recipe Archives - Page 13 of 26 - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar

October 21, 2013 by Pechluck 2 Comments

Now that the weather is turning cool and the leaves are turning, I turn to cooking again and wanting something warm. Let’s make that warm and oozy and… for Octoberfest, with beer?

I’ve also been thinking about Halloween food. I have to admit, I am not much a fan of Halloween, although I am of autumn. I love the colors of the leaves and the crunch sound they make as you walk on them that makes me think of mac and cheese with panko topping, the cooler temperatures that encourage layering of clothing and scarves and layered casserole and a glass of red wine for dinner. I do love autumn and comfort food.

But, sadly, not Halloween. I’m not that big into candy, I’m allergic to latex so the smell is revolting to me. Even when I was young, I was more into the dressing up and collecting candy, but not into eating the candy itself. The most memorable parts were waiting in line for Toys R Us to open with my mom and siblings, and then when we walked in, they had a whole aisle of costumes, with the sample up at the top to show the outfit, and then all these boxes stacked underneath like shoeboxes with the mask on top, peering through hopefully at you through the plastic window at the top of the box. When you opened the box, you could smell that aroma of new new new plastic.

Halloween of my childhood
I am the one to the far right, Strawberry Shortcake. Superman and that bizarre blond princess are my younger brother and sister (I have on other sister not yet born). Seriously, those trick or treat containers really set a high expectation of how many treats a child will get in one night no?

It also marked the season when we would start decorating the house- for Halloween, we were just hanging things on the door and window decals which were real 3d posters, not the cling stuff you usually find now. My family didn’t do jack o lanterns, and I carved my first pumpkin in 1st grade with the help of 8th graders who came to assist at school, which then got thrown and destroyed in the street a few days later. Traumatized, I’ve only carved pumpkins one other time (an old boyfriend when I was in my 20s tried to bring the charm of Halloween jack o lanterns to me… it didn’t work.)

Pumpkin gore, and people gore, is not my cup of tea. Some of the gory presentations that I’ve seen on Pinterest for Halloween food are unappealing to me personally- food that looks like bleeding fingers or teeth or eyeballs, I don’t get it. However I saw one photo of using bell peppers to make mini jack o lanterns, and thought it was adorable!

This smoked beer cheese recipe and presentations is inspired by that idea, plus then is my version of the Beeroness’ Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Beer Cheese Dip but I decided to use a Tillamook smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese, and then used a Red Alder smoked salt rather than her suggested smoked gouda, although that also sounds delicious.

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

Ingredients

2 large heads of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces of cream cheese or Neufchatel (1 1/2 packages) or you can use tofu cream cheese
14 ounces or 1 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
6 ounces Tillamook smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup IPA beer – I picked 10 Barrel Brewing’s ISA, which is mildly hoppy but also has citrusy grapefruit and pine notes because I still have some in the fridge
1 teaspoon of Sriracha or other red chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste – I decided to kick it up with alder smoked salt from The Meadow
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup chopped green onions
Bread or crackers or pretzels or whatever vehicle for the cheese you’d like for serving it to your mouth!
6 Bell peppers – red, orange, yellow for serving (optional)

Ingredients gathering for Smoked Beer cheese in bell pepper jack o lanterns smoked salt and smoked cheddar

