Chicken Cacciatore and Glazed Carrots plus Sausage Chowder for Lunch

 

Every once in a while I pick up a cookbook and really want to cook my way totally through it.  Comfort in an Instant is one of those.  Even though it’s an instant pot cookbook I’ve done the time math and many of the recipes are quicker on the stovetop.  Risotto is ten minutes to reach power, six under pressure and ten to decompress.  Twenty-six minutes versus twenty-five on the stovetop…  Yes, I do think in numbers and Excel spreadsheets 😊   At any rate, this is really a fun cookbook.  Among the half dozen try now recipes was Chicken Cacciatore.   

Then, after a run through Aldi’s we stopped at Ollie’s to browse the cookbooks.  Where I found Field to Fork.  A collection of recipes from the Old Farmers Almanac.  I opened it to Maple Orange Glazed Carrots and that was all I needed to see.  Into the cart.   

While I was fixing dinner I also made a pot of The Brick’s Sausage Stew.  The Brick is a hole in the wall dive bar in Jonesville.  We’ve been there once.  I can’t particularly recommend it but it’s an institution so is worth a visit.  While I was doing my friend Gail’s review a couple of days ago we started chatting about soups and how good they are this time of year.  She texted me the recipe today and the rest is history.  Lunch tomorrow will be really good!

What did we think about the Chicken Cacciatore?  A five out of five.  Ditto the Maple Orange Glazed Carrots.  Those were amazing.  A dinner that left both of us totally satisfied and looking forward to making both dishes again.

 

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

2T olive oil

2 lbs bone-in, skin on chicken thighs

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 oz cremini or white button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 small bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used green, the recipe called for red)

2 cloves garlic (I used minced)

¾ c canned diced tomatoes and their juice

¼ c dry white or red wine (I used white)

2 large sprigs rosemary (I used ½ t crushed)

2 T drained capers

 

Directions:

This recipe works on the stovetop, in an instant pot and in a slow cooker.  I chose the stovetop because the math worked out that that was the quickest method.  Therefore all of the instructions are based on that…  

Heat the olive oil.  Sprinkle the thighs with salt and pepper.  Brown both sides.  Remove the thighs from the skillet and add the onion, pepper, mushrooms and garlic.  Cook until they’re tender.  It’ll take about five minutes.  Add in the tomatoes, wine and rosemary.  Cook for a couple of minutes to tighten the sauce.  Add back the thighs.  Cook on low for another 10-15 minutes.  Or, you can use medium and shorten the time.  Add in the capers just before serving.

Here's how it looked:

adapted from Comfort in an Instant by Melissa Clark

 

Maple Orange Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

4-6 large carrots (I used baby carrots cut into coins)

1 T butter

¼ c maple syrup

2 T frozen orange juice concentrate

Pinch of salt

Pinch of ground nutmeg

Chopped walnuts – optional for garnish

 

Directions:

Cook the carrots until tender.  Drain and set aside on a warm stove. In a small skillet melt the butter and mix in the other ingredients.  Toss the carrots with the glaze.

adapted from Field to Fork

 

The Brick’s Sausage Chowder

 Ingredients:

1 package sausage (I used Polish Kielbasa) cut into medallions

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

4 Yukon gold potatoes or 2 large russet potatoes, diced

1 can hot chili beans

1 can diced stewed tomatoes

1 4 oz can of diced green chiles

1-2 T brown sugar

1-2 T chili powder

1 t garlic powder

 

Directions:

Saute the sausage, onion and bell pepper in olive oil just until softened.  Add the other ingredients, cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. 

Thank you Gail!

 

 

 

Carrot and Cranberry Salad and Sausage Arriabiata Sauce

The best laid plans of mice and men...  We were going to go see Alton Brown's Eat Your Science.  We had an hour to either fix dinner and eat or go someplace and eat.  My mind went to a great pasta dish from Michael Symon's 5 in 5.  Sausage and kale pasta.  I was thinking I'd put some goat cheese in.  It'd be super quick and so much less expensive than eating out.  Got home and put the water for the pasta on.  Cut open the sausage and crumbled it into a skillet.  Fed Wee Mac the cat.  Took off my jacket.  Headed for the fridge to get the kale.  Ewww.  A slimy mess.  And, the power greens were at the office.  Ok, plan B.  Let's go for Arriabiata sauce from Trader Joe's.  Drain the sausage, add about 1/4 c of red wine to deglaze the pan and pour in the pasta sauce.  You know, that goat cheese still sounded good.  So, 4 oz of goat cheese went in and happily melted away.  Then, to round the flavors off I added about 1/4 c of cream and about a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes.  Served with small shells and we had a five!  Oh, and we had no photos... 

