Buffalo Lettuce Cheese - BLC

Buffalo Saucer

For dinner last night, I had this spontaneous creation that I dubbed the "Buffalo Saucer". I had a half-pound package of ground buffalo meat that has been sitting in the fridge for a few days so I finally decided to do something with it. I was initially planning to cook Mexican styled meat as a taco dish, except that I did not have the right Mexican spices or any taco shells. Off my partner went to the closest store to get some taco shells. Unfortunately, the store does not stock any taco shells so my partner made do on the only available alternative – English muffins; hence the creation of "Buffalo Saucer" in my kitchen.

Since we just went to a specialty Italian grocery store the other day, we had a full stock of Italian goodies such as assorted olives, the Italissima's red pepper spread and sun dried tomatoes that we couldn't wait to try out, so we decided to incorporate those ingredients into the dish. The result was better than expected - the meat was juicy and slightly spiced and the English muffin gave a unique texture to the dish. It was a symphony of flavors, if I may say so myself ;-)

Ingredients:
½ lb. ground buffalo
¼ tsp. of Salt and black pepper
¼ tsp. Mrs. Dash
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. paprika
A pinch of sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallots, minced
1 green onion
1/4 cup of red wine
2 tbsp. red pepper spread/paste
3-4 sundried tomatoes, sliced
1 tbsp. olive oil or canola oil

Garnish:
Lettuce leaf
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Hot sauce to taste
English Muffin, toasted
Salsa sauce
Olives (side dish)
Red beans (side dish)

Direction:
Heat oil in a pan on medium high heat. Sautee garlic and shallot until fragrant, add ground buffalo and mix. Add salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash, cayenne pepper, paprika and a pinch of sugar and sautee meat until almost cooked. Turn heat down to medium low. Add green onion and half of the 1/4 cup of red wine and let simmer. Add red pepper paste and sundried tomatoes and the rest of the red wine and let simmer for a few more minutes. Turn off heat and let sit on in the pan.

Place one side of toasted muffins on a plate and layer with lettuce leaf. Add a tablespoonful of meat mixture, a teaspoon of salsa and a dash of hot sauce and garnish with grated cheese. Put the other side of muffin on top and serve.