Appetizers – Simple Comfort Food – Recipes that are simple and delicious.

Beer Braised Taquitos

September 9, 2016 Dax Phillips 1 Comment

The taquito. What’s not to love? It’s one of those menu items that often gets overlooked due to all of the other delicious items on a Mexican restaurant’s menu, but take a pause, slow down, and look at that name. The taquito. Some know the taquito as a flauto. Fine. But at the end of the day, the taquito is essentially a corn tortilla stuffed with meat and cheese, and typically deep fried. It’s crisp. It’s perfect, and I’m pretty sure I do not know anyone that would not pick one of these up and devour it. This is how my taquito started. A mistake if you will, but a great mistake at that.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

3 lbs beef chuck roast, exterior fat trimmed and removed
12 oz can of your favorite beer (I used Oskar Blues Priscilla)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 package of fresh corn tortillas
1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
cooking spray
Guacamole, optional
Sour cream, optional
Your favorite hot sauce or salsa, optional

This is a slow cooker recipe, however if you decide to braise, by all means get in and go for it.

I initially started this slow cooked beef as my wife wanted kebobs on the grill one weekend. Well, time got away from me, and as I was not up for kebabs on the grill (laziness), I made something else, but decided I would add keep the beef cooking and use it the following day. Did I mention I love the slow cooker?

Start by cubing your beef. It does not matter how large or small. This stuff is going to cook for more than eight hours, if not longer. Did I mention I love the slow cooker?

Add the beef, along with the salt, pepper, and beer to the slow cooker. Set to low. Forget about it for about 6-14 hours, then return to it.

Slow Cooked Beer Braised Beef Taquitos Recipe

With a slotted spoon, or spider, strain the beef, reserving about 1 cup of the liquid mixture, add in the garlic powder, and shred the beef with a couple of forks. It should be falling apart tender.

Add in the reserved liquid, stir, and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take your package of corn tortillas, add them to a plate, and microwave them for about 1 minute.

Remove and cover with a clean towel, or place into your tortilla warmer.

Take a tortilla, add some shredded beef, a bit of cheese, and roll into a log. Place onto a baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat with all tortillas, beef, and cheese.

Spray the taquitos with cooking spray and place into the preheated oven, and cook until golden brown, roughly 20 minutes. Just keep an eye on them as you don’t want them to overcook.

Remove, and serve with your favorite side items.

The end result is not only an awesome taquito, but when taking a bite has you thinking ‘what the heck is that flavor in that beef?!’. Yep, that’s the beer, and the salt and garlic. It’s pretty slick to say the least.

So if you are looking for a great snack, lunch, or dinner, heck even breakfast, these taquitos are your go to. Hope you enjoy!

Fry Sauce

August 20, 2016August 21, 2016 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

Fry sauce, or simply a ‘special sauce’ is probably the easiest thing to make and typically served with french fries. I think fry sauce can pretty much go on anything, including burgers, and fries of which I did. Fry sauce is a classic sauce and has been around for ages. Think of it as somewhat of a Russian dressing. The simplicity is essentially a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup, but I add a couple of different twists making this fry sauce super addicting one.

Let’s get started on this excellent condiment.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of your favorite mayonnaise
1/4 cup of ketchup
1 tbsp pickle juice
1 tbsp your favorite hot sauce
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
hot fries, optional

Add everything but the hot fries to a mixing bowl. Mix well. Cover and place in the refrigerator for later use.

When you are ready to serve, drizzle onto your hot fries (I used roasted garlic and rosemary baby yukon potatoes), or serve on the side. I also smeared a generous amount onto my grilled burger. Talk about simplicity at its finest, and a delicious tang of a condiment to boot. If you are looking for all of that, give this one a shot, and feel free to double the amount for later use. Hope you enjoy!

Homemade French Onion Dip

August 10, 2016 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

As I have noted in the past, my daughter loves, just loves Grandma’s dip. I think she actually gets excited when we go to Grandma’s house because she knows that the majority of the time Grandma is going to the ‘the dip’ and chips out for snacking. The dip is the French onion dip you buy at the store, and one, for whatever reason, that I never buy. Most likely because no one else would eat it. So not too long ago I decided it was time for me to make a batch of my take on a French onion dip, and one that steers away from the classic minced onion recipe. I don’t even recall when I last used minced onion anyway.

This French onion dip uses my onion jam recipe which elevates it to a whole other level.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 very large onion, thinly sliced
generous pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic, grated on a rasp or microplane
1 lime, zested
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
8 oz container of sour cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
Potato Chips

Start as you normally would when caramelizing onions. Heat a large skillet on medium-low heat, add the butter, and add in your onions. Shower the onions with a generous pinch of salt, then let the games begin. The goal is to cook these nice and slow, until they are a nice golden color.

This process can take about 40 minutes, or longer, but be patient and stir throughout the process.

Once you achieve a golden color, then it is time to add in your garlic and allowing that to cook a minute or two, stirring the garlic into the onions.

