Boozy Barbecue Meatballs

This recipe is blatantly stolen borrowed from Julia at Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body. I saw it ages ago on her site and starred it in Google Reader, then promptly forgot about it. I recently scrolled through my collection of forgotten starred items and rediscovered it. Of course, I couldn’t wait to make it. Easy AND delicious? Yes, please.

The ingredients for my sauce: beer, barbecue sauce, and cranberry sauce. That’s it.

Also, a bag of frozen meatballs. I didn’t have the little appetizer ones, so I used big “Wegman’s Italian Classics” meatballs. I think this was a really good substitution.

Step 1: Make sauce by plopping the three sauce ingredients in a crock pot (cranberry sauce, beer, and barbecue sauce).

Step 2: Mix.

Step 3: Add frozen meatballs.

Step 4: Drink the rest of the beer (Honestly, that’s what Julia said to do. I didn’t think of that all on my own. I was really just following directions and didn’t have a choice).

A few hours later, the alcohol in the beer had cooked off and left behind a flavor that mixed oh so well with the BBQ and cranberry flavors.

I went a bit beyond Julia’s conceptualization of serving these as appetizers, and put them on fresh bakery rolls with sliced Swiss cheese.

Then I cut them up just to make eating a little easier.

Just as I was finishing putting it together, hubby got home from work. He announced that dinner smelled good, then walked into the room and saw what was on his plate. A big ol’ grin and an exclamation of “Oh my!” and I knew I done good.

Yes, done good.

Super easy (about 5 minutes to prepare, assuming you’re using pre-fabbed ingredients instead of making your own) and super delicious. Can’t get much better than that.

Beer Burgers

My brother called me up to invite hubby and I over for dinner. We can do that now that we’re in the same city. He announced that he wanted to grill something, but said that he didn’t know what and trailed off. Then he rattled off a handful of sides that he wanted to make. I asked if I should make burgers, and he got excited by that thought and promised to take care of all the toppings and condiments if I would. So I did.

I wanted to do something different than the jalapeno burgers that I’d made earlier in the summer, so I turned to allrecipes. I found one that was pretty simple, yet unique for the addition of beer. Hell yeah.

The original recipe called for one small onion, finely chopped. I was doubling the recipe, but I left this part as-is.

I was afraid that even this would still be too much onion, so I separated it and decided to mix in a little at a time until it looked like enough. In the end, I added most (but not all).

You’ll add it to the ground beef, of course.

The recipe also called for minced garlic. I used fresh homegrown garlic from my Aunt in Virginia, as I have for the past few recipes. The cloves are little so I used a lot of them. Who doesn’t like garlic, anyway?

In addition to the onions and garlic, I added some salt and pepper.

Finally, the good part. I’d never had this beer before, but a friend had given this to me a week or two beforehand. It was an amber lager and somehow seemed more appropriate than the Sam Adams Summer Ale or Shock Top that I had in the fridge.

I realized around this time that I didn’t have Worcestershire sauce. It’s one of those things I always have in my fridge and rarely use, but given our recent move, I had none. I decided to steal some from my brother’s fridge later.

Time to mix the beef. Put my ring someplace safe so it wouldn’t get covered in raw beef.

And dug in! Honestly, I know that it’s raw beef and all, but it smelled amazing. The garlic and the beer… something about it made me want to eat immediately. But I didn’t.

Fast forward. Forgot pictures of adding the Worcestershire sauce or forming patties or grilling them, but here’s the finished cheeseburger on my plate!

Okay, so I failed getting my patties flat enough. The burgers were kind of ball-like. Aside from that, though, they were perfect.

The beer was a good choice for the flavor and for the juiciness. I had used 80/20 beef, so that helped, but I think the beer made it. Everything else I added was just icing on the cake.

I will definitely make these again!

Here’s the recipe (or check the recipes tab, as always).

Drunken Shrimp

My big brother turned 30 last week. He decided he wanted to have a big party with lots of his favorite foods. For him, this meant serving steak, crab legs, and beer. Man stuff. Guests volunteered to bring side dishes. I volunteered to make anything that they needed, adding that I would be using his kitchen because I wasn’t going to cook it in mine and then transport it across 2 state lines.

He asked me to make drunken shrimp, explaining that his favorite restaurant had drunken shrimp that were (was? is?) to die for. He happened to have the restaurant’s cookbook and scanned the page (upside down) with the recipe for me. Hmm, looked simple enough. It called for shrimp, beer, old bay seasoning, cider vinegar, creole seasoning, mutha sauce… Wait, what? Mutha sauce? The recipe said to look on page 165 for that secondary recipe. A quick phone call to my brother, and he’d scanned that page (also upside down) for me, too.

It called for 19 ingredients, ranging from liquid smoke to ketchup to molasses to cayenne pepper sauce to fresh jalapeno peppers.

19.

If I’d been in my own kitchen, I’d have risen to the challenge. Honestly, it looked yummy. But in someone else’s kitchen with all of the ingredients hiding, and with a time crunch, I figured I’d go for something a little simpler.

