4th of July Barbecue Menu: Burgers and Beans!

Uh... so... July 4th was about two weeks ago. This post is a little late. It has been hot. I have been lazy. Maybe I am just still full and working through a food coma.

I don't know if our menu this time around was super easy, or if A and I are just getting really good at cooking for groups. Enough of our menu lent itself to advance prep that the day of the event we had very little to do. Honestly, I think that is the only way to go if you want to avoid being exhausted already when the guests arrive.

This year, we opted for a theme of classic-ish American dishes. After all, it is 4th of July. 

Menu

Gazpacho Salsa

Bubbamus

Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta Salad

Grilled corn on the cob

Baked Beans

Bacon Cheeseburgers with Chipotle Chiles in Adobo Sauce on Homemade Buns

Homemade Spicy Ketchup

Strawberry and White Chocolate Macarons

Blueberry Pie

Red Velvet Cupcakes

For beverages we just had beer, and lots of it. Despite the heat, we opted to avoid frosty fruity beverages with hard liquor. A's college roommates were visiting and I wanted to avoid  broken furniture and mayhem in my apartment.

Here are 10 things I learned from this barbecue: 

1. Blueberry pie is best served full size. While the mini-pies were nice in theory, it is impossible to get something that gooey out of a mold in one piece. As such, I had to serve the pies in the mold which made them difficult to eat. Though they tasted good, few were willing to go through the effort to consume them. I had a lot left over. Next year, I will be serving standard slices if I make this recipe again. 

2. When making salsa, cut the vegetables very small. Similar to the blueberry pies, our salsa tasted good but was difficult to eat. Using a dice that was too large made it difficult to scoop the salsa up with a chip. 

3. Pureed dips, like our bubbamus are easy to eat and therefore get devoured. Bubbamus is our attempt at making baba ganoush. For some reason it always comes out tasting like hummus, so we have renamed it bubbamus.

4. High quality beef can make the difference between a good burger and a great burger. Thank you Dickson's Farm Stand.  Maybe there is something to be said for all of this grass fed slow food nonsense. 

5. Homemade buns are a piece of cake if you do a little bit of planning, and they taste way better than store bought. For my buns, I made the dough the day before and allowed it to rise in the refrigerator overnight. The day of the barbecue, I pulled the dough out in the morning to let it warm up, shaped the buns, and after a brief period of proofing, stuck them in the oven. If you have an open kitchen, this could be a fun activity for any guests that show up super early to "help out" (read start drinking early!). 

6. Shucking your corn the day before can lead to dried out ears, even if it is wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. 

7. I really love pasta salad - especially when it has lots of garlic and extra virgin olive oil on it.

8. Apparently chipotle peppers in adobo sauce make everything taste better. We added them to the burgers, the homemade ketchup and the beans. It gives off a subtle heat that sneaks up on you. I'm sure if that A might have tried to sneak them into the salsa, pasta salad, and even the cupcakes if I had stopped paying attention. 

9. Beans are the ultimate accompaniment at any barbecue. They can be made up to a month ahead of time and then frozen in freezer bags. We cooked ours completely and then stuck them in the freezer weeks ahead of the party. The night before, we removed them from the freezer to thaw, and then warmed them up in the oven for a bit before serving. They can be served room temperature, so you can even warm them up earlier in the day if you think you might need oven space later. 

10. Red velvet cupcakes are a real crowd pleaser, and patriotic too! Can't beat red white and blue on the fourth of July. 

This might be my last food post before this morphs into a travel blog for a month, though I am hoping I can squeeze one more in before August. A and I are heading out on our big annual vacation in less than two weeks. This year's vacation is to be the vacation of vacations - 5 weeks and 5 countries. We will be making stops in Singapore, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Malaysian Borneo and Indonesia. Needless to say, I don't expect to do any baking while I am gone! For friends and family, we will try to keep this space updated with info and photos of what we see while we are away, and more importantly, what we eat! 

Recipe for my red velvet cupcakes and hamburger buns after the jump!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

yield: about 24 cupcakes (may have 1-2 extra)

As a disclaimer, while the recipe produces some of the softest, moistest cake I have ever tasted, it does sink a bit when you remove it from the oven. This is of little consequence with cupcakes, as the sunken top can be camouflaged with icing. That being said, I am not sure that this cake is sturdy enough for a layer cake. If you try it, let me know! 

Cake
200g all purpose flour
37.5 g corn starch
1 heaping tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 container of Wilton No Taste Red coloring
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 oz butter
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

24 blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners.
Sift together the flour, corn starch, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla extract.

In the bowl of a mixed, beat the butter for a few moments to soften it. Then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Next add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each. Add the dry ingredients in 4 additions and the buttermilk in 3 additions alternating between the two and taking care not to over mix. Divide the batter among the cupcake tins, filling each about half way. Bake for 25-30 minutes and then cool the cupcakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes.

For the frosting, beat the butter in the bowl of a mixer until smooth and creamy. Cut the cream cheese into small chunks and add them to the butter a few at a time, mixing completely before adding more. Beat in the vanilla extract. Then begin adding the powdered sugar, a little at a time, beating completely between each addition. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them and garnish each with a blueberry.

Sesame Seed Burger Buns
yield: Probably about 12-15, though it depends on how large you make them

14 oz water
2 envelopes of yeast
2 oz sugar
1/2 oz salt
1/2 pint egg yolks
3 oz vegetable oil
2 1/4 lbs high gluten flour or bread flour
Sesame seeds

In a small bowl, combine the yeast with about half of the water to activate the yeast. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar and salt in the remainder of the water. Whisk in the egg yolks and the oil. Add the flour and the yeast mixture, and mix on low speed until the dough comes together and is smooth and elastic. Cover the dough and let it rise for one hour at room temperature, or if you need more time, put it into the fridge to rise as the cold air will retard the yeast.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, divide and roll it into buns. I usually use 4.5-6 oz pieces of dough for each bun. Allow the buns to proof for up to 30 minutes. Brush them with an egg wash and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes and then cool them on racks.

NOTE: A variation of this recipe can also make a delicious loaf that can be used for french toast. Instead of adding the 3oz of oil, use about 4.5 oz of butter. Bake in a loaf pan or roll into baguettes for yummy, decadent buttery bread.