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Smoked Deviled Eggs

July 30, 2011 by

Yes, you read that right … smoked deviled eggs.

Anyone who’s checked out my About page knows that in addition to blogging here at Rhubarb and Honey, I work full-time as a product manager for an international publishing company, serve as co-leader for Slow Food St. Louis, and I’m also the “Director of Que-mmunications” for Serious Que BBQ, a competitive BBQ team comprised of my brother and sister-in-law, my husband, my mom and dad, and myself.

Serious Que has competed in four competitions to date, and I’m proud to say that so far we’ve taken home a 9th place ribbon, a 3rd place trophy, and a 1st place trophy in various categories. But, if we want to win even more, we have to practice, which means our friends and family are forced to eat a lot of barbeque … and by “forced,” I mean willingly showing up with bells on to sample our delicious offerings.

Our latest practice session coincided with Fourth of July, giving us the perfect excuse to host a holiday BBQ bash. In addition to throwing the traditional competition items on the smoker (ribs, chicken, pork shoulder, and brisket), I wanted to get creative.

One of my favorite summer treats is the deviled egg … so why not try making them Serious Que style? I decided to smoke the hard-boiled egg whites on the smoker, and I am happy to report that my experiment was a success. The smoky whites, combined with the salty, crunchy filling, was a decadent treat!

If you don’t have a smoker, don’t worry; I think these would be just as delicious without smoking the egg whites … after all, they’re filled with crumbled bacon and how could you go wrong with that?

Smoked Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

  • 12 eggs
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 6 slices bacon
  • 3 tablespoons bacon grease
  • Barbeque rub for garnish

Directions:

1. Hard boil eggs via your preferred method. (Don’t have a preferred method? Here’s mine.)

2. Cut hard-boiled eggs in half. Remove the egg yolks and place in a small bowl; refrigerate yolks.

3. Spray a disposable aluminum pan with cooking spray; place egg whites in pan, elevated on a rack if possible (spray rack with cooking spray as well).

4. Place pan in smoker and smoke for 35 to 45 minutes at 225°F. Remove from smoker; egg whites will be light brown in areas.

5. While eggs are in smoker, cook bacon on the stovetop, until crisp; crumble bacon when cool. Reserve bacon grease.

6. Mash refrigerated egg yolls with a fork. Add mayonnaise and bacon grease; mix thoroughly. Mix in crumbled bacon.

7. Fill the empty, smoked egg white shells with the yolk mixture.

8. Sprinkle lightly with barbeque rub of your choice for garnish. Cover lightly with plastic wrap. May be refrigerated for up to one day before serving.

Makes 24 smoked deviled eggs.

[This recipe shared at This Week's Cravings.]

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My Mexican Wedding Cookies

July 24, 2011 by

[donotprint]Faithful readers of Rhubarb and Honey know that I recently got married. They also know that I got married on the beach in Mexico. Therefore, it’s quite apropos that The Chef and I’s signature cookie is the Mexican wedding cookie.

Okay, we don’t have a signature cookie, but if we were too, it would have to be the Mexican wedding cookie … it just makes sense, don’t you think?

Why all the talk about Mexican wedding cookies? I was recently invited to a St. Louis Food Blogger potluck, a little get-together for local food bloggers to both dish about blogging and eat yummy dishes too. I chose to make two dishes. The first was Jalapeno Popper Dip from My Baking Addiction; it tastes just like a jalapeno popper and is also one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

I also made (yep, you guessed it) Mexican wedding cookies, delicious bites of nutty, sugary cookie goodness. Not only are they delicious, they are relatively easy to make. My Mexican wedding cookies are adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Collection Series “Cookies” cookbook, using pecans instead of almonds and adding a twist with bourbon vanilla instead of regular, which adds a special touch. I hope you enjoy them!

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My Mexican Wedding Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softned at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup ground pecans

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until fluffy and pale yellow. Add 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, add the bourbon vanilla and salt, and beat until blended.

2. Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until blended. Stir in the pecans. Cover and refrigerate until the dough is chilled but not hard and is no longer sticky to the touch, about 15 minutes.

3. Preheat an oven to 350°F. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on 2 ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake until the cookies are just golden on the bottom, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes.

5. Dust the cookies with the remaining 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar. Let the cookies cool completely on wire racks. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

[donotprint]So, do you have a signature cookie? If so, drop me a comment and let me know what it is!

