use real butter

Recipe: breakfast torta

Sometimes things come to a head that you have no control over and suddenly you find yourself treading water. I try to avoid situations like these. I try to avoid unnecessary stress, but every now and again there are external factors that are out of my hands. It’s been like this for the past week or so – a rollercoaster of sorts, but everything is fine here at Butter Headquarters. We can always count on Kaweah to bring us back to what is normal.

she recently got a bath and smells like lavender

When there are deadlines or when my brain won’t shut off at night, I tend to neglect things like getting enough sleep or drinking enough water. Sometimes I forget to eat and then I stuff myself with junk food late in the day. They are all bad habits and thankfully, I only revert to that mode when it’s crunch time. Despite my ambivalence toward breakfast, I do try to eat something in the morning to avoid the late afternoon gorging when you realize you haven’t eaten anything yet all day. It’s easier to do when you have breakfasts to look forward to. Last fall when I was at the Sacramento airport at puke-thirty in the morning for my flight home, I zombied through the concourse in search of something to quell the urge to hurl. Standing in front of the Dos Coyotes menu board, I ordered a breakfast torta. Never had one before, but you know what? It was really good.

you’ll need: tortas, refritos, bacon, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, eggs, mayonnaise, garlic, lime, avocado, and cheese

That torta was so satisfying that it lingered in my mind for several weeks. Then I forgot about it. But passing through the same airport just this past weekend, it jogged my memory. I needed to make a breakfast torta of my own. I’m a fan of condiments and figured I could make some chipotle mayonnaise for that creamy, spicy component. It adds a nice zing to the sandwich and can be as strong or as mild as you want it. It was simple enough: mash up garlic into a paste, purée the chipotle peppers (with a little adobo sauce), squeeze some lime juice, stir it all into the mayonnaise and add salt to taste.

mashing minced garlic into a paste

chipotle pepper purée

add desired quantities to the mayonnaise

squeeze lime juice into the mix

What you end up with is a pale orange-pink spread for your sandwich. If you decide to put it in a squeeze bottle, make sure the bottle tip is large enough to let chunks of pepper and garlic through. I buy my tortas from Costco because I bought them by accident one day and happened to love the texture. They freeze well and are great for toast or sandwiches. I have no idea how these compare to authentic tortas, but I’m sure someone out there has an opinion to share. Toast or don’t toast, that is completely up to you.

chipotle mayonnaise

slice the torta

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: patty melt (animal style)

Time to fess up – I’m not doing traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I haven’t done one in several years. We voted turkey OUT and seafood IN. Sea critters cook faster, taste better (to us), and I don’t become stuffed, sleepy, and belligerent. Winning! Are you having a traditional meal or are you doing something different?

I wish I could say I’m going to be skiing, but I think I’m going to be trail running and biking instead – because we don’t have much snow locally. Sure, our local hill has the White Strip of Death (the single run that goes top to bottom on the mountain), but it’s not especially appealing now… or ever. However, I was able to enjoy snow in Crested Butte this weekend, because we had some business out there. On Saturday, we were greeted with week-old snow on the ground under blue skies. Kaweah was eager to get out for a walkie even though she can’t walk very far any more. We stopped in a field and I told her to sit for a photo. Kaweah sat, then slid into a comfy lounging position. She was tired, but happy. Sunday morning brought fresh snow and once again, we got Kaweah outside for a short walk around town. I swear, snow makes everything awesome.

this car ride leads to a trailhead, right?

enjoying the snow with mount crested butte looming large

my happy girl

fresh snow sunday morning

We’re home now, looking forward to a mellow week of house maintenance, catching up on work, and quick meals. From time to time, my friends at Lava Lake Lamb like to send along some of their beautiful products for me to prepare and sample (rack of lamb, rosemary lamb noisettes, and braised lamb shanks). This time, they mentioned they are partnering with 100% grass-fed Brandon Natural Beef from the Wet Mountain Valley of Colorado. Lava Lake Lamb is good lamb from Idaho, but I wanted to give Colorado some lovin’. I received a 12 ounce Rib Eye steak, a 12 ounce New York Strip steak, and two 16 ounce packages of ground beef (80% lean) to try with no obligation on my part. After Jeremy and I had the steaks (grilled rare), I was so impressed with the tenderness, quality, and flavor, I was excited to try something with the ground beef.

the beef arrived frozen, so i let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator

