I do asparagus with sliced bell peppers on the grill occasionally and like that a lot, and I know the lady does too. Good idea, thanks! Maybe a layered trifle cake for dessert then?
You're going to want a really light dessert after all of the other flavors. Pears poached in champagne with Creme Fraiche or a simple lemon sorbet. Save the big heavy desserts for another night.
If you are going to do asparagus you may as well go all the way and whip up a hollandaise with it. It can be a little tricky to get right and when the recipe calls for white pepper you absolutely cannot substitute black pepper, but you can use it on both the asparagus and shellfish. It also looks impressive.
Would you consider doing Mussels instead of the crab legs? Less mess and can be served before the main course of meat and lobster. Certainly costs less and you aren't serving just another crustacean.
I work ten hour days and recipes like this save my ass, I can start it first thing in the morning as it's a whole five minutes prep. Retardedly Easy Carnitas 1 pork shoulder 1 packet Enchilada Seasoning 1 packet Taco Seasoning 32oz FRESH salsa (don't use Pace or any of that crap) Put the shoulder in your crock pot. Sprinkle seasoning packs over it. Pour salsa over it. Cook for ten hours on low. Shred. Make burritos. Next day, make enchiladas with the leftovers. Also fantastic with black beans and eggs. This meal feeds my family for two to three days. I've also done it with chicken, just watch it to make sure it doesn't dry out.
I was thinking of a lighter trifle with berries, Angel food cake, and whipped cream with a touch of pudding. I agree, not something really heavy. Also I was planning on grilling the crab legs with the lobster, thinking that would help simplify cooking. My girlfriend isn't the biggest fan of mussles/clams/oysters. Never tried that before, but that's not a bad idea too. Also thank you to everyone for the suggestions!
I baked a stupidly easy dessert last night that the boyfriend loved. It isn't overly sweet, if anything it's got a serious tart tang to it. We baked it 30 minutes instead of the prescribed 35 and got something at the bottom that was less "pudding" and more "lemon curd". It was delicious. And, as I mentioned, stupidly easy. http://budgetbytes.blogspot.ca/2012/10/lemon-pudding-cakes-for-two-113-recipe.html INGREDIENTS 1 large egg pinch salt 2 tsp butter 2 Tbsp flour 1/4 cup sugar 1 medium lemon 1/3 cup milk STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Separate the egg into two bowls, the whites in a medium bowl and the yolk in a small bowl. Refrigerate the egg whites until you're ready to whip them. In a third bowl, whisk together the flour and sugar until evenly combined. STEP 2: Add the butter (room temperature) to the egg yolk and whisk until smooth and creamy. Stir in the milk. Wash the lemon well and then remove the zest using either a small holed cheese grater or a microplane. Add the zest and juice from half of the lemon to the milk mixture. It may look lumpy, this is okay. Stir in the flour and sugar until evenly combined. STEP 3: Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the lemon mixture into the beaten egg whites. Pour the mixture into two ramekins that have been coated with non-stick spray. STEP 4: Place the filled ramekins in a casserole dish and pour hot water around them until it reaches half way up the sides of the ramekins. Place the whole dish into the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before eating.
Does anyone have any duck recipes to share? I've got two whole ducks in the freezer and plan on cooking them next weekend. I'm thinking about doing them both in the smoker, but I'm looking for other suggestions.
Duck Ragu. 1 duck 1/2 red onion diced 1/2 small carrot diced 5 cloves garlic minced 1 cup red wine 1 cup rich chicken stock (or make duck stock with the carcass a day before) 2 scant cups tomato sauce Pinch red pepper flakes Basil 1 pound spaghetti Parmigiana-Regiano cheese Break duck down into pieces. Make stock with the bones if you're so inclined. Salt/pepper them, cook them on medium heat in a 6-8 qt pot with a touch of canola to start the rendering. Brown both sides without cooking through. Take pieces out, drain off excess fat. With enough duck fat in the pot saute onion and carrot until translucent then add garlic; cook garlic 1 minute. Deglaze with red wine and stock, add tomato sauce, salt/pepper to taste, pinch of red pepper. Put duck pieces back. Cook for 60 minutes on medium low; gentle simmer. Cook spaghetti in a pot of salted, boiling water. Few minutes before pasta is done, remove duck from sauce, remove skin and discard, shred the meat. Put meat back in pot with chopped basil. When pasta is done drain off water, incorporate into duck ragu. Shake and flip it around. Magic amount of condiment for 1 pound of spaghetti is around 30 ounces. Add enough of the tomato, wine, stock combination that you want. The duck fat makes this super creamy and rich. It is insane. Based off Mario Batali's recipe, but I added more tomato.
