Blueberries, Coffee and Butterscotch...Quite the Combination

Tonight was a dinner with the ‘rents. Given all the nonsense in their lives as of late, I thought I would treat them to a nice dinner and then bore them to tears with a narration of 996 vacation photos. No joke. 996. But they really wanted to see them! It was their idea!

Given my ever expanding interests in cooking, I thought I would grill. That thumping sound you heard, by the way, were my fists pounding my chest like a primate. The flowing sound? Testosterone on the go. The menu, you ask?

Appetizer: Grapes and cheese with the Wild Blue Blueberry Lager
Main Course: Black Jack Chicken Breast (from the grill) with Sweet and Sour Asparagus and Sam Adams Lager
Dessert: Grilled Banana Splits with Homemade Butterscotch Sauce and Leinenkugal's Berry Weiss

Last night, I prepped an old stand-by for family events and other gatherings: Sweet and Sour Asparagus. The cookbook it came from is "Celebrate San Antonio: A Cookbook" and can be found here. Get it! If you have a pulse and can read, you can make this excellent dish. If you don't like asparagus...well...forget it!

The grapes and cheese with the Wild Blue Lager was a fair way to start the evening. I say all that with knowledge that the beer was really not very good. I think the muchies helped to compliment it, but the beer itself is rather poor. Perhaps I will babble on about it on another day. Maybe later this week.

The Black Jack Chicken was from a different book. The CIA (Culinary Institute of America) put together a book on grilling and you can get it here. It needed to be marinated in what was basically apple juice with some spices. The Black Jack Barbecue Sauce makes 4 cups and was superb. Key ingredients included coffee (fresh brewed), chili powder, onions, and more apple juice. Some of you have likely noticed grilling chicken can be risky. Burnt carbon is not really what one wants. The combination of the marinating and the slower cooking on the grill yielded a very moist chicken. The sauce was hot (spicy), but not stupid hot. Just a warm sensation the whole time. A Sam Adams lager is just the thing here.

The banana split was excellent and was also from the CIA. Cut the 'ole naners in half lengthwise, coat with melted butter and grill for one minute on each side. Homemade butterscotch sauce is easy as hell, too. Add some ice cream (French Vanilla), slivered almonds and some whipped cream and you are good to go. Ultimately, you are not really doing much. We enjoyed it so much I forgot to get out the Leinenkugals!

All this sounds really crazy, but I swear to you its not. Quit complaining and do it!