Mmmm. That sounds good. I'll have that.

Normally, it takes me anywhere from a few months to a few years before I put a recipe up on my blog, but this dish is so good I literally just finished eating and had to blog about it now. For us, this was a great Sunday dinner because not only is it delicious, but it's incredibility easy and quick to make. With the exception of the shrimp and bread we had all of the ingredients already in the house.

New Orleans Barbecue Beer Shrimp
via thebeeroness.com 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs Worcestershire
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dry oregano
½ tsp hot chili sauce - we used sriracha
1 cup pale ale - we used Sam Adams Summer Ale
1 pounds raw shrimp, deveined with the shell on - this was enough shirmp for two of us
Bread for serving/mopping - we sliced up french bread

• Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
• Add the remaining ingredients, besides the shrimp and bread, and bring to a simmer.
• Add the shrimp and cook until pink.
• Serve shrimp in the sauce and sliced bread on the side.

The sauce is the best part. I was surprised that it had a couple layers of flavor. You taste the beer first and then you get a little bit of heat in the back of your throat. It seems logical to have a beer with this dish, but I was so full I think a beer would be too much. I'd recommend having with a glass of iced tea.

Cherryland's Best - Cherries 2.5 ways

Near the end of July I went camping with my family and, at the last minute, came across an opportunity to buy fresh Door County Cherries from CherryLand’s Best delivered from Door County that morning! I couldn't pass up the opportunity! I picked up a huge pail and wasn't sure right away what to do with them all - since they would only stay fresh for a few days. I ended up finding three ways to use them, If you don't count dehydrating.

Cherry Pie
Filling adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com
Crust from "The Recipe Encyclopedia"

Crust

1 1/4 cups bread flour (x2)
1/3 cup butter (x2)
1 tablespoons sugar (x2)
4 tablespoons cold water (x2)

• Mix ingredients in a bowl. 
• Knead by hand on counter top for 2mins (use flour to prevent sticking).
• Place dough in bowl.
• Cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 30min.
• Repeat all of the steps above to make the pie top.
• Roll the both crusts 1/8in thin.
• Place only the bottom crust in pie pan and bake for 15min (or until golden brown).

Filling and assembly
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar
4 cups pitted cherries
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 400.
• In a large mixing bowl combine salt, sugar, cherries, and extract.
• Let stand 15 minutes.
• Put filling over crust.
• Cover with top crust, flute edges, and cut vents in top. - We did the basket weave
• Place pie on a foil lined cookie sheet - in case of drips
• Bake for 50 minutes, until golden brown. 

Tips

• Pie Crusts are like a buttery cookie dough that doesn't rise. It is buttery enough by its self so you don't need to butter the pie pan.
• To help the bottom crust from having air pockets that rise while cooking the crust, you can add a layer of parchment paper (not wax paper) on top of the crust and weight it down evenly with loose beans or rice.
• While the pie filling is cooking, the crust might brown to quickly. If the crust starts to brown too much, cover the pie with aluminum foil.
• Make your own whipped cream (using real cream!)

Cherry Clafouti 
From Alton Brown

12oz fresh or frozen cherries - I used fresh of course!
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Butter, for the Dutch oven

• Prepare charcoal for cooking outdoors by heating coals in a chimney starter until hot and ashy.
• Butter the bottom and sides of a 5-quart Dutch oven. If using fresh cherries, rinse, stem, and pit the cherries. If using frozen, place the cherries into a colander and allow to thaw completely before using.
• Discard the juice.
• Spread the cherries evenly over the bottom of the Dutch oven.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until frothy and lightened in color.
• Add the milk, vanilla, and flour and whisk to combine.
• Pour the batter over the cherries.
• Place 18 to 19 coals on a Dutch oven table.
• Place a cooling rack, or other wire rack, that is at least 2-inches high, directly over the coals.
• Place the Dutch oven on the rack directly over the coals.
• Cover with the lid and place 22 to 23 coals on top.
• Cook with the lid on for 25 minutes.
• Remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes or until golden on top and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
• Allow to cool for 30 minutes before removing from the Dutch oven.

It is way too easy to burn this on a fire, so I would suggest doubling the recipe (at least) in case the bottom burns, you can still cut it off and have enough left to eat!

The .5 way is Chocolate Milk Cherry Stout Beer

Typically, you would make a lambic beer with cherries but that is a little advanced for a second attempt at home-brewing. So, my husband and a few of his friends started making a chocolate milk stout beer from a standard kit with the intention of adding the cherries during fermentation. Let's hope you can't go wrong with chocolate and cherries! We should know the results around Halloween - I will update you of course on the results.

Thank you Burp blog and CherryLand’s Best for this opportunity!

Tonight, we have a special guest!!

The Snack Shack is proud to present the addition of a new, featured column, the Dishwasher Confessional!

My husband is the author of this column which will feature his views on cooking and food. Where my posts are mostly about dinner recipes, my husband's interests are more in the area of gardening and dehydrating. Also, since we got a KitchenAid mixer his staple recipe is...

Beer Bread
Written by the Dishwasher Confessional

Its bread with beer. It is so simple, so hearty, and tasty I really don't buy bread any more. Throw in something special like cheese and life just gets a little better. I can't even remember exactly where I found this recipe 'cause it is everywhere on the net (kinda of a beer bread 101 recipe).

Time from ingredient to stomach is about 1.25hrs (makes 1 loaf)

Tools
Bread pan
Mixing bowl
Oven

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1 can of beer
1 Tbs Crisco

• Start preheating the oven to 400 F.
• Mix all ingredients in a big bowl (except Crisco) 'till it looks like mushed bananas (if it looks dry add a little more beer).
• Grease bread pan with Crisco.
• Put the mix in the bread pan and stick it in the oven.
• Cook for 1hr (or until top of bread is dark brown).
• After taking out of oven, remove from pan and let it cool for 10min.