TX asked for the poached pear recipe 4 pears peeled stem still attached 1 bottle of inexpensive champagne 1 cup of sugar 2 cups of water 1 lemon zested (big or small zest, doesn't matter) 1 orange zested (same) 1 cinnamon stick broke in 4 pieces Dash of vanilla Place everything except the pears into a saucepan large enough to hold the liquid and pears. As soon as you peel the pears squeeze lemon juice on them so that they don't brown. Ingredients in the saucepan need to be at medium heat until it is boiling and the sugar has dissolved. Reduce heat after boil and add the pears, cover with parchment paper or a lid tat is slightly cracked open. Stir every now and then so the entire pear spends some time in the sauce. Cook for twenty minutes or until the pears are tender. Serve either cold or warm, I prefer warm with a little creme fraiche and a drizzle of the poaching liquid. Add cinnamon stick for garnish You can poach pears with any wine, I have done heavy reds, buttery chards, it really doesn't matter. Ice cream goes well with big merlot. It's a simple dessert that has a lot of flavor. Also, I was asked for another poached fruit recipe. I have looked some up Epicurious but I don't have my own.
Lemon Sorbet 1 cup of water 1 cup sugar 1 cup fresh lemon juice 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest Water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan After it is boiling add all ingredients into an ice cream machine and follow the instructions Seriously that's it.
I am using the remaining venison in my freezer to make bratwurst at a co-worker's place tomorrow night (he has a meat grinder plus supplies). Ten pounds of lean venison plus an 8 lb. pork shoulder equals... a lot of sausage. I love bratwurst on the grill and haven't made sausage before so this should be fun. And tasty. My dinner Saturday night turned out very well. I ended up doing asparagus on the grill and oven roasted red and sweet potatoes as sides. I made individual trifles with mini ramekins filled with angel food cake cubes, sliced strawberries and rasberries, and whipped cream with light vanilla Greek yogurt. Thank you again for the suggestions here. Spoiler
Making bratwurst was a success. Approximately 18 lbs. of meat yielded 66 brats. I used this recipe with some slight changes: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.food.com/recipe/venison-bratwurst-sausage-26627" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.food.com/recipe/venison-brat ... sage-26627</a> Spoiler Ready to grind: Seasonings added, now time to mix. Two bottles of the Black Butte porter went into the mix: All mixed up and ready to stuff: The first links... success!: They turned out slightly lean with a nice fine grind, and a little kick with some cayenne pepper thrown in. They will be killer on the grill and should be great with other recipes calling for sausage too. I am definitely doing this again- gotta get a meat grinder of my own now.
Just made a batch of basic BBQ sauce. Based it off Steve Raichlan's of How To Grille/BBQ fame. 1/3 red onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tblspn Canola Oil 2 cups ketchup 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup Worcestershire 2 tblspn molasses 2 tblspn mustard 1 tblspn rub 1 teaspoon sriracha 1 teaspoon adobo (liquid chipotles come packed in) 1 teaspoon liquid smoke 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Heat oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add chipotle and onion, fry until onion is translucent, add garlic for one minute. Add the other ingredients and simmer gently for a good 15 minutes to blend. It'd be real easy to throw in a cup of espresso, stout beer, or root beer. Throw it in after the garlic to cook it off a bit. Just simmer it longer.
If your looking to try a good vinegar BBQ based sauce with some kick, try this. 1 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup of your favorite hot sauce 1Tablespoon (TBS) Paprika 1 TBS Black Pepper 1 TBS Kitchen Salt 2 TBS Yellow Mustard (French) Mix well, let sit for at least 24 to 48 hours before serving for best results. I blend it in my Ninja.