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Rosy Rhubarb Syrup and a Farm Girl Cosmo

July 18, 2011 by

[donotprint]I recently stumbled on a new blogging club called The Secret Recipe Club. The idea is similar to other blog exchanges in that each participating blogger is assigned another participating blog to make a recipe from, but the twist with The Secret Recipe Club is that you can’t tell anyone whose blog you have – shhhh, it’s a secret! – until you finally post about the blog you were assigned and the recipe you chose.

Well, today is our official posting day so now that I can finally tell you what blog I was assigned and what recipe I chose, here goes! The blog I was assigned was Kate’s Kitchen, a blog written by Kate from Indianapolis, Indiana. Kate is a self-professed “financial planner who lives to cook” … and boy, does she! Her blog is chock full of delicious recipes.

When searching Kate’s blog for a recipe to make, something dawned on me. The name of my blog is Rhubarb and Honey … but I have no rhubarb recipes here! I immediately searched for rhubarb recipes and within a few minutes, I knew exactly what I’d be making. Since I also have no cocktail recipes here at Rhubarb and Honey, Kate’s recipe for a “Farm Girl Cosmo” made with “Rosy Rhubarb Syrup” was just what I needed.

So, did I make the right recipe choice? Yes!

Both the cosmopolitan and the syrup were very easy to make … and both were quite delicious! The beautiful pink syrup was sweet, with a hint of tart and a lovely citrus note. Using it in a cosmopolitan was an inspired idea, as it resulted in a delightful drink that went down way to easy … and by that I mean that there will be plenty more Farm Girl cosmos in my future![/donotprint]

Rosy Rhubarb Syrup

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups chopped fresh or thawed frozen rhubarb
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • Juice of 2 lemons

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a medium saucepan.
2. Cook over medium-high heat until the rhubarb is pulpy, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
3. Strain liquid from pulpy mixture into a small container; reserve rhubarb pulp for another use.

NOTES: Syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. The syrup could also be used as a topping over pancakes or ice cream.

Farm Girl Cosmo

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup vodka
  • 1 cup Rosy Rhubarb Syrup
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon orange extract or 1/4 cup orange juice
  • Thin slices of lime for garnish

Directions:

1. Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake until very cold.
3. Strain into cocktail glasses.
4. Kiss the one you love and enjoy!

NOTES: For a non-alcoholic version, substitute club soda for the vodka. Serve over ice, garnished with a lime wedge.

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[donotprint]If you would like information on The Secret Recipe Club or would like to join in (you do have to have a blog with a decent number of recipes for others to choose from), you can click here to read about it and sign up![/donotprint]



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Goodbye, My Tiny Urban Kitchen

July 13, 2011 by

It was May 14th, around 10:00 pm, when my cell phone rang. I was at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, there on business, mingling with customers at a party my company threw in their honor.

I looked down at my phone and saw a number I didn’t recognize. Normally, I wouldn’t have answered such a call, but something told me I should. It was my husband, calmly explaining that he had just been robbed at gunpoint in front of our condominium complex and was using our neighbors phone to call me and let me know.

Yes, one of the better members of our society [insert sarcasm here] held a gun to my husband’s temple, pushed him onto the hood of his car, and threatened to kill him if he didn’t give up his wallet and phone. My husband complied.

I flew home the next morning. We packed up some clothes and our cat and moved into my old bedroom in the house I grew up in [insert awkwardness here].

We had talked about moving. We wanted a bigger kitchen, a backyard, a garage. And the crime in our neighborhood had been on the rise. Two of our neighbors had recently been held up in front of our building as well. You never think it will happen to you, but just like that, it does. And just like that, we were moving.

We started a search for a new place to live … and two weeks later, we found it. It was the perfect house, with a big kitchen, a backyard, and a garage. This was the house for us … and two days later, it was ours.

We moved two weeks after that … and I’m slowly catching my breath.

Our old condominium is now on the market. It’s a beautiful place, three floors of open space, nestled in a historic building in a historic city neighborhood. It was my first home, purchased all by myself, and it holds lots of memories. Many of the recipes here at Rhubarb and Honey were made in its tiny urban kitchen. It’s amazing what you can do in a small space.

I told you it was small.

There are things I’ll miss about my old place, but I’m okay with saying goodbye to it. We’ve quickly settled into our new house and the adventures in our new kitchen have begun, some of which I’ll share here soon. Most importantly though, my husband feels safe here. And that is the best feeling in the world.

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