Something to celebrate🎊

Hey there Florida Foodie friends,

It’s the voice in your head that keeps telling you to set things on fire, Thomas Mates.

I am required to say that I am joking. You should not set things on fire, no matter how much the flames call out to you in the darkness.

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Today is a special day. Well, it is special to me at least. For you, it is probably a pretty average Wednesday, but today is my wedding anniversary.

My wonderful wife and I got married on this day four years ago. Our wedding was in January 2020 and we were blissfully unaware that the world would completely go to pot within a couple of weeks. It was a simpler time.

To celebrate, we went out over the weekend to Kaya. The owners are past Florida Foodie guests. It was a great experience. Everything was delicious and the staff could not be nicer.

We are planning to do a small celebratory dinner tonight as well. Nothing nearly as fancy, but who wants to cook on their anniversary?

OK, that’s enough about me for one newsletter. Let’s get into it.

Build My Business🍔

Aly Lalani has poured everything into making his restaurant, Build My Burgers, a success.

Lalani and his wife started looking into purchasing a franchise of an established business in 2018, but they could not find any options in their budget.

They ended up starting their own business, and now after years of hard work, they are ready to franchise.

Lalani had a great conversation with Candace Campos and Lisa Bell. He also had them working the grill and smashing burgers.

>You can check out the episode here<

You can also find every episode of Florida Foodie on YouTube.

Small bites🥥

Dry January?🍺: If you are giving up alcohol this January, then we can’t be friends. I kid, of course. But, giving up alcohol doesn’t mean you have to give up beer. There is a non-alcoholic brewery right here in Central Florida. You can read all about it here, but only if you sign up to be a News 6 Insider.

Free beer🍻: If you are like me and decline to participate in dry January, then there is good news. SeaWorld is once again offering up free beer for its guests. Here’s what you need to know.

Food festivals 🥧🐸: There’s a pair of big food festivals this weekend in Brevard and Indian River counties respectively. First, the largest frog leg festival is coming back to Fellsmere. You can find all the details here. Then, the Space Coast Key Lime Pie Festival. It’s a celebration of the state’s official pie (yes, they passed a law about it). Here is all the info.

Something to try at home🍽️

This week, I have a Thomas Mates original. This is the recipe I use to make salsa verde.

I prefer a green salsa to a traditional salsa roja and this is my go-to when I am making things like fish tacos. It is really simple, especially if you have a food processor. Of course, you can always hand chop everything too.

Ingredients:

• 4-6 tomatillos
• 2 poblano peppers
• 1 jalapeno
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium white onion, quarters
• 1 lime
• 1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
• 1 avocado
• olive oil
• salt/pepper

Step 1: Slice all of your tomatillos in half and place them on a baking sheet. Quarter your onion and place that on the baking sheet as well. Remove the stems from your peppers and add those to the baking sheet. (Note: If you have a low heat tolerance, then this is the time to remove the seeds and ribs from inside your peppers. This will cut down on the heat considerably.) Coat everything lightly in olive oil and place it all under a broiler set to high.

Step 2: Roast everything until your onions and tomatillos start to blister and soften. Once that happens, remove the onions and tomatillos and set them aside. Continue to roast your peppers until the skin is completely blackened. You may need to turn them over a couple of times to get all of the skin charred. Once the peppers are blackened, place them in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes.

Step 3: Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl and use a paper towel to wipe away all the charred skin from your peppers. Place the peppers, onions and tomatillos in a food processor and pulse two to four times.

Step 4: Add your cilantro, garlic cloves and avocado to the food processor and pulse it another two to four times to combine. Then add the zest and juice of your lime and glug of olive oil to the food processor and give it another couple of pulses. Give your salsa a taste and add salt and pepper to your personal preferences.

I like this recipe because it has a good bite of heat and a nice hit of acid, but the avocado and added oil give it really creamy consistency. This also goes great with steak or chicken.

That’s it for today.

Also, please take the time to rate and review the Florida Foodie podcast.

Send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.

Don’t forget to send in your foodie pictures as well through our PinIt! program.

- Thomas