Summer brings memories of circus, fairs, carnivals, street festivals, fleas, farmers markets and the foods that go along with them.

I’m talking Corn Dogs, Fried Dough (Fry Bread), and the sweet & salty Kettle Corn that you thought you could only have on a hot summer afternoon, while standing in line for the Tilt-A-Whirl!

Kettle Corn, made on a large-scale for the fairs & festivals, usually involves a dedicated machine, with big copper pots.  However, Kettle Corn is really easy to make at home.  The trick is to constantly shake the pot.  Constantly.  And remove the pot when the kernels are popping every 2-3 seconds, and then keep shaking.

It does take a bit of practice to get this right — the sugar can burn too easily, if the heat is too high.  Make sure you are on a medium setting, and use an old pot – one that has seen  better times.  Burned sugar happens and it is a pain to clean.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we always have :)

Homemade Kettle Corn

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, stir in the sugar and popcorn. Cover and shake the pot.

Keep shaking the pot during the entire cooking process, to help keep the sugar from burning.

When the popping slows to every 2-3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat, and continue to shake until the popping has stopped. This will really keep the sugar from burning.

Pour the popcorn into a large bowl, salt to taste, and stir to break up any clumps, and allow to cool.

Once cool, store in ziplock bags…if you have any left ;)

Enjoy!

Variations:

• Use brown sugar, for a “caramel corn” taste
• Add in a teaspoon of cinnamon
• Add in 2 teaspoons maple flavoring, and 1/3 cup of walnuts
• Add in two tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce.  After you’ve poured out the popcorn, sprinkle with Cayenne Pepper

This recipe is really similar to Williams-Sonoma.  I didn’t use dark or semi sweet chocolate, though, as I had milk-chocolate chips in the house already.  I also could not find “Peppermint” extract in any of my local markets, so I ended up using a genera “Mint” extract.

The original recipe has you melting the chocolate over a double boiler.  I find that to be a bit fussy, and so stick to the microwave method.  The trick to melting chocolate in the microwave is to stir it every 30 seconds, or it can burn or separate.

I made this for New Years Eve and everyone loved it.  Yummmy goodness!

Peppermint Bark

12 ounce bag chocolate chips, any – dark, semi or milk
16 ounce bag white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup peppermint candy, crushed

Preheat the oven to 250F (121C).

Crush the peppermint candy.  I used about 10 candy canes when I did this.  I tried crushing these with a wooden mallet, and then ended  up putting the candy into a ziplock, and getting out the hammer!!  Do what works for you.

Line a 9×13 pan (cake pan) with foil.  Let the foil hang over the edges and wrap it around.  Spray the foil with non-stick spray, or, using vegetable oil, spread the oil lightly over the bottom of the pan, as well as the sides.

Pour in the chocolate chips and spread them out evenly.  Try to put them in as evenly as possible the first time, so you don’t get oil on the top of the chocolate.  Place the pan in the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven.  The chips will look glossy, but will be melted.  Spread the chocolate out evenly.  Place in the refrigerator until firm – 20-30 minutes.  Remove from the refrigerator and allow to sit for 10 minutes.  Remove any condensation that may occur with a paper towel.

Once the chocolate has been out for the 10 minutes, place the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Place in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Remove.  Stir.  Replace and set for another 30 seconds.  Do that until the chocolate has melted.  Add in the peppermint extract and stir well.

Once the white chocolate has melted, pour it over the chocolate in the pan, and spread evenly.  Sprinkle with the crushed peppermint.   Refrigerate about 1 hour.  Lift the foil out of the pan and remove the excess peppermint and the foil.  Break or cut this into pieces.  For a more “formal” look, cut it into 2 inch wide strips.   You can store this in a cool, dry place for a couple of weeks or longer in the refrigerator.  Place the pieces in a container, layer with parchment paper and store tightly sealed.  This makes about 2 pounds.

Variations:

Replace the peppermint extract and peppermint candies, using a variation below:

Almond Bark – Use 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring, and 1/2 cup of blanched, chopped (or sliced) almonds.

