Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 (29 page)

BOOK: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2

12.04Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

ads

1. Brown ground beef in a large saucepan over medium heat. Drain fat.

2. Add onion and pepper and saute for about two minutes.

3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Serve one cup in a bowl with the optional cheese, diced onion and whole jalapeno garnish on top.

• MAKES 4 SERVINGS.

MARGARITAVILLE CRAB, SHRIMP AND MUSHROOM DIP

MENU DESCRIPTION:
“Our signature appetizer ... jumbo lump blue crab meat, gulf shrimp and mushrooms, simmered in a Cajun cream sauce and served with toasted garlic bread. We make it here so you know it’s good!”

This dips rocks, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. According to the Margaritaville menu, it’s the theme chain’s signature appetizer And what’s not to like: Delicious blue crab, little bay shrimp and sliced mushrooms are all swimming in a Cajun-style cream sauce, topped with melted Cheddar and Jack cheeses, and broiled until the cheese melts ... oh, hold me back. Serve up your clone with slices of freshly toasted buttery garlic bread and you’ve got a great party snack. The restaurant version is a tiny little serving that’s barely enough for two, so I’ve supersized this clone recipe to make enough dip to satisfy the Brady Bunch—if Alice sits out.

DIP
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup minced celery
¼ cup minced white onion
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
flakes
2 cups heavy cream
1 ½ cups sliced white mushrooms
I cup blue crab
I cup bay shrimp, cooked
(smallest shrimp)

¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded Cheddar
cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack
cheese
2 green onions, sliced

BREAD
2 loaves Italian bread
½ cup butter, melted (1 stick)
½ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat in a large saucepan. Add celery, white onion and red pepper flakes and simmer slowly (sweat) the ingredients over low heat for 20 minutes. You don’t want the ingredients to turn brown; rather, you want them to cook slowly until the celery softens and the onion begins to turn translucent.

2. Add cream, mushrooms, crab, shrimp and salt to the pan. Turn the heat up a bit until the liquid begins to bubble, then bring the heat back down and let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes or until it reduces to about ½ the volume and becomes thick. Watch the saucepan carefully to make sure the mixture doesn’t bubble over. In the meantime, crank your oven up to broil.

3. Prepare the bread by cutting the loaves into ½-inch thick slices. Combine the dried parsley flakes and garlic powder with a stick of melted butter in a small bowl. Brush some of this garlic butter on each side of each bread slice and toast the bread under the hot broiler for 1 to 2 minutes per side or until the bread is toasted to a light brown.

4. When the dip has thickened pour it into an 8x8-inch casserole dish. Combine the shredded Cheddar and Jack cheese and sprinkle the cheese mixture over the dip. Broil the dip for 3 to 4 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle sliced green onions over the top and serve hot with the garlic toast on the side, and some spoons or forks for spreading the dip onto the toast.

• MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS.

MARGARITAVILLE JAMAICA MISTAICA WINGS

MENU DESCRIPTION:
“Come back to Jamaica! Our wings tossed in habanero-honey wing sauce with cucumber sticks and house-made mango ranch dipping sauce.”

Oh, wings. You gotta love those flavorful little non-functioning chicken parts. When they’re good, they’re real good. And these little guys from Jimmy Buffett’s chain of island-themed restaurants rock my tiny inflatable boat. The preparation is no big secret: fry the wings, add the sauce. But it’s that habanero honey sauce recipe that makes these suckers so addicting. Add to that an easy-to-make mango ranch dipping sauce and you’re off on a nonstop cruise to chicken wing paradise. The restaurant serving size is for 10 wings, but these Top Secret sauces will be enough for 30 wings, and you’ll need it! If I have one word of caution it’s to be very careful mincing that habanero. You may even want to use rubber gloves to handle it. This is the hottest pepper in the world, folks, so if you touch the minced pieces with your bare fingers, and then proceed to touch a crucial and sensitive body part, you’ll discover one big “mistaica” real fast.

HABANERO HONEY SAUCE
1 cup water
I 6-ounce can tomato paste
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup honey
¼ cup molasses
1 teaspoon minced habanero
pepper (1 pepper)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
flakes
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon dried minced onion
½ teaspoon dried parsley
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon liquid hickory smoke
⅓ cup white vinegar

MANGO RANCH DIPPING SAUCE
1 8-ounce bottle Hidden Valley
Ranch dressing
¼ cup mango juice (Kern’s is
good)
½ jolapeno, minced

6 to 10 cups vegetable oil (as
required by fryer)
10 chicken wings
salt
pepper

ON THE SIDE
cucumber sticks

1. Prepare habanero honey sauce by combining all ingredients except the vinegar in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer sauce for 1 hour uncovered, or until sauce reduces to about half of its original volume and thickens. Remove sauce from heat, mix in ⅓ cup white vinegar and cover.

2. Make the mango ranch dipping sauce by combining the ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill sauce until needed.

3. In your deep fryer, bring 6 to 10 cups of vegetable oil (or whatever is required by your fryer) to 375 degrees.

4. Drop in the wings and fry for 8 to 12 minutes or until the wings become golden brown. Drain wings for a few minutes on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Put wings in a large metal or glass bowl, add ½ cup of the habanero honey sauce and toss the wings until they are all coated. Serve with dipping sauce on the side and cucumber sticks, if desired.

• MAKES 10 WINGS (PLUS SAUCE FOR 20 MORE).

MARGARITAVILLE KEY LIME PIE

MENU DESCRIPTION:
“A true taste of the tropics. National award-winning recipe.”

Many of the key lime pie recipes circulating, including the recipe found on bottles of key lime juice, have a glaring error: They don’t make enough filling to fit properly into a standard 9-inch graham crust pie shell. That’s probably because those recipes are designed around one 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk. But come on, if we’re going to make a beautifully thick key lime pie like the one served at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurants we need to use something like 1½ cans of sweetened condensed milk, or, more accurately, two cups of the stuff. The clone recipe for the pie is a simple one that’s for sure, with only four ingredients including the pie shell. But don’t stop there. I’m also including a special way to make mango sauce by simply reducing a couple cans of Kern’s mango juice. And there’s a raspberry sauce recipe here that’s made easily with frozen raspberries. These two sauces are used to jazz up the plate at the restaurant and are certainly optional for your clone version, even though I’ve made them as easy as, um, you know.