Monday, August 30, 2021

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Muffins #MuffinMonday

These mini peanut butter cup muffins are full of peanut butter flavor and are studded with mini peanut butter cups inside and out.

Food Lust People Love: These mini peanut butter cup muffins are full of peanut butter flavor and are studded with mini peanut butter cups inside and out.

I usually do most of the grocery shopping in our family because I enjoy it. I actually like choosing the produce and browsing the aisles for ingredients that say “Dinner!” to me. We have a shared note on our iPhones so that everyone can add items or untick the little circle (which makes that item jump to the top of the list) so that I know exactly what to buy on my weekly shopping trip. 

A number of weeks ago, my daughter added rice cakes to the list. Unsalted rice cakes. Low salt, low sodium and lightly salted were all options in my usual grocery stores but no unsalted. Who knew they would be so tricky to find? 

I finally ended up at a store called Sprouts Farmers Market and found not just one brand of unsalted rice cakes but three! Yay! I celebrated my good fortune by browsing the shop to see what other great things they might sell and found the tiniest little peanut butter cups in the bulk section. Perfect for snacking and muffin baking.

Sprouts is also the only store where I have been able to find the pearl onions I need for my homemade pub-style pickled onion recipe. I really should shop there more often. 

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Muffins

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins. It's easily doubled to make a batch of 12. If you don’t have mini peanut butter cups, by all means substitute chocolate chips. Chocolate and peanut butter are such a great muffin combo so you need to get some chocolate in there!

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups or 156g flour 
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup or 95g creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup or 120ml whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup or 100g mini peanut butter cups 

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your six-muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.


In a smaller mixing bowl, add all of your wet ingredients, the creamy peanut butter, egg, milk and vanilla extract.


Use a whisk to break up the peanut butter and continue mixing until the whole mess is homogeneous.  That is to say, smooth and of the same consistency throughout.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones.


Fold them together gently. If there is still a bit of flour showing, that is good.

Fold in most of the tiny peanut butter cups in, saving some to decorate the tops. 


Divide the batter between your prepared muffin cups. Decorate with the reserved peanut butter cups. You might want to push them in a bit more than I did so they don't slide down the muffins so much while baking. 

Food Lust People Love: These mini peanut butter cup muffins are full of peanut butter flavor and are studded with mini peanut butter cups inside and out.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Food Lust People Love: These mini peanut butter cup muffins are full of peanut butter flavor and are studded with mini peanut butter cups inside and out.

After allowing them to cool for a few minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Food Lust People Love: These mini peanut butter cup muffins are full of peanut butter flavor and are studded with mini peanut butter cups inside and out.

Enjoy!
 
It's the last Monday of the month when we always celebrate Muffin Monday! Check out all the great muffin recipes below!

Muffin Monday 

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Mini Peanut Butter Cup Muffins!

Food Lust People Love: These mini peanut butter cup muffins are full of peanut butter flavor and are studded with mini peanut butter cups inside and out.

 .

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Citrus Peach Sangria

This citrus peach sangria is made with canned peaches, lemons and limes, summer sunshine in a glass so you can enjoy it year round. Make this refreshing favorite for your next family party!

Food Lust People Love: This citrus peach sangria is made with canned peaches, lemons and limes, summer sunshine in a glass so you can enjoy it year round. Make this refreshing favorite for your next family party!

Over the years I’ve lived in a lot of places where summer peaches aren’t available. Or they are imported and the shops do sell them but the peaches were clearly picked too early, shipped chilled, and aren’t the fragrant ripe peaches I remember growing up. Honestly, is there any smell more wonderful (with the exception of frying bacon) than the aroma of warm peaches piled in woven bushel baskets at a farm stand? 

I’ve come up with a few ways to get my peach fix from canned peaches, like my creamy bourbon peach frozen yogurt but this refreshing citrus peach sangria is one of my favorites. The apple brandy adds a bit of oomph to the wine but the citrus and peaches and peach syrup are the stars. 

If you are lucky enough to have fragrant ripe peaches, you might want to make my sweet peach cornbread or my sweet peach cream cheese muffins. If your fresh peaches aren't so sweet, they are perfect for making fresh peach cucumber salad

I was away from home when I took these photos and I had to mix it up in two pitchers so don’t let the smaller pitcher in my photos fool you. This recipe makes plenty enough to serve 10-12. 

