Tasty Recipes from Recipe Wizards

Presented with a glass of beer, I prefer to drink it. John Schlimm, on the other hand, teases out of beer a book’s worth of recipes for seafood, burgers, stews, steaks, roasts, sauces, mixed drinks, appetizers, soups, marinades and, while he’s at it, an eggy breakfast dish.

His latest guide to the world of cooking with beer, “The Beer Lover’s Cookbook” (Cumberland House, 248 pages, $14.99), is a slightly condensed paperback version of last year’s “The Ultimate Beer Lover’s Cookbook.” The paperback has about 300 recipes; the “ultimate” hardcover has about 400.

His motivation for listing the best recipes for “Light Beer Beef Stew,” “Beer-Battered Shrimp” and “Beer-Poached Fish,” among other things, comes as something of a blood imperative: He grew up within walking distance of the Pennsylvania brewery founded by his great-great-grandfather, Peter Straub.

He approaches the task with an economy that a thirsty cook can appreciate: A quick two pages of introduction gives way to 240 pages of recipes that end with something he calls a “Tequila Sunburn,” a flaming beer drink.

Cooking with beer comes as little surprise to Upper Midwest cooks who either simmer bratwurst in beer or have a store of recipes that call for the liquid.

This book isn’t Bon Appetit: None of the recipes call for anything other than “beer,” ignoring the taste distinctions between a stout and a lager, for instance, or the world of microbrews, where tastes wander from fruity to chocolate to everything in between. Clearly, some fine tuning of your own will be required with these recipes. Some call for only a dash of beer, an amount so little that none of the taste would seem to survive cooking.

So would the book make a good Father’s Day gift? Aside from a sprinkling of quotes about beer, the book is all recipes (where’s the history of beer?). Maybe recipes with beer are just enough to draw a reluctant cook into the kitchen.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

Serves 2.

From “The Beer Lover’s Cookbook,” by John Schlimm.

6 eggs

Seasoned salt to taste

1/4 c. water

1 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. beer

1 tsp. chicken bouillon

Pepper to taste

Directions

Combine the eggs, seasoned salt and water in a bowl.

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the beer, bouillon and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture to the frying pan and scramble.

For finely scrambled eggs, continually chop the egg mixture with a spatula while frying it. For thicker scrambled eggs, flip the egg mixture over with a spatula while frying it.

Nutrition information per serving:

Calories: 290; Fat: 22g; Sodium: 240 mg; Sat. fat: 9 g; Carbs: 2 g; Calcium: 78 mg; Protein:19 g; Chol: 650 mg; Dietary fiber: 0 g

Diabetic exchanges per serving: 3 medium-fat meat, 1 1/2 fat.

RIB MARINADE

Makes 3 1/2 cups

2 c. beer

1 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 c. cider vinegar

1/2 tbsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. hot red pepper flakes

Directions

In a saucepan, combine all of the ingredients, mixing well. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove it from the heat, and allow to cool.

Use the sauce to marinate ribs for at least 24 hours before grilling. To use this as a basting sauce, bring the leftover marinade to a boil, lower heat and simmer for a few minutes before basting.

FRESH LIVING: Salute our nation’s independence with these effortless entertaining ideas – all showcasing the iconic imagery of the Fourth.

Star Spangled:

Pound cake gets the star treatment. Use star-shape cookie cutters – one 3-inch, the other 1-inch – to cut slices of homemade or store-bought pound cake and strawberries for serving. For berries, cut off the green tops, slice in half top to bottom, and use the 1″ cookie cutter to form stars. Drizzle with a sugar glaze and serve.

Set of 7 cookie cutters from 1″ to 3-1/2″, $13; 800-678-5752

Take a Stand:

Festoon a plain white cake stand in the holiday’s signature bunting. All you need are crepe paper streamers, string, and glue. For each bunting segment, fold six inches of red-white-and-blue crepe paper streamer accordion-style; tie a string around the center. Pull bottom edges together to form a fan shape, and secure with a dab of white glue. Hot-glue bunting to the underside of a cake stand.

When you want the stand back, just pop off the dried glue.

