Ancho Chile BBQ Sauce

Today, we’re getting ready for another great Superbowl recipe. This is a great bbq sauce, which I recently used to make shredded bbq chicken mini pizzas. It’s mild, rich, and not overly sweet. (A note for those who know me personally: this is NOT the bbq sauce I gave out for Christmas, it’s a different, less spicy/sweet one, more savory)

First, cut tomatoes into chunks and run them through a food mill to crush the tomatoes and remove the seeds.

Next, toast dried chiles in a skillet, pressing them down flat, until they’re soft and pliable.

 

Mini Mint Chocolate Brownies

In honor of the upcoming Superbowl, and because I haven’t posted a dessert since before Christmas, here’s something for your sweet tooth. Speaking of the Superbowl, might I also suggest these recipes: home-made salsa, chipotle spiced nuts, and chorizo-filled phyllo shells.

Start by microwaving a mix of unsweetened chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips on 50% power until shiny and melting. Stir to melt, then stir in softened butter.

Stir in some brown sugar, making sure it’s smooth and there are no brown sugar lumps.

 

Lemon Chili Shrimp

Today we’re starting the ramp up to Superbowl with a great grilled shrimp appetizer. I think I’ll definitely be making these, and suggest you do too.

First, you need to get a bunch of uncooked shrimp. I tend to get them unpeeled, and then peel, devein, and remove the tail myself, so they’re simpler to eat, but what you remove is up to you.

Marinate them for two hours (preferably, but a minimum of 30 minutes) in a mixture of lemon juice, soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger root, cilantro, garlic, and honey.

Thread them on skewers, reserving the sauce.

 

Mom’s Tacos

In honor of moving my blog to it’s own fully self-hosted domain (hooray!) I’m posting another family recipe: my mother’s tacos. Slightly spicy, well seasoned, they’re fantastic. Also, please, PLEASE, do not use premade taco seasoning. It’s way too salty, and making your own is incredibly easy. I recommend using Alton Brown’s recipe.

First, start by browning a pound of ground beef, then pour off all of the excess grease.

Add some salsa, taco seasoning, and a can of spicy (or not, as you prefer) V-8.

 

Chipotle Hummus

As a friend described this, the hummus is yummus. Now, this is actually a combination of a technique from Smitten Kitchen, where you peel the garbanzo beans for a smoother, lighter hummus, but the flavors are from Natalie’s Daily Crave, somewhat adapted for my own tastes.

Start by peeling two cans of garbanzo beans. The technique is pretty simple, just hold one between your index and middle fingers with the pointy end toward you, and use your thumb to ‘pop’ the bean into a bowl, then discard the skin.

Once you’ve peeled all the beans, place them in a food processor along with 4 chipotle peppers and some adobo sauce, some tahini, olive oil, lots of garlic, some lime juice, salt, paprika, and cumin.

 

Great Guacamole

The title of this post makes me want to exclaim Great Guacamole, Batman! But that’s probably only me, and will go away once I completely wake up. In the meantime, I’m envisioning various Batman roles as mexican foods, so am thoroughly amused.

On to the food! This is Alton Brown’s guacamole recipe, and it’s pretty darn good. The few changes I made were substituting salsa for tomatoes, leaving out the jalapeno for a spice-intolerant friend, and added extra garlic. It worked out pretty well for us, though I’d add the jalapeno without seeds in next time for more flavor.

Start by halving, peeling, and seeding the avocados. Then toss it in a bowl with the juice of one lime, minus one reserved tablespoon of the juice.

Next, add kosher salt, cumin, and cayenne, then mix and mash everything together.

 

Homemade Peanut Butter

I’ve heard it a hundred times… “Making your own peanut butter is so easy, and so good!” but never gave it a try until now. So for New Years, I was going to make homemade peanut butter, roll it into balls, and cover it in tempered chocolate. Things interfered with the actual chocolate, so I just got a whole lot of homemade peanut butter… but dang is it good! And SO EASY!

Start with lightly or unsalted peanuts, and roast them in the oven on a baking sheet for 5-6 minutes until brown. What you see here is the first batch, which burned a little, so you want less dark than this. My second batch was amazing though.

Let the peanuts rest until simply warm to the touch, 10-15 minutes. Then place in a food processor and puree until the proper consistency, scraping down the sides occasionally.