Barbecue Part Two: Recipe Boogaloo

Yesterday I shared my Supper Club 600 adventure at the Drive-In, and as promised, today I'll be sharing the recipes for all of the dishes we made.  (Well, all but the barbecue jackfruit, which I've already shared.)

Curried Chickpea Salad

An excellent source of protein!

We fell in love with this salad at Joan's on Third, our favorite place in Los Angeles to pick up a picnic-to-go.  Whenever we wanted it, we'd have to trek over to Beverly Hills... until The Times was so kind to print the recipe!

As with any recipe, Tom and I tweaked it to lower the calories... and I'm a wuss when it comes to spice, so we removed the heat.  Here's our variation on Joan's chickpeas:

• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 30 ounces of chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons cilantro
• 1 lemon, juiced
• Pam
• Water
• Salt

Saute the onion in Pam over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the turmeric, cumin, and coriander. Stir regularly for about 3 minutes.  It will develop into a kind of spice "paste."

Drain the chickpeas, then add to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add a tablespoon of lemon juice along with a little water, to thin the paste.
 
Remove from heat and season with the cilantro, the rest of the lemon juice, and salt to taste.


Broccoli Slaw

Light and crunchy!

  
Tom got this recipe from "Big Daddy's House," starring Aaron McCargo Jr, the winner of Next Food Network Star a few years ago.  It's a lot spicer as Aaron makes it - and it includes oil that, in our opinion, weighs the slaw down unnecessarily.  Here's our twist on Aaron's recipe:

• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 2 cups shredded broccoli slaw (we buy ours at Trader Joe's.)
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Soak the slices of onion for a few minutes, which will make it slightly milder.  Then drain, and combine with the carrots and broccoli slaw. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, add the vinegar, lime zest, lime juice, salt, sugar, and the black pepper. Bring to a light boil over low heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.


Add the mixture to the vegetables, and toss to combine.


 Blue Cheese Aioli

We served ours with crunchy veggie crudite.

I'm proud to say that I came up with this recipe myself!  I'd heard about combining sour cream with mayo to make aioli, but when I had discovered two perfect low-calorie ingredients, I knew that putting them together would make for amazing flavor and texture.  And I was right!  You can try other replacement ingredients, but if at all possible, I highly recommend these specific ones:

• 1/2 cup Trader Joe's Fat Free Sour Cream
• 1/2 cup Light Vegenaise (available at Whole Foods)
• 2 oz blue cheese crumbles
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

Stir it together, and that's it.  For some real foodie fireworks, bake some sweet potato fries and have at.

There are a couple of other recipes I can share with you... but they're hiding inside the movie snack sampler bags!

The spoils of Supper Club 600!

Every guest at the Drive-In received a sampler with two kinds of popcorn, some fresh market cherries, and a mini-serving of dark chocolate pomegranate "raisinettes."  (We did not make the "raisinettes" ourselves. They're available at Trader Joe's as Dark Chocolate Dried Pomegranate.  They're great, but be wary of portion size.  They list it at 1/4 cup for 200 calories - a third of our evening's calories! - so we gave our guests less than half of the recommended serving.)


We made the popcorn ourselves, with just a tiny bit of oil in the popper.  From there, we sprayed it with a little butter-flavored Pam and transferred it to a large bag (not packed - with plenty of room.)  Add the flavor mixtures and shake to coat!  Here is the ratio information for our mixtures, per cup of popcorn.


Cinnamon-Sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt

Southwestern
1/4 tsp taco seasoning (with salt but without MSG)
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder

Tom - who is a veritable popcorn fiend - liked the flavored popcorn enough that he's considering bringing some to a movie theater in the future.  (Movie theater popcorn is possibly his greatest vice, and he's cut way, way down.)

That's everything!  But don't forget to come back tomorrow for the sequel... ATTACK OF THE DRIVE-IN FASHION!  'Til then, take care of you!