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Take your two heads of garlic and carefully cut the top of each head garlic off, just enough to expose all of the cloves. Place each head on a separate piece of tin foil. Drizzle each head with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and seal the foil around the garlic. Place both wrapped garlic head on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. The garlic cloves should be really softened to a point that you cold squeeze the cloves out. Remove both roasted garlic heads from oven and allow to cool. It’s ok if maybe you eat a warm clove or two to test it… I did!
Meanwhile, while your garlic is roasting, shred your cheeses and take out your cream cheese or Neufchatel out, cut into small pieces, and let warm to room temperature- if you’re using tofu cream cheese it will already be soft, yay! It is better to shred the cheese yourself rather than use preshredded cheese because the preshredded has additives that I think make it taste not quite as good, and it doesn’t melt as well. Besides, you can get better tasting cheese in the block cheese form, and it will last longer, especially when you have odd amounts like what was used in this recipe (unless you get the cheese cut for you by a cheesemonger, you will inevitably be buying 8 ounces). While my garlic was roasting I just grated while watching the Mindy Project. I love Mindy Kaling. Love. I love show she portrays a neurotic woman but unlike many other neurotic female characters often seen in TV or the movies, is only partially clueless about social cues instead of apparently so unaware that she’s clueless about basic social rules, and she is still warm and giving rather than being closed off=independence and bitchy and controlling and unreasonably demanding=smart and a leader. I can always take some more Mindy, just like I can always take more garlic or cheese, thank you.
In a food processor, add the softened cream cheese/Neufchatel/tofu, 1 1/2 cup parmesan (so save 1/4 cup for later. It makes for a slightly crispy topping!), smoked cheddar, beer, red chili sauce, salt, and corn starch. Squeeze the roasted heads of garlic until the soft cloves comes out and also add these to the food processor. This is why you need really large heads of garlic, as maybe one or two cloves will be a little too soft when squeezing out and you may licking roasted garlic off your fingers. Yum. Oh, back to the recipe. I already had black pepper in my cheese, but if you are using another cheese you may want to add a teaspoon of pepper. Process everything until well combined.
Place the mixture into a baking dish. At this point, I would recommend letting it chill overnight in the fridge to let the flavors develop more. Meanwhile, drink the rest of your beer bottle- unless you did already while grating your cheese. When you are ready, top your cheese mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F until melted and the top has started to turn a light golden brown and is bubbly and ooey gooey, about 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, top with green onions, serve warm with chips or bread. For fun, I decided to cut the top portion of two bell peppers for F and I and clean out the inside so they were reminiscent of mini pumpkins, and spooned some beer cheese into them for serving.

I thought my lil cute faces on my bell peppers (which I had cleaned out) were adorables!

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

How does this compare to the other beer cheeses I made before, the ranch cheddar beer dip version and the blue cheese and extra sharp cheddar beer spread version that I made around this time last year?

beer cheese recipe

Well here’s the cheese! It has the thicker consistency like the beer spread shown in the second photo, which makes it great for putting on bread or crackers. After I took my first bite or so I decided to add a little more smoked salt on top to taste. I admit when it comes to it, even though I really like smoked cheese, my favorite beer cheeses include blue cheese in the mixture as I like the complexity of the slight sourness and fuller body it offers, though I understand not everyone loves blue cheese’s saltiness. I definitely like this recipe over the ranch cheddar version as that smokiness in this recipe gives it more oomph for me, and this was more peppery than salty (from the ranch).
Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

And… that is as Halloween as I’m going to get! what do you think of Halloween food? Do you have a favorite costume from your past you still think about fondly?

Filed Under: Cheese, Cooking Tagged With: appetizer, beer cheese, beer cheese recipe, beer cheese spread, beer dip, bell pepper jack o lanterns, cooking with beer, Halloween, halloween food, Halloween recipe, parmesan, recipe, roasted garlc, smoked black pepper white cheddar, smoked cheese, Tillamook cheddar

Pineapple Bread Pudding Recipe

September 11, 2013 by Pechluck 2 Comments

This pineapple bread pudding recipe is easy to put together. I brought it to a hot dog potluck party in which I prepared it the evening before, and then left the house to travel to Selah, Washington to judge the Saturday categories at the Tree Top Skewered Apple BBQ competition. Then, this bread pudding dish came out at 7:30pm. So I needed a dish that was going to keep! Also, I specifically picked this because I figured with all the meat going on, it would be nice to have something sweet. This dish also can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

Pineapple Bread Pudding Recipe

I paired it with an Abacela Grenache whose peachy strawberry flavor was a compliment to my piece of pineapple bread pudding. This can probably serve 12, and I cut mine small once it cooled so once it opened everyone just could help themselves to a sample, which was 24 small “2-3 bite” sized squares.

Ingredients

2 cups of white bread cut up, crusts removed. I cut them into about 1 inch sized cubes
2 large cans of crushed pineapple (40 ounces all together)
1 cup sugar
1 cup of melted butter or margarine
8 eggs
1 teaspooon + to taste of cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13×9 casserole dish.
In a large bowl, beat the 8 eggs, 1 cup sugar and mix together. Also combine in the melted butter/margarine and pineapple and the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the contents in the bowl. If you’d like to add some more texture to your bread pudding, you might consider adding in nuts here. Other options to consider- some shredded coconut, or adding some heat via diced jalapenos! I didn’t do any of these as I know my friend isn’t a coconut fan, and I didn’t want to worry about nut allergies at the potluck, and I figured after bbq fellow eaters of this dish might want a break from strong flavors like spiciness.
Fold in the cut bread pieces, and then pour the pineapple bread pudding into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon. If I had been clever, I could have had a few slices of pineapple to top, although that would have made it harder to slice it into the small pieces that I did for my purposes.
Bake for one hour, uncovered. A toothpick inserted should come out clean. This pineapple bread pudding can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. If you are going to serve it warm, let it cool at least for 15 minutes first- you know the difference between burning hot and warm!