Pulled Pork with Honey Mango BBQ Sauce Got bored, and by request made some pulled pork, and damn did it come out good. Two step process (Option: Sear the outside of the shoulder in a hot pan) Slow Cooker + Onions + Pork Shoulder + Siracha + Rootbeer (I used a local craft root beer, the better the root beer, the better it is) Cook the Shoulder for 8-10 hours on low. Drain off all the root beer into a separate dish (you are going to need it later) Shred the shoulder and put back into the slow cooker. Mix up a batch of your favorite BBQ sauce and add it in. I did a honey mango sauce 1 Mango 1 Cup Orange Juice Good shot of Lemon Juice 1/2? cup of Honey Brown Sugar Dijon Mustard Cook it together and thicken Pour over the shredded shoulder and cook on high for 6-8 hours. (more is not bad) You can add some of the reserve liquid in to bring the moisture content up. I did not add enough liquid on the second cook, and ended up boiling away about 1/2 the liquid in the cooker. All this ended up doing was giving me some nice crispy, chewy, candied pulled pork on the bottom of the pot. Pictures of course are included. Totally forgot to get a final picture of it though.
Lazy asshole pulled pork: boston butt pork in a crock pot overnight on low in the morning pour off liquid and fat and remove bone pour in a bottle of BBQ and some liquid smoke Voila. Lazy cook secrets. you can spend the extra time you saved from not slaving over the stove masturbating, or drinking, or both. whatever works yall.
A word of caution: don't get too drunk and put pork in the crock pot over night if you don't want to wake up, hungover, to the smell of pork and onions permeating your whole house. Maybe y'all are into that, but it's not my favorite thing to do. Lazy asshole pork for tacos: Put pork shoulder in crock pot, smother with salsa verde, cook on low while you're at work all day, skim fat, reserve liquid, shred pork, add back some combination of salsa and reserved liquid to your liking. Eat tacos until you hate yourself.
My lazy pulled pork simply involves liberally coating a roast with Cavendar's Greek seasoning, putting it in the Crock Pot, covering it with beer, and cooking on low until the bone pulls out easily. Then chop it up and let it cook for another hour or two- really as long as you can handle it especially if you've been drinking the rest of the beer. It is AMAZING with a spicy/vinegary barbecue sauce. I just saw this barbecued rabbit recipe today and my mouth is watering... Rabbit is one of my favorite meats. Gotta save this one for September. Spoiler Danny Martin’s Smoked Barbecue Rabbit Ingredients -1 cottontail, skinned and gutted -2 Tbsp. kosher salt -½ cup white vinegar -Water Rub: -1 Tbsp. garlic powder -1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper -1 Tbsp. salt -1 Tbsp. black pepper -1 bottle of barbecue sauce Directions Make a brine by dissolving the kosher salt into the white vinegar. Pour the brine over the rabbit in a shallow dish and add enough water to cover. Let sit for at least one hour. Preheat the smoker to 200 degrees. Remove the rabbit from brine and pat dry. Whisk together equal parts garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Next, season the rabbit heavily with the prepared rub. Place the rabbit in the smoker and add hickory wood to the smoke box. After 15 minutes, mop the rabbit with barbecue sauce and repeat every 15 minutes. After two hours, remove the rabbit from the smoker. Mop with more barbecue sauce and serve.
I LOVE risotto. It is, to me, the world's most perfect food. My issue with this food of the gods is that it's a royal pain in the balls to make. I figured if I wanted some I'd have to just do the whole stir broth one ladle at a time into the mix and wait for it to take shape (after about 30 minutes of stirring). However, I found a route that made it much faster, and while some members of my family would consider this method blasphemy, it has been nothing but a success for me. The boyfriend loves carbonara and risotto, so, figured why not combine them? The result was delicious. Risotto Carbonara 1 small onion, chopped 4-5 garlic cloves, minced 5 slices of good bacon, chopped 2 cups risotto 6 cups chicken stock 1 egg 1 egg yolk 1/3 cup heavy cream parmesan Preheat oven to 350. In an ovenproof pot, brown the bacon and onions together until the onions are translucent over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir. Do not let the garlic brown beyond a light brown color. Add the risotto and stir to combine the bacon, onion and garlic. When the risotto has absorbed most of the bacon fat, pour in the six cups of chicken stock and stir gently. Let the mixture come to a boil. When the mixture boils, cover the pot and place it into the oven. Let the risotto bake for 20-25 minutes. About ten minutes into the baking, stir the risotto and make sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pot. The risotto is done cooking when it's al dente and it's taken on a creamy consistency. Remove the pan from the oven and uncover. Let sit for five minutes. This is important!!! If you add the eggs now they will scramble...a lesson I learned the hard way! Stir in the heavy cream. Add the egg and egg yolk. Stir vigorously. The heat from the risotto will cook the eggs. Add in a few palmfuls of parmesan. Top with more parmesan. I've made this a half dozen times and if there are any leftovers, they're amazing the next day.