Bourbon Peach Barbecue Sauce

I know this isn't a great picture, but I made this for houseguests and therefore didn't take the time to get a pretty picture of it.  But I really wanted to share it with you now while peaches are in season.  This would make a great addition to your Labor Day picnic.  It's adapted from Vanilla Garlic.

Bourbon Peach Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

¼ cup canola oil

½ large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 lbs. fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup bourbon

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup tomato paste

1 tbsp chili powder

½ tsp chipotle chili powder

½ tsp liquid smoke

Salt, to taste

Water to thin, if necessary

Directions:

In a large saucepan heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and let cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the peaches, vinegar, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and puree using an immersion blender.  (If you don’t have one, let the mixture cool and puree in batches in a regular blender.)  Add the bourbon, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, chipotle powder, and liquid smoke. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce to medium. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.  Taste for seasoning, adding salt if necessary.  If it seems too thick, add a little water to thin it out.

Sauce can be used immediately or refrigerated until needed. 

If you would like to can this sauce: Ladle into hot jars leaving ¼” of headspace. Secure with hot, clean lids. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Sealed jars can be stored in a dark, cool place for a year. Opened jars keep in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Makes 4-5 cups of sauce.

I didn't do the canning step, so I can't comment on that.  I tossed the sauce with shredded chicken for bbq pulled chicken sandwiches.  It was really good.  A little on the sweet side, so if you like things hot, increase the chipotle powder.  I was cooking for kids so I didn't get too crazy with it.

Don't fret if you have no interest in buying a large bottle of bourbon just to use 1/4 cup here.  I didn't either.  Go to your local liquor store and ask them if they have any tiny bottles.  I got two 1/4 cup bottles for about $3.  Can't beat that!  The original recipe called for adding the bourbon before cooking down the sauce, and I felt like I couldn't taste it at all.  So I amended it to be added after it cooks down.  A quarter of a cup of bourbon in 4-5 cups of sauce isn't going to get anybody drunk.

Making your own barbecue sauce is really easy and it's a great way to "spruce" up your picnic fare.  Some other homemade barbecue sauce recipes you might be interested in:

Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce
Traditional Homemade Barbecue Sauce
Mango Barbecue Sauce

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The Salad Bar: Avocado Buttermilk Dressing

It's time again for The Salad Bar, hosted by Wendy of The Weekend Gourmet.  

This month's theme was avocados.  I had always wanted to try making an avocado dressing, so this was my opportunity.  I found a great recipe at Skinnytaste and changed it just slightly.  I omitted the jalepeno and used a little bit of dry ranch mix instead of salt and cumin. That gave it really great flavor.  Here's my version.

Avocado Buttermilk Dressing

Ingredients:

1 cup low fat buttermilk

¼ cup of fresh cilantro

1 medium avocado

1 green onion, sliced

1 tbsp ranch dressing mix

Water to thin, if necessary

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients except the water in a blender and blend until smooth. Add water to thin it out if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

This dressing is awesome.  It comes out really thick, but I didn't mind so much. I thinned it out with about 1 oz. of water.  I had it on a salad and loved it.  I stuck some carrot sticks in it and gave it to my five-year-old as a veggie dip and she raved about it.  

I just love the flavor of this dressing.  Obviously you can really taste the avocado.  The buttermilk gives it a really great tang, and the cilantro makes it all taste bright and fresh.  Using the ranch dressing mix instead of salt brings even more flavor to the party.

The original recipe called for the juice of 1 lime, but I forgot to get a lime at the store.  I thought the dressing would lose its color by the next day, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it still bright green for several days.  I'm guessing the acid in the buttermilk kept it from browning.

Check out all of the other great avocado salad recipes below and come back next month to see what kind of Asian salad I make. Yum!

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Smoky Barbecue Rub

Have you ever made your own barbecue rub?  It's really easy.  And the nice thing about it is that you can customize it to suit your personal preferences.  Last month, I was lazy and when I needed a bunch of barbecue rub to make ribs for my daughter's birthday party, I hit up Penzey's and bought a big bag of their BBQ 3000 rub.  Sorry Penzey's, but I wasn't crazy about it.  It has nutmeg in it, which I find kind of odd.  I don't care for the flavor that gives it.  And it doesn't have as much heat as I like in my barbecue rub.  It did the job, but it was lacking that "wow" factor for me.  I should have put in the effort to make a big batch of the barbecue rub I "perfected" last summer.  It is adapted from one in Steven Raichlen's book How to Grill.