Citrus Peach Sangria

If you do want to use fresh peaches for this sangria, replace the peach syrup with simple syrup. 

Ingredients
1 (750ml) bottle dry white wine, chilled (I use a Sauvignon blanc.)
1/2 cup or 120ml apple brandy 
14 oz or 400g can sliced peaches in light syrup, chilled
1 lemon 
1 lime 
Ice
12 oz or 355ml lemon lime soda (Sprite, 7­Up or the like) or to
taste

Method
Slice your lemon and lime thinly. 


Add them to a big pitcher along with the wine, apple brandy and the can of peaches. Put in a couple of handfuls of ice and then top up with lemon lime soda. Give the whole thing a gentle stir.

Food Lust People Love: This citrus peach sangria is made with canned peaches, lemons and limes, summer sunshine in a glass so you can enjoy it year round. Make this refreshing favorite for your next family party!

To serve, use a spoon to scoop a couple of peach and citrus slices into each glass. Add a few cubes of ice and fill with sangria. 

Food Lust People Love: This citrus peach sangria is made with canned peaches, lemons and limes, summer sunshine in a glass so you can enjoy it year round. Make this refreshing favorite for your next family party!

Enjoy!

It's Sunday FunDay and this week our recipes are Just Peachy! Check them out below. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla


We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Citrus Peach Sangria!

Food Lust People Love: This citrus peach sangria is made with canned peaches, lemons and limes, summer sunshine in a glass so you can enjoy it year round. Make this refreshing favorite for your next family party!

 .

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes #BundtBakers

With just four ingredients you can turn coffee ice cream into these delicious Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes. Or use your favorite flavor.

Food Lust People Love: With just four ingredients you can turn coffee ice cream into these delicious Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes. Or use your favorite flavor.

Since it’s so dang hot outside, it’s a challenge to serve ice cream firm so for this month’s Bundt Bakers, we are making the best of melted ice cream and turning it into cake!

I’ve made homemade ice cream in the past so I know it often starts with a custard, which means it’s made with eggs and milk and butter. But before our Bundt Bakers host proposed this theme, I had never really considered that those ingredients are a shortcut to cake batter. 

A little googling revealed a plethora of cake recipes made with melted ice cream! Who knew? Most of them called for two ingredients: ice cream and cake mix. Not that I have anything against cake mix but we all know that when one of your ingredients is cake mix, that’s kind of cheating on the whole two ingredient thing since cake mix is just paying someone else to measure out flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, etc. 

Fortunately there were also quite a few recipes made from scratch! Seriously google it. So many melted ice cream cakes! Now you know what to do next time the freezer quits on you. Or it's just summertime.

Coffee Ice Cream Bundlettes

This cake can be made with any flavor of ice cream you have on hand, as long as it is full cream and not low fat or non-fat. This is cake, after all! This recipe is adapted from one on Hebbar’s Kitchen

Ingredients
2 cups or 370g full cream coffee ice cream
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour, plus a little extra for the pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Butter, to grease the pan

Optional for decoration and extra coffee flavor:  
1/2 cup or 90g espresso chips

Optional to serve: 6 scoops of coffee ice cream 

Method
Set your oven to preheat at 350°F or 180°C and prepare your Bundtlette pan by buttering and flouring it. Set it aside. (As you will see in photos to come, I used my mini 6 1/2 cup Nordic Ware Classic Bundtlette pan that makes six small Bundt cakes.)

In a large mixing bowl, use your stand mixer or electric beaters to beat the ice cream briefly. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. 


Beat until thoroughly mixed to form a thick batter without any little lumps. 


Spoon the batter into your prepared pan and smooth out the top. 


Bake the bundtlettes in your preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. (If you use one larger capacity Bundt pan, your cake could take a bit longer to bake.) 


Leave to cool in the pan for about five minutes, then loosen the sides of the little bundtlettes with your wooden skewer and turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Food Lust People Love: With just four ingredients you can turn coffee ice cream into these delicious Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes. Or use your favorite flavor.

When the little cakes are cool, melt the espresso chips in a microwave-safe vessel with a couple of quick zaps in the microwave. I do 10 seconds, then stir. Another 10 seconds, then stir. Depending on your microwave you may need a few seconds more.

Drizzle the melted chips or use a piping bag to decorate the cooled cakes. 

