Pinterest Beer Dip

Of course I have a Pinterest account.  Actually, I was a little late to the Pinterest party; a friend of mine looked at me like I was nuts and told me I would love it.  I kinda do.  But other times I feel a little overwhelmed.  I already have over a thousand recipes clipped and saved, a dozen or so cookbooks… do I really need to be "pinning" recipes online? Well, no.  But then I find things like "beer dip", and get really excited.  

My husband and I planned to have a Super Bowl party this year.  (Yes, I'm that behind on my blogging.)  Unfortunately, after ordering 50 wings and buying ingredients for three kinds of dip (plus dippers), the snow came.  Up until that point it had been a mild winter.  It was like the climate suddenly realized it was missing its chance, and dumped snow on us for 24 hours.  So much snow.  So the only people that made it to our place were our neighbors.  BUT!  That is not the point.  The point is, I tried out the beer dip recipe, as well as two others, also from Pinterest.  I thought this was most interesting, so I photographed it and made notes.  Wouldn't you know, it was the one we liked least.  It wasn't bad, it just needed quite a bit of tweaking.  I present below the recipe as I made it.

Beer Dip (adapted from ladybehindthecurtain)
2 bricks of cream cheese, softened
1 C beer
1 envelope ranch dressing seasoning
1/2 tsp beef bouillon granules
hefty pinch dill seed
small pinch crushed red pepper flakes
pepper to taste
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 C shredded cheese

In a mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, beer, and ranch.  Stir in the bouillon, dill seed, red pepper flakes, and pepper.  Thicken by sprinkling over a thin layer of corn starch and stirring that in.  I use it to absorb some of the excess liquid without giving much flavor, and you want to sprinkle rather than just drop it in, or else you wind up with a clump of starch, and that's just yucky.  Stir in the cheese and chill until serving.  Serve with pretzels, veggies, or chicken wings.

First things first: if you follow the link to the original recipe, you'll see that only the beer, cheeses and ranch seasoning were called for.  You'll also see that I've tripled the amount of beer a half recipe would call for.  Because I wanted to taste BEER!  And I wanted more flavor.  I do agree with the author that it is plenty salty, and deliciously so, but otherwise, I think we have rather different palates.  Not a problem-- it takes all sorts to make a world-- but I needed to tweak things for myself.

My husband and I also agreed that we were not fans of the chunks of cheese in the dip.  I didn't care for the texture of it, and my husband found the flavor difficult as well.  Maybe less of it would be better, or finer shredded (microplane?), or even melted into part of the cream cheese.  But I think we might just cut it out next time. We wanted beer dip, with beer flavor; we didn't really need cheese.

Finally, thanks, Lady Behind the Curtain.  I would not have come up with this on my own.  

Sometimes, less is more: Mac and Cheese

My mother-in-law sent my husband and I some pasta shaped like little UNL "N"s.  As a [former] Husker, I was very excited.  So excited that I planned great things for them, and got quite upset with my husband for suggesting that I could just serve them as a side with some other dish I was making.  No, I had big plans-- I was going to make a delicious, amazing, bursting-with-flavor, ultimate-comfort-food macaroni and cheese casserole.  Big Red Mac and Cheese!

I'll be honest up front; the following recipe was not quite as awesome as I had hoped.  I was trying to do too much, I think, and things just got lost in the shuffle.  At the end, I'll discuss a little more what I will do next time to improve.  This is not the ultimate Big Red Mac and Cheese.  But it was an experimental starting point.  And I think, ultimately, I'm better served by learning what I've done wrong.  For those reasons, rather than typing out the recipe in the typical format, I'll go through it in an almost stream-of-conciousness manner.  Hope that works for you.

Big Red Mac and Cheese Trial 1

I began with onions and the most boldly flavored meat I could think of: chorizo (which also happens to be reddish in color; seemed perfect to me).  I sautéed them together in a bit of bacon fat (more flavor!), then pulled out the sausage and set it aside.  I used the now chorizo-flavored bacon fat to make a roux (add flour), then gradually added cream and milk.  Finally, I melted in sharp cheddar, then seasoned with salt, lots of pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and paprika for color.  I combined the pasta and chorizo in a greased casserole dish.  I topped the casserole with breadcrumbs and more paprika and cheddar, then baked everything until it was warm throughout and crusty on top.