Smoky Barbecue Rub

Ingredients:
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground celery seed
½ tsp ground chipotle powder

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together, making sure to break up any lumps of brown sugar.  Use 2-3 tsp per pound of meat.  Store rub in an airtight jar away from heat or light.  It will keep for at least 6 months.

Makes about ½ cup.

I changed a few things from Raichlen's original recipe.  He used sweet paprika, while I am totally obsessed with smoked paprika.  And since it's for barbecue, the smoked flavor is perfect.  (In his defense, he calls for hickory-smoked salt instead of regular kosher, but I think it's easier to switch out the paprika than to buy a special fancy salt that I won't use for anything else.)  I also decreased the black pepper and used chipotle instead of cayenne.  That adds more smoky flavor too.  It does have a bit of heat to it, so if you are sensitive to that, you might want to cut the chipotle in half.

This is a really great rub.  It's good on anything you like to grill: chicken breasts, whole chickens, pork chops, and best of all, ribs.  Check out my recipe for "Fall-Off-the-Bone Ribs".  And hey, if you're vegetarian or vegan, it would even be good on your favorite vegetable!

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Improv Challenge: Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce

It's time again for the Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

The assigned ingredients this month were cinnamon and sugar.  Hmm.  Cinnamon and sugar.  Of course, I wanted to think beyond baked goods with this challenge.  I tried to come up with something savory that contained cinnamon and sugar, but it wasn't easy.  I scanned my Pinterest boards for inspiration, and finally came upon a pin for this recipe on Coconut and Lime.  It's a homemade barbecue sauce.  I have made homemade barbecue sauce before: a basic one, and then last year I made Mango Barbecue Sauce for the Eating the Alphabet challenge.  This one is really interesting because it doesn't use a tomato product as the base.  But you would never know it.  The base is apple butter.  

Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

½ large onion, diced

1½ cups apple butter

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp garlic powder

1-2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 tsp mesquite liquid smoke

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp hot sauce 

Directions:

Heat oil in a saucepan.  Sauté onion until it begins to soften.  Add remaining ingredients.  Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.  You can use it as it is now, or you can simmer it on the lowest setting until heated through and thickened slightly. Allow to cool.

Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes about 2 cups.

 Of course, how it turns out depends largely on the apple butter you use.  I had never made apple butter before, so I bought some at the store.  I only had time to hit the regular grocery store, so I ended up with Musselman's.  If I had more time that day, I would have gone to the Cheese Castle, because they have an awesome selection of specialty jams, jellies, and all kinds of condiments.  I bet they would have some really good apple butter there.  But it was just fine with the Musselman's.  I put 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar in the recipe because how much you need will depend on how sweet your apple butter is.  The Musselman's is pretty sweet.  I used 2 tbsp, and it did turn out pretty sweet, but that's okay because that's how my husband likes it.  I did add a tiny bit of hot sauce to counter the sweetness.  I used Clancy's Fancy, which I got in my Taste of Michigan swag bag.  It was perfect for this because it's really smoky-tasting.

I thought the best way to try this barbecue sauce out was on some grilled chicken. 

 It was fabulous.  I served it with my Foil Pack Potatoes and some corn.

This is really good barbecue sauce!  The apple and cinnamon make for a very interesting flavor that is perfect for chicken or pork.

Homemade barbecue sauce is so easy to make and it really adds a nice touch to your summer grilling.

Check out all the other cinnamon and sugar recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with fish and chips.  Oh boy!

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Improv Challenge: Crispy Coated Artichoke Hearts with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce

Oh boy, do I have a great recipe for you today!  It's reveal day for this month's Improv Challenge.  I love participating in the Improv Challenge, but didn't post last month because the dish I made didn't turn out well and since I was in the process of moving, I didn't have time to try something else.  Not a problem this month!  

The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.  

Our clever hostess, Kristen, came up with a theme of "hearts and flours" for this month.  Cute!  She said, "You can make anything as long as it is either heart shaped or served/photographed in a heart serving dish and contains at least one flour of some sort."  I decided to veer from her guidelines just a bit, but I think you'll agree that my dish does contain the two ingredients: hearts and flour.