Cherry Almond - use 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring, 1/3 cup dried cherries, minced, and 1/2 cup blanched, chopped (or sliced) almonds

Maple Walnut Bark – Use 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring, and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Cranberry & Pistachios – 1/3 cup of dried cranberries, minced, and 1/2 cup of pistachios

Toasted Coconut and Almonds – 1/2 cup blanched, chopped (or sliced) almonds, and 1/3 cup of shredded coconut

Other variations:

Peanut Butter-  Replace the white chocolate, mint and peppermint candies with  16 ounces Peanut butter chips and  1/2 cup salted peanuts

Butterscotch – Replace the white chocolate with peanut butter chips, the chocolate with butterscotch chips, don’t use the peppermint extract, and replace the candy with peanuts and broken pretzels

I first made these one year when we had “leftover” Thanksgiving guests — they stayed for the weekend.  I needed something simple, because I was literally all cooked out from the day before.  I didn’t have flatbread, and instead used tortillas, but these were a big hit with everyone.

The recipe is a fluid one — it can be changed easily, depending upon what you have left from the big meal.  The last time I made this, I used leftover salad – lettuce, diced carrots, onions, tomatoes, black olives – in place of the spinach, tomato, onion that is in the recipe below.  It was one less thing to have to prep.

The recipe for flatbread is included below — literally, and I’m not kidding – 5-7 minutes prep, 6-10 minutes cooking, and these are ready.  They are quick, and so simple.  And once you make them, you really will be amazed at how often you will add them into your recipes, replacing sliced bread, or tortillas.

Oh, I can’t wait for this!!!

Enjoy!

Turkey, Avocado, Spinach and Bleu Cheese Flatbread Sandwiches

2 cups cooked turkey
2 green onions, chopped
1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1/3 red onion, minced
1/3 vinaigrette
4-6 pieces of flatbread (recipe below), or tortillas
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1 cup Gorgonzola, crumbled * see note

Gently mix the turkey, onion, tomato, onion and avocado – you don’t want the avocado to become mush.  Add in the vinaigrette and stir gently.  To serve, put the turkey mixture into a flatbread or tortilla and top with the spinach and blue cheese.  Roll and serve.

Notes:

• Replace the Gorgonzola with any type of bleu cheese you might like
• Replace the Gorgonzola bleu cheese with gouda cheese, or, for that matter, almost any other kind of cheese that you may prefer
• Use tortillas in place of the Flatbread.

Quick Flatbread

3 cups flour
1 cup cold water
3 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Combine all the ingredients, cutting in the shortening, and mix until combined and doughy.

Now, there are a couple of ways to do this:

• Cut the dough into 5 equal pieces, and roll each piece into 6-8 inch circles

Or

• Roll out the whole batch into a large rectangle.  Make a slice directly across the middle, so you have a top and bottom piece, and then cut those in 3rds, so you end up with 6 smaller squares.

Once you’ve gotten these rolled out and sized, prick the pieces with a fork — at least 7-8 times on each piece.

To cook, lightly oil a non-stick pan (Spray with Pam very lightly).  Cook over medium-high heat, and turn once.  These cook fast, so watch them carefully.  Be fully prepared to ruin the first ;)

Everything you can think of was served — all sorts of pickles – sweet, and extra sour; 10-15 different types of olives; all sorts of hard aged meats, and cheeses; breads; and all sorts of savory dips.. you name it, and it was on the table.

One thing that everyone always seemed to like was a basic cream cheese based clam dip – simple and easy to put together.  You can make this up to 2 days ahead without a problem.

Doxsee Minced Clams - 6.5oz can

There are several different types of minced clams on the market, and depending upon where you live, the availability will differ.  I tend to use the brand pictured on the right – Doxsee Minced Clams, from the The Doxsee Sea Clam Co., but use what you have around.

Creamy Chilled Clam Dip

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2 cans (6-1/2 ounces each) minced clams, drained
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoon chili sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese until smooth.  Add in all the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Refrigerate for 4-6 hours before serving, though it tastes even better if allowed to refrigerate at least overnight.  You can, if necessary serve this right away.

Serve with crackers, or small, thin sliced breads.

[ This post is written by Sander, expressing his profound love of beans and beer ;) ]

There are many  great snacks to go with beer – potato chips, cheese, various nuts, smoked ribs, pork rinds, pepper sausages and many, many more.