So, let's talk about some food that we have photos of!  Or, as my mother would say, food of which we have photos...  LOL, isn't it funny how our language changes?

We went to Cape Cod for a few days.  Drove out the south route and stayed in Harrisburg, PA.  Had a decent dinner at a great restaurant and bar.  Actually, it was the deck that was killer.  It was huge, had a bunch of fire pits and a wonderful covered bar.  But, alas I can't even remember the name...  The next day we drove the rest of the way.  It was a bit unnerving to go through a tunnel in NYC behind the flashing lights of a bomb truck. 

 

But, all was safe in the tunnel.  We got to Cape and headed straight to Salty Lou's.  He's our favorite lobsterman. 

Turns out we literally got the first chicks of the season.  Chicks are the nickname for lobsters of a certain weight - like 1.5 lbs.  We headed to Auntie Barbara's house for a lobsterfest with the kids.  YUM!

 

 

The next day I went shopping.  Barbara had been planning on renting out the Cape house so she'd cleared it out. The rental had fallen through.  We needed all kind of things like washcloths, dish detergent...  A LONG list was in hand.  After the shopping we were to go up to Boston to see Auntie Kay.  It felt like everyone from Boston was heading south to Cape and everyone from Cape was heading north to Boston.  On top of that there was a grey, steady rain.  Miserable traveling.  About the time we should have been arriving our navigation system said we had an hour and 11 minutes go to.  UGH!  So we plodded along.  And, half an hour later it said we had an hour and 14 minutes to go.  We were going backwards!  Needless to say we bailed and went up to see Auntie Kay another day. 

A couple of days later we drove around Cape for about half a day looking at condos for Matt.  Just the outsides to see how well maintained they were.  At one point we headed toward the water.  And, saw a juvenile red-tailed hawk.  He wasn't particularly concerned about the humans taking photos.  He was just interested in finding lunch!

 

 

Now, the good news is that with all of that time in the car I got some old cooking magazines read.  There was one recipe that I saved out of the pile of recipes to try.  For a shredded carrot salad.  From Cuisine at Home.  We finally got to the grocery so I actually had all of the ingredients in hand.  It was good the first day but better the second.  The carrots softened a bit.  Which brought out their sweetness.  This is one we'll make again!

Carrot and Cranberry Salad

6 servings

Ingredients:
1 t minced lemon zest
3 T fresh lemon juice (I used 2)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T grated fresh ginger
1 T honey
salt and pepper to taste
1 bag shredded carrots (10 oz - about 3.5 cups)
1 c dried cranberries
3/4 c chopped walnuts, toasted
1/3 c each chopped fresh parsley and minced scallions

Directions:
Make the salad dressing by combining the lemon zest, lemon juice, ginger and honey then whisking in the olive oil.  Toss it with the carrots, cranberries, walnuts, parsley and scallions.  This is wonderful left over so you may want to make it the night before...

Thank you, Raquel, Steve and Toodie for the FABULOUS Potatoes!

Our friends Raquel and Steve and Toodie came over for dinner.  They brought a bag of red potatoes and onions from their garden.  YUM! 

We loved the dinner that evening.  Sherry cream shrimp on Texas toast, a roasted carrot salad and cherry tabbouleh.  All make agains.  You'll need to trust me that the cherry tabbouleh was gorgeous.  For some reason I didn't get a photo of it.

Then, the next night I started in on those amazing potatoes and onions.  The first thing I made was a lamb hash.  It was pretty basic.  Brown potato cubes, sauté onions and peppers, brown and drain ground lamb.  Add some salt and pepper.  Mix it all together.  So easy and SO fabulous!