Instead of doing something heart-shaped, I thought it would be fun to make a recipe with artichoke hearts.  The only thing I could think of that combined artichoke hearts and flour would be some kind of fried artichoke hearts.  After doing some research online, I ended up adapting two different recipes and came up with a yummy crispy-coated artichoke heart with a super tasty dipping sauce.  The artichoke recipe is adapted from this Sandra Lee recipe, and the dipping sauce is adapted from one I saw on Big Oven.

Crispy Coated Artichoke Hearts with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

¼ tsp dried dill

2 cans medium-sized artichoke hearts

½ cup flour

¼ cup yellow cornmeal

½ tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp salt

4 cups canola oil

Directions:

Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, Gorgonzola  vinegar, and dill in a small bowl.  You can leave it slightly chunky, or pulse it in a food processor or stick blender to make it smooth.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Drain the artichokes. In a small bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, Italian seasoning, and salt.

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil on high until hot. Dip each artichoke heart into the flour mixture, tossing to coat. Drop a few at a time into the hot oil. Fry, turning once, until golden, about 2-3 minutes. Repeat with remaining artichokes. Serve immediately with Gorgonzola dipping sauce.

Makes 14-16 artichoke hearts and about 1½ cups dipping sauce. About 8 servings as an appetizer.

They turned out amazing!  I never fry things, and I was reminded of why, because it does make quite a mess, but it was well worth it.  The thing I like most about this recipe is that there is no heavy batter on the artichoke hearts.  Just dusting them with flour, cornmeal, and seasonings gives them a nice crispy coating instead of being wrapped in breading.  The flavor of the artichoke heart itself shines through.  I love the beautiful golden color they turned.  

Aren't they beautiful?

This is the Gorgonzola I used for the dipping sauce.  It's a very mild Gorgonzola; not super strong-tasting like some can be (although I love those too).  This would be a good one to use for people who aren't huge fans of bleu cheeses.

This dipping sauce is so good; I think I would eat it on anything.  I had to restrain myself from not eating it just with a spoon!  I had some of the leftovers with crackers the other day.

It paired so perfectly with the artichoke hearts.  

My daughters really liked these artichoke hearts.  Lena, almost 5, commented that they were a little "sour", referring to the marinade they come in.  But not so sour that she wouldn't eat them.

Eva, 2 and half, had no problem gobbling hers up!  My husband was at work when I made these, so I saved two for him and he reheated them.  I don't know if they were as good reheated, but he raved about them.

See how light and delicate the coating is?  It doesn't fall off too easily either.  Just perfect!

I had so much fun with this month's Improv Challenge!  Check out the links below for all the other "hearts and flours" recipes.

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Improv Challenge: Homemade Chipotle Ketchup

It's reveal day for the Improv Challenge.  The premise of this challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.

This month's assigned ingredients were tomatoes and peppers.  I was a little apprehensive about this one because, while I love tomatoes, I really dislike peppers.  Red bell peppers, green bell peppers, jalapenos: no thanks.  It's not the heat that bothers me; I have a strong aversion to the flavor, especially the bell peppers.  I can tolerate jalapenos in salsa, but don't ever add them to anything else.  But there is one exception to my pepper avoidance: chipotles.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I do love me some chipotle!  I don't know what it is about chipotles, but they don't bother me like other peppers and I love their smoked flavor.  They are smoked jalapenos, but the flavor is completely different than regular jalapenos.  They come in little bitty cans, packed in a flavorful sauce called adobo. 

I decided to try making a homemade chipotle ketchup.  I googled "chipotle ketchup recipe" and 99% of the results called for ketchup as an ingredient.  I wanted to make it from scratch.  So I kept digging and I finally found a homemade chipotle ketchup recipe from scratch at Homesick Texan.  Here's my slight adaptation.

Homemade Chipotle Ketchup

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

28 oz. can whole tomatoes

½ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground celery seeds

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced, plus 2 tbsp adobo sauce

Salt to taste

Method:

On medium-low heat, cook the diced onion in the olive oil in a medium-sized pot just until the onions start to brown a bit on the ends.

Add the tomatoes and their juice to the pot, crushing the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.

After an hour, puree the mixture, and then continue to cook on low heat until it reaches your desired thickness.