So, on the surface, this seems like a great plan.  As I write it out, I still find myself wondering if it isn't just the greatest idea I've ever had.  Well, here's the rub.  The onion and chorizo thing didn't work quite as well as I'd have thought.  I think the biggest flaw was that I didn't really want the chorizo flavor throughout the dish like that.  It just sort of overwhelmed everything.  I think next time I'll sauté it up separately (I wanted it to have a nice browned surface-- yay Maillard reactions), and omit the onions.  I like onions, but I think my mistake here is that I was trying to pack in too much flavor, which meant that nothing popped out on the tongue.  I also think that a milder cheese, for the same reason, would be a good choice.  I would still top the casserole with sharp cheddar and crumbs, but I'd use more cheese-- a good thick layer of it, rather than a sprinkling-- and possibly a lighter application of seasoned breadcrumbs.  That way, I'd have a mellow, familiar, comforting flavor throughout, topped with gooey sharp cheddar with a nice crust of its own, heightened by crusty breadcrumbs, and flavorful, toasted chorizo every few bites.  I think it would also be nice to use a wider dish, not a casserole, giving me a better pasta-to-crust ratio.  Finally, for the sake of my husband, who is not a fan, I would cut back on the paprika.  (But not totally omit it-- goodness no!)  I'd probably mix it with the breadcrumbs and just leave it at that. 

So, moral of the story: as my husband says, KISS-- Keep It Simple Stupid.  You don't need to go nuts and pack in flavor at every turn to make a tasty dish.  

Tofu-Carrot Soup… With Ginger!

I have come to the conclusion that soups are best "made-fresh yesterday".  A classic soup like chicken noodle is always better if you simmer it all day.  But cream soups often don't have long simmer times.  I'm not sure if this is an oversight, due to the puree and cream-adding processes (most of which happen at the end of cooking), or just a convenient shortcut we assume is Ok because there's a lot of other things going on with the recipe, like cream, that will make up for it.  Either way, the following recipe was mildly disappointing to me until I ate the leftover the next day and tasted all the flavor I had expected.

Unfortunately, I can't remember for sure where I originally came across this recipe.  I think it might've been an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  All I know is I have it written out on a sheet of notebook paper and a vague memory of transcribing it from a magazine I found at church.  The original recipe called for mushrooms, which would've given some umami flavor, but I was pushing it feeding my husband tofu.  Mushrooms would've crossed the line.  I added ginger, because ginger and carrots are a wonderful combination.

Tofu-Carrot Soup
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
3/4 inch piece of ginger root
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 C chopped carrots
5-6 C chicken stock
1 (12.3 oz) package firm silken-style tofu
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
~1 tsp dried, ground ginger (to taste)

Chop the celery, onion, garlic, and ginger.  In a soup pot (or dutch oven), heat the oil over medium heat, the sauté the celery, onion, and garlic until soft.  Add the carrots and stock, bring to a boil, the reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, until everything is tender.

Cut up the tofu and add it and the evaporated milk to the soup.  Use an immersion blender and puree until smooth.  If you haven't got an immersion blender, cool the soup slightly, and process in a normal blender.  Stir in the thyme, and season to taste with ginger, salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce.

Thin the sour cream with 2-3 tsp water.  Serve the soup hot, garnishing with green onions if desired.

As I said in the beginning, I was disappointed until I had the leftovers.  The ginger didn't come out as much as I had hoped, making the whole thing a tad lackluster.  But the leftovers!  They had wonderfully developed ginger flavor, which blended with and brought out the carrot.  

I will say I did a good job with the umami, though.  Worcestershire isn't as great as mushrooms (or fish sauce, possibly), but it did a nice job giving the soup a little more meaty flavor.  That's also why I chose to use chicken stock rather than vegetable broth-- well, that, and I generally have chicken stock on hand.

And I have to say, I liked the silken-style tofu.  As its name suggests, it has a smoother texture than normal tofu, which I suppose helps it incorporate smoothly into the soup, giving a creamy texture to the whole thing.  And it was wonderfully, surprisingly creamy.

It was yummy, and I would probably make it again.  I'd just make it a day ahead of time, let it sit in my fridge, and warm it up to serve it.  Actually, it wouldn't be bad as a cold soup for the summer, if you're into that kind of thing.  Was it my favorite soup?  Nah.  But it wasn't bad at all.

Potato-Pulled Pork Pie (And alliteration!)

The other day I needed a high-quality photo of something, so I grabbed my camera, took the picture, then uploaded the memory card to my computer.  Lo and Behold!  There were photos of a particularly delicious dinner I came up with a while ago.  In fact, this dinner was so good, I wrote it down immediately afterward so that I have a recipe to refer to if I wanted to make it again, share it with a friend, or post it on the internet.  Hooray forethought!  And hooray for finally uploading photos.