Extra bonus points if you:
-Sift all dry items first (makes bread fluffier)
-Use a glass bread pan (cooks bottom of bread)
-Use butter to grease pan (yummy butter)
-Put bread on drying rack to cool (helps bottom of bread dry better)
-Add something special to the mix: shredded cheese. bananas, or
pepper flakes (be a rebel and add something crazy)
-Try different beers (remember with the exception of hoppy beer, it
makes bitter bread)

A little behind the weather...

Over the winter I made few really great soups and I haven't had a chance to sit down and share them with you. I know it's not really soup season anymore, but since I do live in Wisconsin there's a very good chance we could still have a cold spell.

The first soup, baked potato, I decided to make because a girl at work was craving baked potato soup for lunch and we couldn't find any place near work that offered it. After talking about it so much I really wanted some too. So that weekend I went home and made it :-)It was hard to find a baked potato soup recipe because they are all very similar with just have few variations. I finally decided on a basic one and went from there.

Baked Potato Soup
From Yumsugar.com (adapted from Cooking Light magazine)



2 tbsp. butter
1/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 baking potatoes (about 2-1/2 lbs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups milk
1 cup (4 oz) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
Cracked black pepper (optional)

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Pierce potatoes with a fork and place on oven rakes
• Bake for 1 hour or until tender
• Cool, peel, and coarsely mash potatoes
• In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat
• Add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes
• Add flour into the vegetables
• Gradually whisk in milk, stirring until blended
• Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly, about 8 minutes
• Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper
• Stir until cheese melts
• Remove from heat
• Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions
• Cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Do not boil.
• Ladle 1-1/2 cups soup into each of 8 bowls
• Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 tsp cheese, 1-1/2 teaspoons onions, and about 1 tbsp. bacon
• Garnish with cracked pepper, if desired

The next recipe is the "losing" recipe from the Iron Chef competition we had a work. Though it didn't win, I think it's a great soup! I first made it with reuben sandwiches for St. Patty's day last year. Yum!!!

Guinness and Onion soup with Irish Cheddar Crouton
From Foodnetwork.com

Picture from foodnetwork.com

My picture from the Iron Chef competition

2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
8 cups thinly sliced onions
Gray salt - I just used regular table salt
1 Tbs fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 1/2 cups Guinness
6 cups beef stock
6 slices country bread cut 1/2-inch thick, toasted - I used croutons
1/2 pound Irish Cheddar, sliced thin - I used swiss



Make the soup

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat
• Add garlic and cook briefly
• Add onions, season with salt and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often
• Reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are golden brown
• Add the thyme, vinegar, and beer
• Reduce beer by half and add the beef stock
• Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 more minutes

Prepare to serve

• Preheat the broiler
• Transfer soup to an ovenproof serving dish or individual ovenproof soup bowls
• Top with toasted bread slices and sliced Cheddar
• Broil until cheese melts and starts to brown slightly
• Serve piping hot

Shocking!

It seems to be increasingly popular to have food and wine pairings on your menu. I've tried these pairings before and they never really worked for me. So, I tend to ignore the advise and just order whatever I would normally want.

Well, Food & Wine magazine's February issue has 50 recipes they pair with wine, beer, and cocktails. Even without the pairings, many of the recipes sound great, so I thought I would try the pairings with it.
Some Shocking news; the food and beer pairing was amazing! I really felt the beer enhanced the flavor of the dish. F&D magazine really knows what they are talking about :-)

What I chose to make was a pork tenderloin and a salad (the salad had no alcoholic pairings).

Pork Tenderloin Smothered in Onion and Mustard

Pairing suggestions:

Wine: Gewürztraminer

Cocktail: Shandy 

Beer: German Ale - Hofbrauhaus original

2 12oz pork tenderloins, cut into 2" lengths and pounded 1" thick

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tsp all-purpose flour, plus a bit extra

2 Tbs unsalted butter

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, very thinly sliced

1 Tbs grainy mustard

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbs fresh, chopped dill

Buttered noodles for serving

• Season the pork with salt and pepper and dust with flour.
• In a medium, deep skillet, melt the butter in the olive oil.
• Add the pork and cook over high heat, turning once, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the pork to a plate.
• Add the onion to the skillet, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
• Stir in the mustard and the 1 teaspoon of flour and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Nestle the pork in the onion sauce.
• Cover and simmer over moderate heat until the pork is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
• Transfer the pork to plates.
• Stir the chopped dill into the sauce and spoon over the pork.
• Serve with buttered noodles. - Suggestion of course. I usually just have it alone or with a side of cooked carrots.

Serve over buttered noodles.

Bibb-and-Radish Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
3 large heads of bibb lettuce, leaves torn (serving for 8 people)
8 radishes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup snipped chives
2 Tbs mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper

• In a large bowl, toss the lettuce with the radishes and chives
• In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the buttermilk and vinegar
• Gradually whisk in the olive oil
• Season with salt and pepper to taste
• Just before serving, drizzle dressing over salad and toss well

Surprisingly, both of these dishes take about the same time to make (about 30 min each). So I made the salad and my husband made the pork and we were done around the same time.

One tip my husband taught me was how to preserve the dill and the chives.

• Take the bunch and and hold it together tightly by the stems.
• Put it in a brown paper lunch bag, upside down (stems facing up). Keep a hold of the bunch.
• With your other hand, grab the paper bag around the stems and rubber band them together.
• Take a knife and gently poke holes around the bottom of the bag.
• Store in the refrigerator.