Another Website about Everyday Dining

Hot and Smoky Baked Beans

foodmaster — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:42:35 +0000

Courtesy of Deirdre Reid and her blog “Grabbing the Gusto”

I might have a thing for baked beans, maybe because I grew up in Massachusetts where I swear we had franks, beans and brown bread every Saturday night. This recipe from Bon Appetit has been a winner twice in the last month or so, both times for family cook-outs. It has a bit of smoky heat from the chipotles (don’t they make everything better?), sweetness, bacon and beer — everything good beans need! I made it once in the oven and once in the crockpot. It’s a keeper.

If you don’t use all the chipotle and sauce in the can, save it, either for a little time in the refrigerator or in the freezer. Once you know you have it ready to go, you’ll be surprised at all the dishes you can add it to for some smoky background heat. Last night we had some in brown rice with a little onion, very tasty.

Hot and Smoky Baked Beans

photo by Steve Cohen for Bon Appetit

6 bacon slices
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
garlic, minced — my addition to recipe
1-1/4 cups barbecue sauce – I used Bull’s Eye
3/4 cup dark beer – I used oatmeal stout
1/4 cup light molasses
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
4-6 tsp minced canned chipotle chiles (the amount will depend on your audience)
6 cans (15 oz) Great Northern beans, drained

Preheat oven to 350. Cook bacon in skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels and drain. Transfer 2-1/2 Tbsp of the bacon fat to a large bowl. Chop bacon and add to bowl. Add onion to skillet and saute until just softening. Add garlic, sauteing until just turning golden — the original recipe didn’t call for sauteing onion but I like it that way. Add to bowl. Add barbecue sauce, beer, molasses, mustard, sugar, Worcestershire and soy sauce to bowl. Whisk to blend. Whisk in chipotles. Stir in beans. Transfer beans to 13×9 Pyrex baking dish and bake uncovered until liquid bubbles and thickens slightly, about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes. Or cook in crockpot on setting desired until the beans look ready.

Original recipe – Hot and Smoky Baked Beans

For more foodie insight and delicious recipes, visit Deirdre’s site at Grabbing the Gusto.

What’s for dinner? – August 2, 2011

foodmaster — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:41:23 +0000

Getting ready to go to the beach on Saturday for the week, so to get in the spirit, I’ll make something from the sea! How about crabcakes? Always a hit and easy to make. Crab meat is on sale at the Harris Teeter, so I’ll grab a pound or so and make crab cakes. I found a recipe that uses Panko bread crumbs – I love their extra crunch when frying, and I think they’ll work well with crab to give it some body, but without too much bread in the actual cake. Panko Crab Cakes and Tartar Sauce also includes a recipe for homemade tartar sauce – though I always thought that was just mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish! This recipe looks like it has a little more depth of flavor – love the dash of Tabasco!

Not sure what to serve with the crab cakes – maybe a green salad or something a little more interesting (broccoli salad, snow pea salad?). My family is not crazy about cole slaw (I love it), so that’s not really a possibility. Oh well, I’ll figure it out. Chow!

What’s for dinner? – July 29, 2011

foodmaster — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:51:23 +0000

The question right now (at 8:45p.m.) is not “What’s for dinner”, but “How was dinner tonight?” Simple answer – delicious! Friday and Beautiful Wife not working today – also had Big Girl + BF, Little Miss and Only Son. I decided to go healthy (sort of) and make a Creamy Pasta Primavera with lots of good veggies and a creamy sauce (with heavy cream – that’s the “sort of” qualifier). I love long pasta and especially like linguine, so I made the primavera sauce and finished in my giant pan with cooked linguine and lots of fresh parm cheese. It was a successful meal, that’s for sure. And not only did I make the main course, but made dessert as well. Ice cream! We all scream for it! Little Miss asked if I could make Nutella ice cream. We had a jar of Nutella in the cabinet, so I figured it would take about three seconds to find a Nutella ice cream recipe online. The recipe I found is for a real “custard”-style ice cream with egg yolks, whole milk and heavy cream. I figured we needed some heavy cream and the richness of egg yolks to counter-balance all those healthy vegetables. This ice cream is really, really delicious. My little second-hand, manual ice cream maker has already earned its keep. Try the Pasta Primavera, and if you can make ice cream, make the Nutella kind. Yummy both!