Then, I made roasted potatoes with sage and garlic.  And, forgot to put the garlic in.  Those were a five anyway :-) 

There was yet another five out of the potatoes...  Long story short Mom had a cookbook called Juicy Miss Lucy.  I have a copy.  We'd made some of the same recipes but not all.  I've copied all of my notes into hers and am in the process of copying her notes into mine.  Then, I can give my copy to my niece since Mom's cooking is very limited these days.  Long before they were called Hasselback potatoes, JML published a recipe called Potato Fans.  I've got to wonder if they were the originals?  These are super easy.  Put chopsticks on either side of the potatoes and slice them about 1/8 - 1/4" down to the chopsticks.  Drizzle them with melted butter the roast them for 30 minutes at 400F.  Remove them from the oven and baste them with the butter.  Sprinkle cheese between the slices.  I used a wonderful blue called St. Agur but you can use pretty much any grated cheese that suits your fancy.  Now, the recipe called for also sprinkling them with chives and bread crumbs.  I skipped those and just sprinkled on some kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  These were baked for an additional 30 minutes with a bit of grated parmesan added at the end.  Here's what the steps looked like:

Last but not least, I made a pork loin (really small one) with roasted potatoes and shallots.  Another winner!

 Now, you have to see who "helped" while I was typing...  We're turtle sitting for a friend's turtle while she recoups.  I let the turtle have the run of the desk and all she wanted to do was hide behind the monitor...

Sherry Cream Shrimp

Ingredients:

4 T butter
1/2 lb sliced white mushrooms
1 large shallot, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper
2 T flour
1/3 c sherry
3/4 c cream
a few grates fresh nutmeg
2 T chopped fresh tarragon
1 T Evoo
20 large or jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
juice of one lemon
4 slices Texas Toast (the recipe actually called for good quality white bread, toasted, buttered and halved corner to corner.  I thought the recipe was screaming for Texas toast...)

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt the butter.  Add the mushrooms and sauté until they're just a little bit brown.  Add the shallot and sauté until it's softened.  Then, add the garlic and sauté for about a minute.  Stir in the flour.  Allow it to cook for a couple of minutes before you slowly add the sherry.  Once that's in and the sauce has thickened, slowly add the cream.  Once the sauce is thick, stir in the tarragon and nutmeg.  In another skillet, heat the olive oil to shimmering.  Add the shrimp and cook on both sides until they're pink.  Add the lemon juice and mix the shrimp into the sauce.  Serve over Texas toast.

adapted from Rachael Ray



Ludo Lefebvre's Roasted Carrot Salad

Ingredients:

for the carrots:
1/2 t ground cuming
1 1/2 lbs small carrots, scrubbed clean and tops trimmed (I used the mini-carrots)
1 bay leaf, fresh, scored
1 head garlic, cut in half
5-7 sprigs fresh thyme
1/3 c EVOO
salt and pepper to taste

for the blood-orange vinaigrette
 2 blood oranges, juiced (they weren't in season so I used navel oranges)
1 T white vinegar
1 T granulated sugar
1/2 t kosher salt
1/3 c EVOO

for the cumin crème fraiche
1 c crème fraiche
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 t ground cumin
pinch kosher salt

for the salad:
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 T almonds, roasted and roughly chopped
2 blood oranges cut into supremes
1 T finely chopped fresh parsley
1 T finely chopped fresh tarragon
1 T finely chopped fresh chervil
1 T finely chopped chives
kosher salt

Tired yet?  Me too!  This looks tougher than it is!

Directions:

Start by roasting the carrots.  They need to go into an oven that's been preheated to 400F.  While that's preheating, you need to toast the cumin in a small skillet.  Divide out what you'll need for the cumin crème and add the rest to a 9" square baking dish with the rest of the ingredients for the carrots.  Toss them then roast just until the carrots start to caramelize.   It'll take 30-45 minutes.

While the carrots are roasting (and you can do them well ahead,) make the cumin crème and the dressing.  In both cases, you just combine the ingredients.

To assemble the salad, smear the cumin crème on the bottom of the serving bowl or platter. 

Top that with the carrots - not the aromatics they roasted with, just the carrots.  Then, sprinkle the carrots with the rest of the salad ingredients.  Top everything with the dressing. 

adapted from the New York Times



Cherry Tabbouleh

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c pearl couscous
1/3 c EVOO
1 t orange zest
3 T orange juice
2/3 lb cherries, pitted and quartered
3/4 c each chopped fresh parsley and mint
1/2 c finely chopped red onion
2 small Persian cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 c shredded Swiss chard (optional - my add)

Directions:

Cook the couscous according to package directions.  Drain and rinse it.  Toss it with the other ingredients.

adapted from Rachael Ray



Roasted Potatoes with Sage and Garlic

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs small creamer potatoes, halved
1/3 c flour
1 1/2 T vegetable oil (I used light olive oil)
4 cloves garlic, minced (ooops, can't believe I left this out!)
1/4 c chopped fresh sage leaves
1 T unsalted butter
salt and pepper
12 whole fresh sage leaves
1 T unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 450F.  Put a large heavy cast iron or other pan or skillet that's oven proof into the oven as it preheats.  Put a large saucepan with salted cold water and the potatoes on the stove on high heat.  Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat.  Simmer the potatoes for another five minutes or until they almost cooked through.  Drain them and dry them on paper towels.  Then, roll them in the flour.  You just want to coat them, not drench them in flour. 