But in my opinion, none of them comes even close to the freshly boiled fava beans – if made in the right way. They are just horrible, if not made in the right way, so do follow my instructions!

Fava or broad beans (Vicia faba, also faba bean, horse bean, field bean, tic bean) should be readily available everywhere in the world. If you cannot find fresh beans, don’t despair – dried ones are even better.

Start by soaking thoroughly rinsed fava beans in cold water – use about three times as much water as you have beans, as they will get a whole lot bigger. You can skip the soaking – but then you’ll have to boil beans for three hours or even more. Therefore, soaking is generally A Very Good Idea.

My personal invention is to add salt to the soaking water – against all expectations, beans soak faster and salt goes into them. You should soak beans at least three or four hours, but more is better. Perhaps around 8 hours is the best.

You can try if they have been soaked enough by tasting them. If they are moist and tasty, easily chewable, then they are ready. Otherwise, soak them some more.

Rinse the beans again and put them to boiling water – you will need about twice as much water as you have beans. Immediately add salt – for one thing, it increases the boiling temperature of the water a bit and secondly, it gives salt more time to go into the beans.

It is critically important to add salt right away. Some people (like my mother) will add salt when beans are almost done – and it has no time to go into the beans. And she wonders why no one wants boiled beans when she makes them. Well, they will taste like someone has already eaten them once and they didn’t sit well in his belly…

Then add smoked pork – you don’t have to add lots or pricey meat. Meat from cheap smoked ribs or ham hocks will do just fine. It is for the taste, so half of a pound is more then enough.

I add usually also some bullion cubes – either pork or some other flavor. Remember that bullion cubes are salty – you don’t want to over salt your delicious beans.

Some people also add onion, I’ve done that occasionally but am not a big fan of it. Try both with and without, perhaps you’ll like the taste. You can also add a bit of oil or butter, that will keep the beans from cracking and make the outside layer a bit softer. If you have fatty meat, though, skip the oil.

Boil on low heat from hour to hour and a half – or even two hours, depending on the size of the beans. Try to contain your hunger for them – they will start smelling delicious loooong before they are ready.

Doesn’t hurt to taste them occasionally, though… ;)

Get rid of the leftover water and pour them into a bowl or bowls. Serve immediately – it is easiest to use just fingers for eating, but a fork is OK as well. Have plenty of nice cold beer ready… and it will be a feast to remember!

However, beans are only good for an hour or so. When they get cold, they aren’t nearly as good. You can try freezing them and heating up in a microwave later, but the resulting mushy mess does not taste anything like the golden brown food of the gods you had before. So, be careful not to make too much at once.

(image from Wikipedia)

Garlic & Parmesan Pita Chips

2 Pita bread pockets
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Salt

Heat your oven to 400F. 

Cut the pita bread into 8 triangles, and then split them apart.  Place them evenly on a baking sheet.  I like to place them inside down.

In a mixing bowl, combine the oil, garlic and salt.  Brush over one side of the pita triangles, and then sprinkle with the parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes, or until the pita triangles are golden brown.  These can burn pretty easily, so keep your eye on it. 

Variations:

This is one of those recipes where the only limit is your imagination.  There are hundreds of combinations:

• Black pepper, garlic salt, dried basil, dried chervil
  Cajun seasoning, ground cumin
  Sesame Seeds
  Prepared Italian Dressing, parmesan & sesame seeds
  Lemon Pepper & Garlic
  Basil & Pine Nuts, with Parmesan

Notes:

I like these chips as is, but they are great for all kinds of dips

Crumble these up, and use in place of croutons in salads

This is a simple recipe – that is the beauty of a wrap – anything goes. And here, anything really could go: Replace the roast beef with chicken, or turkey, use tomatoes in place of peppers, Vidalia onion in place of the red.. and you’ve got a totally new wrap.

Enjoy!

Amazing Roast Beef Wraps

4 small burrito sized wraps or tortillas
4 -8 ounces Roast Beef, thinly sliced
1 Roasted Red Pepper (see Recipe below)
2-3 slices Red Onion
1 bunch of sprouts
Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce (See recipe below)

Spread Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce on each wrap, and place other ingredients, to taste, on the wrap, roll to close. Serve chilled.