I found this recipe, the sole drunken shrimp recipe on allrecipes.com.

I also waited until the last minute to make it, as I wanted it to be hot for guests. I guess this made me rush a little, especially since the kitchen was full of people at this point. I pretty much abandoned step-by-step picture-taking in the chaos, too. Sorry about that.

We start off with my first ever experience with fresh ginger root. The recipe called for 2 tablespoons of the stuff grated up.

I didn’t really know what to do with it, so I just tried to peel it roughly with a paring knife before running it over the grater. I’m told this grater was a goody-bag gift that my sister-in-law had received a while back (or at least, this is what my distracted brain remembers her telling me, though I could have completely messed that up). 

All I could think of at this point was how delicious the ginger smelled. I didn’t realize how amazing that stuff smells when fresh. Maybe I need to buy more fresh ginger.

The recipe said to heat canola oil over high heat. It should have said medium-high, as high was just way too intense. I subbed olive oil for the canola oil. I’m a rebel like that.

Dump in the ginger, along with a chopped onion and chopped garlic and heat for just 15 seconds or so. Too hot – it was spitting and going crazy. I think I backed it off a bit. Then add shrimp, salt, and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until slightly pink. So far, so good.

Then I stopped taking pictures. Bear with me.

Add beer, ketchup, and some white sugar, and then return it to a boil. Then, dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in a tablespoon of water, and add it to the mixture. Or, if you’re like me, decide that you’d be better off just mixing any old amount of cornstarch with any old amount of water, and put probably closer to a cup of starchy water in the sauce. Then regret it, as this is not a stir fry. Probably a lot more liquid than I was supposed to have. I actually ladled a bunch of it back out, taking with it some flavor. Then I realized that the written directions never actually said to add red pepper flakes, though they’re listed in the ingredients, and figured that was supposed to go in with the salt and pepper ages ago.  So I added them now. The recipe said to return to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Done and done. Finally, mix in some sesame oil and chopped green onions, and you’re good to go.

Once I dumped it in the bowl, I finally tasted it. My first two impressions were that (a) the shrimp seemed overcooked to me, and (b) there was not enough spice and seasoning. So I picked up a canister of Old Bay, which was out for the crabs, and sprinkled it generously on top of this.

Honestly, I liked the beer/ ketchup combination and I think this recipe would have been a lot better if I hadn’t put too much liquid in and if I hadn’t overcooked the shrimp. The overall reception was pretty good, I think, but then again, my brother is friends with nice people. Still, I found it disappointing.

I may whip up some of that mutha sauce before my brother visits us next time and try it again, this time with the restaurant’s recipe. I can also see myself trying this particular recipe again. I’ll be more careful.

Does anyone have a good drunken shrimp recipe?

Hors d'oeuvres

On Sunday afternoon, Andy was having some people from work over. Some he knew quite well, others he didn't, but no one really knew each others' family members and he thought it would be nice to socialize outside of work.

I was tasked with making appetizers and eagerly jumped to the challenge.



I did some recipe searches online and came up with a few things that I wanted to try. At this point, there were indications that one couple might back out of plans, but I decided to go ahead and prepare everything anyway, just in case everything went as planned. While I was wrapping up at the grocery store, though, Andy texted to tell me that that one couple had definitively backed out. I was still fairly certain that everyone else was coming, so I finished up the shopping trip as normal and headed home.

#1: Alabama Sushi

To be honest, the original recipe name was something lame like "yummy roll-ups," as if a 10-year-old named it. Judging by what they are, I wouldn't be surprised if the inventor was actually 10 years old. But, one of the reviewers commented that her family has made these for years and calls them "Alabama Sushi." Something about that name strikes me as humorous, so I've decided to stick with it.



Alabama sushi is different, simple, and unique. First, lay some slices of ham down and blot them dry. I doubled up on the ham since my slices were thin. Second, smear them with cream cheese. The cheese must be softened for this to work, though, so if you forget to take it out of the fridge in advance, at least zap it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. It made a big difference.



Third, lay a whole pickle on each slice, and roll the ham up tightly. I used baby whole pickles instead of spears, which the original recipe called for, as I figured the crunchy texture would be best. In the end I was glad I had.



Finally, stick a bunch of party toothpicks into the rolls to hold them in place.



Some of the reviewers complained that it got pretty messy trying to slice the rolls immediately, so when I reached this point, I decided to chill them in the fridge while I worked on other things.

When I finally took them out and sliced them, this is what I had...



Voila!

According to the recipe reviews, there are a lot of possible pickle substitutions (pickled asparagus, which I didn't even know existed, plus green onion, pickled okra, or sweet Gherkins) and meat substitutions (smoked salmon, dried beef, salami, or prosciutto). One reviewer suggested adding a half package of dry ranch dressing and 1/4 cup of mayo to the cream cheese, and of all the possible changes, I think that this last one is what I would do to spice this up a bit.

