So this week, I have something a little different for you. I have both a review and an announcement this week!

First the review, and tomorrow the announcement!

     If you are lucky enough to have a Maple Street Biscuit Company in your neighborhood, and you haven't tried it yet, than what on Neptune's seas is keeping you?!? This has quickly become my favorite place to grab a nice breakfast that not only tastes amazing, but also fills me up for hours.

     Since I am in St. Augustine, I try to visit the Maple Street Biscuit Company St. Augustine location at least once every week or two.

     I have tried several of their biscuit sandwiches, but my favorite is The Five. It's one of their flaky homemade biscuits, with an all natural fried chicken breast, pecan wood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and sausage gravy inside. Their sausage gravy is unlike any I've had before and I would be okay just diving into a bowl of it.

 

     If you're not a fan of sausage gravy, than go for the Sticky Maple!  You still get their nice flaky biscuit, with a fried chicken breast, and bacon.  There's no cheddar cheese on this one, but it's not needed either.  Instead of the sausage gravy, they give a nice helping of really good Grade A maple syrup, which makes the whole dish really come together.

     Everything on their menu is wonderfully delicious and filling, while the prices may seem high when you look at the menu, you quickly find out that the food is more than you could have expected.

     They have several locations in northern Florida, 4 in Jacksonville, 1 in St. Augustine, 1 in Tallahassee, and one in Chattanooga, TN. So go visit one when you can and enjoy a great breakfast!

     So as promised, here's a recipe straight out of me galley for all of ye! I call them Cannonballs, they have a water chestnut center that gives them a crunch with nice hit of heat from the hot sauce!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Cannonballs

by The Pirate Chef

Ingredients:

   1 C Bisquick biscuit mix

   1 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

   8 oz bulk Italian sausage

   1 ½ tsp Snakebite datil pepper sauce

   1 can water chestnuts, quartered

Directions:

   1. Preheat oven to 400° F

   2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil

   3. Remove sausage from packaging and crumble

   4. In a bowl, combine the biscuit mix, cheese, sausage, and hot sauce

   5. Mix with hands until completely blended

   6. Shape a little of the mixture around a piece of water chestnut, forming a 1 ¼” ball. You can use
        pre-sliced or whole water chestnuts, but slice the whole ones in half before quartering.

   7. Place on the baking sheet, ½” - 1” apart

   8. Place in center of oven and cook for 15 minutes

     After much work and conversing, the good people at Subeta have graciously allowed me to use their background as a wallpaper for the blog and cover art for the facebook page.  I really like the way this image looks on both and you can look forward to a new recipe on Monday!

     I also want to post the legal information for the image here in the post itself just in case anyone has an issue with reading it.

Subeta image © 2004-2016 Subeta.net/Agoge, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission

     Ahoy mateys! I hope the new year is treating you all well! So this weekend I ventured into the galley to work on a new recipe for you all. Alas, it did not work out well and I have none.  Instead I have a review of a great new hot sauce that I was able to try during the Pirate Gathering last fall.

It's Captain Assjack's Minorcan Gold Hot Sauce!

     This is not your normal hot sauce in the least. They use the signature pepper of St. Augustine, the Datil pepper, to give their citrus-based sauce a nice strong blast of heat.


      In addition to the citrus, the hot sauce also contains hints of curry and peppercorns that flick your taste buds with a milder heat and flavor.

     I can see this working well with lighter meats, such as chicken and pork, as well as some fish. Pretty much anything that would go well with a nice citrus kick and a bit of heat.

      If the Minorcan Gold doesn't quite fit your style, click on the link below to go to their Etsy store and check out the Minorcan Ghost or buy both to see which one gets your cannons roaring!

 Eat well and remember my motto, cook or die!

This is one of my favorite dishes to make at home, very easy and oh so good!

 Pasta with Ham and Swiss Cheese
    by The Pirate Chef

Ingredients:
1 lb of Farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1/2 lb of thin-sliced ham (I like the smoked ham)
1/4 lb of baby swiss cheese*
1/4 lb of butter

Directions:
1) Cook the pasta till al dente per the instructions on the box
2) Grate the swiss cheese
3) Roll the ham slices into tubes
4) Heat the butter in a small pan on medium heat, stirring frequently, until it starts to foam. When you start to see some brownish foam, remove from heat immediately!
5) Place pasta in your bowl, sprinkle a layer of swiss cheese on top, tear the ham rolls into small bits and layer on top of cheese, and then drizzle the browned milk solids from the butter pan on top (these will be hiding at the bottom of the pan).
6) Stir and enjoy!

This makes enough for about 4-6 servings

* DO NOT use pre-shredded cheese! It's coated with a chemical that prevents it from clumping in the back and also makes it hard to melt compared to grating it yourself.

Cook or die!

     I had to make this a couple of times over the past few months, came down with some weird crud last year and again last month.

     It seems that we have another season of sickness going on with the crazy temperature changes going on here in Florida. So for those of you that might be feeling a little under the weather, I have a simple recipe for some feel-good food for you.

Broth and Pastina:
   by The Pirate Chef

Ingredients:

1 lb of Acini de Pepe pasta, or a similar little pasta
64 oz of chicken broth (I prefer College Inn)
32 oz of beef broth (I prefer College Inn)

Directions:
1) Cook pasta according to directions till al dente
2) Combine broth in another pot and heat to a low boil
3) Place pasta in a soup bowl and top off with broth
4) Add either grated cheese or ground black pepper to taste

Enjoy! I also enjoy eating this just because it's good and light.

      I'm sure that some of you have heard of the Pirate's Booty line of snacks. I recently tried the aged white cheddar puffed snacks from them, and I was pleasantly surprised! While I don't generally go for puffy snacks or white cheddar, I wanted to try them because they have a cartoon pirate on them and why not try them?

     They were good, very good in fact! They had the usual aspect of a puff snack, kind of melting in your mouth, but they also retained a significant crunch aspect to them as you ate. The aged white cheddar flavor was nice and sharp and makes one want to eat more of them.

     Not only do they taste good, but as far as snack foods go, they're a pretty healthy one as well.  They are baked and not fried, so no extra fat or trans fats in them.  Also, they're all natural so no weird chemicals to throw your systems off!

     I think this will become a standard carry in my pantry as it works well to fulfill those late night cravings, or I'll just grab some to go with my favorite ale.