|
Bourbon BBQ Beef Brisket Sliders, Brussels Sprout Salad, and Baked Mac 'n Cheese: Katie & Denis
Katie & Denis demonstrate how to serve their Bountiful Buffet... Yum Yum Yum!!!
A Perfect Backyard BBQ!
3rd Place Winner: Culinary Couples Year One - Best Dinner!
Recipes:
Bourbon BBQ Sauce:
½ onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup bourbon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ tablespoon salt
2 cups ketchup
¼ cup tomato paste
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 teaspoon hot sauce or to taste (Tabasco).Over medium heat, add onion garlic and whiskey to a large pan and simmer for 10 minutes or until onions are cooked. Add in black pepper, salt, ketchup, tomato paste, vinegar, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and hot sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes (careful it will bubble and spatter everywhere!). Run sauce through strainer and then let it sit in the refrigerator overnight before use. Leftovers lasted in our fridge for the next week - probably would've kept longer if we had been able to resist eating it all!
Beef Brisket Sliders:
1 beef brisket – about 5 lbs
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
BBQ Sauce – about 2-3 cups depending on taste
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Generously sprinkle brisket with salt and pepper. Then mix onion powder, paprika, garlic
powder, cumin and cayenne pepper together.
Then dry rub both sides of the brisket with the spice mix.
In the slow cooker, add about a cup of Bourbon BBQ sauce to the bottom
and then place the brisket on top with the fatty side up. Put more BBQ sauce on top of the brisket. Set the slow cooker to low and leave for
about 9 hours or until the meat starts to fall apart.
When cooked, remove meat and place on cutting board. Slice the fat cap off the top and
discard. Then slice meat against the
grain into chunks – it will likely just fall apart. Pour the juice/sauce from the slow cooker
into a bowl and skim off the fat. Add
cornstarch to the juice and stir until thickened.
Add meat, then some juice and more BBQ sauce back to slow cooker (add
sauce and juice slowly so that it is the consistency you want). Cook on low for about another hour until it
is all combined and the sauce is bubbling and thickened. Serve on buns with additional BBQ sauce.
Brussels Sprout Salad:
1-2 lbs Brussels sprouts, outer leaves only
3-4 cups arugula
Freshly shaved parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
Remove outer leaves from Brussels sprouts by cutting off base and
peeling off leaves (the rest can be reserved for cooked Brussels sprouts
another time). This process does take
some time, so be patient.
Once all leaves are removed, blanche them in boiling water for one minute. After one minute, remove leaves with a slotted spoon and submerge then in an ice water bath. This will cook them slightly, but still leave the bright green color and crunch to them.
Dry off leaves and add to salad bowl. Toss in arugula. Then dress with a fresh drizzles of olive oil and squeezes of lemon juice – adjust amounts to your liking. Toss with salt and pepper. Add shaved parmesan and serve.
Once all leaves are removed, blanche them in boiling water for one minute. After one minute, remove leaves with a slotted spoon and submerge then in an ice water bath. This will cook them slightly, but still leave the bright green color and crunch to them.
Dry off leaves and add to salad bowl. Toss in arugula. Then dress with a fresh drizzles of olive oil and squeezes of lemon juice – adjust amounts to your liking. Toss with salt and pepper. Add shaved parmesan and serve.
Baked Mac 'n Cheese
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
1 cup cream
5 cups milk
½ cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar (I used regular because that was all I
could find, but recipe calls for white cheddar which would have been even better)
2 cups grated gruyere cheese
1 ¼ cups grated pecorino romano cheese
1-2 lb macaroni
Bread crumbs for topping
Begin by heating milk and cream in a saucepan. In a separate pan, melt 6 tablespoons of
butter, once melted add in flour and cook for 1 minute, continually
stirring. Then pour in hot milk/cream
mixture while whisking. Continue to cook
and whisk until the mixture thickens and bubbles.
Remove the pan from heat and stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper,
cayenne pepper and ¾ of all cheeses (about 3 cups of cheddar, 1.5 cups of
gruyere and 1 cup of pecorino). Stir
until cheese is melted into sauce.
Cook macaroni until just slightly underdone (about 1-2 minutes less
than the package instructions). Drain
and then stir macaroni into the cheese sauce.
(If using more macaroni, add slowly until the cheesy level is to your
liking - I thought that one pound would’ve been too little for all that cheese
sauce, which is why I added more pasta).
Finally, pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and then scatter
with breadcrumbs. Bake in a 375 degree
oven until browned on top, about 30 minutes.
Serve and enjoy the cheesy, baked goodness.