In general, though, Andy and I both really liked these yummy roll-ups (erm, Alabama sushi rolls). They tasted pretty much exactly like what you would expect a pickle wrapped up in cream cheese and ham to taste like, except actually appetizing. The crunch was pleasant, and the tartness was mediated by the evenness of the cream cheese. Different, certainly, but also tasty and addicting.

At this point, cancellation texts were starting to trickle in. It looked like more people were backing out or professing other plans. I had already bought 10 jalapeno peppers and bacon for the next appetizer, so I decided to make them anyway.

#2: Stuffed Jalapenos



The reviews of this recipe were downright glowing. The only complaint seemed to be "They're too spicy!" but I wasn't too concerned about that. Andy grew up eating Cajun food and I grew up in Buffalo, where moving from "medium" to "hot" chicken wings is practically a rite of passage into adulthood, so we both enjoy spice.

When I grew cayenne peppers in a pot on my balcony last summer, I learned that the seeds and membrane hold most of the pepper's heat, so I was careful to take care of this early on. I started off slicing each jalapeno pepper lengthwise and removing the stem, seeds, and as much of the light-colored membrane inside as possible. Then I washed my hands very thoroughly, so as to avoid transferring the spice to anything else.



According to the recipe, prep time is supposed to be about 10 minutes. At this point, I'd already been busy for at least 20, if not 30 minutes, and that was only the first step. I'm not sure if I was being too careful with cleaning out the seeds, but it certainly seems like 10 minutes is ridiculously optimistic. Anyway, next, I stuffed each half with cream cheese.



I put the halves back together, wrapped them in uncooked bacon, and secured them with a toothpick. To make clean-up easy, I put them all on a foil-lined cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, and that seemed to work well.



After about 40 minutes in the oven, they came out looking like this:



They were good, but I was a bit disappointed that they weren't as phenomenal as the reviews had led me to believe. They weren't very spicy, honestly, and the cream cheese seemed like it should have been flavored with something. But they were decent and all but two got eaten. I think I will make this again, but I'll have to spice it up somehow.

By this point, it was pretty apparent that it was just going to be Andy and I. We were both disappointed and a bit grumpy, but I went ahead and made my third appetizer anyway. After all, I had 3 avocados and who knows how long those are good for. *sigh*

#3: Guacamole

I love guacamole. Love it. And I am convinced that homemade guacamole probably surpasses anything you'd find in a restaurant, or at least at the grocery store, though I wouldn't know from experience. I'd made it once before, but only in a very small quantity (1 avocado's worth) using a recipe inside my friend Diana's head. I was eager to give it another shot and, if it was a success, save the recipe for future batches.



I started off with 3 avocados peeled and pitted. I mashed them up and added both lime juice and salt.



Then I diced up cilantro, onion, and a roma tomato.



The recipe called for a half cup of diced onion, but that seemed like too much and I added more like a quarter or a third cup. I also only used one tomato, rather than 2, as it seemed like plenty once I'd added it to the mashed avocado. Andy pointed out that using my food processor would have been a lot easier, but sometimes I just really prefer using a knife. I suppose that this is at least partly because it allows me to transfer my frustrations into a useful product, and I was a bit frustrated that we were being stood up.

With a bit of minced garlic and some cayenne pepper, this is what I ended up with:



Reviewers had complained that the end result was too limey and too salty, so I'd reduced both amounts in my original mixture. After tasting the final product, I went ahead and added the full amounts.

I think Andy and I agree that (a) this was the best guacamole either of us had had in a long time, and (b) this was winner of the day. It was absolutely delicious. Ooops, an article I read recently told me never to use the word "delicious" in a food blog, as it is overused and meaningless. Okay, then. The guacamole was deliberately chunky, and the lime, cilantro, and garlic flavors melded to create a flavor that was extremely satisfying when scooped up with salty tortilla chips. I hope that's more helpful.

I decided to stop at this point. I'd also picked up materials for a Buffalo chicken dip, as well as pesto pitas, and I'd FINALLY found tahini in my grocery store and so therefore had materials to make hummus, but it was silly to make any of this when we already had too much food for the both of us. Instead, I decided that I needed a drink. My husband took pity on me and humored me. Together we went out in the pouring rain to pick up some beer.



Mmmm, that's much better. Somehow aprihop beer tastes like spring, and after a long winter, that is just what we needed.

I had also picked up some cocktail shrimp, so when we got back from our emergency beer run, we sat at the kitchen bar eating our Alabama sushi, stuffed jalapenos, guacamole and chips, and shrimp with cocktail sauce. I'm not sure if it was the comforting sound of the rain, the feeling of the cool breeze drifting through the window screens, the beer, or the food, but I found myself feeling very content, even though no one had come. Andy and I settled on the couch with our puppies at our feet, watching a funny movie while eating every last bit of that guacamole and drinking too many beers. And at the end, I was happy that it was just the two of us.