To store these for later, roll tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

Roasted Red Peppers

6 large red bell peppers
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
brown paper bag
1 tsp sea salt or kosher salt

Preheat your broiler or grill. Lightly oil the peppers with the 1 tablespoon of oil (do not seed the peppers at this point). Place on baking sheet (if using an indoor broiler), or directly on your grill. Cook peppers, turning often, until they have black spots and blister all over, and are tender to the touch. Place the peppers into the paper bag (or plastic bag, or any closed container), and seal closed. Set aside until the peppers have cooled – about 30 minutes.

Once the peppers have cooled, remove the skins by lightly peeling them, using the edge of a knife to scrape away the blackened and blistered skins. Slice the peppers and remove seeds and inner core. Rinse quickly under water, and dry well. Cut the peppers into long strips.

In a sterile jar, add salt, remaining olive oil, garlic, parsley and peppers.

You can refrigerate this for 3-4 weeks… if they last that long ;)

Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce

1 Cup Sour Cream
3-4 Tablespoons Hot Horseradish (prepared)
1 1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Lemon Juice
Dash Paprika
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve.

For another ‘Tortilla Wrap’ recipe, click here.

Cheese sandwiches, Photo by Sander Säde

One of my favorite comfort foods has no real name.. at least, not that I know of. We just call them “cheese-mayo-sour-cream sandwiches”.

I got this recipe from Sander, who likes them quite a lot, and has been making them since he was in pre-school. I have become rather addicted to these little yummy things. Mmmmy cheesey goodness!

There are no real measurements with this recipe – experiment with what works best for you, and what tastes best to you.

Cheese-Mayo-Sour Cream-Sandwiches

Grated cheese ? Use one or more of your favorite cheeses. I use Cheddar, Monterey, Gouda, American ? any kind of cheese will work. I often mix different cheeses together for this recipe ? A bit of cheddar, a bit of munster, a bit of cream cheese, a bit of parmesan. No real rules to the type of cheese that can be used. However, Bleu styled cheeses don?t work well in this application

Sour cream – about 1/2 a cup

Mayo – about 1/2 a cup – though I usually use 2/3 a cup myself, as I like the flavor

Any type of seasoning you like ? Dill, curry, red pepper flakes, garlic – try your favorites

Bread ? I often have used white, wheat, italian, french or challah to make this – use your favorite

Mix everything together and spread it on bread. Bake at 400F until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve immediately.

Store these in plastic wrap or foil in the refrigerator. Re-heat in the oven at 400F until warmed through or serve cold.
Some variations and additions:

Add a bit of salami, pepperoni, diced ham or chicken to the mix

A thin sliced tomato

Thin sliced black olives

Leftover sausage, crumbled

Try different types of cheeses and seasonings.. for example, try Parmesan, Romano, Mozzarella and garlic.

Thanks to Sander for the included picture

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 quart vegetable oil
16 hot dogs
16 wooden skewers

In a deep pan, Heat the oil to 350F.

In a bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sugar and baking powder – don’t over mix. In a second bowl, beat the egg, and then add in the milk.  Add to the cornmeal mixture.

Soak the skewers for about 10 minutes in hot water. Insert these into the hot dogs. Dip into the batter and immediately place in the hot oil. Cook about 7-10 minutes. Set aside to drain, and continue cooking until all the hot dogs have been fried. To keep warm, put these in a warm oven – 275F.

Notes:

Use good hot dogs – the type you really like. I like Nathans brand myself.

Add 1 tsp. cayenne pepper to the batter mix. or Add 2 jalapeño peppers (finely chopped) to batter.

The temp and cooking time vary – some recipes I?’ve seen have it set at 360 for 6-8 minutes, or 375 for 4-5 minutes. Try different temps and what works best for you.

These freeze well. Once cooled, store in a plastic bag. To re-heat, heat the oven to 400F, and cook for 10 minutes, or until hot. These don’t microwave well – they get soggy.

Alton suggests, when making his recipe, to put the batter into a tall glass, and dipping the hot dogs into that. It does work, and is a bit less messy.