Key West Food Highlights

I just spent a long weekend in Key West for a Bachelorette party, resulting in a lack of home cooked meals.  It was a great trip; good food, good drinks, and good people.  We stayed at Crowne Plaza La Concha, not the nicest hotel on the island, but pretty nice, a fantastic location for nightlife, and reasonable for the group.  Now onto the food….

The first night we ate at Cafe Sole, cute restaurant off the beaten path with good food.  It was recommended by visitors, online, and locals and we found out why.  I had the chef award winning Hogfish Snapper, absolutely delicious.  I also tried a beet salad, which is my first time venturing into beets since a child, and I am now converted.  This will definitely spice up my regular lunchtime salad rotation.  We drank the DeLoach Pinot Noir (because I like to ignore that you should drink white wine with fish), it’s one of my favorites so I of course enjoyed that with my meal.

Braised Short Ribs and Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta

I was eager to break in my new Le Creuset dutch oven, and what better way than with The Pioneer Woman’s Braised Short Ribs and Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta.

Braised Short Ribs

Creamy Polenta with Goat Cheese

Thai Style Chicken

MyRecipes Thai Style Chicken

Dinner was Thai Style chicken with a lot of changes based on what I had on hand at home. I doubled the coconut milk, increased Red Curry Paste to 2-3 TB, sliced up the chicken breast, no cliantro, 1 TB of soy sauce instead of fish sauce, and edamame on the side instead of roasted red peppers.

Wine was 2005 Montessa Rioja, it was pretty average.

Wang Burger Replica

Wang Burger Replica  

Burger with cheese, bacon, fried egg, and raw onions.  If you ever make it to Lawrence, KS go to The Wheel for the real thing.  You may have heard Scott Van Pelt from ESPN praise the wang burger.

Directions

Heat grill pan to medium high heat (feel free to use your preferred method of cooking burgers). Once grill pan is heated, cook burgers 4-5 minutes, flip over and cook 4-5 more minutes, placing cheese slices on burgers for last 2 minutes of cooking. Also on grill pan, grill buns for 1-2 minutes until toasted.

Meanwhile, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray cooking spray in to pan, or use butter if you prefer. Once heated crack eggs into pan, reduce heat to low and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until egg whites are set, about 4-5 minutes.

Assemble burgers; place cheeseburger patty on the toasted bun, bacon, egg, and fried onions.

Enjoy with ketchup or hot sauce!