I really feel the best way to let ground beef shine is in a burger, grilled. Oh, but I’ve posted many a burger here before. As I muttered to myself over the many variations on burgers that exist, Jeremy interrupted and asked me what a patty melt was. Silence. “You don’t know what a patty melt is?” He had a vague idea, but really… he didn’t. That’s partly my fault because I hadn’t had a patty melt since college much less made one. It’s the marriage of a hamburger and a grilled cheese sandwich, but I wasn’t going to make just any patty melt.

crusty sourdough, mustard, salt, pepper, fish sauce, onions, swiss cheese, ground beef

When I say “animal style”, what do you think of? If your mouth is starting to water, then we speak the same language – the language of In-N-Out Burger. If you don’t get it, that’s fine. You don’t get it. If you tell me that you can make a better burger at home, my response is “Duh!” and yeah, you still don’t get it. But for the rest of you lovers, I figured I could snazzy up the patty melt with a little riff on an animal style burger which in this instance means: mustard and caramelized onions.

thinly sliced onions

browned after about 20 minutes

First you want to caramelize the onions, because that’s the big time sink. No matter how much you try to rush the process, you can’t. Whenever I rush it, I burn the onions. So set the heat to medium and brown the onions in some oil slowly for at least 20 minutes. Stir it about every now and again to prevent burning. If you’re a multi-tasker, go ahead and mix the beef while the onions soften and brown.

the dash of fish sauce = magic

don’t laugh, i made the patties the shape of my bread

**Jump for more butter**

I bet you thought the sandwich chronicles were over, huh? No, I’ve just been busy. Admittedly, I took a short break from sandwiches for a few weeks and there were also a couple duds (I’m not recommending those here). But we’re back at it this week with Deli Zone, known for their famous Brooklyn heroes. I had never heard of it, despite seeing it next door to the Homebrew shop where I buy bottles for my vodka infusions on a regular basis. My friend, Daniel (@boinzy on Twitter), recommended it to me when he learned of my sandwich research.

prepare to enter the deli zone

There are three locations in Boulder and several more around Colorado (Denver, Broomfield, Longmont). I went to the one on Valmont (next door to Hop To It Homebrew), tucked away in a generic strip mall. There is a handful of seating inside and two tables outside. It didn’t look busy when I walked in, but during the short time I perused the menu and placed my order a steady stream of people came in to pick up sandwiches or place their own orders.

menu boards sorted by filling

Deli Zone serves breakfast all day, which is good news for brekkie lovers. The rest of the menu is dedicated mostly to the sandwiches, which are broken down by their main filling. Sandwiches come in two generous sizes: medium is 8-inches and large is 14-inches. That’s alotta sandwich! You have a choice in bread from their signature French bread, white or wheat, sourdough, marble rye, poppy seed kaiser roll, or a low-carb wrap. There are vegetarian options too. I stood at the counter debating until I grabbed one of the employees and asked what their best sandwiches are. He squinted back at the board and thought for a second, The Reuben and the New Yorker were two of the most popular. I kinda had my heart set on 42nd Street or Yankee, but okay… I went for the New Yorker.

the new yorker: corned beef and pastrami

To the sandwich: I honestly didn’t think there could be a sandwich to rival Snarf’s, but this is good sandwich. They are different sandwiches, but they are both excellent. The French bread is beautifully crusty on the outside and pillow soft on the inside. It is stuffed full of thinly sliced corned beef and pastrami with the coleslaw, dijonaisse, and Swiss cheese crammed in there for good measure. It’s the kind of sandwich that drips down your hand and wrist – juicy. And it’s hot which makes it extra delectable as you scarf it down. Fantastic! I highly recommend a Deli Zone sandwich.

Info: Find Deli Zone at three Boulder locations:

1) Baseline: 4800 Baseline Rd., Suite D-104, 7:30am-8:00pm daily, 303.499.9213
2) The Hill: 1322 College Ave., 7:30am-8:00pm Monday-Saturday, 9:00am – 8:00pm Sunday, 303.449.6952
3) Valmont: 2900 Valmont Rd., Suite D1, 7:30am-8:00pm Monday-Friday, 8:00am-6:00pm Saturday, 9:00am-5:00pm Sunday, 303.447.9349

Full Disclosure: My opinions. No comps for the chomps.

Previous sandwich research:

1) The Pinyon’s fried chicken sandwich (sadly, now closed)
2) Cafe Blue’s blackened tuna sandwich
3) Frasca Caffè’s Italiano panini caldi
4) Snarf’s pastrami and Swiss sandwich
5) Cured’s Spicy Frenchman sandwich
6) Dish Gourmet’s Reuben sandwich