Remove the HOT pan from the oven and pour in the olive oil.  It'll sizzle like all get out, so be careful.  Put the potatoes in in one layer, skin side up.  Roast them for about 15 minutes, remove them from the oven and turn them over.  Sprinkle with the sage leaves. 

Roast them for another 15 minutes.  Add the garlic just before you pull them out of the oven.  That is if you want to use the garlic.  Immediately on removing the pan from the oven, add the butter.  It'll brown as it melts.

While the potatoes are roasting, fry the sage leaves in butter.  You'll need to be very careful when turning them not to break them. 

adapted from The New York Times


Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Potatoes and Shallots (Or Green Onions...)

Ingredients:

8 medium red potatoes, sliced 1/4" thick
8 shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise or a bunch of green onions
3 T olive oil
1-2 lbs pork, either tenderloin or small loin - I used the small loin and loved the bit of fat it added
1 t dried thyme
1/2 c sherry vinegar
3 T dark brown sugar
1 T coarse grain mustard

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400.  Put the potatoes into cold, salted water in a medium saucepan.  Bring them to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer them for about 5 minutes until they're almost done.  Cover the bottom of a cast iron skillet or other oven proof pan with the olive oil.  Put the potatoes in in one layer.  Cook them over medium heat until one side is browned.  Flip them over.  Brown the other side.  Remove them from the pan.  Salt and pepper all sides of the pork.  Brown it in the same pan.  Remove it from the pan.  Add the thyme, vinegar and sugar and scrape up all the fond.  Put the potatoes back in one layer.  Add the green onions on top of the potatoes.  Then, the pork.  Cover the pan tightly with foil and roast in the oven until the pork reaches 130F.  Remove from the oven.  Put the pork on a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes.  Put the potatoes and onions in a bowl and cover with the foil.  Add the mustard to the sauce in the pan and mix well.  Serve the pork sliced thinly with the sauce over. 

adapted from one of the Cooks Illustrated magazines - can't tell which one...

Frangelico Squares and More

This month for Blogger C.L.U.E. Society I was assigned a lovely blog called A Spoonful of Thyme.  I did my normal reading and printing pdf's of likely candidate recipes.  Pulled out the Excel spreadsheet where I keep our menus and tried to figure out what I was going to make.  I really wanted to make the Frangelico bars for Mandy and Nick's party.  But, the split pea soup and the ham, potato and cheese soup sounded really good.  Connie was voting for the risotto with the sun-dried tomatoes.  The spicy plum chicken sounded really good as did the chicken with mushrooms and lemons.   I can't leave out the roasted carrots with bourbon.  Or the meatballs.  Hmmmm.

Well, let's just say that that Kate's blog kind of overtook this Kate's Kitchen :-)  We had a lot of fun cooking from her blog the last couple of weeks.  And, we made some tremendous dishes.  Every last one of them was a make again.  But, I've got to tell you the Frangelico bar story first...

We have this friend named Lou.  Uncle Lou is his nickname.  He used to office in the same building we're in.  Rode the elevator with him enough times that we got to know him.  He ran a Congressional campaign for a guy who also became a friend.  And, he lives across the street from some folks named Jillian and Matt.  Yes, they've become friends too.  Now, Jillian and Matt's best buds have moved to Indy and have purchased a house right behind Jillian and Matt.  So, they had a housewarming party.  Now what you need to understand is that Uncle Lou is in shape.  He's a fitness fanatic.  He eats right.  He doesn't stand around stuffing his face with sweets.  Unless they're Frangelico bars.  I didn't count the number he ate.  And, if I had I wouldn't tell you because I know he's going to read this and I really do want to stay friends with him.  Let's just say that an extra hour or two in the gym wouldn't have been enough to work off the number he ate.  LOL.  Yes, my friends, they are that good. 

We have a saying in our house.  It goes like this, "This is terrible.  You won't like it.  I will have to eat it all so you don't have to worry about it."  Yes, I know it's a bald-faced lie but I do try it on occasion.  When it came to the Frangelico bars, Connie and I both tried it on each other!

