Uptown Sports Club Recipe Reboots

These are delectable - better (in our opinion) than USC's. Serves 4-6, depending on serving size.

INGREDIENTS

• Bacon, 12oz cut into bite-sized chunks
• White onions, 2 medium diced
• Coriander, 1 tsp dried
• Cumin, 1 tsp
• Garlic powder, 1 tsp
• Black pepper, ½ tsp
• Kosher salt, 1 tsp
• Tomato paste, ⅓ cup 
• Red Kidney beans, 2 cans undrained
• Water, ½ cup 
• White Rice, 2 cups uncooked (prefer long grain)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned (roughly 8-9 minutes).
2. Drain some of the bacon grease, but leave 1-2 TBS for flavor, and return to same pan.
3. Add onion and all spices and cook, stirring often, until onion softens.
4. Add ⅓ cup tomato paste and stir until vegetable/bacon mix is evenly distributed.
5. Add 2 cans of undrained red kidney beans and ½ cup water. Simmer and stir occasionally.
6. Prepare white rice according to package directions.
7. Spoon desired portion of rice into a bowl or large ramekin and top with a generous portion of beans. Serve.

Making just one here so double up if you want to offer one to a friend too:-)

INGRDIENTS

• Hoagie Roll, 1
• Smoked Turkey, 2oz
• Roast Beef, 2oz
• Bacon, 2 slices cooked
• Colby Jack Cheese, 2-3 slices
• Tomato, one small sliced
• Iceberg Lettuce, ½ cup shredded
• Dill Pickles Slices, 5-6
• Dijon Mustard, 1tsp
• Vinaigrette Dressing, packaged or fresh, 5 tsp
• Butter, room temperature, 1 TBS

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the dijon mustard with the Vinaigrette Dressing and mix well. 
2. Prepare your bread! The key here is to slather butter on the inside of both sandwich halves and lightly toast them on a hot grill pan. Go to USC and sit on the left arm of the bar to see how they do it (or just go for it, but stay by the grill so as not to let them burn).
3. When you're happy with the level of toastiness, set your bread halves on a plate and start piling on the good stuff. Our method: cheese slices first, then roast beef, turkey, bacon, tomato slices, pickles, shredded lettuce, and finally a generous drizzle of dressing. Yum!

Serves 4.

INGREDIENTS

• Lump crab meat, 8oz
• Iceberg Lettuce, ¼ head shredded
• English Cucumber, ½ one cucumber, diced
• Cherry tomatoes, halved
• Thousand Island Dressing, prepared (of if you want to make it fresh, here's a good recipe.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Distribute shredded lettuce to 4 serving plates.
2. Circle lettuce in halved cherry tomatoes
3. Spoon ¼ crab meat atop serving plates.
4. Dress with Thousand Island Dressing, quantity as desired.
5. Serve.

Makes 4 side salad sized servings. We used Bleu Cheese dressing, but if you want to mimic Uptown Sports Club, use Ranch instead.

INGREDIENTS

• Iceberg lettuce, 1 head 
• Bacon, 4 slices  cooked and diced (or sub cooked walnuts, see how below)
• Cherry tomatoes, 8 quartered 
• Bleu Cheese Dressing, 1 cup
• Bleu cheese crumbles, ¼ cup 

INSTRUCTIONS

• Prep lettuce: remove outer leaves, chop lettuce head in half, and then halve the halves to make 4 wedges. Cut off rough stem ends.
• Place wedges on individual plates and dress with generous amounts of bleu cheese dressing, diced bacon*, tomatoes, and bleu cheese crumbles.
• Serve cold!

*You can sub bacon with sautéed chopped walnuts for a similar chewy smokiness. Here's how:

• Chop ½ cup walnuts (not too fine, you want them to approximate the size of bacon bits). 
• Heat 1-2 TBS butter over medium-high heat.
• When butter is melted, add chopped walnuts and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are dark brown (but not black).
• Remove from heat, add kosher salt to taste, and allow to cool before sprinkling over salad wedges. Store leftover walnuts (you'll have some) in an air-tight container in the fridge to use on pizzas, future salads, or anywhere you might have added bacon).