This recipe, Potato-Pulled Pork Pie, is a leftovers recipe.  There's no reason you can't make up a fresh batch of pulled pork for it, but there's no need to.  No special recipe was used.  Same with the potatoes. I will say, though, you want nice creamy potatoes.  This, to me, is the secret to making mashed potatoes.  Add milk, cream, broth, or whatever until you have a nice, creamy texture.  Regardless of whether you used mealy or waxy potatoes, CREAMY is the end goal.  While you can use potatoes however you like, the creaminess is going to translate into smooth, rich base with just a hint of crispiness.  Mmmmm.  But getting back to the point!  As this is a leftovers recipe, the measurements are pretty approximatable.  Don't worry about having exactly the right amount of pork or potato-- just make sure you're in the ballpark.  And everything else just needs to be in balance-- more pork?  Consider more veggies and more egg.

Potato- Pulled Pork Pie

1 1/2 C mashed potatoes

3/4 C pulled pork

2 small bell peppers

1 slice onion (like for rings)

3 eggs

1 Tbsp milk

salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and cumin to taste

cheese (as an optional finish)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Begin by greasing a pie pan, then spreading the potatoes over the base.  Make them a little higher on the side, but don't worry about going all the way up the side of the pan.  (More like a pizza, less like a pie.)  Bake until dried out but not browned, about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop pork, peppers, and onion.  Place in a mixing bowl and add eggs, milk, and season to taste.  It should not look like an omelet, but everything should be coated with egg (see photo).  I recommend starting with 2 eggs, then deciding if you need a third or not.  

Pour meat/egg mixture over the potato crust and bake until set, about 20-30 minutes.  If desired, top with cheese and replace in oven until melted.  (If you use a hard cheese, you may need to add it half-way through cooking time.)  

The only thing about this recipe that is less than ideal, to me, is the time.  I think you could probably bake it in a hotter oven (to make it faster) and be fine, but I haven't tried that myself, and didn't want to give you a recipe that would turn out horribly burnt on the top and raw on the bottom.

Otherwise, this is a FABULOUS way to eat leftovers.  It takes minimal effort, but tastes wonderful.  My husband and I got about four servings out of it, using our self-control, because we both wanted to eat the whole thing.  Feel free to use different seasonings, too.  If you've got seasoned pulled pork, use similar flavors to enhance everything.

Quick Pickled Radishes

Back when radishes were in season (and they will be again), I bought a bunch for my husband, but left them on the kitchen counter on my way to do something else.  I then forgot about them overnight, and found them the next morning horribly wilted and sad-looking.  Wilting leaves will draw moisture out of the bulb of the radish.  That's sort of the point of the bulb.  The radishes were an interesting proof of concept, but it was a bummer for eating.  Nice crisp radishes can't be beat.  And a couple were still, but most were a little shrivellier and softer.  It occurred to me that I could try pickling them.  Worst that could happen-- they weren't appealing.  And since they weren't appealing at the moment, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

I turned to the internet and found a recipe on epicurious for a quick pickle, so-called because you just mix everything together and call it good.  It's relatively quick and simple, with no hot water bath and no need for special equipment (beyond clean jars).  A quick pickle isn't going to be shelf-stable, so it also needs to be eaten a bit more quickly and kept in the fridge (most recipes are also smaller, since most of us don't have as much fridge space).  The only thing that isn't "quick"-- you [still] have to wait a couple days before your pickles are ready to eat.

Quick-Pickled Garlic Radishes
10 large radishes
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 C white vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar

Wash the radishes and trim the ends.  Cut them into quarters.  Peel the garlic cloves.  Place garlic and radishes into a clean 1-quart jar.  Add the peppercorns, vinegar, salt, and sugar.  Cover tightly and shake gently until salt and sugar are dissolved--just flip the jar onto its lid and back a few times.  Place in the refrigerator, and store a minimum of three days, inverting daily, before eating.

Now here is the part where I disagree with the recipe I found.  It says the flavor will mellow over time.  WRONG!  The flavor got pretty danged intense.  In my husband's words, "They got worse.  I mean, they were good; they were just strong as s***."  They were a nice munch, kind of a spicy condiment I put alongside sandwiches instead of dill pickles.  After a while, I stopped eating more than 1, and we relied on the sandwiches to balance the heat.  We also discovered they made a fabulous martini garnish, especially after the heat kicked up.  More flavor and body than a traditional olive (I can't bring myself to do an onion martini), and the gin married very well with the heat and salt.

We Can Do Dumplings!

I was recently the joyous recipient of a cookbook titled Rosie's Riveting Recipes, a collection of WWII-era recipes.  This is pretty neat.  There's something about that era that really appeals to me-- the can-do spirit and patriotism, maybe, or that balance between the modern era and traditional values…  There's something about the home front that I really think I wouldn't mind experiencing.  And at this point, I think we know I love a cookbook under any circumstances.

I got excited about the following recipe, and my husband agreed that it would be a good dinner.