Food Lust People Love: With just four ingredients you can turn coffee ice cream into these delicious Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes. Or use your favorite flavor.

I served these with a scoop of coffee ice cream on top! You might want to do the same. No pictures of that because it was late and dark after dinner. Sorry!

Food Lust People Love: With just four ingredients you can turn coffee ice cream into these delicious Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes. Or use your favorite flavor.

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Thursday of the month and that means it’s time for Bundt Bakers. Check out the delicious melted ice cream cakes we are sharing below! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime for this fun theme! 

BundtBakers


#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin these Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes! 

 .

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Wild Pear Lemon Preserves

Juicy pears cooked down with a Meyer lemon and just the right amount of sugar make the best Wild Pear Lemon Preserves! They are a wonderful topping for buttered toast, stir them into yogurt, or warm and spoon them over vanilla ice cream. 

Food Lust People Love: Juicy pears cooked down with a Meyer lemon and just the right amount of sugar make the best Wild Pear Lemon Preserves! They are a wonderful topping for buttered toast, stir them into yogurt, or warm and spoon them over vanilla ice cream.

Last summer I got a text from a friend asking me if I had any interest in some wild pears that were growing on her property in the country. Free fruit? Yes, PLEASE! If there is one thing I absolutely love, it’s making jam or preserves out of fruit that might otherwise go to waste. 

The best part was that I didn’t even have to pick the pears! We were all social distancing, like everyone worldwide last summer so my friend dropped the basket of pears on another friend’s porch for me. I duly collected them with much appreciation. 

I brought the basket of pears home and got busy peeling and slicing and cooking them down with sugar. If you’ve never tried a wild pear, I’m here to tell you that they are quite sour with a thicker skin than normal eating pears. But they are fabulous in preserves and, like quince, they turn the most wonderful shade of pink. 

Bonus advice: If you do not yet have a digital scale, please buy one. They are so useful! Using cups to measure sliced fruit is such a challenge because of air pockets. That said, I tried my best to measure the sliced pears so you don’t have to. Each cup of sliced pears is about 150g, in case you need to convert from the amounts below. It’s just a ballpark figure so you’ll see that the sugar doesn’t work out exactly in cups. If you'd just get a scale, you could save us all a lot of grief. 

Wild Pear Lemon Preserves 

I followed the guidance on a post from Digging Food to figure out the ratio of pears to sugar. One batch of my pears (1880g whole) weighed 1252g after being peeled, cored and sliced so I put 626g of sugar. If you don’t have wild pears, use firm green ones instead. These quantities of pear and sugar require one whole lemon. Adjust accordingly if you are cooking more or less pears.

Ingredients
For peeling the pears:
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice or 2 teaspoons citric acid

For the preserves (my second batch! Those two trees just kept on giving!):
4 lbs 2 1/3 oz or 1880g wild pears
3 1/8 cups or 626g sugar
1 Meyer lemon (or sub a regular lemon) 

Method
Fill a large bowl about to about halfway with cool water. Add the juice or citric acid and stir well. Peel all the pears.


As you peel them, put them in your bowl with the acidic water.  This will stop the oxidation so they don’t turn brown. 


Cut all of the pears in half and use a the paring knife to remove the stem and bottom of each half, dropping them back into the acidic water as you do. Finally use a melon scoop to remove the core, again putting the pear halves back in the water.


Initially I tried performing each action on one pear at a time but it was tedious to continually switch tools and went much faster when I halved them all, then took the stem and bottom out of each, then cored them. It does mean you have to fish around in the acidic water to get them to do the next step but that’s quickly accomplished.

Peel and slice the pears 1/8 in or 3 1/2mm thick, again, popping them back in the water. 


When they are all sliced, drain off the acidic water and weigh the pears. Add in 1 part sugar for 2 parts pears. Cover the bowl and leave them to macerate overnight. 


Sitting around overnight in the sugar, the pears will create their own syrup and be ready to cook into preserves by morning. 


Just before cooking thinly slice your lemon (peel and all) but remove any seeds. 


Add the lemons to the pear pot. 


Bring the mixture to a high simmer or low boil over medium heat. Stir often! If the simmer is too low, it will take you 4 hours to cook them. A large batch usually takes at least 2 1/2 hours.


Start checking for desired consistency after 1 1/2 hours. Stir and check them every 15-20 minutes. The preserves are finished when the pears have turned rose, then to light garnet colored and the slices are transparent. 

