This recipe was submitted by Michael “Suey” Sulak. Suey is with the Seattle Fire Department, working out of Station 8. Thanks Suey!
Overview:
Serves 8
Why this recipe is the “hottest”:
This ain’t no mambie pambie “shrimp la la” or “fillet foo foo.” This is real fireman food! Let’s be honest… how many times are you in the middle of preparing your meal in the beanery and “bam!” the bell hits for an alarm. In the firehouse you need to be able to prepare something that won’t take all day slaving over the stove to make. The prep also needs to be able to survive an alarm! We need fuel that will carry us through the work we do. This meal is something you would actually eat at a firehouse because it is fairly easy to make, it is satisfying, it tastes great, has a bit of a kick to it, and it won’t bust the station clutch! So get real and get with this “hottest” recipe for the real fireman.
Ingredients:
- ½ lb of bacon
- 1 large onion
- ½ lb mushrooms
- ¼ lb pistachios (½ cup shelled pistachios)
- 2 lbs lean ground sirloin (or 10% fat ground beef)
- 2 lbs unseasoned ground pork
- 1 10 oz package of chopped frozen spinach
- 1 3.8 oz can of sliced black olives
- 1/3 cup each of red, yellow, orange pepper – minced
- ¾ cup ketchup
- 2 raw eggs
- 7 tablespoons Tabasco® Brand Garlic Sauce – add more to make hotter (5 oz bottle needed)
- 1 lb pepper jack cheese
- 8 tablespoons Tabasco® Brand Sweet and Spicy Pepper Sauce (5 oz bottle needed)
Garnish (optional):
- 1 each yellow, orange and red bell pepper
- 3 Tbls Tabasco® Brand Habanero Pepper Sauce (2.5 oz bottle needed)
- 1 pint sour cream
- ¼ cup chopped fresh chives
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice bacon into ¼ inch pieces. In medium size pan, fry bacon over medium heat. Render most of the fat but do not let bacon get crispy. Pour off excess bacon grease, leaving about 2 tablespoons.
- Peel and chop the onion and add to bacon and fry 3 to 5 minutes, until onion turns opaque. Wash, slice and chop mushrooms and add to bacon and onion. Stir frequently so the onions do not burn and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- While bacon, onion and mushroom mixture is cooling, shell and crush pistachios. I use a mortar and pestle to crush shelled nuts into large chunks. Place ground sirloin and ground pork in a large mixing bowl.
- Thaw out the frozen spinach in a microwave oven and squeeze out all liquid. Open the can of olives with a can opener and drain.
- Now add the pistachios, spinach, olives and diced peppers, along with the ¾ cup of ketchup, 2 raw eggs, the 6 tablespoons of Tabasco® Brand Garlic sauce (more if you want it hotter!), and the cooled bacon-onion-mushroom mixture to the meat.
- Mix all ingredients very well making sure everything is blended evenly, especially the two types of meat.
- Take the loaf and place it in a 9”x14” oven proof baking dish. Compress the loaf evenly throughout the dish. Now take the pepper jack cheese and cut it into 1inch x 1 inch cubes.
- Push the cheese cubes down into the loaf, down to the bottom of the dish, spacing evenly throughout. Cover and compress the holes left by the cheese with the surrounding meat. Score the top of the loaf into one inch squares with a knife.
- Now drizzle the 8 tablespoons (about half of a 5 oz bottle) of Tabasco® Brand SWEET & Spicy Pepper Sauce over the top and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.
- Place the loaf in the pre-heated 350 degree oven and cook for 60 minutes.
- At 30 minutes into the cook time, you will need to remove the dish from the oven and drain off excess grease with a baster.
- Place loaf back in oven for remaining 30 minutes.
Optional Garnish:
- While the loaf is cooking, core and seed the yellow, orange, and red bell peppers.
- Slice the peppers into two inch long thin triangle shaped slices and set them aside.
- Mix Tabasco® Brand Habanero Pepper Sauce with sour cream and stir to incorporate.
- After 60 minutes, drain the loaf of grease again and cut the loaf evenly into 8 squares.
- Put the squares on dinner plates.
- To garnish, place a tablespoon size dollop of sour cream in middle of each loaf square.
- Stick 4 to 6 alternate colored pepper slices in top of the sour cream dollop like flames.
- Take the remaining Tabasco® Brand SWEET & Spicy Pepper Sauce in bottle at room temperature and drizzle extra sauce over the whole loaf square on each plate.
- Finally, finish off the garnish with one teaspoon of chopped fresh chives sprinkled on each square.