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: bread pudding, dessert recipe, pineapple, recipe

Elote Pasta Salad

August 30, 2013 by Pechluck 6 Comments

I had some leftover light sour cream from making the Chilled Vegetable Pizza, and it happened to be about 1/3 cup. Immediately I was able to rationalize making a version of another Pinterest recipe I had pinned in the same board, Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad from the blog Cinnamon, Spice and Everything Nice. Mmmm Elote Pasta Salad.

I am a huge fan of elote- I first had it when I lived in Chicago, from the New Maxwell Street Market which actually is not on Maxwell street anymore since being relocated (twice!), but still offers an international array of goods in an open market on summer Sundays that is a mix of flea market with Asian and Hispanic vendors and also Mexican street food fair.

Examples of Elote from my past… the first set of 4 are actually from the New Maxwell Street Market in Chicago, the next two from the farmers market at Pike Place Market in Seattle, and the last from Elote Cafe in Sedona. I wanted to combine the stronger bursts of flavor from those two market experiences with the less scary visual presentation of the last one.
5/18/2008 New Maxwell Street Market, where I saw a few people ordering this roasted corn. You could have it two ways- with the stuff rolled on the cob, or they could cut the corn from the cob and serve it to you in a cup. I chose the latter. You could choose which corn you wanted, lots of black or not so much... 5/18/2008 New Maxwell Street Market what the corn looks like rolled in the butter cheese and chile when still on the cob. 5/18/2008 New Maxwell Street, my roasted corn in a cup, topped with everything: mayo, cheese, parkay butter and chile, for $2 Elote in progress at the Pike Place Market in Seattle in 2009 Elote at the Pike Place Market in Seattle in 2009 Sedona's Elote Cafe's Elote= Fire roasted corn with spicy mayo, lime and Cotija cheese

Elote is a popular street food in Mexico that consists of corn on the cob that is grilled and then slathered with mayonnaise, sour cream, Cotija cheese, lime juice, salt and spices, and sometimes liquid margarine. F rolls his eyes when he sees me making a beeline for this because of the ingredients, but the flavors are irresistible. You can eat this messily from the cob, or also ask them to cut the kernels into a cup to eat with a spoon for a little less messy face.

It’s hot and smoky from the grill, but creamy from the mayo sour cream mix, a bit of salt from the well salt and cheese, and has a brightness from the lime juice and maybe a bit of spice depending on the amount of chili. For my version I upgraded the call for chili powder or cayenne pepper with ground chipotle chili for more spice and smoke in the flavor profile. And, at least there is no liquid margarine. I adapted the recipe also because didn’t have corn on the cob, but I had some frozen corn kernels and took a cue from Esquites which is similar to elote but using pan roasted corn.

Elote Pasta Salad

Elote Pasta Salad - mixing pasta, pan roasted corn, cotija cheese and avocado

Ingredients:

8 ounces pasta
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chile powder or cayenne pepper, or 2 teaspoons of ground chipotle chili
The juice from one lime and the zest, or about 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups corn kernels
1 diced avocado
1 cup Cotija cheese, crumbled. You can also use Parmesan, Asiago, or Feta but may want to reduce the amount since the cheese flavor is more intense.

Directions:

First, the pasta. Cook it the normal way in your favorite pot with boiling salted water.You can use any type of pasta you would like, but get one that has a lot of ridges that can hold the dressing- rotini, radiatore, fusilli, and I like little scoopy conchiglie shells or ditalini small tube too
While the water is boiling/pasta cooking, create the elote dressing. Mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, chili, lime until smooth. Once the pasta is al dente and rained, put one tablespoon of this dressing into the pasta and stir so all the pasta is coated and won’t stick to each other. Then I put the pasta, as well as the rest of the dressing, into the refrigerator to chill.
Now, the corn. Heat the olive oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the corn. Cook 5 to 6 minutes without moving or until corn starts to char. Then toss corn, stir, and repeat to let the corn brown on both sides.
The easy part is now just bringing all these together. Add the pasta and corn together. Add the dressing a little at a time, mixing gently to coat as you go, until you achieve your desired flavor mix. Gently toss in the avocado and cheese. If you’d like, top with a dusting of the chili powder and bit more of the crumbled Cotija cheese, and garnish upon serving with a lime wedge.