Saucy Cheese Dumplings
3 Tbsp bacon fat (or butter)
3 Tbsp chopped onion
3 Tbsp flour
3 C canned tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 tsp pepper
2 C flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C crisco
2/3 C milk
2/3 C grated cheese


Begin by melting the fat, browning the onion, and making a roux with the 3 Tbsp flour in a large pot.  The width of the pot isn't an issue; the sauce doesn't need to be deep.  Add the tomatoes and juice, breaking them up as you do.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Add water if needed to achieve and keep a sauce consistency.

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add 2 Tbsp of the cheese, followed by the crisco.  Blend thoroughly, a bit like pie dough.  Add milk, and knead into a ball.  Roll out (a bit like pie dough) to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into ~3-inch rounds.  Wet the rounds with cold water, then place a Tablespoon or so of cheese into the center of the rounds and pinch to seal shut.

Drop the stuffed dumplings into the boiling sauce.  Cover tightly and steam for 15 minutes without lifting the cover.  Serve hot.

Well, these were a learning experience for me.  I added above that the depth of the sauce isn't an issue. Dumplings steam, so they don't have to be in the sauce the whole time.  The sauce just needs to maintain a simmer.  I didn't use a big pot, thinking I should keep it deep enough to submerge everything.  Turns out, dumplings also expand, and my poor husband was left trying to shove the lid shut as dumplings tried to defy the laws of physics and forced the sauce out over the rim of the pot.

I also thought rounds weren't the best choice.  I had a lot of scraps (which I steamed along with the dumplings), and I had trouble getting the rounds to seal around the cheese, and wound up shorting the cheese.  That was a bummer.  It seems to me that squares would be easier to seal with more cheese in them.  

But they were DELICIOUS!  I used 4 C home-canned, whole-packed tomatoes for this, which was a wonderful choice.  They taste so much better than-store bought tomatoes (which I do also enjoy).  It's hard for me to put in words exactly the difference.  Earthier and more mellow, perhaps?  They really made the recipe for my husband and I, but I imagine it would be yummy either way.  If you use store-bought canned tomatoes, you may need to chop them before adding them; home-canned tomatoes are pretty tender, too, and easily mashed.

I also love the texture of dumplings.  These are nice and light (even if you spent the whole time shoving them down).  The cheese was also a great treat, even though I shorted it.  It would have been preferable, I reckon, to have more cheese, but life goes on.  

The dish was filling as well as tasty, and we had plenty of leftovers.  This is certainly a make-again recipe!

Return of BOB-- a chicken shepherd's pie

Once again, I turned to Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book for dinner inspiration, settling on "Chicken and Garlic Herb Potato Shepherd's Pie."  We chose this recipe because it had a lot of ingredients that we already had, and tweaked it to reflect those rather than buying a whole bunch of things for just one recipe.  Here's my version:

Chicken and Garlic Potato Shepherd's Pie
3-4 potatoes
2 chicken breasts
1 carrot
1/2 C frozen peas
1 scallion
1-2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 C white wine
1 C chicken stock
1 Tbsp mustard
2 oz. cream cheese
2 cloves garlic confit
1 Tbsp fresh snipped chives
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp parsley

Begin by dicing the chicken into smaller-than-bite-size pieces.  Also dice the carrot, and chop the scallion.  Preheat the oven to 400˚F.

Peel and roughly chop the potatoes.  Place them in a pot, cover with water, and salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat some oil over medium heat in a sauté pan, then add the chicken.  Season with salt and pepper and cook to golden brown.  Transfer the chicken to a casserole dish, add a tad more oil to the pan, and sauté the carrots for a couple minutes.  Add the frozen peas and scallion, season with salt and pepper, and sauté two more minutes.  Set the veggies aside, but keep using the same pan-- melt a tablespoon or so of butter and add flour to make a roux.  Whisk in the wine, then the chicken stock (keep about 2 Tbsp back to add to the potatoes later), and cook until slightly thickened.  Return the veggies, and season with mustard, salt, and pepper.  Pour over the chicken in the casserole dish, and stir to combine.

Drain the potatoes, and mash them with cream cheese, garlic, chives, and the withheld chicken stock.  If they're still not smooth and creamy, add a bit of milk to get them to the proper texture.  Stir in the egg yolks and parsley, then spread the mixture over the chicken and veggies in the casserole.  Bake until the top is set and slightly toasted, about 15 minutes.

I really liked this!  The wine-and-mustard sauce was fantastic; I may also use it for pot pies.  The potatoes also turned out nicely on their own.  (But, if I do say so myself, I know mashed potatoes!)  The original recipe called for fresh tarragon, but I didn't feel like anything was missing.  Such a flavorful sauce.  And I love some shepherd's pie.  Tender, flavorful meat and veggies on the bottom, potatoes with just a hint of crisp to them…  This recipe and adaptation did not disappoint!