Juicy pears cooked down with a Meyer lemon and just the right amount of sugar make the best Wild Pear Lemon Preserves! They make a wonderful topping for buttered toast, stir them into yogurt or warm and spoon them over vanilla ice cream.

The amount of cooking time varies depending on the size of your batch, diameter of your pot, the heat retention of your pot (Le Creuset are great for this) and the thickness of your pear slices.  

Wash canning jars and have them ready and hot. I put teaspoons in each jar and then fill them with boiling water. Pour a little boiling water over the lids while you are at it. Use a pair of canning tongs to tip the water out of the jars when the preserves are ready. 

When the preserves are done, use a wide mouth funnel and ladle the hot pears and syrup into the hot jars. Try not to get any on you as the pears and their syrup will burn you. 

Remove the spoons from the canning jars and fit the lids on as tightly as you can. Turn the jars upside down and leave to cool. Occasionally, as you randomly pass by, tighten the lids a little more.

Once the jars are cool, turn them right side up. The lids should pop down firmly. If any jar lids don’t suck down, store them in the refrigerator and use them first. 

Food Lust People Love: Juicy pears cooked down with a Meyer lemon and just the right amount of sugar make the best Wild Pear Lemon Preserves! They are a wonderful topping for buttered toast, stir them into yogurt, or warm and spoon them over vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy! 

August is National Canning Month so my Festive Foodie group are all sharing way to preserve Summer's bounty! Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

Pin these Wild Pear Lemon Preserves!

Food Lust People Love: Juicy pears cooked down with a Meyer lemon and just the right amount of sugar make the best Wild Pear Lemon Preserves! They are a wonderful topping for buttered toast, stir them into yogurt, or warm and spoon them over vanilla ice cream.
 .


Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread #BreadBakers

Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread is cheesy good with a subtle smoky flavor that is great freshly sliced or toasted. Use it for sandwiches or to dip in a sunny side up fried egg yolk. So good! 

Food Lust People Love: Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread is cheesy good with a subtle smoky flavor that is great freshly sliced or toasted. Use it for sandwiches or to dip in a sunny side up fried egg yolk. So good!

Smoked paprika is one of my favorite spices and I use it a lot when I am cooking vegetarian dishes, for a little extra flavor that I might have otherwise added with smoked bacon in a non-vegetarian recipe. It’s great in tomato sauce and chili for the same reason, even when those do have meat already. 

One of the few things my husband and I disagree on is smoked cheese. I’m a fan. He’s not. In this quick soda bread, the smoked paprika makes a nice background to the cheddar, a hint of smokiness that reminds me of smoked cheese. What’s funny is even the smoked cheese naysayer loves this bread. Go figure.

Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread

If you don’t have buttermilk but do have white vinegar and regular milk, make a buttermilk substitute by adding 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar to your measuring jug, then fill up to the volume needed with milk. Stir and set aside for about five minutes and you are ready to start mixing.

Ingredients
3 cups or 375g all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz or 113g extra sharp cheddar, finely grated 
1 1/4 cups or 296ml buttermilk

For glaze:
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and smoked paprika. 


With a pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. 

Add the grated cheddar cheese a little at a time and stir well to combine. 


Pour in buttermilk and mix until dough comes together. 


Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface.


Knead the dough by folding it over and pressing it down four or five times. 


Shape the dough into a round loaf and place it on your prepared baking sheet. Whisk the smoked paprika into the egg white and brush the top of the loaf with the mixture.  


Use a lame or sharp knife to cut a large X into the top of the dough.  


Bake in your preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. 

Food Lust People Love: Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread is cheesy good with a subtle smoky flavor that is great freshly sliced or toasted. Use it for sandwiches or to dip in a sunny side up fried egg yolk. So good!

Cool on a wire rack then slice to serve.

Food Lust People Love: Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread is cheesy good with a subtle smoky flavor that is great freshly sliced or toasted. Use it for sandwiches or to dip in a sunny side up fried egg yolk. So good!

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread is cheesy good with a subtle smoky flavor that is great freshly sliced or toasted. Use it for sandwiches or to dip in a sunny side up fried egg yolk. So good!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so it’s time for Bread Bakers and our theme is spiced savory recipes! Check out all the bread recipes we are sharing today. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cook with Renu

BreadBakers
    #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread! 