You can make this without the pasta of course, but this made for a nice summer lunch dish for F and I.

Elote Pasta Salad recipe, vegetarian, summer recipe, easy recipe, pasta salad, picnic recipe, avocado, corn salad

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: elote dressing, Elote Pasta Salad, pan roasted corn, pasta salad, recipe

Potluck Appetizer Recipe: Chilled Vegetable Pizza

August 28, 2013 by Pechluck 4 Comments

This recipe for a Chilled Vegetable Pizza appetizer was for a weekday wine potluck in August. It was inspired by a photo/recipe on Pinterest from Mom on Timeout for Veggie Crescent Bites, though a guest mentioned that it also looks like a Pampered Chef Cool Veggie Pizza creation, and there is a similar recipe on the Pillsbury site for Easy Crescent Veggie Pizza!

Wherever this Chilled Vegetable Pizza recipe came from, I love the bright colors of the vegetables. And, I love dill, so making this with the dilly cream cheese spread was right up my alley, though I suppose you could up the vegetables by using a vegetable cream cheese, or ranch it up (as in this version at AllRecipes)!

Summer Appetizer Recipe: Chilled Vegetable Pizza with dill/chive cream cheese mixture and broccoli, asparagus, baby carrots, red and orange bell peppers, corn kernels!

You can probably use any base you would like for your “flatbread” bottom of the vegetable pizza, including actual pizza dough, but I followed her lead in pinching together reduced-fat Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. This made two pizzas, and using a pizza cutter I was able to cut about twenty four 3-bite sized square slices from each pizza, so overall this yielded 48 little appetizer bites of Chilled Vegetable Pizza from this entire recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cans of reduced-fat Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, or use pizza dough- including wheat, or a gluten free, your call!
1 package (8 oz reduced-fat cream cheese or neufchatel cheese or tofutti “cream cheese”, softened)
1 cup light sour cream or Tofutti Sour Supreme sour cream substittute
1 tablespoon of chopped dill
1 tablespoon of chopped chives
4 cups of chopped vegetables. Pick a rainbow of colors: I chose broccoli, asparagus, baby carrots, red and orange bell peppers, and corn kernels

Directions:

Combine the sour cream, softened cream cheese, dill, and chives together. You can mix this up the day before to reduce your prep work.
Same thing with cutting all the vegetables into small pieces. That way, when it came for my get together that evening, I came home from work and just had to really assemble everything, and it took me less than 20 minutes! You can choose how you want your vegetables. For instance, for me the broccoli and bell peppers were raw. But, I steamed the asparagus, cut baby carrots, and corn.
When you are ready to make the chilled vegetable pizza, take out the dill/chive cream cheese mixture to let soften again for spreading. Next, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Open the packages of crescent rolls. Unroll each can (8 triangular pieces of crescent roll) so they become one long rectangular sheet, or you can settle for two square sheets. Make sure that you pinch any of the pre-cut seams between the pieces so that everything will stay together. Put each one on a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, and then remove the two baking sheets from the oven and let cool. Remove and let cool for a few minutes so you won’t hurt yourself during the next step, which is spreading the dill/chive cream cheese mixture onto the crescent roll sheet.
Top with fresh veggies. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut down to appetizer size pieces and serve! I did not refrigerate mine, since I barely finished before my co-host arrived, but you can chill it in the fridge if you’d like.

I suppose I could have fancied it up by grilling flatbread to give it a bit of smoky flavor, and ooo done that with the corn too. But I didn’t. And it was still great, and continues my theme of super easy recipes this summer.

Oooo… or you could make this a dessert version using fruit and crème fraîche or marscarpone… the possibilities!

Summer Appetizer Recipe: Chilled Vegetable Pizza with dill/chive cream cheese mixture and broccoli, asparagus, baby carrots, red and orange bell peppers, corn kernels!

