GEEK ALERT! Please excuse our dust

Hi everyone, I'm going to be doing some back-end geekery over the next few days. My apologies in advance for any technical difficulties or weird-looking layouts you may encounter. Hopefully any disruption will be minimal.

Since coding always makes me thirsty, I'll leave the comments for this post open in the hopes that you will share your favorite Refreshing Beverage recipes. I'll start:

Michelada

Ingredients
1 bottle of beer (Corona is good)
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce
limes

Procedure
Pour beer into a glass with ice, add Worcestershire and Tabasco to taste. Squeeze a lime wedge into glass. Drink.

Peanuts are good with this. You can also salt the rim, but that sounds an awful lot like planning ahead.

- Monica

Coconut and Beer Battered Shrimp

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Here is a recipe for coconut battered shrimp with a Cajun flair from Paul Prudhomme of New Orleans. You can also have it as a main course over some dirty rice and maybe try to work in a vegetable. On the side. This recipe makes 6 main dish or 12 appetizer servings.

Ingredients for seasoning mix
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoons onion powder
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon oregano leaves

Ingredients for battered shrimp
2 eggs
3/4 cup beer
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 3/4 cup flour divided
4 dozen cleaned shrimp with tails left on
3 cups grated coconut
oil for deep frying

Procedure
Combine all the spices for the seasoning mix in a bowl. From that bowl take 2 tablespoons and mix with the eggs, 1 1/4 cups of the flour, beer, and baking powder. Whisk till smooth. At this altitude, I often add a bit of extra water to make the mixture a little thinner. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining flour with 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture. Save extra Cajun spice mix for another day. Set up one more bowl for flaked coconut. Now take the shrimp, hold by the tail and dip in flour, shake off excess, then the batter and then the coconut. Heat fryer oil to 350 and fry about 30 seconds to one minute, till golden brown and crispy. You can also fry them ahead of time and reheat them in the oven before serving. Prudhomme suggests serving them with an orange, mustard and horseradish sauce. Personally I don’t find they need a sauce.

Stout-Marinated Steak Sandwich

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
I love a steak sandwich every now and then. Here’s a great one and it's marinated in beer! You must start this recipe a day ahead but it takes 5 minutes to marinate the steak, and then it sits in the fridge overnight and you broil it the next afternoon.

Ingredients
2/3 cup Guinness Stout
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 pounds Flank steak
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
Dash salt
4 cups onions, thin sliced (Vidalia if possible)
12 slices sourdough French baguette, cut on the diagonal, brushed with a little oil, and toasted in the oven
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons horseradish
Paprika to garnish

Procedure
In a glass or porcelain dish, combine stout, oil, salt, garlic, and pepper. Add steak and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in fridge overnight. Next day, in a large skillet, melt butter and add paprika and a dash of salt. Now add thin-sliced onions and cook over medium low heat till they get soft and caramelize — around 20 minutes. Don’t cook over too high a flame, or they'll burn. Preheat broiler and drain steak from marinade and pat dry. Broil 2 inches from the heat; you could also throw it on the grill for 3-4 minutes on either side. Let rest 5 minutes and take to cutting board. Slice thin on the diagonal. For each serving, place a few slices of meat over toasted French baguette. Top with cooked onions. Combine sour cream and horseradish and spoon over top of sandwich. Sprinkle on a smidge of paprika. Eat immediately; I would also add a simple mixed green salad and maybe more beer.

Irish Cheddar and Stout Fondue

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Today we are going to make an Irish Cheddar fondue with Stout. You can dip anything into a fondue, the Irish suggest potatoes. What a surprise!

Ingredients
2 cups 1 to 1 1/2-inch-diameter red-skinned potatoes, halved
2 cups cauliflower florets
2 cups very small Brussel sprouts
2 apples, cored, cut into wedges
1 pound Irish cheddar cheese, grated
2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3/4 cup (or more) Irish stout (such as Guinness)
6 tablespoons frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 

Procedure
Steam all vegetables until tender, about 15 minutes. Arrange vegetables and apples around edge of large platter.
Meanwhile, toss cheese with flour in large bowl. Bring 3/4 cup stout, juice concentrate, and mustard to simmer in large saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add cheese mixture, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted and smooth, thinning with more stout, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer fondue to bowl. Place in center of platter with vegetables. Makes 6 first-course servings.