Flower Parade:

Skip the complicated flower arrangement and let these paper lantern “vases” march down the table instead. Cut the bottom out of a cylindrical paper lantern (available at party and import stores). Pour a little water in a small vase or juice glass and place inside. Drop a handful of blooms in the vase – these are white agapanthus and spiky blue sea holly – letting them fall casually.

Light Show:

Put a modern touch on flying the colors: Hot-glue red, white, and blue rickrack ribbon (found at most crafts stores) to a paper lantern. Hang with wire.

Maru 24″ paper lantern, $10; worldmarket.com

Furled Spirit:

Remember those stiff bracelets you used to “slap” onto your wrist? Put them to use as napkin rings. Fold a napkin into quarters, then curl a purchased flag-covered bracelet around the center to hold.

Flag slap bracelets, $3 for 12; store.rebeccas.com

Sparkling Service:

Give a serving tray a temporary makeover. Use a dab of royal icing to stick red and white sugar stars onto a tray (both icing and stars available in the cake decorating aisle at crafts stores). Pile in silverware or cookies.

Go Online

Looking for more simple ways to celebrate? Find recipes, easy crafts, and ideas for decorating the whole house in Fourth of July style at BHG .com/july4

(Want to see what else is coming from Better Homes and Gardens magazine? Go to www.bhg.com for more.)

Think of it as the cook’s version of Facebook.

A free social networking Web site launched this month by a Madison, Wis., couple offers a place to share recipes and cooking tips with friends and family, and to stay connected over food.

Sharecipe.com asks users to create a profile and then build a network of friends in the same manner as Facebook. The profile includes basic facts and “fun facts,” such as favorite book, favorite quote, favorite restaurant, favorite food and favorite vacation destination.

Once you create a profile, you can search for friends already in the network and begin sharing recipes. You also can invite others to join.

“The goal is to be a place where people can share recipes with families and friends – people you already are connected with,” said Alex Colbert, who founded the site with his wife, Katie. “We think there’s a market for people to share recipes that have connections with the people in their life. This isn’t a place to make friends or randomly search for recipes.”

The shared recipes could be Grandma’s potato salad, or the fabulous tart you sampled at a friend’s dinner party. You can post photos when you add a recipe. You can post cook’s notes to share the story behind the recipe.

Recipes may be posted as private, so only the people you want to see them may view them.

“It’s simple to look at and to use,” said Colbert, whose mother-in-law, Sandra Thompson of Madison, inspired the Web site’s clean design.

The Colberts want people with all levels of computer aptitude to be able to use sharecipe.com, said Alex, who is 35.

“The idea started because when we were living in San Francisco, Katie and her mom would send recipes back and forth via e-mail,” he said.

They realized a Web site also could help their friends all over the country stay connected through their passion for food.

Unlike Facebook, sharecipe.com does not allow you to post a current status such as “cooking a five-course meal for 20 close friends.” But it does allow you to share the recipes and photos of all five courses so your mom can view them, or your dinner guests can relive the fun.

Here’s an added bonus: If you forget your grocery list, once you arrive at the store, you can look up the recipe at sharecipe.com using your BlackBerry.

You could even show the neighbor you run into at the store a photo of what you’re making for dinner.

Q. Can lime juice and lemon juice be used interchangeably in recipes?

A. The taste will be slightly different, of course, but beyond that, there shouldn’t be any reason why you can’t make the swap. Lime is a bit more floral, but if the lemon juice is acting as a thickener, such as in a lemon curd or lemon pie, the lime juice should still have enough acidity to do the job.

One time when you can’t swap is when you are canning tomatoes in a boiling-water canner. Recipes for canning tomatoes call for commercial, not fresh, lemon juice because the percentage of acidity in fresh fruit can vary widely, from 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent. It can depend on how old the fruit is, the season when it was picked and even how rainy the weather was. You need a dependable level of acidity to make tomatoes safe for canning, which is why you should always use bottled lemon juice if the recipe calls for it. And you certainly shouldn’t swap in lime juice.

One other tip I turned up, on www.baking911.com, is that you shouldn’t swap grapefruit juice for lemon juice in baking, because grapefruit juice is lower in acidity.

