Weekly Cooking Thread *Recipes* July 2, 2011

FreeRepublic Cooks | July 2, 2011 | libertarian27

[libertarian27]

Welcome to the 30th installment of the FR Weekly Cooking (Recipes) Thread.

Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or four - or all of them:)! for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!

Here's the place to share and explore your next favorite recipe.

[libertarian27]

I don't think America will have really made it until we have our own salad dressing. Until then we're stuck behind the French, Italians, Russians and Caesarians. ~Pat McNelis~

July Belongs To Berries Month

National Ice Cream Month

National Baked Bean Month

National Hot Dog Month

National Pickle Month

National Picnic Month

July 2 - National Anisette Day

July 3 - National Chocolate Wafer Day / Eat Beans Day

July 4 - National Barbecued Spareribs Day - Caesar Salad Birthday- Sidewalk Egg Frying Day

July 5 - National Apple Turnover Day- Graham Cracker Day

July 6 - National Fried Chicken Day

July 7 - National Strawberry Sundae Day - Chocolate Day - Macaroni day - Ice Cream Cone Day

July 8 - National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day

[libertarian27]

***Weekly Cooking Thread *Recipes* Ping List***

(to be added/deleted to the pinglist, please request on thread or PM me - thanks)

Recap of recipes from last week’s thread June 25th
Appetizer* 10 Phillie Nachos
Appetizer* 48 Bruschetta
Dessert* 5 Key Lime Pie with Cocoa Meringue
Dessert* 9 CHOCOLATE MACAROON RICE PUDDING
Dessert* 18 Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredient* 41 SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK
Meal* 3 Mojito Marinade for flank Steak
Meal* 6 ROTISSERIE BEEF ROAST
Meal* 52 Beer-Brined Grilled Pork Chops
Side* 32 Asparagus Namul
Soup* 29 Pot Sticker Soup
June 25th post link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2739800/posts?page=54#54

[kalee]

Hi L-27.
Thanks for posting the thread!
What are you cooking this weekend?

I have a new recipe for Ribeye Steaks with Pecan Bourbon Butter I’ll be trying out on Mon. Will post recipe here if it proves to be a keeper. :)

[mnehring]

Don't forget National Day of Bacon and Ribs

[libertarian27]

Hi kalee, I have no idea what I’ll be cooking this weekend - DH is on-call for most of it so parties and plans are pretty much out....But I have a hunch I’ll be making Ribeye w/ Pecan Bourbon Butter on Tuesday!!!!Because that sounds Divine!

[ken5050]

One of the sides we always have at the BBQ on the 4th is baked beans...usually we empty a few cans of Busch’s..usually whichever variety is in the pantry..into a pot. Wondering if anyone has some thoughts on ways to kick it up a little?

[libertarian27]

Hmm, the Nat’l Bacon and Rib day is July 2nd and the site that I get my food holidays has July 4th as Barbeque Spare Rib Day....might it be a Pork-Rules-Coup? A Pork Fat Rules army taking over the first week of July? I love it! I’ll bring my fork to the battle table!

Here’s the site I get my food holidays from - pretty neat site:
http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/national_food_holiday_directory.html

[libertarian27]

Here’s my favorite baked bean recipe - Posted on a previous thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2657401/posts?page=43#43
Calico Beans

(there’s lots of baked bean recipes on other threads too and hopefully people will pop in here and add some more)

[Melinda in TN]

Jim Beam Bourbon Balls.

1 box (12oz) Vanilla Wafers, crushed (food processor does best)

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

2 cups confectioners sugar plus some to roll balls in

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/2 cup Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey*

Stir dry ingredients together first. Add corn syrup and cut in. Add bourbon and stir until you can't stir because it's so thick. Put on thin plastic gloves* and knead with hands until thoroughly mixed and dough like. Roll balls into 1 inch balls and then roll them in the extra confectioners sugar. Store in refrigerator.

Makes about 60 balls.

Note: you can use up to 2 cups of Pecans but the mixture is harder to mix. One cup works best for me.

*Use thin gloves like they use in a bakery if possible because dough is very sticky. It doesn't stick to them. You can use bare hands but it's extremely messy.

*You can use any bourbon whiskey but Jim Beam is my personal favorite. I've never used any other brand.

[illiac]

Found another of my grandmother’s recipe boxes in some old boxes. Here is her baked bean recipe:

Easy Homemade Baked Beans with Bacon

Ingredients •Garlic (minced) - 1 clove
•Onion (chopped) - 1 cup
•Olive oil - 1 teaspoon
•Bacon - 6 slices
•Pinto beans - 2 cups
•Baked beans - 2 cups
•Red kidney beans - 2 cups
•Great Northern beans - 2 cups
•Garbanzo beans - 1 ½ cups
•Ketchup - ¾ cup
•Pepper - ½ teaspoon
•Worcestershire sauce - 2 tablespoons
•Yellow mustard - 1 tablespoon
•Molasses - ½ cup
•Packed brown sugar - ¼ cup
Procedure

Use canned beans for this homemade baked beans recipe. Take a large deep skillet and add olive oil. Cook the bacon slices in the skillet and cook until the slices turn brown. Then, drain out the liquid and reserve 2 tablespoons in the skillet. Crumble the bacon slices and place them in a large bowl. Then, saute chopped onion and garlic in the reserved drippings of bacon in the skillet. Once the onion slices become tender, drain out the excess liquid and add it to bacon in the bowl. Then, add crumbled bacon into the onion and garlic mixture. Combine pinto beans, northern beans, baked beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans with bacon mixture. Stir to mix the ingredients properly. Then add ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper to the bacon mixture. Mix all the ingredients to combine well and then transfer the mixture to a casserole dish. Cover the dish and bake the mixture in the preheated oven for an hour.