What’s for dinner? – July 25, 2011

foodmaster — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:21:54 +0000

There is still a bounty of beautiful, ripe tomatoes at our house. Large, small, roma, etc., they keep coming! And nobody is complaining! This past week, I made Tomato and Cheddar Pie for dinner one night. It was rich, with layers of sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes and a mayonnaise/dill filling. However, I did not make my pie crust from scratch. I bought the rolled-up pie dough things from where the canned biscuits are at the grocery store – they worked out fine. It was delicious – hot and bubbly from the oven, a real hit. We had some leftovers and like many casserole-y type dishes, it was almost better heated up the next day.

Yesterday, I ventured into new territory and made Tomato Ice Cream. I think the end result is good and sweet, but I’m not sure everybody would like the slight flavor of tomatoes in their ice cream. The biggest problem with this was the recipe. It calls for softening unflavored gelatin with lemon juice and then adding hot milk to dissolve the gelatin. My experience is that you can not add milk to lemon juice – it basically turns immediately into curds and whey. Well, I followed the recipe and sure enough as soon as the milk hit the lemon juice, it separated. So, I just started over, eliminated the lemon juice and followed the recipe from there. I think it worked out great! Again, maybe not everybody’s cup of tea, but worth the effort …

Tonight, not so sure about dinner. Weather has cooled off just a bit, so maybe just throw some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill – easy and doesn’t heat up the house. Okay, maybe that’s the trick!

Corn Salad and Plum Clafouti

foodmaster — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:48:14 +0000

Courtesy of Deirdre Reid and her blog “Grabbing the Gusto”

Corn on the cob season is here! My guy was making ribs so I thought corn salad would be the perfect accompaniment to them. I have a corn salad recipe somewhere but since I couldn’t put my hands on it I took a look at some online recipes and relied on my memory to make what turned out to be a yummy dish.

Corn Salad

Ingredients — sorry, no real specifics, just eyeball what looks right to you

4 slices of bacon
chopped red onion
minced garlic
5 ears corn
lima beans — frozen okay, thawed
chopped red bell pepper
chopped cherry or grape tomatoes
vinegar — my old recipe called for champagne vinegar (can substitute rice wine vinegar for that), I used red wine vinegar
chopped basil
salt and pepper

Cook the bacon in a large pan, drain on paper and chop. Leave the bacon fat in the pan. Add red onion, saute until just getting soft. Add garlic, saute until just turning golden. Add corn, lima beans, red bell pepper and tomatoes and cook a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in bacon, vinegar, salt, pepper and basil. Serve warm or cold.

Plum Clafouti

Clafoutis are rustic French desserts that are sort of like a cross between a pancake and a custardy pudding. They’re a cinch to make (no mixer needed) and are a great way to feature seasonal fruit. Plums were looking enticing so I decided to whip one of these up for dessert. They also make a great breakfast too — warm, room temp or cold.

photo by flickr/Secret_Tenerife

3 eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
½ tsp vanilla
optional: 2 tsp rum
5-7 plums, halved and pitted (as many that fit into bottom of dish/pan)
butter for greasing dish/pan

Preheat oven to 400. Whisk sugar and eggs until they are lighter in color. Gradually add butter, whisking to incorporate. Add flour all at once, whisk until batter is a homogeneous mixture. Slowly pour in milk a little at a time. Add vanilla, and rum if you’re using it, mixing well. Batter should be very smooth and shiny.

Place plums in a buttered baking dish, cake pan (9” or 10”) or skillet that can go in the oven. Pour batter over fruit. Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes (but check earlier) until slightly browned and almost completely set in middle. Let sit at least 15 mins before turning out onto a plate and serving.

For more foodie insight and delicious recipes, visit Deirdre’s site at Grabbing the Gusto.

What’s for dinner? – July 17, 2011

foodmaster — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:47:51 +0000

The harvest continues unabated! We have now gotten out the big, beautiful bowl we use for large quantities of pasta or salad and filled it with fresh tomatoes and using it as a centerpiece for the dining room table! Lots of ‘maters! So the other day I made a Simple Cooked Tomato Salsa – though I only used four tomatoes. Still with eating a tomato sandwich for lunch every day and finding new recipes for tomatoes, we’ll enjoy every fat, delicious one of them. Heck, we might even have a half-bushel to bring to the beach in a few weeks to share with our 30-some relatives we’ll visit with then.

But tonight, I think I’ll use the Simple Cooked Tomato Salsa as an ingredient in a nice, big pot of black bean soup. No recipe for this, I’ll just wing it. My homemade salsa, black beans, vegetable broth and some seasoning (red pepper flakes, cumin, oregano?) and soup should be on! I’ll get a fresh baguette from the Harris Teeter and voila – dinner for the fam. Big Girl is at the beach with her BF, but Little Miss and Only Son here – and of course Beautiful Wife. Sounds like a plan!

