Here’s a colorful, fun to eat appetizer that will wow all your guests at your next barbecue or summer fiesta party. It’s do-ahead convenient and so easy the kids can help. (Yield 18 appetizers).

INGREDIENTS

• 1, 8-oz. Bistro To Go Fresh Guacamole*
• ¾ cup seasoned, canned black beans; well-drained
• 1 cup Mexican-style canned corn; well-drained
• 1 cup salsa
• Bite-size tortilla chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place 18, 2-oz. shot glasses in a baking pan with sides.
2. Spoon guacamole into a plastic bag and snip off one corner to make a medium hole. Squeeze about 1 Tbs. into each shot glass.
3. Top with ½ Tbs. black beans, 1 scant† Tbs. corn, and 1 scant† Tbs. salsa.
   (Be sure to cover the guacamole with the additional ingredients as guacamole turns brown when exposed to air).

4. Cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to serve. Prior to serving, insert 2 bite-size tortilla chips into each shot glass. Serve with additional tortilla chips.

* Look for this product in the Produce department at Price Cutter.
† Just shy of 1 Tbs.

The Super Bowl is this Sunday and Bistro Market has a lot of great party food prepared and ready for you to host a “Super” party. For those of you who like to make your own party trays, here are some ideas for great finger foods. Go Raiders! Oh. Wait a second… (sighs) maybe next year.

• BBQ Baby Back Ribs
• Brie with Tomato-Basil Coulis
• Guacamole with Veggies
• Cilantro Crab Cakes

Nothing says football like ribs, but going outside to BBQ in the snow is not my idea of a good time. Here is a method for cooking ribs that is guaranteed to please the most discriminating tastes.

For the Ribs:

• ¼ cup paprika
• 2 tablespoons Kosher cup salt
• 1 tablespoons black pepper
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 slabs baby back ribs
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups light chicken broth

METHOD

In a medium-size bowl, combine the paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, coffee, and brown sugar. Reserve two tablespoons of the mix and set aside for sauce. Rub remaining mixture liberally onto both sides of ribs. Get a skillet very hot over high heat. Add oil to pan and sear ribs until dark brown. You may have to cut each rib rack in half first to fit in pan. Place seared ribs into a broiling pan, cake pan, or sheet tray with sides and pour broth into pan. Cover tightly with foil. The key to this method is to get an airtight seal, so don’t skimp on the foil! Place in an oven preheated to °300 and bake for 3 to 4 hours or until meat is almost falling off of the bone. Baste with sauce* and serve immediately.

*For the Sauce:

• 1 ½ cups ketchup
• ¾ cup red wine vinegar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• Reserved dry rub

In a medium-size saucepan combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Set aside.

You don’t have to use Triscuits, but the nutty flavor and crispy texture really worked well with the tangy tomato sauce and creamy Brie.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small wheel of Brie or Goat Cheese Brie
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 1 bunch or 8 large leaves fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaf
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon coarse, black pepper

METHOD

Place tomatoes, garlic, and basil in a small bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour onto a small cookie sheet or ovenproof pan and cover with foil. Bake tomato mixture at °375 for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool until you are able to handle. Remove to cutting board and with a sharp knife, chop tomato mixture until somewhat smooth.

Pour tomato coulis over cheese and place on a microwave proof plate. Microwave on high for 30 to 60 seconds or until cheese is soft. Serve with Triscuits.

Even though it is the Super Bowl and you are probably going to eat some fun food that may not be as healthy as you would like, it is good to have a few healthy items on hand. I’ve found that almost everyone likes guacamole and when served with some fresh vegetables or Garden of Eatin’ blue corn chips, it is a filling, healthy, and delicious appetizer!

INGREDIENTS

• 6 ripe avocados
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 large, ripe tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 poblano chiles, roasted, skinned, seeded, and diced*
• ½ cup loose packed cilantro
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce or Cholula
• 2 teaspoons salt

METHOD

Peel and seed the avocados. In a small bowl, mash the avocados with the back of a spoon. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

*To roast poblanos; rub peppers with olive oil evenly coating the skin. Place on a greased cookie sheet and cook in a °450 oven for 15 minutes, turn over, then cook for another 15 minutes. Total cooking time is 30 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately place in a brown bag or other tight fitting container. Wait 20 minutes or so then remove chiles from bag and peel skin from the peppers. Open them up and remove seeds. They are now ready to dice. This procedure can be used to skin and seed any pepper.

Everyone likes crab cakes. I once ate at a restaurant near Destin, FL, called The Red Door, which claimed to have the best crab cake in the world. Intrigued, we all ordered the crab cakes. I haven’t yet tasted one better, but the recipe below is as close as I have gotten to recreating that masterful recipe!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup onion, finely diced
• 2 ribs celery, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
• Two, 10 oz. cans crab meat
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons Miracle Whip
• 2 tablespoons Hiland Sour Cream
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco
• Juice and minced zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup finely chopped cilantro
• ½ cup panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs plus ½ cup extra for breading

Have ready:

• ½ cup vegetable oil
• Non-stick skillet

METHOD

Form the crab cakes into 2 to 3 oz patties. Pour some of the remaining panko breadcrumbs onto a plate and gently push the breadcrumbs onto the crab cakes until each cake is evenly coated with a thin layer of breadcrumbs. Heat non-stick skillet over medium high heat and add enough oil to just cover bottom of pan. When oil is hot but not smoking, add crab cakes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side until golden brown. Be careful when turning crab cakes as they can fall apart. Serve with Remoulade Sauce* and some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

*Remoulade Sauce

• ½ cup red bell pepper
• 1 stalk of celery
• 2 green onions (including all the green)
• ½ cup of fresh parsley leaves
• ½ cups of Miracle Whip
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of ketchup
• 1 tablespoon of horseradish
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 2 teaspoons of paprika
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Purée in food processor or blender until smooth.