Food Lust People Love: Cheddar Smoked Paprika Soda Bread is cheesy good with a subtle smoky flavor that is great freshly sliced or toasted. Use it for sandwiches or to dip in a sunny side up fried egg yolk. So good!
 .

Monday, August 9, 2021

Bacon Corn Puddings

These individual bacon corn puddings are made with roasted corn and cornmeal to add a lot of extra corn flavor, along with the bacon and thyme. Delicious and light as a side dish or small main. 

Food Lust People Love: These individual bacon corn puddings are made with roasted corn and cornmeal to add a lot of extra corn flavor, along with the bacon and thyme. Delicious and light as a side dish or main.

When I first arrived back in the States a couple of years ago, I was excited to finally get a chance to shop at Trader Joe’s. I posted on Facebook that I’d love to hear about what my friends buy there so I could make a list of good things to try. 

My friend, Glenys, was the very first to respond: chargrilled corn, found in the freezer section. So much easier than doing it yourself, she said. I must say, she is absolutely right. The Trader Joe’s roasted corn is delightful and since it’s frozen, it's easy to keep on hand. If you want to use fresh corn for this and roast your own for this recipe though, go for it! 

(I know not everyone reading this will be able to see the post but for those of you who can, here’s the link: What Stacy’s friends buy at Trader Joe’s. My apologies to the rest of you.)

Bacon Corn Puddings

The original recipe that I adapted to make these lovely little puddings continued past the initial baking to decanting and then rebaking them with some cream poured on top. It also called for creamed corn so that wasn’t happening either. I have no idea how that would have tasted but I can tell you that these are lovely and light and delicious, despite falling a bit after they poofed up in the oven. 

Ingredients – for 4 individual puddings
1/2 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons butter, plus extra for buttering the ramekins
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups or 200g roasted corn kernels (drained if canned)
1/4 cup or 30g bacon crumbles
2 tablespoons cornmeal
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup or 160ml milk
1/3 or 80ml cup heavy cream
1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves picked
salt & pepper to taste
2 large eggs

Optional garnish:
2 tablespoons roasted corn, thawed
fresh thyme leaves


Method
Combine onion and butter and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes.

Add the cornmeal, roasted corn, bacon crumbles and a pinch of salt and a couple of grinds of black pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes while stirring.


Whisk the cornstarch into the milk till its dissolved. 

Add the milk, cream, sugar and thyme to the pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture comes to a low boil and thickens. When you drag a spoon through it, it should be thick enough not to run back together. 


Remove 3/4 cup (187.5g) of the corn mixture and blend with a hand mixer until smooth. 


Stir back into the corn mixture in the pot. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool. 

I put mine in a bowl at this point because as much as I love my little Le Creuset pots, they take ages to cool down. If your cooking pot is more cooperative, please don’t dirty another vessel. 


Meanwhile preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and butter four ramekins. To give you an idea of size, mine hold just shy of 1 1/4 cups or 295ml when filled to the top. 

Once the corn mixture is cool, whisk the eggs well and mix them into it. 


Place the ramekins in a deep baking pan then divide the corn mixture between them. 


Fill the pan with hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until puffy and golden on top. 

Food Lust People Love: These individual bacon corn puddings are made with roasted corn and cornmeal to add a lot of extra corn flavor, along with the bacon and thyme. Delicious and light as a side dish or main.

Top with some extra kernels of roasted corn and a few fresh thyme leaves for garnish. 

Food Lust People Love: These individual bacon corn puddings are made with roasted corn and cornmeal to add a lot of extra corn flavor, along with the bacon and thyme. Delicious and light as a side dish or main.

Serve warm. I decanted one for the photos but we ate the others straight out of the ramekins with a tomato and mozzarella salad on the side. Side dish or main? These bacon corn puddings work as either. 

Food Lust People Love: These individual bacon corn puddings are made with roasted corn and cornmeal to add a lot of extra corn flavor, along with the bacon and thyme. Delicious and light as a side dish or main.

Enjoy!  

It’s the second Monday of the month so that means my Baking Blogger friends are sharing recipes as well. Our theme, as you might guess from most of the titles below, is CORN. Many thanks to our organizer and host, Sue of Palatable Pastime


Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

Pin these Bacon Corn Puddings!

