Cooking with BS's 2-Year-Anniversary Post!

It's already been 2 years since Katy and I started Cooking with B.S.! Since there's no way we could top last year's anniversary post of Skip's Scramble, so I thought it would be a good idea to host a dinner party and invite a few of our friends over.

For this late-spring dinner I wanted to represent the beginning of summer and meals to come in the summer months. I made Arnold Palmers with mint and bourbon, a fancy beet salad, grilled burgers and angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. 

No those aren't black olives. They're purple potatoes from my garden! Lightly sauteed. 

Bourbon Mint Arnold Palmers

There is something so simply delicious about lemonade and iced tea. Like most things it's more delicious if you add bourbon and mint to it. For these Arnold Palmers I steeped two tea bags in a large mason jar. I used one green tea bag and one black tea. Then I added the lemonade I made earlier in the day.
I then added mint leaves to another mason jar (what up Pinterest?) added ice and then muddled the leaves a bit. Added the bourbon, iced tea and then lemonaid. Then served to some thirsty guests.

Brian's Fancy-Ass Beet Salad

This dish is the crown jewel of this cooking blog in my opinion. It features boiled beets with a herb puree coating, whipped yogurt, chevre, beet foam, dill sprigs, spinach leaves, dandelion petals, and did I mention that all the greens were from my garden? It was light and airy and turned a beet salad into something made for summer.

Garlic Chutes and Cheddars Burger comes with garlic shoots

Obviously this is an ode to Bob's Burgers, writers feel free to use this one next season. This burger was made with spices in the middle, cheddar cheese, grilled garlic shoots, and sriracha mayo all served on a sesame seed bun. I'm not gonna give you any of my burger secrets! Go bug Alton Brown.

Angel Food Cake with Fresh Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Honestly the Joy of Cooking has an amazing Angel Food Cake recipe go look it up! Now! Super simple dessert I just plated it sort of fancy-like.

So there you have a Cooking with B.S. Dinner party! I can't believe it's been two years already! All photos taken by Katy Weaver. Oh by the way, this is our last blog post until fall.

Kimchi Shepherd's Pie

Kimchi. That deliciously aged spicy cabbage, first created in Korean then used to make this unholy fusion. Kimchi tends to scare a lot of people away at least in America. I think it should be embraced and added to recipes that often call for cabbage for some extra spice. I mean what's more boring than shepard's pie? It's just meat and potatoes. That's why I wanted to try this combination and believe me it definitely paid off. The sweetness of the Japanese yams combined with the beef and tangy kimchi works perfectly together. If you're curious about kimchi and want to branch out I recommend starting with this recipe and then exploring more kimchi opportunities until you start putting it on everything.

Kimchi Shepherd's Pie

• 1 lbs. Ground Beef
• 1 lbs Spicy Kimchi
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup Onion diced
• 2 cloves Garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 medium Japanese Yams peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon Seaweed or Kombu if you have it
• 1 tablespoon Whole Milk
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1.  Throw the seaweed into 6 cups of water in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add the yams. Cook until fork tender.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°
3. In a separate pan add the olive oil and heat over medium. Saute the onions and garlic until caramelized. Add the beef and salt. Stir until all the beef is slightly browned. Dump the kimchi into the beef pan. Reduce to low heat and stir occasionally while preparing the next step.
4. Using a food processor or a potato masher turn the cubed yams into a nice puree consistency. Add the butter and milk continue mashing or blending until all the ingredients are incorporated. 
5. Using a slotted spoon scoop the kimchi beef into a small casserole pan. Try not to add the juices to the pan. Using a rubber spatula evenly spread the yams over the beef and place in the oven. After 5 minutes switch the broiler on high and cook until the edges start to brown. 
6. Enjoy! I served mine with fried pineapple!

Photos by Katy Weaver!

Pot Roast

It's week two of vintage month on Cooking with B.S.! And we're featuring the most the oldest recipe ever, cooked meat. There is something appealing about simplicity. Maybe it's having fewer dishes to clean up after the meal is cooked or perhaps it's when you don't muddle the meat with every spice under the sun its true flavor comes out. Or perhaps these vintage recipes remind us of a simpler time, a better time, a time before quinoa.

Pot Roast

• 1 lbs. Beef Roast
• 2 Carrots
• 5 Celery Stalks
• 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
• 3 Potatoes
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375°
2. Coarsely chop all the vegetables except the potatoes. 
3. Place the roast in a pan or in a "pot" and add a dash of salt and pepper. Place the chopped vegetables around the roast.  Add another dash of salt and pepper to everything in the pot. Put the lid on the pot and place the pot in the oven. 
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir all the vegetables around and turn the roast over. Cook for another 15 minutes.
5. Coarsely cut up the potatoes and add to the pot. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
6. Slice and serve. 

Photos by Katy Weaver

Beef Stroganoff with Gorgonzola Gnocchis

Before we get into this post I just want to mention that we have a holiday ecookbook on Google Play! Which can be downloaded by clicking here, here or here. Or you can click on that ad to the right. It's a good way to support your favorite food bloggers!

This is our first post in a series entitled: Foods with Weird Names.  Sure Beef Stroganoff seems like an outdated dish, but adding the Gorgonzola Gnocchis turns this into a new modern classic. This is a perfect example of taking something from the past and making it fit today's tastes. It's not as hard as people make it out to be. 

Side note: I want to lick that steak. 

Beef Stroganoff

• 1 lb. Top Sirloin Steak sliced into strips about 1/4" thick.
• 6 Mushrooms baby cremini--sliced 
• 1/2 medium Red Onion minced 
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 1 clove Garlic minced 
• 1/4 cup Wine (Pinot Noir) 
• 3/4 cup Sour Cream
• 1 tablespoon Crushed Mustard Seeds
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Chives finely chopped

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onions. Caramelize until caramel in color. 
2. Add the sliced mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, sauté for about 3-5 minutes.  
3. Introduce the steak into the mix at this point. Sauté only until the steak turns slightly brown.
4. Stir in the wine and sour cream. Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer. Stirring occasionally let the sauce thicken up before serving. 

Gorgonzola Gnocchis

• 2 Potatoes boiled and mashed
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1 cup Flour (plus extra if needed) 
• 2 Eggs
• 4 oz. Gorgonzola crumbled

1. In a large bowl mix the mashed potatoes in with the butter and 1/4 cup of the flour.
2. Mix in the eggs and the rest of flour.
3. Sprinkle the gorgonzola into the mixture. Fold the cheese into the batter. Add more flour as needed. It should be the consistency of slightly tacky bread dough.
4. Transfer the dough into a ziplock bag. 
5. Heat several cups of cold water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. 
6. Cut the tip off the ziplock bag, that's right - just the tip. Squeeze over the boiling pan while cutting the dough into tootsie roll sized pieces. 
7. Boil until each gnocchi floats in the pan.
8. Drain the water and serve with Beef Stroganoff on top. Garnish with chives. 

Photos as always by Katy Weaver (you probably know that by now)