Saucy Proposals

Cheese Grits

2 cups milk

1 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup quick grits

6 ounces (½ tub) Austin Slow Burn Green Chile con Queso – Medium

Combine milk, water, butter, and salt in a heavy 2-quart pot, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in grits, and reduce heat to low. Cook until the grits begin to thicken, stirring often, about three to four minutes. Add cheese mixture, and stir well. Cook for another two to three minutes. Serve warm. Four servings.

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Austin Slow Burn Green Chile Con Queso Layered Dip

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and mashed until chunky

2 cups cooked seasoned ground beef, drained

2 12-ounce tubs Green Chile con Queso

2 fresh avocados, cubed

8 to 12 grape tomatoes, cut in quarters

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an 8-by-12-inch baking dish, spread beans on the bottom of the pan, and cover with the beef in an even layer. Heat queso in the microwave, and pour over the meat. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and top with avocados and tomatoes when ready to serve. Serve with tortilla chips. Six-eight servings.

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Texas Tropical Shrimp

3 mangoes

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Tejas Tears

½ lime

1 sweet onion (Bermuda, Vidalia, or 1013)

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 cup flour

salt

pepper

1 cup bread crumbs

3 eggs

2 cups peanut or safflower oil

1 pounds of shrimp

4 cups cooked rice (any kind you like)

1 can coconut milk

Peel one mango, and slice the flesh away from the pit. Place the mango slices in the blender with the sugar, the juice from half a lime, and the Tejas Tears, and blend until smooth. Store in refrigerator.

Peel the other two mangoes, and slice the flesh away from the pit. Cut into small cubes. Seed and dice the two peppers, and peel and dice the sweet onion. Mix all the finely diced fruit and vegetables together and set in fridge.

Season the flour with salt and pepper to taste while you heat the oil in a frying pan (cast-iron is best). Whisk the eggs in a shallow bowl.

Shell and devein the shrimp; toss them in the seasoned flour, and remove. One at a time, dip them in the beaten egg, then in the bread crumbs, and fry in the heated oil until golden brown, two to three minutes. (Shrimp cook quickly!) Drain briefly on paper towels.

To serve, create a bed of rice on each plate, and drizzle each with about one-fourth cup of coconut milk. Place shrimp on the rice, sprinkle with chopped fruit, peppers-and-onion mixture, and dot with the pureed mango sauce to taste.

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Classy Delites Spinach Artichoke Pasta

1 jar Spinach Artichoke Dip

½ cup Parmesan Reggiano

3 tablespoons butter

½ pound of interestingly shaped pasta

Cook pasta until done in rapidly boiling salted water, and drain. While pasta is cooking, heat up the Spinach Artichoke Dip in a large saucepan.

Place the drained pasta in a festive bowl, and toss it with the butter. Pour the heated dip over the pasta, and toss. As each serving is dished out, sprinkle liberally with Parmesan Reggiano. This is lovely as a side dish and is also a great way to use up leftover chicken: Just chop the chicken up into cubes and add to the spinach-artichoke mixture as it heats.

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Pork Posole

1 pound pork, cubed

1 cup flour

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons oil

1 white onion

2 or 3 peppers (either poblano, Big Jim, or Anaheim)

1 jar Austin Slow Burn Salsa Verde

2 cups canned white hominy, drained and rinsed

2 cups water

Seed, stem, and slice the peppers. Skin and cube the onion. In a Dutch oven, heat up the oil over medium-high heat. Season the flour to taste with the salt and pepper, and dredge the pork cubes in it.

When the oil is hot, add the onion and sliced peppers. When they begin to soften, add the pork and sauté until browned. Add the Salsa Verde and water, reduce the heat to low, and cover and let simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Add the posole, and cook for another hour; the pork should be falling apart and the hominy tender.