BBQ Rib-Patty Sandwhich Meal

This is definitely off my "fast food at home" menu. Pre-packaged foods cooked at home are certainly not as healthy as a genuine home-cooked meal, but there are times when things like frozen entrees come in handy and other times when you are just craving that cheap corporate processed junk food. This idea is also a cheaper, probably more healthy substitute to the rib patty sandwich put out by America's favorite fast-food chain on occasion.

Start with the On-Cor BBQ Rib Pork Patty frozen entree and heat according to package instructions. Nuke the sucker or toss it in the oven. Simple enough. Once they are heated through, it's only a matter of assembling the sandwiches, but here is where we will execute with a little creativity.

You could just use some hamburger buns, but I bought some oblong-shaped buns that fit the rectangular patty a little better. They were basically oversized hot-dog buns that were available at my supermarket bakery. Cut them open and lay them down open side up. Be careful not to split in two separate pieces though.

Next we are going to lay in a slice or two of cheese. Lay flat down over both halves so that the cheese will help strengthen the roll and wrap around the fillings when we close the sandwich up at the end. I have used provolone in the past, but today I went with some baby-Swiss. It was a good choice. Whatever you choose, it should be something a bit pungent in order to cut the sweetness and play with the smokiness of the BBQ sauce.

Go ahead and lay in one of those pork patties. The hotter the better so the cheese gets a little melty action. Lay it down on the "bottom" half/side of the roll so that we can close the other half against it in just another second here.

But first we are going to top it with a dill pickle "stacker." A flat-sliced strip of pickle ideal for sandwich making. Laying in a thin dill spear could work as a substitute too. Top that with some very finely chopped onion, and then sliced black olives. Finally, close the roll in around all that goodness.

As you can see, we took it a few steps further than the average BBQ rib patty sandwich, so you may prefer to eat and serve with the closed side down like a hot dog, rather than the bottom side down like you would a regular sandwich. It will help catch the toppings and sauce. You may also wish to serve a little sauce on the side for dunking, but be warned, it's a little messy either way.

You could just eat and serve the sandwich of course, but why not make it a meal? There is plenty of sauce left over in the tray even if you have drowned your sandwiches into a super-sloppy mess. You could use that sauce for dunking french fries perhaps, the ubiquitous fast-food side dish and traditional accompaniment. Instead, I chose to make up a batch of some instant mashed potatoes instead, and used that extra sauce as a gravy to drizzle over them. I also cut back on the butter when whipping them up, reserving a few fat calories for a dollop of sour cream instead on each bowl served.

Round out the meal with either a small garden salad, or my preference today, a blend of frozen veggies heated through. The broccoli, cauliflower, carrot blend is my favorite lately, smeared with just a little butter and topped with a slice of American cheese. Microwave or toss in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese down over the veggies. A little splash of that BBQ sauce couldn't hurt either to tie it all together, or maybe just a dash of salt and some cracked black pepper.

So there we have it. A simple to prepare lunch or dinner made from items that are easily kept stored in your freezer and pantry. A good meal plan for items that you can keep on hand for a long time in case you have trouble getting to the store frequently. A fast-food meal with home-cooked feel.

Here is your shopping list:

For the sandwiches you will need an On-Cor BBQ Pork Rib Patty frozen entree, rolls, Swiss cheese, onion, pickle stackers and sliced black olives.

To complete the meal as planned you will need instant mashed potatoes, frozen veggie blend, American cheese, and butter.

Simple Pasta With Clam Sauce

For some reason people get intimidated by the idea of making this, what is actually a very simple dish. I think that people have this notion that if it's seafood, it's difficult to execute, which can be true, but not in this case. You can of course, also go with all fresh ingredients, but it's also easy to keep the ingredients on hand for the version I made tonight.

We'll start out with some well-chopped onion, a handful or two, toss that into a frying pan with some olive oil. I used a vidalia, but a white or yellow onion would be fine, even a red onion might be nice. Get them softened up and browned a bit.

Now we're gonna crank open a little can of anchovies. I usually get flat fillets but accidentally picked up rolled fillet wrapped around capers. No biggie, worked fine. In fact, capers are called for in many other folks' versions of this dish. Some people have a textural issue with anchovy fillet though. There are teeny little bones that pretty much liquify in the pan anyway, but you might prefer some anchovy paste instead. If not though, get the anchovy broken up well and mixed in with the oil and onions. Use the olive oil from the can of anchovy too. Pour it all right in there.

Now we're gonna add butter. I cut a big hunk off from a brick, maybe about a stick, stick and a half of butter. Sounds like a lot, but don't let your heart stop just be reading that. Butter is not as unhealthy as you think, and a lot more healthy than the substitute oils they use in the canned versions of clam sauce. It's also probably less butter per serving than a prepared box of mac and powdered cheese. But if you're still really health conscious, just pour in a generous amount of more olive oil. I prefer the butter taste with the clams, but it's not uncommon to make this dish with no butter at, just olive oil. But in that case you should probably go with a higher quality olive oil than the middle of the road stuff I keep in my kitchen.

With the butter melted down, toss in a tablespoonful or two of chopped garlic. Fresh is fine, but I just keep a big jar of the pre-chopped stuff in my fridge. Keep right on stirring. We don't want anything to stick or burn. By now too, the last bits of anchovy should be well incorporated giving a brown hue to the sauce.

Clams. Gotta have the clams of course. Just about every recipe I have ever read for this call for a bottle of clam juice too. I say that's a waste of money. Just use the juice right from your cans of clams. That's right, DON'T drain that juice off into the sink like you would with a can of tuna. Pour the clams into the pan right along with all the juice. I only had two cans, which might have been enough, but was happy to find a third. A fourth wouldn't have been wasted either, but the three was enough.

Now some seasoning. I used a generous amount of parsley, some basil, a bit of oregano, and a quick shake of hot red pepper in descending order. Some folks might like to add some lemon zest and/or a good shot of white wine here, but I didn't have either on hand and it turned out fine.

Let all of that boil away for a few minutes, but we don't want to reduce the sauce too much because we are going to finish cooking it right in with the pasta. Cook your pasta to just a tad underdone for your preference, then drain. I like my pasta a little softer, to I cooked to al dente and poured it into the colander. Tonight I used fettuccine, which I actually prefer over the traditional linguine with clam sauce. A long cut is generally preferred though over something like elbows or twists. Throw a little of your clam sauce into the bottom of the pot, throw your hot pasta back in, top that with the rest of your sauce. Cook on lowered heat to let all that clam-juicy sauce soak into the pasta a little. Letting it sit for a few minutes even after you have killed the heat helps too. My second serving was actually a bit more tasty, lol.

Plate in your favorite pasta dish and sprinkle with some grated Romano-Parmesan. Simple as that, dinner is served. A green leafy salad and some nice garlic bread are always great accompaniments to just about any pasta meal.

Here's your grocery list: Box of pasta, three cans of clams, small onion, garlic, one flat tin of anchovy fillets, olive oil, butter. If you don't have herbs and spices at home, get some parsley at least, maybe some basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, or whatever herbs and spices you might prefer. I might try a little tarragon next time myself.