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: chilled vegetable pizza, chilled veggie pizza, cold appetizer, croissant dough, easy appetizer, easy party recipe, party food, recipe, summer veggie pizza, vegetarian appetizer, veggie dish, veggie recipe

Potluck Dish: Quinoa with Roasted Cauliflower and Mushrooms

August 23, 2013 by Pechluck 2 Comments

Attending a neighborhood potluck/bbq earlier this month, I signed up for a vegetarian main dish that could feed the possibly 24 people who had signed up as a yes. The potluck/bbq was occurring on a Thursday evening, a night which I also have a regular scheduled call with someone at work in India after my normal full work day, so I wanted something that was very easy to prepare. I love sharing food to entertain, but mentally I just haven’t wanted to “cook” as much and seem to keep picking recipes that are more prep heavy than on cooking execution. This is pretty much why you never see any dessert recipes- I am NOT a baker. I always admire the photos and how beautiful they are, and then my eyes glaze over when it comes to the recipe portion, much less the directions. Heh heh, glaze…

At the same time of wanting something easy to make, I wanted it also be healthy, as well as satiating since I was unsure there would be enough hearty filling food for those who are vegetarian. Besides, all omnivores can always eat a vegetarian dish: it’s a win win for everyone. I had a few options to choose from, and then let F select the final dish. This recipe for quinoa with roasted cauliflower and mushrooms was the winner.

Quinoa with Roasted Cauliflower and Mushrooms

I quadrupled up on the Quinoa with Roasted Cauliflower and Mushrooms recipe in order to make enough, and when I brought it back there was probably only enough for two servings left! The original recipe makes enough for 4-6 depending on whether it’s a main or side, and what you see below is what I used to make enough for a crowd at a potluck. This is a very adaptable recipe based on your own tastes and preferences.

Quinoa with Roasted Cauliflower and Mushrooms

Weather-wise, it was one of the few days this summer where we have had rain in Portland, and it was because of that a little bit cool, so I thought having the dish hot (it could be served cold as well) was the way to go. The leftovers were great the next day, and even the next day after that, just eaten cold straight from the refrigerator!

Ingredients:

2 cups of Quinoa, or a Sprouted rice and quinoa blend like I used that included sprouted brown and red rice, quinoa, and wild rice from truRoots
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 stock or water- see directions on your quinoa
2 heads of cauliflower
16 ounces mushrooms
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon thyme
2 tablespoon rubbed sage
2 tablespoon dill weed
2 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
Optional: sprinkles of Parmesan
Greens of your choice- I used radish sprouts, but you can bed the entire thing on top of sauteed or fresh spinach, kale, lettuce, etc!

Directions:

Heat up a vegetable stock: the amount depend son your quinoa so check your package: mine uses 1 3/4 cups liquid for every cup of quinoa. I prefer to use vegetable stock to impart flavor- other options might be to use water, or water with added flavorings like tomato paste. Rinse the quinoa. When the vegetable stock is boiling, add the quinoa and cover, lowering the heat or whatever the instructions are for your quinoa or quinoa/rice. This part can be prepared beforehand if you wish. I did this step the evening before, and then after the quinoa was done, I put it in the serving container and put in the refrigerator overnight. It’s one of the great things about quinoa- besides being healthy, you can easily prepare a cup or two that you can utilize to add to dishes all week!
When you are preparing to roast, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put aluminum foil on two baking sheets in order to make cleanup easier, and then put the baking sheets in the oven during the preheating.
While the oven is heating up, cut the cauliflower into florets. Also slice the mushrooms. You want to try to have flat surfaces to it can lie flat on the pans in one layer. In a large mixing bowl (I had to use two), put mix the cauliflower and mushrooms with the olive oil and seasonings from above. If you are using two mixing bowls like I did, obviously you split 1 tablespoon in one bowl and 1 in the other in terms of the oil and seasonings. You can use any combination of seasonings you would like to your taste, or keep it simple with salt and pepper. Roasting the cauliflower makes it tender and you get lots of caramelized edges, so it will be guaranteed good flavor already! Mix everything well with your clean hands.
Once you are ready, take out the hot pans and place the mixed cauliflower and mushrooms on top so they are arranged in one flat even layer. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes: however long it takes until they get tender and golden brown. Make sure that halfway you turn them over to evenly brown them. If you’d like, during that turn you can add more flavor by sprinkling in the lemon juice, and also parmesan. I went with just lemon juice.
When they cauliflower and mushrooms are done, add them on top of your hot or cold quinoa. I used radish sprouts that I mixed in throughout, and I used an amount that gave a greater ratio to the cauliflower and mushrooms and quinoa so it was more a hearty dish than a salad. But you can salad this up as well by adding the greens of your chocie! Or, leave the greens out and it could easily be a main course also!