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-Drew
It’s tailgate season!
I’m not going to a game, and even if I did, it would probably be on a bicycle so, I suppose it’s not technically a tailgate if it’s spread out on the living room coffee table. Not unless you’ve fashioned a coffee table out of a tailgate, which odds-are is something that you can already buy on the internet. But it’s still tailgate season and that means cold adult beverages and a wonderful hodgepodge of tasty snacking foods.
If you’re new to The Weekly Menu - and quite a few of you are because The Weekly Menu is currently featured on Substack’s front page – this week’s menu is a little less formal than many of my regulars. It’s the product of a conversation with a good friend a few weeks ago. I was looking for suggestions, ideas for something a little different for the newsletter. She was looking for ideas for an at home tailgate.
She ended up making the chips and dip from the Chophouse Holiday edition.
I ended up making a buffet of game time snack foods.
That’s how the great exchange of ideas works, right?
Horseradish & Sauerkraut Cheese Dip
One of the most commented on recipes I’ve ever posted on The Weekly Menu was for one of Ohio’s more unique foods – sauerkraut balls. They sound like a kid’s gross-out joke, but the tasty fried little balls of cheese, kraut, and sausage are amazing. Plus, they really go well with a tooth shatteringly cold beer. This dip is an ode to those flavors – minus the sausage, and minus the fried. Think of it as sauerkraut ball dip if you want.
When I was putting together the rough plan for this recipe, I’d planned on including a recipe for classic gigantic soft pretzels because I love soft pretzels.
The problem is, I’m terrible at making them. I’d like to claim that my giant bear paws masquerading as hands just don’t have the dexterity to shape them properly, but I’m fairly certain it's more that I don’t have the patience to shape them properly. So, I leave you to your own devices in procuring some sort of bread product that accompany this slightly sour, slightly spicy, very cheesy dip. I went with store bought frozen soft pretzel sticks and they were pretty damned delicious and didn’t look at all like pale, mangled knots of under proofed dough. You could also go with pretzel chips or good black bread like pumpernickel.
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups shredded swiss cheese
1 cup sauerkraut
2 tbsp prepared horseradish
1 tsp granulated sugar
½ tsp fresh ground white pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Squeeze as much liquid from the sauerkraut as possible, then mince it finely.
Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, cream together the cream cheese, sauerkraut, horseradish, sugar, and white pepper.
Spread this mixture in a large ramekin or gratin pan, and top with breadcrumbs.
Bake until the breadcrumb topping is browned, and the mixture is bubbling hot – about 20 minutes.
Serve hot with soft pretzels, or black bread.
Wedgie Bites (Belgian endive with tomato, bacon, and blue cheese dressing)
I’ve made wedge salads for this newsletter in the past. I’ve made bite size foods for this newsletter in the past. I don’t think I've ever made bite sized wedge salads - and that’s what this is. Even though you don’t make friends with salad, you’re bound to have that friend who makes that sotto voce aside “this is all great, but I wish there was a salad or just … something healthy”
This isn’t “healthy” in the way that that friend means, but it’s sort of a salad and it’s actually a pretty tasty bite. The bitterness of the endive really cuts through the richness of the other ingredients, and it’s crisp like a wedge salad should be. So now you can just point that friend in the direction of this plate, and complain about why they’re such spoilsports later.
2 Belgian endives
4 Roma tomatoes or other small, firm tomatoes
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
1 clove garlic
1 cup small bread cubes (1/4 inch)
4 pieces thick cut bacon
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp finely minced fresh dill
½ tsp ground black pepper
Clean and carefully separate the leaves from the endive.
Add the leaves to a bowl of ice water to crisp.
Slice the bacon into thin strips and fry until very crisp. Drain and cool on a paper towel. Reserve the rendered fat to toast the bread cubes.
Add the bread cubes to the bacon fat in the pan, and toast, stirring frequently, until crisp and brown.
Peel, trim, and mince or microplane the garlic.
Dice the tomatoes.
Add the garlic and lemon juice to a non-reactive bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Stir the mayonnaise and yogurt into the garlic lemon juice mixture.
Add the minced dill and black pepper, and stir or whisk until very smooth.
Fold in most of the blue cheese, retaining a small amount for garnish.
Remove the endives from the water, and fill individual leaves with tomato, bread cubes and bacon, then top with dressing.
Garnish with additional blue cheese, bread crumbs, and chopped herbs.
Homemade Bratwurst Sliders on Everything Rolls and Sweet and Sour Onions
I live in Ohio. That means that sometime around the first day it drops below 70 at night, everything becomes a bratwurst. Okay, obviously that’s not true – I’m not fully a bratwurst, maybe only like 30%. Regardless, with the start of football season, the preferred meat/bread/topping combination around here definitely shifts from backyard burgers with backyard tomatoes to grilled sausage on a roll – and that sausage on a roll, particularly in this part of the state (the part with lots of German street names that’s in the very long shadow of Ohio Stadium), is bratwurst.
I’d originally planned to walk you through making more traditional bratwurst – meaning actually stuffed into a sausage casing, grilled and served on a split roll bratwurst. That’s most easily accomplished with a sausage stuffing machine and while I have one, I realize that not everyone does, and that even those that do have one may not want to drag it out of the basement, set it up, use it, spend a long time cleaning it, and lug it back down the narrow stairs and put it away. I mean I would of course, for the art, but maybe you wouldn’t. It’s all about you.
