Espresso Barbecue Sauce

Oh Chris...here's a barbecue sauce we have tried making.  This one can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.  There is no way it will last around here that long!

1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 serrano chile, minced
1 C. ketchup
1 C. brewed espresso
1/4 C. distilled white vinegar
3 tbsp. unsulfured molasses
2 tsp. chile powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a large saucepan, melt the butter in the oil.  Add the onion, garlic and serrano and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally until the onion is softened, about 8 minutes.  Stir in all of the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Cover and cook the sauce over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Scrape the sauce into a food processor and puree until smooth.  Transfer to a bowl and let cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight to let the sauce mellow.

Apricot Amaretti Crisp

I have talked about my love of Apricots before.  I had one today...they are approaching their peak.  I could eat 4 or 5 a day, I love them so much.  We have enough Italian markets in the area that finding amaretti cookies shouldn't be too difficult.

1 1/2lbs. apricots, pitted and cut into eighths
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg, divided
Cooking spray
2/3 C. crushed amaretti cookies
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
Dash of ground cloves
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/3 C. heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine apricots, sugar, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg in a bowl; toss well to coat.  Spoon apricot mixture evenly into 6 8oz. ramekins coasted with cooking spray.

Combine remaining nutmeg, cookies and next 4 ingredients (through butter); sprinkle cookie mixture over apricot mixture.  Arrange ramekins on a baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until filling is bubbly.

Place cream in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form.  Dollop cream over crisps.

Serves 6; per serving, 247 calories, 10g. fat, 4g. protein, 39g. carbs, 3g. fiber, 28mg. cholesterol, 1mg. iron, 47mg. sodium, 36mg. calcium.

Salt and Pepper Steak

I saw this in the June issue of Bon Appetit.  We don't grill skirt steak often enough.

Cut 1 1/2 pounds of skirt steak into 4 pieces; season with salt and pepper.  I might use truffle salt here.  Grill over medium high heat until medium rare, about 4 minutes per side.  Let rest 5 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain.

Use leftovers for tacos, in tagliata or in a sandwich.

What is tagliata, you ask?

Lay cold slices of steak atop a bed of arugula, followed by good Parmesan cheese, a glug of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.  YUM!

"TO DIE FOR" Smoked Brisket

Chris made this brisket a couple of weeks ago and it was SO SO SO good.  My house smelled like some BBQ joint in Memphis, St. Louis, North Carolina, or Kansas City.  He made a rub using the following ingredients.

• 5 tablespoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

You can put whatever you want in a rub...you can go hot or sweet.  This rub gives nice flavor with a slow after burn that really sneaks up on you as you eat.  Rinse the brisket and pat it dry.  Be generous with the rub, you want a good crust.  If you're a BBQ fan, you know how good the crust is.

Now, if you're going to smoke a brisket, you need TIME.  We have a stovetop smoker and it cooks on the stove for an hour or so and then it was hours in the oven at 275 degrees.  The longer you cook the more tender the meat gets.  I think this went 6 hours in the oven.  The finished product looked like this.

Notice the crust??  You can only imagine how good the house smelled!  The brisket didn't shrink down to a glorified hockey puck either.

Look at that smoke ring!

We finished out the meal with twice baked potatoes and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.  

Our furry sous chef was exhausted after all of the work that went into this meal.

Blue Ribbon Butter Cake

This came from an email I got from Taste of Home Magazine.  I get almost as many recipe emails as I get shopping emails.  I am not exactly sure if that is something I should be proud of or not.  At any rate, I plan to make this for a party later this week.  With any luck I will remember to snap some photos of my handiwork.  I am pretty sure that this recipe doesn't have any calories and you can be completely sure I am not telling the truth!

1 C. butter, softened
2 C. sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 C. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. buttermilk

Butter Sauce:
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. butter, cubed
1/4 C water
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

Pour into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges and center tube of pan.  Invert cake on a wire rack over waxed paper.

For sauce, combine the sugar, butter and water in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat just until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat, stir in extracts.

Poke holes in the top of the warm cake; spoon 1/4 C. sauce over cake.  Let stand until sauce is absorbed.  Repeat twice.  Poke holes in the sides of the cake and brush remaining sauce over the sides.  Cool completely.  Yields 12-16 servings.

1 serving (1 slice)= 410 calories, 19g. fat, 100mg. cholesterol, 344mg. sodium, 56g. carbohydrates, 1g. fiber,  5g. protein

Pepper and Egg Sandwiches

I am thinking perhaps that pepper and egg sandwiches are regional...feel free to comment and correct me if I am wrong.  These are big sellers during Lent at a lot of the local sandwich shops as it is a delicious meat free meal.  There are a couple of places we get our pepper and egg sandwiches from in the neighborhood but I decided to try my hand at homemade.  They came out yummy!

First, I sauteed some peppers and onions in olive oil until tender but not squishy.  You can use green peppers, hot peppers, pick your peppers.

Then I cut the bread...in hindsight, I should have chosen something other than a ciabatta loaf or I should have done a better job cutting the bread because these shapes became a bit troublesome when I got ready to throw these in the broiler.

Next, scramble some eggs, I put some Italian seasoning in with the eggs.  Put the eggs on top of the bread and the peppers and onions on top of the eggs.

Top with cheese, I used provolone but you can use whatever kind of cheese you like best! Broil until cheese melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly.  These particular sandwiches required a knife and fork.