After a minute or two, add in the cracked black pepper, fish sauce, lime zest, and lime juice. Give the mixture a good stir, raise the heat just a bit, and cook another minute or two.

Remove the onions from the heat, place them in a bowl, and let them come to room temperature.

Once your onions have cooled, take about a cup of them and add them to a small mixing bowl. Add in the garlic powder, salt, and sour cream. Give this a good mix, and get ready to serve them up.

Place the dip into a serving bowl, alongside your favorite potato chips and dig in.

Not I’m not sure if my daughter will start calling this ‘Dad’s Dip’, but what I do know is that she spooned out two small bowls of it and went to town. I think I won on that front.

If you are looking not only for a great onion jam recipe, but one that can be folded into some basic ingredients and made into a great dip, then give this one a shot. Hope you enjoy!

Homemade French Onion Dip

Author: Dax Phillips

Recipe type: Appetizer

Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 very large onion, thinly sliced
generous pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic, grated on a rasp or microplane
1 lime, zested
½ tbsp fish sauce
½ lime, juiced
¼ tsp cracked black pepper
8 oz container of sour cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
Potato Chips

Instructions

Start as you normally would when caramelizing onions. Heat a large skillet on medium-low heat, add the butter, and add in your onions. Shower the onions with a generous pinch of salt, then let the games begin. The goal is to cook these nice and slow, until they are a nice golden color.
This process can take about 40 minutes, or longer, but be patient and stir throughout the process.
Once you achieve a golden color, then it is time to add in your garlic and allowing that to cook a minute or two, stirring the garlic into the onions.
After a minute or two, add in the cracked black pepper, fish sauce, lime zest, and lime juice. Give the mixture a good stir, raise the heat just a bit, and cook another minute or two.
Remove the onions from the heat, place them in a bowl, and let them come to room temperature.
Once your onions have cooled, take about a cup of them and add them to a small mixing bowl. Add in the garlic powder, salt, and sour cream. Give this a good mix, and get ready to serve them up.
Place the dip into a serving bowl, alongside your favorite potato chips and dig in.

Roasted Garlic Scape Soup

June 25, 2016 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

These past few weeks, our farmer’s market has yielded some pretty great stuff, in particular strawberries (which actually taste like awesome strawberries), rhubarb, all sorts of herbs and onions, and one of my favorites this time of year, garlic scape. I buy garlic scape every time I see it at the market, and I make a variety of things with it, but this year I decided to make a roasted garlic scape soup. If you are not familiar with garlic scapes, it is essentially the flower bud from garlic, and have the taste of a mix between a mild garlic and onion flavor. That’s right up my alley.

This roasted garlic scape soup is not only easy to make, but it’s super comforting, loaded with great flavor, and has the texture of a nice bisque. Not the prettiest of soups, but one that you will want to make again.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of garlic scapes
1 tbsp olive oil
generous pinch of salt, and more to taste
3 cloves of garlic
3 small to medium sized shallots
4 cups of chicken stock
1 whole russet potato, peeled, cut into cubes
1/4 cup of half and half
pinch of red chili flakes
1/2 tbsp cracked black pepper
1 sprig of fresh thyme, stem removed

I like to roast my scapes, garlic, and shallots (both skin on) over some charcoal, but you could place yours in the oven on high heat if you prefer. It’s summertime so I make every attempt not to heat up the kitchen. So start by rubbing the olive oil all over the garlic scapes, garlic, and shallots, and season with some salt, and place onto your hot grill, turning along the way. You want some nice charred marks on the scapes, as well as to soften the shallots and garlic. So once they are slightly charred, remove them from the grill and set aside.

Chop up the garlic scapes and carefully remove the skins from the garlic and shallots.

Next, get a pot onto the stove and pour in the chicken stock. Add in the cubed potatoes, and the garlic scapes, garlic, and shallots, and cook for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Once they are fork tender, this is when you want to bust out your immersion blender. If you do not have an immersion blender, I highly recommend you purchase one, then you can carefully ladle, in batches, the soup mixture into a blender, making sure you cover the top and place pressure down onto it. Hot stuff in blenders without putting a towel over the top, once covered, can lead to a mess. Trust me.

So whichever route you take (I used an immersion blender), blend until you have a nice smooth puree.

Keep the pot on medium to low heat, and continue to cook. Add the half and half, black pepper, red chili flakes, and fresh thyme. Stir, cook for a few minutes, and taste. If more salt is needed, add a bit more.

Now you are ready to serve. Ladle some into a small soup bowl, garnish with fresh parsley if desired, and dig in. This roasted garlic scape soup is super smooth, and you get the taste of everything you put in there. It’s comforting, easy, and delicious, and granted soup season has somewhat past us here in Wisconsin, it is still worth making.

So if your market has scapes, get a bunch of them and give them a try. It’s a must if you love garlic. Hope you enjoy!

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