Snack – 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!

Homemade Biscuits

August 15, 2016August 15, 2016 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I recently told my wife “This is the year of the biscuit”. I don’t know what got over me when I said that, but I meant what I said. I’ve been thinking of biscuits for some time now that I had to make some more attempts at trying to get the biscuit down. There are so many things you can do with a biscuit, and hence why I probably said that to my wife, everything from sweet and savory. What is not to love about that? Ever since I lived in Dallas, there was one thing that has never left my mind (besides the friendships I made) and that is the love of biscuits and gravy. That is probably another reason why I am making an attempt at creating some really good biscuits.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled but not frozen, cut into small pieces
1 cup 1% milk
Ring cutter, cut to about 3/4 inch thick

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Start by mixing the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Once mixed gently add in the butter, and slowly begin pouring in the milk. You want to form a somewhat firm dough, but not too firm.

Gently roll the dough onto a lightly flour surface, about 3/4 of an inch thick. Use a glass, or if you have a kitchen ring mold, and press down into the dough to shape your biscuit. Continue with however many biscuits you can get away with. Mine yielded 5 biscuits.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 12 minutes. Remove onto a wired rack, or onto a serving plate, and dig in.

These were a perfect side dish to some homemade barbecue ribs, and with a bit of butter they were even better. Now I have to teach my kids how to make these as they would be great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 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.

Thai Curry Mussels

June 20, 2016 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

It was not too long ago when fresh mussels were on sale at one of our local grocery stores. In the past, I typically would buy them frozen, then steam them but as they were fresh, I decided I would go all in. It was my kids last day of school, and I figured I would throw it out there and see if they would be keen on the idea of having them as an end of year celebration. Low and behold they did and I decided to buy a few pounds of mussels. What’s funny is that one of my pickiest of eaters (he’s getting much better) was stoked about eating them. So I arrived home, and got to work. At first I thought I would do a simple wine and butter sauce to steam the mussels in, but then I quickly turned my attention to making a killer Thai curry and coconut broth, introducing something a bit different to them. These Thai curry mussels had just the right amount of heat that did not distract from the flavor of the mussels, and my kid ate a ton of them.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 can of Thai green curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
1 cup of water
3 lbs fresh mussels

Simple stuff here, and feel free to use other types of curry paste. I used the prik king curry paste from Maesri which is a spicy ginger style of curry paste, and one that I really like, but feel free to use their red or yellow paste if you have that in stock.

To a large pot, large enough to house the mussels, get the heat going on medium heat. Add the canola oil and bring it to a light smoke, only a couple of minutes, then add in the green curry paste. Stir, and cook for a couple of minutes. Next add in the coconut milk, and water, and stir to incorporate and break down the curry paste. Once this comes to a simmer, add in the mussels.

Make sure that all of the mussels are closed, and feel free to scrub off any exterior beard material from the mussels ahead of time should they not already be cleaned.

Stir the mussels into the coconut curry mixture, then cover, and cook and steam the mussels until they all open up.

Please note, that any mussels that do not open up, then discard.

Once the mussels are all opened, pour the mussels and broth into a large serving bowl and dig in.

Feel free to serve these with some nice crusty bread, or spoon the broth over some cooked jasmine rice.

It was funny watching my oldest go to town on these. He could not stop eating them, and he loved the spice from the broth. These Thai curry mussels were a great way to end the school year that’s for certain. Hope you enjoy!

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