Sandwich Funk Sauce

About the music: Well, this is funksauce, and when you think funksauce it is hard to imagine, at least for me, any other music to listen to while making this besides the pure unadulterated funk. And by god we have really done it this time. What follows is one hour of music that just makes you want to take your pants off, grow an afro and dance around naked in your house. We cover all the bases, from the classics to those deep cuts you have probably never heard of. So press play, prep your sauce, and get dancing you funky people. Oh, did I mention that Falcon Punch mixed this himself, so you know its good.

Serves: all of your ketchuping needs
Prep time: 1-3 hours, depending on your patience level.

Ingredients:
1 white onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
28-ounce can of whole tomatoes
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 (or a litte more) cup brown sugar
2.5 tsp Maple syrup
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3 chipotle peppers in adobo
salt to taste

 

 

So this recipe is incredibly easy to make, and my oh my is it ever delicious. First, as always, hit play on the playlist and stretch it out a bit before groovin’ and chopping. Dice up your onion and throw it into a medium to large sized pot with the olive oil. Cook the onion on medium low heat until the edges start to brown up a little. Add in the tomatoes from the can along with all their tomatoey juices to the pot and crush up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Combine all of the rest of the ingredients into the pot and stir it up gingerly. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it all simmer for about an hour, stirring when you are so inclined. After the simmering pot reaches a fragrance point so overwhelmingly potent that you can’t take it anymore, throw it in a food processor, or blender, or what have you and puree that shiz. Toss it in the fridge and wait till it cools down. Once chilled, devour it like a relentless beast.

If, after pureeing, the sauce isn’t at a desired thickness, continue to simmer it until it suits your fancy.

Adapted from the Homesick Texan 

Track List:
1. Sho Nuff – Funkasize You
2. Johnny Guitar Watson – Funk Beyond the Call of Duty
3. The Commodores – Brick House
4. Stevie Wonder – Superstition
5. Uptown Funk Empire – Celestial Blues ft. Ange
6. Uptown Funk Empire – Boogie
7. Ohio Players – Fire
8. Delegation – You and I
9. Shena – Nasty Little Rumor (Faze Action Remix)
10. Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
11. Bumblebee Unlimited – Lady Bug
12. Muscle Shoals Horns – Keep on Playin’ That Funky Music
13. Kool and the Gang – Ladies’ Night
14. Bar-Kays – Holy Ghost
15. 6ix – I’m Just Like You

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

About the music: Cooking has its ups and downs in terms of activity and pace, so for this recipe we tried to capture those ups and downs in the music we chose. While you are doing your cutting, chopping and prep we gave you some really nice upbeat nu-disco, such as Aeroplane, to get you feelin’ right. Then, while your relaxing waiting for your squash to cook we let Poolside take over with their groovy Night Mix. Finally, while you get back into the action we pick up the pace at the end to give to the push you need to finish.

Serves:4
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 medium sized butternut squash peeled, seeded
1-2 sweet potatoes peeled
1 medium onion
1 can coconut milk
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 1/2 tbsp curry powder
3 cups water
2 tbsp fish sauce
salt to taste
pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
croutons or nice hard bread
small handful cilantro

Directions:
Before you do anything just get down on this Aeroplane song for like a half a minute, its the kind of song that just makes you want to be doing something awesome… like making soup. Now you can start making your soup.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cut your squash and potato into 1-2 inch cubes. Put the squash and potato in a bowl with the garlic and toss with olive oil salt and pepper. Once everything is coated, spread out on the baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until squash is very soft.

Meanwhile, chill out for a hot second and get down on this Poolside mix, it should be getting quite good a this point. Now, chop the onion. Place a large pot on medium heat with olive oil. Cook onion with curry powder until caramelized, 7-8 minutes. Add the coconut milk and water and mix it up right.

Add the now-soft squash and potatoes to pot. If you timed it like we did, you should be getting back into some awesomely upbeat tunes. You know, the kind of tunes that make you wanna just blend some hot soup. Take the circular thing out of the top and cover it with a towel or else terrible, terrible things will happen. Your going to want to do this in batches.

Pour back into the pot and add water if needed to thin. Add some salt and pepper. Pour into bowls, top with chopped cilantro, croutons, and a plop of olive oil. Swill.

Adapted from Joyilicious

The Classic Cutlet

About the music: This is the classic cutlet, the kind of timeless sandwich that harkens back to the good ole days when things were simple. No synthesizers, no computers, just classic chunes. The playlist for this meal pays homage to this theme by including tracks from some of your favorite classic rock and soul artists. So fire up the skillet, press play on my good friend Paul down there and start cookin it up nice.

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
4 chicken cutlets
4 good roles (we used olive focaccia rolls)
4-6 slices mozzarella cheese
1 packet good prosciutto
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flower
2 eggs
italian spices to taste
parmesan cheese to taste
1 small red onion
1 big heirloom tomato
1 head green lettuce
healthy portion of chipotle aioli
Sandwich Funk Sauce

Directions:
Chicken cutlet sandwiches are my favorite sandwich, I have declared it to be so. First shown to me long ago in a far away place called the New York delicatessen, this DELIcacy has been a staple of my eating for the past eight years of my life. There is just something about the juicy chicken and the fresh roll and the veg and whatever sauce happens to be on it all melding together into one delicious ball of funk… man, just thinking about it makes me want to do a little jig. So prep your things, its sandwich (funk) time.

Like most meals, I like to prep all of my things before I get too deep into the recipe. That way, when things get cray in the middle, and cheese balls are burning in vegetable oil, and dogs are getting your carpet all muddy and your brother forgot to get the camera and stupid Comcast cancelled your recording of the presidential debate halfway through, at least your tomatoes will be cut. So slice your tomatoes, onion, and lettuce so they are ready to go when you need them. Also make sure you have whatever sauce you choose to throw on here ready. We topped it with our homemade chipotle aioli AND our homemade ketchup; that’s right, two sauces, whatchu know about two sauces!?

Next, heat the olive oil in a skillet until nice and hot, and fry your prosciutto until crispy. This should not take very long, it’s prosciutto. Now that all things have been prepped your ready for the main event. Get out three bowls. Bowl 1: crack and mix two eggs. Bowl two: flour. Bowl 3: breadcrumbs + italian seasonings + grated parmesan. Dip the chicken in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Rinse and repeat. Don’t actually rinse, just repeat. Place breaded chicken in a heated skillet with about 2 tbsp olive oil and cook through until golden brown.

Put the chicken on a baking dish and cover with mozzarella. Place under the broiler until cheese melts and take out. Add all delicious things you previously cut, stack on top as high as you are willing, and smear in your sauce of choice.