Kate doesn't go into a lot of detail about herself so I don't have a lot to share.  But, she did tell one story to tell that had me laughing out loud.  How to store recipes.  Like most of us, she's pretty much tried every method known to mankind.  Right now they seem to be in a stack.  And, that's only one of the out loud giggles I had. Suffice to say that you really need to grab a cup of coffee, sit down and spend an hour or two getting acquainted with her blog.  Not only will you wind up with a bunch of fun recipes, you'll also be entertained!

Rather than type out each recipe here, I'm going to give you links to all the ones we tried.  And, below those links you'll find links to my other Blogger Clue friends recipes this month.  They're a bunch of fabulous cooks so I hope you'll be able to visit them.

 

Frangelico Bars - I made these exactly like the recipe.  They were one of the best bar cookies I've ever had.  A little like pecan pie bars but better!

 

Chicken with Mushrooms and Lemon Sauce - to save time here I cut the boneless, skinless chicken breasts into strips.  Then, I added about 1/4 cup of chicken broth to the sauce.  I think Connie would've licked the saucepan had I let him...

Bourbon Carrots - Amazing.  Instead of cayenne we used Emeril's.  So easy and had oodles of flavor.

 

Split Pea Soup - the best split pea soup I've ever had.  I had to cook the second set of split peas a bit longer to get them soft.  Next time I think I'm going to try adding a can of diced tomatoes. 

 

 

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Thighs - this one I really messed with the recipe.   Our grocery doesn't sell boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  So, I used skin on and crisped the heck out of the skin.  I thought I had plum jam in the pantry but couldn't find it so used  beach plum jam.  Loved the sauce!  Yes, I plopped Connie's ear of corn on my plate to carry it to the screened porch.

 

Risotto with Sun--Dried Tomatoes and Shrimp - risotto is our clean up the kitchen for two dish.  Once I got the hang of making it, it became our comfort food.  I had a jar of sun-dried tomato pesto that I wanted to use up.  Connie missed the chunks of tomatoes but I loved the flavor. 

 

 

Best Basic Meatballs - the question is Emeril's or Ina's?  I've made both this year and have loved both of them.  The technique for these is interesting with beef broth on the baking sheet.  The meatballs were super tender and moist.  Emeril's has a bit more zing with the Italian sausage so next time I'm combining his recipe and Ina's technique to see how it works.  Just another excuse for spaghetti and meatballs!

 

 

Tri-tip Sandwiches - Thus far, we've just had the tri-tip and the rest of the meat hasn't made it into sandwiches...  As a pot roast this was fabulous.  I loved the gravy with the beef consommé.  Yes, I did add a good glug of red wine...  I served it over half a baked potato with some cooked carrots and onions on the side.

 

 

Italian Wedding Soup - Thus far this is only the meatballs.  They are fabulous and I'm sure the rest of the soup will be equally fabulous!

 

 

 

Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread - WOW.  The best gingerbread I've ever had.  I always thought my great-grandmother's recipe couldn't be beaten.  It has been.  The complexity of this is amazing.  I served it to company and shared half of what was leftover.  I think that's getting served to a lunch group today...  Along side I served my great-grandmother's lemon sauce.  Perfection on a plate. 

 

Ok, now here's the list of the other blogs I hope you'll check out:

• Apple Coffee Cake by Jean from Lemons and Anchovies
• Applesauce Cranberry Bundt Cake by Aly from Cooking in Stilettos
• Baked Squash Stuffed with Homemade Applesauce by Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme
• Banana Peanut Butter Chip Muffins by Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Braised Chicken Leg Quarters by Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Brussels Sprouts with Harissa, Honey and Lime by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
• Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins by Lora from Cake Duchess
• Creamy Butternut Squash Soup by Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch
• Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup by Christiane from Taking on Magazines
• Frangelico Squares by Kate from Kate's Kitchen
• Garlic Home Fries by Kim from Liv Life
• German Apple Pancake by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Honey Sriracha Sweet Potatoes by Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Hot Curried Chicken Salad by Debra from Eliot's Eats
• Pumpkin Bran Muffins by Anna from annaDishes
• Pumpkin Bread with Pumpkin Ale by Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
• Pumpkin Palmiers by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
• Raspberry Cointreau Syllabub by Kate from Kate's Kitchen
• Witchy Finger Cookies by Sue from A Palatable Pastime