[libertarian27]

Oh, that sounds real good!

I like the molasses/brown sugar combo - I got to try that...
...and the Garlic! Must have Garlic! Excellent

(I don’t think your Grandmother used enough Bacon though :>)At least for my taste :>)Especially this week when the Pork eaters of the world are apparently set to take over:)

[illiac]

I know....I should have mentioned that I use extra bacon and garkic as well.....what could be better....

[ken5050]

Wow..those look AWESOME..great recipe...going to make some this afternoon..thanks

Couple of questions, if you'd be so kind..:

1.Do you put them on a rack, or waxed paper, before you put them in the fridge, so they don't stick together?

2. Have you ever tried rolling them in chopped nuts..to put the nuts on the outside, and then in the sugar.? Would it work?

3. Ever tried adding something savory..like maybe a finely chopped jalapeno to the mix?

I may try it sevceral ways..will let you now how it comes out..but would appreciate your any suggestoons/advice BEFORE I start ..LOL

Have a GREAT 4th..

[SAJ]

Just in time for the 4th, a nice flexible dish:

Potato Salad Brule (sorry, I don't know how to make an accent grave on the kbd...)

10 lbs red potatoes or new potatoes, if available
1 lb good (i.e. not too fat) bacon
7 TBSP mayonnaise
3 TBSP yellow or spicy brown mustard
12-20 medium stuffed manzanilla olives, or more or fewer to taste
12-16 large dill pickle chips, or more or fewer to taste
4 large cloves garlic, well-chopped
XV olive oil
ground black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
2-3 tsp ground cumin

Rinse potatoes and drain. Do NOT peel. Pat dry and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Heat 2-3 TBSP olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. When up to temp, add a batch of potatoes to just cover the surface of the skillet (probably 3-4 batches in all). Toss potatoes gently while cooking, and cook until somewhat burnt (hence the "brule" in the name). Remove from heat, drain well on paper towel, and place in large bowl.

Repeat with successive batches until all potatoes are cooked. You might want to alternate batches: burn one, cook the next one until done but not burnt, etc. Your choice.

Trim bacon of excess fat, cut into small pieces, and fry until crispy ("brule", again). With two minutes to go on the bacon, add the chopped garlic. When bacon is nice and crispy, remove from heat, drain well on paper towels and add to bowl.

Slice the olives thinly and chop the pickles roughly. Add to bowl. Add ground pepper to taste, salt to taste, and the cumin. NOTE: the bacon, olives and pickles have a good deal of salt, so be careful in adding more salt.

Toss thoroughly but gently.

Add the mayo and mustard and toss salad again. First time, add just half of each, toss, and see if the salad is the consistency you like. If so, you're done. If not, add more.

Chill for 1 hour and serve.

Note: I prefer a 5-2 ratio of mayo to mustard. ANY RATIO you like is perfectly fine, including no mustard at all (but, frankly my dear, that's pretty damned bland).

There is, of course, no problem at all in multiplying this recipe for large crowds.

Happy 4th to all!

[Red_Devil 232]

I have been clarifying butter for all of my sauteing of fresh garden veggies like Zukes and such. I also use it to sear pork chops and other meats. It adds a great flavor to everything and will take the heat. Browns good too.

[SAJ]

Sounds dynamite, illiac! At what temp do you bake it?

[kalee]

Here’s the recipe I’m using, will let you know what we think. We’re having the steaks with salad and baked sweet potato fries.

Bourbon Butter Pecan Ribeyes
Ingredients:
4 (10 oz.) ribeye steaks
1 cup bourbon
1/2 cup pecans, shelled
3 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. shallot
salt and pepper
Directions: Season both sides of each steak and cook over high heat in a heavy bottom pan, preferably cast iron, usually about six minutes per side for medium. While the steaks are cooking, toast the pecans in a hot oven, about 4 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove steaks from pan and take the pan away from the flame and add the bourbon. Return the pan to the flame (see note) and reduce the bourbon to ¼ cup (at this point the bourbon may flame up, that is okay, it will cook itself out shortly, just ensure you are not leaning over the pan and there is nothing hanging over the pan).

Add the shallots and cook about 1 minute. Add the pecans and remove from the heat. Add the butter in six pieces and swirl the pan until melted. Divide the sauce evenly over the steaks and serve.

Note: Never add liquor to a hot pan over a flame as it may ignite and never add liquor straight from the bottle. The flame may travel up the pouring liquid.

[ColdOne]

I am looking for a Mexican food recipe. MIL wants me to cook one evening while here visiting. Would appreciate any recipes you may have for Mexican food....... **kisses graphic**

[Melinda in TN]

If you roll them in the powdered sugar they don’t stick to each other at all. I think the nuts on the outside would work as long as you push them into the dough before rolling them. I haven’t added anything but nuts to the mix but I bet mint flavored mini chocolate chips would be good. :-)

[ken5050]

OK..so..roll them in the powdered sugar first, then in the nuts? Makes sense..I’ll let you know..