(Kathleen Purvis answers questions in her Ask a Cook Q&A at www.charlotteobserver.com/food. Or contact her: 704-358-5236; kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com)

When the heat of summer truly sets in, it takes a lot of motivation for me to spend serious time in the kitchen. Desserts and snacks tend to be ice cream or a bowl of sliced fruit or berries.

So I was delighted when several readers wrote in with favorite recipes for quick treats in response to the recipe we printed for a no-fuss snack cake. If you have a favorite in the same vein, whether sweet or savory, please share it with me and other readers!

Q: Your recipe for a quick snack cake made me think about another dessert I call “Goop” that is really good for these hot summer days. It is quick to make, with minimal baking time, and has endless variations: Add seasonal or canned fruit, chocolate or other flavor chips, change the flavor of the pudding. It is a real winner with children and adults. The only drawback is that it must be made the day before and refrigerated.

-Gail Stotts, Hollywood, Fla.

GOOP

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter

1 (8-ounce) bar cream cheese

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 cup frozen, defrosted whipped topping (such as Cool Whip)

2 (4-serving size) boxes instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, nuts and margarine with a fork or pulse in food processor. Press into a 9-by-13-inch pan. Bake 15 minutes. Cool. Beat cream cheese with sugar, then mix in whipped topping. Spread on top of first layer.

Mix both packages of pudding with the milk. Pour on top of second layer. Top with additional whipped topping as desired. Chill at least 8 hours before cutting into squares. Makes 18 servings.

Per serving: 235 calories (51 percent from fat), 13.5 g fat (5.2 g saturated, 5.4 g monounsaturated), 17.9 mg cholesterol, 3.4 g protein, 26 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fiber, 275.5 mg sodium.

Q: My grandchildren loved the snack cake I made with your recipe – so quick and easy! So I thought I’d pass along another quickie for summer dessert, Microwave Cherry Bread Pudding, that’s a big hit in our family. You can make a zillion combinations using different fruits and extracts, and best of all it doesn’t heat up the kitchen.

-Carol H.

MICROWAVE CHERRY BREAD PUDDING

1 can (about 20 ounces) prepared cherry pie filling

6 slices white bread, cubed

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 teaspoon cinnamon

Whipped cream, whipped topping or ice cream (optional)

Pour the pie filling into a shallow 1 1/2 quart glass casserole dish. Put the bread cubes on top. Drizzle the butter on top and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Beat the milk, eggs, sugar and extract, then pour on top of the bread, pushing down any cubes that aren’t coated. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Microwave on medium (50 percent) power for 18 to 20 minutes (rotate every 4 minutes if your oven doesn’t have a turntable), until custard is lightly set in center. Remove and let stand 5 minutes before serving with whipped cream or ice cream. (May also be served cold.) Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: 263 calories (33 percent from fat), 9.8 g fat (5.1 g saturated, 2.8 g monounsaturated), 97.6 mg cholesterol, 5.3 g protein, 39.5 g carbohydrates, 0.9 g fiber, 248.7 mg sodium.

Q: I once had the best chicken salad recipe, which I know I got off a can of pineapple in the late 1970s. It had one ingredient that was unusual at the time, Major Grey’s chutney. I’d love to have that recipe again, but I have never been able to find it.

-Carolyn M., Huntsville, Ala.

A: I tried technology first, but though there are many delicious-sounding recipes for chicken salad at Dole.com, none fit your description. I found the recipe the old-fashioned way, by thumbing through my collection of vintage recipe brochures.

It’s from “Budget-Stretching Meal Ideas from Dole Pineapple,” which must have been published in the right time frame since it has a coupon that expired in 1980. The recipe here is as it was published. When I made it, I substituted fresh chopped green onion for the instant and used the reserved pineapple juice to cook the rice with which I served the salad.