Maple Mustard Porter Ribs with Grilled Fingerling Potatoes and Tarragon Lime Carrots

I'm feeling like I should rename this blog KateMightCook.   Feels like forever since I really dug into the kitchen and prepared a meal.  Sunday morning we finally got our hair cut.  We were both on the verge of having to buy rollers.  Connie had a fro when he was a teenager. Me, I had LONG straight hair.  It won't accept a perm and has a bountiful number of cowlicks.  Much better short at my age.  Then, we delivered a carload of stuff to the Fairview rummage sale.  The service was about ready to start so we got to sneak in the sanctuary and say hi to Mom and the rest of the MOPS crew.  Finally, we were off to the office.  Saturday our broker/dealer's website was down.  All day.  Connie needed it to prep for my appointments next week.  We were WAY behind.  So, we dug in and worked on reviews.  And worked.  And worked.  Finally, about 4:00 I said if we were going to eat the ribs before 9:00 we'd better go home.

Over the last few weeks I've bought a few new cookbooks.  Cooking with Beer, Adventures in Grilling and Simple Fresh Southern.  The first two I could pretty much make everything in.  The last, not so much.  My menu was Maple Mustard Porter Ribs from Cooking with Beer, Grilled Fingerling Potatoes from Adventures in Cooking and Braised Carrots with Tarragon and Lime from Simple Fresh Southern.

What did we think?  I think I could eat a whole rack of the ribs by myself.  They were that good.  You need to make sure the sauce has an opportunity to caramelize on the ribs.  It's just about perfect.  No, actually it is perfect.  I wouldn't change a thing.  The potatoes were very good.  A four on a scale of one to five.  They didn't get grill marks but they tasted wonderful.  The carrots were also very good.  I used a bit too much lime juice but they hit the spot.  And, the best news is that we had enough leftover for Monday night's dinner!  Now, I might note that the leftovers weren't quite as good...

Maple Mustard Porter Ribs

Ingredients
1 c porter (we used Guiness stout)
1/2 c maple syrup
3 T Worcestershire sauce (ok, I confess, I totally missed this)
2 T spicy brown mustard
1/4 t crushed red pepper
2 lbs pork baby back ribs
salt and pepper

Directions:

Combine the beer, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and crushed red pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a strong simmer and cook until it's reduced to 3/4 cup.

We used our Big Green Egg so did not follow the original recipe from here on out.  The original calls for covering a half sheet with foil, putting the ribs on the half sheet, slathering them with sauce, wrapping more foil over them and baking them at 350 for 50 minutes. Then, it has you broil the ribs with the meaty side up, slathering them with the sauce.  Instead, we grilled them.  I started them meaty side down, flipped them and flipped them again.  Each time I slathered them with sauce. 

adapted from Cooking with Beer

Grilled Fingerling Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 lb fingerling potatoes (small red skins will work)
1/2 c plus 2 T white wine
olive oil
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 T whole grain mustard
2 T minced flat leaf parsley
1 T minced fresh tarragon
salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise.  Cook them over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  You should be able to easily pierce them with a fork or knife, but they should not be fully cooked.  Drain them and toss them with the 1/2 c wine. 

Heat your grill.  Allow the potatoes to come to room temperature.  Meanwhile, mix the dressing ingredients:  mayonnaise, mustard, parsley and tarragon. 

Brush the  potatoes with olive oil.  Grill about 5 minutes per side.  I used a grill basket so didn't get great grill marks.  You'll do better if you grill directly on the grate.  Remove the potatoes from the grill and toss them with the dressing. 

You can serve them hot or cold.  Both are delicious!

adapted from Adventures in Grilling

Braised Carrots with Tarragon and Lime

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 t kosher salt
2 lbs carrots, cut into 2-3" lengths, 1/3" in diameter
1/2 c white wine (preferably Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc)
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
leaves from three sprigs fresh tarragon
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lime

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil.  When it is shimmering, add the onions.  Cover the bottom of the pan with the onions to give them as much surface area as possible to caramelize a bit.  Sprinkle on about 1/4 t of salt.  Once the onions are lightly caramelized, remove them from the heat and transfer them to a dish.  Put the carrots and wine in the pan along with 1/4 t of salt and the pepper.  Cover the skillet and simmer the carrots for about six minutes or until they're tender.  Remove the lid and add the tarragon.  Cook the carrots until the liquid has almost evaporated.  Add in the onions, lime juice and salt and pepper.  Toss and serve.