Now, if mine looks a tad watery, it's because I didn't follow the directions exactly.  I went shopping that day, and by the time I got home and got the groceries unloaded and put away, I didn't have time to simmer the sauce for an hour.  Oops! So I kept it at a full boil for like half an hour.  Yes, it made a humongous mess on my stovetop, but it got the job (mostly) done in half the time.  (And yeah, my potato wedges got a little "done", but oh well! They were still good and the ketchup covered it up well! :)

 Homemade ketchup will never be as smooth as store-bought, but it doesn't matter.  It tastes awesome.  I only used one chipotle because we are kind of wimps when it comes to heat, so if you like things hot, use more.  At least two.

I served this on some burgers that I created, which I'm calling Southwestern Burgers.  Ground beef patties with black beans and corn mixed in seasoned with cumin and chili powder.  I'll post that recipe tomorrow.  Topped with pepperjack cheese and the chipotle ketchup, it was one sassy burger!

Check out all the other great tomato and pepper recipes below and come back here tomorrow for the Southwestern Burger recipe.

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Eating The Alphabet: Mango Barbecue Sauce

Today is reveal day for the Eating The Alphabet Challenge.  This month we had to chose a fruit, vegetable, grain, bean, or legume that began with the letters M, N, or O.  Three options!  Lots of choices there.

I immediately knew that I wanted to do something with mango.  My husband pointed out that mango was an excellent option because it contained all of the letter choices: M, N, and O, in order!  Always thinking, that guy!  I like mango-flavored things, but had never cooked with fresh mango before.  Time to change that!  I remembered that I had pinned something with mango earlier this summer and quickly found it on my Pinterest board.  It is a barbecue sauce made with mango from What's Cooking, Love?.  I thought it sounded amazing and couldn't wait to try it.  We had several rainy days where grilling wasn't possible, but finally the clouds left us and we were able to get out there and smother this wonderful sauce all over some chicken.  Here's the recipe.

Mango Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
1 large mango, chopped
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ cup ketchup
¼ tsp salt

Directions:
Combine the chopped mango, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, ketchup, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.

Set some sauce aside (to be used for dipping later), then brush the remaining sauce all over whatever raw meat you want to grill.  Grill the meat as you normally would, then use the remaining sauce to dip at the table.

Makes enough for 4-6 servings.

This sauce is so good!  The onion powder and salt were my additions.  You may choose to add other things, or subtract some depending on the size and flavor of your mango.  My mango was super duper sweet, so that's why I added the salt.  This sauce is definitely sweet, but it has a wonderful zesty tang to it as well.

I wrote the recipe as just the sauce, because it would be good on any kind of barbecued meat.  I didn't want to limit it just to chicken.  It was awesome on the chicken, but it would also be great on grilled pork chops and even salmon.  Can't wait to try that!

If you have never cut up a fresh mango, I suggest you google "how to cut up a mango" and watch a quick video.  I totally mangled mine cutting it up.  Mangos have an odd-shaped pit, so it's best to cut it a certain way to get the majority of the meat off of it.  After watching a video, I was able to cut up the rest of them with no problem.

Be sure to check out all the other great recipes below, and come back tomorrow for another great homemade condiment recipe.

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Tomato Essence Sauce

This is a recipe I have been making for several years now, but have never blogged about until now.  It is a  yummy buttery pasta sauce that includes all of the flavor and "essence" of the tomato, but without the chunky consistency.  I got it off the side of a box of some kind of pasta or something, but I can't remember now exactly what.


Tomato Essence Sauce


Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
2 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
¼ cup butter


Directions:
Put stock and tomatoes in a saucepan over high heat.  Cook until liquid has reduced by half, breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon as they cook.  Remove from heat and pour the tomato mixture through a fine mesh sieve, using a rubber scraper to get all the liquid out.  Discard tomato solids and put liquid back into saucepan.  Turn heat to low and add butter.  When butter has melted, whisk briskly to completely incorporate it into the tomato liquid.  Serve immediately over hot pasta.


Makes enough for 1 lb. of pasta.

I consider this a summertime dish because I would not even consider making this with grocery store "tomatoes". Yes, I used quotes because I don't even consider those pinky-orangey things in the grocery store tomatoes.  They have no flavor and therefore would make a disaster out of this sauce.  You have to have fresh garden or farmer's market tomatoes to make this.  

Remember to scrape off the bottom of your sieve because a lot of tomato goodness hangs there when you are straining!

This is a very thin sauce.  It will run all over your plate.  I have considered adding some cornstarch to it to thicken it up a bit, but haven't tried it yet.  