A Note From Our Chef

As some of you may know, Price Cutter has recently opened a new venture at the corner of Walnut and South Avenue in Springfield called Bistro Market. Bistro Market is the first of its kind in Downtown Springfield and we believe that it fills a niche that was long overdue. In addition to the products and quality that you have come to expect from Price Cutter, Bistro Market features a full-service restaurant, 24-foot salad bar with many organic foods, a gelato location with 24 flavors, full-service bar, Starbucks, and a full-service meat counter with specialty meats that are not to be found anywhere else in the metro area. I will be spending the next several weeks at the market cooking, training staff, and helping to create a shopping experience unlike anything you can imagine. To that end, we will be revisiting some past recipes that have been featured on the Price Cutter blog and will resume our regular program in the autumn. Come and see me at Bistro Market at 401 South Avenue in Springfield; I look forward to seeing you there!   – Chef Clary

In This Menu:

• BBQ Chicken
• Guacamole
• Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake

People tell me all the time that they have trouble with BBQ chicken. They say it is either burnt on the outside, not done in the middle, or dry. I will admit that doing chicken on the grill outside can be a bit tricky, but with some basic tools and common sense it can be one of the best things you cook. Because I like the flavor of chicken on the grill, I probably grill chicken twice as much as any other meat. I have encountered all of the issues mentioned above and over time learned how to BBQ chicken that has a great fire-roasted flavor, is cooked through, and is still moist. I hope this helps!

Secrets to success with BBQ chicken

Grill temperature – One of the cardinal rules of BBQ chicken is a low fire. Since chicken has to be cooked completely through, it takes longer to cook than a steak. Because of this, if your fire is too hot, the chicken will be burnt before it is cooked! If you have an open top grill with no lid, use less coals than you normally would. After the coals are all glowing, move them to one side. Place the chicken on the other side and rotate and move the chicken frequently throughout the cooking process to ensure it doesn’t get too dark on any one side. If you have a Weber, Green Egg, or other grill with the ability to close the lid and adjust the air flow, close the vents to allow just a small opening for air. This will lower the temperature, reduce or eliminate flare ups, and leave you with a perfect chicken.

Different Pieces, Different Time – A chicken leg cooks in half the time as a chicken breast. So why do we put all of the bird on at the same time? Because no one ever told us differently! I usually start my breasts first and cook for about 15 minutes. Then I put the legs and thighs on and cook for another 20 minutes or so until the chicken is done.

Don’t Sauce Too Early – Chicken burns so easily because most of us think that if we start slopping the BBQ on the meat right away it will be better. The problem with this philosophy is that BBQ sauce is full of sugar. When cooked, sugar turns brown or “caramelizes”; the burnt crust you often see on BBQ chicken is usually made up of sauce. I water down my sauce so that the sugar content is thinned. Never add sauce until the last 10 or 15 minutes of cooking.

INGREDIENTS

For the Chicken:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 4 chicken thighs
• 4 chicken legs

For the Dry Rub:

• ¼ cup chile powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano

PREPARATION

The Sauce:
1 part your favorite BBQ sauce mixed with 1 part water

To make the dry rub, mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Rinse the chicken, pat dry with a paper towel then add the chicken, one piece at a time to the spice bowl and turn chicken until it is completely coated with the dry rub. Shake off excess rub, then repeat until all of the chicken pieces are coated.

Place the chicken on the grill, following the procedures outlined above. Check every 10 minutes or so and turn frequently to ensure that the fire is not getting too hot and that the chicken is not burning on any particular side. Start basting the chicken with the sauce and water mixture after the chicken has been cooking for about 20 to 25 minutes. The total cooking time for the chicken, depending of course on the size of the pieces and the temperature of your grill, will be about an hour for the breasts and 30 to 45 minutes for the thighs and legs. This is assuming you are using average-sized chicken cooked over a fire that is about 300°.

When chicken is done, remove from grill and let chicken rest for 10 minutes, cooling a bit. This gives the juices a chance to reabsorb into the tissue. Serve hot with fresh, and buttered, corn on the cobb.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 ripe avocados
• 1 medium red onion-diced
• 1 large, ripe tomato-diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 Poblano chiles, roasted, skinned, seeded, and diced*
• ½ cup loose packed cilantro
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce or Cholula
• 2 teaspoons salt

PREPARATION

Peel and seed the avocados. In a small bowl, mash the avocados with the back of a spoon. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

*To roast Poblanos; rub peppers with olive oil evenly coating the skin. Place on a greased cookie sheet and cook in a 450° oven for 15 minutes, turn over, then cook for another 15 minutes. Total cooking time is 30 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately place in a brown bag or other tight fitting container. Wait 20 minutes or so then remove chiles from bag and peel skin from the peppers. Open them up and remove seeds. They are now ready to dice. This procedure can be used to skin and seed any pepper.

INGREDIENTS

For the Crust:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 4 oz. butter
• 2 eggs

For the Filling:

• 2 cups fresh blueberries

For the Topping:

• 4½ cups powdered sugar
• 12 oz. cream cheese
• 3 eggs

PREPARATION

In a medium mixing bowl, mix cake mix with butter and eggs until a thick dough is formed. Make sure that the cream cheese is room temperature then mix topping ingredients well.

For a large cake, wet your hands with cold water then press crust evenly into a 9″x13″ pan. Sprinkle berries evenly over crust. Pour topping over berries. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

You can do individual cakes by using soufflé dishes, cupcake molds, or other single serving bakeware. The number you end up with depends on the size of the pans you are using. Just follow the same procedure; crust in bottom followed by berries then topping. Bake until golden brown on top.