burger for about 4-5 minutes; using an instant read thermometer to make sure the internal temperature reaches 160F.  I oil up the grill to avoid having the burger stick, have the heat temp at medium-high, and don’t play with the burger while it cooks.  All that poking and prodding is what makes it start to stick and/or fall apart.  When the weather is lousy, or I’m just cooking up a burger for myself; then it’s roasted in the oven (400F for 20 minutes).  Simple and uncomplicated, just the way I enjoy cooking in general.

Unfortunately my kitchen is too small for the stove I really wanted: 4 gas burners with a grill in the center.  Then I could have grilled indoors no matter how lousy the weather.  I keep hoping to win one of those redoing your home contests; or that HGTV just happens to pick my home for a remodel, but no such luck.  Is it so much to ask for a fabulous kitchen?

Anyway, when it comes to burgers, it’s the burger that should take center stage, not the accessories you pile on top of it.   

Mary Cokenour