The picture above is this sauce on whole wheat gnocchi.  I think it's best on gnocchi because the little potato pillows soak up all the sauce.  So good.  But I also really like it on those refrigerated ravoilis and tortellinis too.

If you have an abundance of fresh tomatoes from your garden and aren't sure what to do with them all, give this sauce a try.

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Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Garlic Dipping Sauce

So the other day while I was grocery shopping, I noticed a large display of beautiful artichokes.  I had been wanting to try cooking fresh artichokes for a while, so I picked up a few and took them home.  Cooking artichokes can be intimidating; in fact, I got a splinter from one just picking them out at the store!  But thanks to the very thorough directions from my favorite vegetable cookbook, Perfect Vegetables, it was really pretty easy and turned out great.  I decided to create my own dipping sauce to go with them.


Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Garlic Dipping Sauce


Ingredients:
1 lemon, cut in half
4 medium artichokes (8 to 10 oz.)
2 medium onions


Directions:
Squeeze the lemon juice into a large bowl filled with cold water.  Drop the spent lemon halves into the water.


Grasp the artichoke by the stem and hold it horizontal to the cutting board.  Use kitchen shears to trim the tips off the leaves row by row, skipping the top two rows. 


Rest the artichoke on the cutting board.  Holding the stem in one hand, cut off the top quarter (top two rows) of the artichoke with a very sharp chef’s knife.


Cut the stem flush with the base of the bulb.  Drop the artichoke into the bowl of lemon water.  Repeat with remaining artichokes.


Cut two 1½” thick slices from the middle of each onion.  Space the onion rings evenly across the bottom of a large pot and set one trimmed artichoke on top of each ring.  Fill the pot with water to ½” below the top of the onion rings.  Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cover and cook until the outer artichoke leaves release easily when pulled, about 30 minutes.  Check the pot periodically to make sure the water has not boiled dry; add more water as needed.


With tongs, carefully remove the artichokes from the pot and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.  Steamed artichokes can also be chilled and eaten cool.  Serve with Lemon Garlic Dipping Sauce.


Makes 4 servings.


Lemon Garlic Dipping Sauce


Ingredients:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 lemon
1 small clove garlic, or ½ large clove, grated
¼ tsp dried thyme, crushed


Directions:
Put the mayonnaise in a small bowl.  Zest the lemon into the bowl.  Add the garlic and thyme and stir until combined.  Use lemon juice or water to thin out the dip to your desired consistency.  


Serve with steamed artichokes.


Makes 4 servings.

Sounds like complicated directions, but they're really not.  The book provides illustrations of each step, which I found very helpful.  I'm not one of those food bloggers that takes pictures of every step for every recipe (really, who doesn't know what chopped onions look like?), but for this recipe, I think some extra pictures would be helpful.  The picture quality isn't the best, but you'll get the idea.

 Onion rings in the pot.  I only made three artichokes, so I only used three onion rings.  The book says that if you don't want to use onions, you can just use a steaming rack.

 The artichoke as I brought it home from the store.  The book recommends medium-sized artichokes, but mine were large (13 oz.).  They took a little longer to cook and were not quite as tender as smaller ones would be.

 Pokey little tips of the leaves snipped off.

                                                                  

 After trimming off the top.  Note: you will need a very sharp knife and some elbow grease for this.  My knife is very sharp and I still struggled with it.  Those leaves are tough!

 After cutting off the stem.  The stem is much easier to cut off than the top of the bulb.

In the pan with the water.  

Artichokes are one of those fruits and vegetables that turn brown after cutting, like apples, avocados, and bananas.  (Is it only A and B fruits and veggies that do this?)  I made the lemon water as directed, but I had trouble keeping the artichokes in the water because they float.  The book didn't address this issue.  You can kind of see in the picture above the order I trimmed the artichokes in; the top left one looks browner, the bottom one less brown, and the right one not brown at all.

A note on eating the cooked artichokes: Pull a leaf out, dip it in the sauce, then you have to kind of scrape the leaf with your teeth to get the meat out.  You don't eat the entire leaf.  You can do that once you get to the really tender inside leaves, but the ones on the outside are too tough.  It sounds weird, but it's good!

Jim loved the dipping sauce I created.  I used one clove of garlic, and thought it may have been too much.  So next time I will only use half.  But the combination of lemon and garlic was really good.

Overall, this was a fun experience.  It's certainly not something I would do very often, but it went smoothly and now I can say that I have done it!

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