So part of this recipe is for bulk bratwurst, shaped into patties, grilled or griddled, slid into soft everything seasoning topped slider rolls, and slathered in sweet and sour onions. It doesn’t require a machine for tubifying meat and it’s really really delicious. Of course, you could also just buy bratwurst and rolls, but where’s the fun in that?
Fresh Bulk Bratwurst
2 lbs ground pork shoulder meat
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp ice water
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dry marjoram
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp mace
Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor, pulse until combined.
Allow to rest in the refrigerator, in a covered container, for at least 1 hour before use.
To finish, form into balls, smash flat, and grill or griddle until browned and cooked through.
Layer on an Everything Slider roll, and top with sweet and sour onions and (it it’s your thing) a smear of spicy mustard.
Everything Slider Rolls
This recipe is based on King Arthur Flour’s burger bun recipe, with a couple of small changes. I substitute oil for a portion of the butter (I think it makes them slightly softer and more tender) and of course, I top them with everything seasoning.
3 ½ cups AP Flour
¾ cup warm water
3 tbsp plus 1 tbsp melted unsalted butter
1 tbsp neutral oil
2 large eggs
2 tbsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp kosher salt
2 ½ tsp (one packet) instant yeast
2 tbsp “everything” topping
Add the water and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
Add the flour, oil, 1 tbsp melted butter, sugar, 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk (reserve the egg white for later) and salt and process on low speed until a smooth dough has formed.
Allow to rise, covered, in a warm place until doubled in size – about 1 hour in my kitchen.
Preheat your oven to 375°F.
Divide the dough into 16 pieces, then form into balls.
Flatten each ball with the hell of your hand and arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Allow to proof in a warm moist place (or covered with a warm, slightly damp kitchen towel) until the dough balls are puffy and a finger pressed into one leaves a slight mark that doesn’t bounce back.
Whisk the reserved egg white with 1 tbsp of water.
Brush the rolls with this mixture, then sprinkle with everything seasoning.
Bake at 375°F until well browned on top.
Brush the warm rolls with the remaining 3 tbsp melted butter to ensure a soft top crust.
Sweet and Sour Onions
1 large white onion
1 tsp neutral oil
1 tbsp cider or malt vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp tomato ketchup
½ tsp kosher salt
Peel, trim, and thinly slice the onion from end to end.
Add the oil to a pan over medium heat.
Add the onion and sprinkle it with salt.
Cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent.
Increase the heat and cook, stirring frequently until the onion is just beginning to brown.
Add the vinegar, ketchup, and sugar, stir well and simmer until thickened.
Cheese Stuffed Chicken Fingers
Have you ever found yourself sitting at the bar trying to decide between perfectly tasty chicken fingers and the culinary wonder that is fried mozzarella sticks? Well folks, what if I told you that you didn’t have to choose at all. You’re a responsible adult most of the time. You’re allowed to splurge. YOU CAN ORDER BOTH.
Or you can make these. They’re chicken fingers stuffed with cheese and served with a quick marinara sauce for dipping. It’s like the best of both worlds. Well, no, the best of both words is a huge plate of chicken fingers and a huge plate of cheese sticks and no one there to tell you you shouldn’t be eating them. But these are good, and they’re fun, and they’re sort of a party trick because they look like chicken fingers and then there’s cheese in the middle and then they’re sort of an inside-out-reverse chicken parm.
They’re quick and easy to make. I can confirm this because I forgot to photograph them this week and spent this morning throwing together another batch while editing and finishing this very newsletter. I didn’t even burn myself.
1 lb large chicken fingers
2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
1 cup AP flour
8 oz low moisture mozzarella cheese
½ tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs
Beat the eggs well with 2 tbsp of cold water.
Create a three step breading station with AP flour on a plate, the beaten eggs in a low bowl, and the breadcrumbs on a third plate.
Season the chicken all over with salt.
Using a sharp knife, carefully cut a slice in one side of each chicken finger.
Cut bars of mozzarella large enough to fit the pocket, but small enough that the chicken will completely encompass the meat.
Dredge the chicken fingers in AP flour.
Dip the flour dredged pieces into the egg wash.
Dip into the breadcrumbs.
Dip back into the egg wash, and a second time into the breadcrumbs (a thicker breading will help contain any escaping cheese).
Arrange on a rack, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (to hydrate the crust).
Set up your frier or a large thick bottomed pot with several inches of oil, and heat 350°F.
Fry the chicken fingers until golden brown, serve hot with quick marinara (below).
Quick Marinara
1 14oz can peeled, diced tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
4 leaves fresh basil
½ tsp kosher salt
Peel, trim, and finely mince or microplane the garlic.
Add the oil and garlic to a cold pan, and place over medium low heat.
As soon as the garlic is fragrant and begins to simmer, add the tomatoes – including all the liquid.
Add the salt, the basil, bring to a simmer, and cook until the tomatoes are softened.
Crush any large tomato pieces with the back of a spoon, a whisk, or an old fashioned wire potato masher.
Brownie Nachos
This is another recipe based primarily on a recipe that’s not my own. There are a few reasons for that – the first being that I’m not a great baker when it comes to sweets. The second is that there’s really no sense in developing something new when someone else has created something great. Finally, this recipe is more of an instruction set than a recipe.
Make one recipe of Rhoda Boone’s thin chewy sheet pan brownies.
Cut the brownies into triangles and arrange on a plate
Top with marshmallow fluff, caramel sauce, nuts, sliced day-glo cherries, and grated chocolate – or really anything else.
Do a better job than I did with piping the marshmallow cream.
Call them “Brownie Nachos.”
Go to town.