PINEAPPLE CHICKEN SALAD WITH CHUTNEY

1 (20-ounce) can chunk pineapple in syrup

2 tablespoons instant minced onions

2 cups diced, cooked chicken

1 cup diced cucumber

1/2 cup chopped salted cashews

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons mango chutney

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Crisp lettuce leaves

Drain pineapple well, reserving syrup. Combine minced onion with 3 tablespoons of the reserved syrup and let stand 10 minutes until rehydrated. Meanwhile, combine chicken, cucumbers, cashews and pineapple chunks in a large bowl. Combine mayonnaise, chutney and seasoned salt. Add onions, blending well. Pour over chicken mixture and toss. Arrange lettuce leaves on 6 plates. Spoon chicken mixture on top. Makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 506 calories (66 percent from fat), 38.2 g fat (5.2 g saturated, 9.3 g monounsaturated), 60.6 mg cholesterol,16.5 g protein, 27 g carbohydrates, 1.4 g fiber, 823 mg sodium.

SLEUTH’S CORNER

Q: I miss the split pea soup and croutons that the Rascal House on Miami Beach served on Mondays. Is there any chance the recipe is still around for both?

-Nick

Q: In the mid 1950s our family moved to Mobile, Ala., and soon began eating at Ossie’s Bar B Que on Highway 90. They had the best-ever baked beans. Does anyone have a recipe?

-Carol Butler

(Linda Cicero: lcicero(AT)MiamiHerald.com)

If you were going to create a winery, wouldn’t it be nice to start from scratch? You could if you were a multimillionaire businessman like Jerry Brassfield. The son of a Fresno, Calif., rancher, he left home at 19 to found his own empire – direct sales of vitamins and nutritional supplements in 50 countries, half a dozen car dealerships, restaurant stock.

In 1973, seeking a quiet refuge for his family, he bought High Serenity, a 2,500-acre cattle ranch and wildlife preserve. It was beautiful – rolling hills in a volcanic valley on the shores of Clear Lake, north and east of California’s main Napa-Sonoma wine area, two hours north of Sacramento.

He meant to leave it like that. But one day, helicoptering in from work, he noticed a neighbor planting grapevines.

Soon, the cattle were sold, says winemaker Kevin Robinson, and in 1998, 350 acres were turned into vineyards. (The winery followed in 2003.)

With the confidence of beginners, Brassfield and Robinson decided to plant everything – pinot grigio, zinfandel, gewurztraminer, Johannisberg riesling, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, pinot noir, syrah, merlot, petit verdot, grenache, petite sirah, malbec and mourvedre.

Robinson’s winemaking philosophy is simple: “I want wines that just taste good. Wines you can bring to a menu. A lot of people make bigger wines, forgetting that wines are enjoyed best with food. I try for fruit-forward wines with good acid, modest oak aging and lower alcohol.”

He concedes it’s possible Brassfield will follow the example of other new growers and gradually cut back production to the grapes that do best on their land.

“We might trim some out,” he says. “On the other hand, we’ve been talking about planting some Rhone grapes, some viognier.”

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

2007 Brassfield Estate “Serenity’ white wine, High Serenity Ranch Vineyard, High Valley (sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, gewurztraminer, semillon): soft, lightly sweet, with ripe pear and apple flavors; $15.

2006 Brassfield Estate Pinot Noir, High Serenity Ranch Vineyard, High Valley: black cherry and spice, full-bodied and rich; $24.

RECOMMENDED

2007 Brassfield Estate Pinot Grigio, High Serenity Ranch Vineyard, High Valley: light and crisp with floral aromas and flavors of green pears; $15.

2007 Brassfield Estate Sauvignon Blanc, High Serenity Ranch Vineyard, High Valley (85 percent sauvignon blanc, 13.5 percent semillon 1.5 percent gewurztraminer): crisp and rich with flavors of green melons and ripe pears; $16.

2005 Brassfield Estate Zinfindel, Round Mountain and Volcano vineyards, High Valley (92 percent zinfandel, 8 percent syrah): soft and hugely rich with red raspberry and chocolate flavors; $22.

2005 Brassfield Estate Merlot, High Serenity Ranch Vineyard, High Valley (77 percent merlot, 18 percent cabernet franc, 5 percent petite verdot): rich and ripe with black cherry and black pepper aromas and flavors; $23.

2004 Brassfield Estate Syrah, Round Mountain, High Valley: rich and ripe with earthy aromas and black raspberry flavors; $24.