Stout Barbeque Sauce

I don't often make my own barbeque sauce, opting for the more than adequate and copious bottled sauces available in the stores.  This recipe caught my eye though.  It sounded intriguing using stout beer as a main ingredient.  It was a very good sauce for pork country spare ribs and I think it would be just as good for beef or even chicken.

Since I don't have an outdoor barbeque, I baked the ribs in the oven at 250 degrees (low and slow) for about 2 1/2 hours. basting with this succulent sauce every 30 minutes.  When I make this again, I may look for ribs with bones, as the country ribs I used were a tad on the dry side.  The flavor was outstanding with just the right amount of spicy zing from the Sriracha hot sauce addition.  Before the summer grilling days are over you may want to give this sauce a try.

Stout and Sriracha BBQ Sauce

1 tbs olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
2 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp sriracha
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 cup Stout beer
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp onion powder
(Yield, about 1 1/2 cups)

In a pot over medium heat, add the oil and allow to get hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and stir until you can smell it, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Allow to cook until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Tired of the same old boring tomato salsa?  What you need to do is get a fabulous sister-in-law with a major green thumb who gives you a sack full of lovely tomatillos and a fresh green salsa is a food processor whirl away.  This is super easy to put together once everything is peeled and cooked.  There is no dicing or mincing involved.  Just chuck everything into the bowl of the processor and pulse a few times and it's done.
Serve with chips or as a topping for green enchiladas which is what I'll be doing with mine.  Thanks for all of the produce Christie.  You're the best!

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

8-10 tomatillos, peeled and cut into halves
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/2 large onion, cut in quarters
3-4 green jalapeno peppers, seed if desired to avoid too much heat
1/2 cup cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place tomatillo halves, garlic, onion and peppers on sheet and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast approximately 20-25 minutes.

Let mixture cool for a few minutes then place in food processor fitted with steel blade and add fresh cilantro leaves.  Pulse 5-6 times until it forms a smooth sauce.  You make need to add 1-2 tablespoons of water.  Serve as an accompaniment with corn chips or as a sauce for enchiladas or burritos.

Cherry-Poppin' Tomato Sauce

The Husband tore down the garden on this gorgeous Fall day and there was still an amazing quantity of produce left on the vines to deal with. The corn on the cob was blanched, thrown in ice water for a few minutes, wrapped individually in plastic wrap and then put in freezer bags for the deep freeze. These lovely ears will be enjoyed in the dead of winter and we will remember our bountiful garden in the summer of 2008.

Above: Corn fresh from the garden.
Above: Corn in their blanching bath
Above: All wrapped up and ready for the freezer

As for the many cherry tomatoes, I opted to roast those and they too will be frozen and enjoyed later in the year when we are facing day after day of gloomy weather and there won't be a decent tomato anywhere to be found. I wish I had smell-o-computer so you could all enjoy the aromas in my house right now. The garlic and spices have permeated every corner of every room and it's divine. This sauce will be so delicious mixed with a delicate angel hair pasta, a few sprigs of fresh basil and some generous shavings of Parmesan cheese. We might not be able to wait until winter to devour this creation!

Cherry-Poppin' Tomato Sauce

5 cups cherry tomatoes

4 cloves finely minced garlic

4 Tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Italian Seasoning to taste

Chili Pepper flakes to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and take stems off cherry tomatoes. Put in single layer in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, Italian Seasoning, chili pepper flakes and minced garlic. Pour olive oil over all of the tomatoes and gently toss with a spatula.

Bake in oven for 45 minutes. Let cool completely. Put in freezer bags or eat immediately as a sauce with pasta. This would also be good over toasted Italian or French bread slices.

Barbecued Beef (Korean Style)

Yesterday I had the urge to go to one of my favorite food shopping destinations, Uwajimaya in Beaverton. While living in Seattle I would occasionally drop by the original store when I was wandering around the Pioneer Square area. I was not a very adventurous cook in those days though, so the store didn't excite me as it does now. For those of you readers who aren't familiar, it's a huge grocery store that encompasses many Asian food cultures. It is quite an experience going up and down the aisles looking at products and not having a clue as to what they are or what they are for.

I had no menu in mind as I walked in the door and was delighted to find a large kiosk filled with recipe cards of all sorts. After glancing through them, I decided on the following recipe for something called Bulgogi or Korean style barbecued beef. It didn't indicate on the recipe what type of beef to use so I chose the beef pictured below. I found the labeling to be quite humorous regarding the 100% vegetarian diet statement. It's good to know this cow had low cholesterol, even if I don't. Anyway, this was a very easy meal to prepare and I grilled the beef on my cast iron grill pan as opposed to a charcoal barbecue which would be the more traditional way to go.

Bulgogi Barbecued Beef

1 lb. beef steak, thinly sliced

Sauce

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp. honey

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced fresh ginger root

1 Tbsp sesame seed oil

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tsp (or more to taste) red chili flakes

1/2 tsp black pepper

Combine all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Add sliced beef and allow to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. Cook meat until rare. I served this with jasmine rice, grilled green onions, and a side salad of cucumber ribbons dressed with seasoned rice vinegar which was a nice cool compliment to the hot beef dish.

Dos Salsas Verde

I'm currently learning Spanish via Rosetta Stone at work so I want to use it whenever possible, thus the title. Actually my two green sauces really have more to do with a discussion regarding my food processor. As pictured above it is obvious that this isn't one of your new fangled state of the art food processors.

Nope. This beast is at least 30 years old. I know this because my older sister received it for a wedding present, and if my memory serves me correctly, she was married in 1976. Sometime probably around 1980 she very graciously gave me her Hamilton Beach food processor as she had moved up in the world and bought herself a brand spanking new Cuisinart. Now mind you, beggars can't be choosers and I was tickled pink to have such a food wizard in my tiny Cassel Crag Apt. kitchen. I have been using it ever since, minus the grater attachment which I busted up real good once while trying to grate a particularly hard piece of Parmesan.

I have been recently thinking that I might owe myself a new food processor but after I used this steadfast kitchen workhorse this weekend for three different things, I have decided it still has many more productive spins left in it! I just have to continue grating cheese by hand (which I don't really mind).

This weekend I made blueberry scones and used my processor to do the tedious task of cutting the flour and butter together. I also made these two sauces: Pesto, which I mixed into nice, thin angel hair pasta for Saturday night dinner and Chimichurri, a sauce from Argentina which is used to accent grilled meats. We will dollop it on top of our grilled T-bone steaks for Sunday dinner.

Pesto

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1-2 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp. pine nuts (I used local walnuts I get from a co-worker and keep in the freezer)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 generous Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Put the cloves of garlic into the bowl of processor with steel blade attachment and run until garlic is minced. Add basil leaves and nuts and pulse until very finely chopped. Scrape down bowl. Run machine while slowly pouring olive oil through feed tube. Stop and scrape down bowl thoroughly a couple of times. By hand, fold in Parmesan cheese and seasonings to taste. Use immediately or refrigerate with plastic wrap over surface of sauce for 1-2 days or freeze.

Chimichurri Sauce
2 large garlic cloves
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup lightly packed fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
With food processor fitted with steel blade, combine garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and sugar and process until garlic is minced. Add the parsley and lemon juice and pulse until parsley is finely chopped. With machine running, pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until the sauce is well blended. Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meats or seafood.