Food Lust People Love: These individual bacon corn puddings are made with roasted corn and cornmeal to add a lot of extra corn flavor, along with the bacon and thyme. Delicious and light as a side dish or main.
 .

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes

Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes are flavorful main course, made with golden baby potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, Old Bay Seasoning and, of course, shrimp and beer!

Food Lust People Love: Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes are flavorful main course, made with golden baby potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, Old Bay Seasoning and, of course, shrimp and beer!

Today, August 8th, is International Beer Day so I’m celebrating along with my Sunday FunDay friends. Our host, Rebekah encouraged us thusly: "Share your favorite recipes cooking or baking with beer - or if you don't like beer, cook or bake with your preferred alcohol!" I love the flexibility!

I have made MANY sweet and savory recipes using beer, like my Beer Cheddar Fondue, Spicy Cashew and Feta Beer Muffins, London Porter Cake, Oatmeal Stout Loaf and Beef and Guinness Pie, to name just a few. In short, we are fans of beer for both recipes and drinking.

One day I'll tell you about our youthful excursions down the Guadalupe River on innertubes when the rallying cry over the rapids was "At all costs, save the beer!" It was not uncommon to see a person completely underwater with a single arm visible, beer can held aloft. And we all survived. 

I’d already taken some shrimp out of the freezer to thaw for dinner so that was my jumping off point. Searching both "beer" and "shrimp" I found a ton of recipes online for beer shrimp, typically an appetizer, and thought, I can work with that! 

Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes

The addition of potatoes, parboiled then pan-fried till golden, turns what might have been an appetizer into a main course. My recipe is adapted from one on Rasa Malaysia. I served this with a tossed green salad and I recommend you do the same. Extra points if you also make my passion fruit vinaigrette or Amy's beer vinaigrette in the link list below to dress it with.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g baby new potatoes
1 lb or 450g peeled and deveined shrimp
2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Roma tomatoes
1 cup or 240ml beer of your choice. I used Corona. (Because: International Beer Day!)

Optional for garnish:
Chopped green onions (or sub parsley - I just like the flavor the green onions add)
another light sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning

Method
Parboil the potatoes in salted water until a pointy knife can poke into them easily but they still have a hard center, about five minutes from when they come to a boil. 

Rinse the shrimp with cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels and season with Old Bay. Set aside.


While the potatoes parboil, use a sharp knife to score the tops of your tomatoes in a cross. Put them in a heatproof bowl. 


Drain the hot potato water into the tomato bowl and set aside for a few minutes.  Tip the water out and slip the peel off of the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the cores and seeds. Dice the tomatoes. 


On a cutting board, use a wide knife or your flat palm to mash the potatoes down, one at a time. My photo is of the knife, which I did use for the first ones seen here, but I actually had more success just using my hand. 


Heat up a non-stick pan on high heat and add the olive oil. Add the potatoes a few at time and cook till golden on both sides. Turn them carefully so they don't break apart but if a piece gets loose, no worries. 


Remove them from the pan and set aside until all the potatoes are browned on both sides and on a plate.


Add a drizzle more olive oil, if needed, and sauté the garlic in the pan until aromatic but not browned then add in the chopped tomatoes. 


Cook for a few minutes until the diced tomatoes start to slump. 

Add the seasoned shrimp. 


Stir to combine well. As soon as the shrimp turn a bit pink, add the beer.

Bring the beer to a quick boil.


When the shrimp are cooked through, add the browned potatoes back in. Tuck them amongst the shrimp. 

Tilt the pan slightly and spoon the shrimp and sauce over them. 

Food Lust People Love: Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes are flavorful main course, made with golden baby potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, Old Bay Seasoning and, of course, shrimp and beer!

Cook a little longer to rewarm the potatoes. When the potatoes are warmed through, turn off the heat and add the chopped green onions and a sprinkle on a little more of Old Bay Seasoning. (Don't overdo the Old Bay. It's super salty.)

Food Lust People Love: Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes are flavorful main course, made with golden baby potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, Old Bay Seasoning and, of course, shrimp and beer!

Enjoy!

As I mentioned, it’s Sunday FunDay AND International Beer Day. What a time to be alive! Check out the delicious recipes made with beer below. Many thanks to our host, Rebekah of Making Miracles. Pop open a cold one and join us!

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


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Food Lust People Love: Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes are flavorful main course, made with golden baby potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, Old Bay Seasoning and, of course, shrimp and beer!

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