mediocre

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Let’s face it and admit to the truth – no matter how passionate we are about good food, not all meals we consume must be and can be culinary masterpieces or be completely homemade in order to make us happy.
In cooking, as with love, sometimes a loving hug will do it instead of a few hours of passionate love-making (Well, sometimes…….. 🙂
I have posted some pretty simple stuff in the past and judging by the positive responses, posts about simple food are as welcome as the more complex meals.
So, I feel confident that mixing a few very simple, basic dishes into my usual mix of international food posts will be a welcome addition to the folks who are still learning their way around the kitchen, as well as for the more seasoned cooks who will be reminded that sometimes, depending on our mood, the time and/or budget, simple means best 🙂
I believe today’s dish is a perfect example of how to lift a usually mediocre dish up to new hights by choosing top-ingredients and preparing the food with love and care.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
If you replace the mayo with the more customary butter and grill the sandwich instead, you will miss out on the best part of this sandwich – the wonderful crust which the mayo helps to provide.
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More “Easy Does It”
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Griddle Ham & Cheese Sandwich

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: smear both sides of seeded rye bread with mayonnaise

: griddle one side of each slice of bread until golden

: top the griddle side of the bread with sharp cheddar

: top the cheddar with ham, drizzle with sriracha

: top with more cheddar

: top with a slice of bread which has been smeared on both sides with dijon mustard

: top with more ham

: top with more cheddar

: top with another mayonnaise-covered, one side griddled bread, griddle side down

: griddle sandwich on a VERY low heat griddle (or cast iron pan) until golden, turn, griddle the other side

: cover and cook VERY slowly until the cheese has melted, to serve, cut in half, serve with spicy ketchup and kosher pickles

: Griddle Ham & Cheese Sandwich

: Griddle Ham & Cheese Sandwich

: Griddle Ham & Cheese Sandwich

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Today I had the fortune of meeting an old friend again after we hadn’t seen each other for many years. We went to have lunch at the bonefish grill in weston, florida. My friend has been there before but only monday evenings, because like me, she does not like to wait in line at a restaurant and usually there is a long line to get in. After hearing this I expected a first class experience. Weston is a affluent area and folks usually have the means to pay good money for good food. Upon entering and being seated at a nice table, the first thing I noticed was the brown butcher paper covering the tables. Now, while this might be appropriate at a hamburger joint, I find this completely inappropriate at a restaurant in this price category. Next thing, no waiters. Instead, cooks? in their uniform acting as servers. Despite this though, I thought our server / cook did a good job, he was friendly, quick and efficient.
As for the food, it was not bad, but far from being good. Mediocre would be my honest , generous judgement.
The ceviche was generous in portion size, but taste and quality was lacking. It was drenched in oil and all we could taste was old bottled lemon juice. My crab cakes consisted of a good amount of crab meat, but texture and presentation was second rate at best (A five year old must have cut that lemon wedge). The sauce that came with it would probably have been rejected by any mc donald customer, so dismal was the taste. The fish and meat of the main course was of decent quality and the fish was cooked nicely, nice char on the outside, very juicy on the inside. The steak was cooked way too fast, so that the outside just below the char was grey until almost the center, where there was a small strip of medium, as my friend had ordered. There was ample gratinated crab meat but no sauce bernaise (Garniture “Oscar”). The accompanying green asparagus were rather woody and void of any seasoning. The size of my “large Portion” of fish was laughable, I was wondering what the “small portion” would have been like. My garlic mashed potatoes might have waved hello to some garlic located across the kitchen, but the two definitely never met. . . . . . The presentation of all dishes found their highlight in dry chopped parsley sprinkled about all the food and plates.
This, plus two diet coke each and tip came to $100.
I have to say, more power to the people who own and operate this place and find enough gullible customers who come back again and again and pay these prices for second rate food.
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