What’s for dinner? – July 11, 2011

foodmaster — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:51:15 +0000

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Our backyard is becoming a bounty of wonderful summer vegetables – cucumbers, zucchini, squash and lots of tomatoes! Beautiful Wife has been working “the back 40″ and we are reaping the benefits. There are already 20-30 plum (roma) tomatoes sitting on the counter, so today I will make homemade pasta sauce. I’ll stick with an all-veggie recipe so everyone can enjoy! I found a recipe that sounds delicious and not too awful time-consuming. It’ll be a couple of hours of slow simmering, so it will have that “all day” taste (I hope!), but don’t want the stove on all day in the house. Even with air conditioning, it is a hot day, so a couple of hours slaving over a hot stove will be enough for me … I’m sure it will be good, good, good …

What’s for dinner? – June 14, 2011

foodmaster — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:57:56 +0000

Kind of an overcast afternoon here and I’ve got a bunch of leftovers in the fridge. Tonight will be what we call “pick up sticks” – AKA leftover night. I’ll make a big salad with greens, spinach and maybe some protein (chicken, ham, cheese?), but we have mac and cheese, a zucchini and squash pasta sauce with linguine, and a pasta dish I made last night. Big Girl sent me some recipes she had collected over time and one of them was Mom’s Baked Chicken & Spinach Pasta. The picture looks delicious, so I decided to give it a try. I followed the recipe very diligently, but I just wasn’t crazy about the result. To my taste, it needed a bit more moisture of some sort – something to sauce it up a little bit. I had some buttermilk and heavy cream in the fridge, so I added a bit, mixed it in, and baked it some more. I think it was an inspired modification! Creamy, a little salty, and the chicken and spinach give it some oomph! but keep it healthy (well, except for the heavy cream :=)

So leftovers tonight, along with a big salad – and rain I think!

What’s for dinner? – June 12, 2011

foodmaster — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:04:50 +0000

Last night, I whipped up a pasta dish – basically a vegetable-filled, red sauce. Sauteed onions, zucchini, yellow squash and garlic, let that cook down a bit, then added a couple of jars of sauce (semi-homemade!). Added a bit of extra seasoning and let if simmer for a while to marry the flavors and soften the veggies. I then added cooked linguini to the sauce, finished the dish in the pan and served it up with finely shredded parmesan and garlic bread. It was really good.

Tonight gonna’ be making fish tacos. I’m going to experiment a little with the fish – in the freezer I have some tilapia, salmon and scallops. Some fish taco recipes call for broiling/grilling the fish and others for battering and frying – the deep-frying I think is a little more San Diego-type authentic, but not sure. The recipe I’m using calls for a beer batter and frying in hot fat, so I’ll cut the seafood into as similar-shape pieces as possible so they’ll sort of look the same after being fried. With the cabbage and crema/sauce, I’m sure it will all be delicious.

Little Miss (Vegetarian Daughter) is going out of town for ten days tomorrrow, so the household will be enjoying a bit more chicken and red meat for the next week or so. No problem with the vegetarian stuff and it certainly is to our benefit to eat less red meat and more fish, but I do miss my chicken – I’m a big fan of chicken. So after driving Little Miss to BWI, gonna’ come back and make a chicken dish (or maybe steak?).

Okay, off to the pool now – chow!

What’s for dinner? – June 10, 2011

foodmaster — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:16:51 +0000

Yay, it’s Friday! A hot Friday here in the National Capital Area, so I’m thinking of cooking something for dinner that I can largely prepare a bit earlier in the day and then serve at dinner, after the house (and me) cool off after slaving over the hot stove. My favorite grocery store had a special on (frozen) shrimp last week – buy two 2-pound bags of shrimp and get three free (what?)! Each bag was $27.98, so it was a total of about 56 dollars, but ended up with 10 pounds of 21-30 shrimp – so even a decent size shrimp.

So what to make? Hmmm … Maybe something that everyone (Beautiful Wife, Big Girl + BF, LIttle Miss, Only Son and usually a straggler or two, especially on Friday) can do final preparation themselves. A sandwich maybe – how about a Po Boy?!? Soft rolls, lettuce, tomatoes, various condiments and fried shrimp adds up to Shrimp Po Boys – that is the ticket! I’ll let you know how they turn out (I’m thinking super delicious!).