I have always been fruitcake-curious. So, this year, I decided what the hell, I’ll make one. The recipe is Alton Brown’s Free Range Fruitcake. And I made a special trip (to Trader Joe’s) for all the dried fruit and everything. We had the rum and the brandy already. Go figure.

This is a Part I, as I will have to baste the fruitcake(s) with brandy every 2-3 days for the next 2-3 weeks. How fun! It’s like an ongoing project with alcohol.

AB’s Free Range Fruitcake
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped (I used dried peaches)
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup gold rum (I used dark rum)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 sticks (not cups!) unsalted butter (that’s 10 tbsp)
1 cup apple juice
1/4 tsp ground cloves (or 6 whole cloves, ground)
6 allspice berries, ground (I had whole allspice berries but I was too lazy to clean out my coffee grinder,and grind them, so I just skipped them)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup toasted pecans, broken
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, broken
Brandy for basting and/or spritzing

Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add rum and macerate overnight, or microwave for 5 minutes to re-hydrate fruit. I went the microwave route — it worked fine!

Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. At this point, I must confess, I grabbed a spoon and tasted it. Wow. It was so good! I was on the phone with my mom at the time (who likes fruitcake, btw) and told her how good it was as well. She is looking forward to trying some when she is here for Christmas.

So, remove your pot of fruit, rum and butter from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes. (Batter can be completed up to this point, then covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before completing cake.) Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then fold in nuts. Here, I used half toasted hazelnuts and half pecans. About 1/2 cup total.

Spoon into a 10-inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. But here’s the thing — I had enough batter for 2 loaf pans! They each got filled up about 2/3’s of the way but it would have been way too much for one pan. If you’ve got a huge loaf pan, you might be fine with just one. Since my loaf pans were of the slightly smaller variety and not filled all the way up, mine were done in about 42-45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

If the toothpick (or knife) does not com out clean, bake another 5-10 minutes, and check again. Remove cake(s) from oven and place on cooling rack or trivet. Baste or spritz top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan. My cakes came out pretty easily. I ran a knife around the edges and the used a metal spatula to start lifting up from the sides and loosening the cakes from the bottom. Then I turned them upside-down and out they came.

When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. I am using freezer bags. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, spritz with brandy. The cake’s flavor will enhance considerably over the next two - three weeks. Come Christmas time, you will have one tasty, boozey cake! Hooray!

Okay, so I’ll probably do a mini-update each week on my fruitcakes basting until Christmas. Stay tuned…

A while ago (okay, like 1999), I remembered seeing a recipe in Sunset magazine for lavender-blueberry margaritas. I recently spent some time searching for it, found it, and then was like, huh. Coconut milk? In margaritas? Besides adding fat and making it kind of like a marga-colada, I wasn’t quite sure what the coconut milk did for the drink. So, anyway, I futzed around with the recipe a bit and came up with this one. jwa and I both thought they were really good. Plus, if you make extra lavender syrup, I’m sure there are many other lavender cocktails that you could make with it.

Lavender-Blueberry Margaritas
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dried lavender
1/2 cup tequila
1/3 cup triple sec
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
ice

sugar for rimming glasses
lime wedge
sprigs of fresh lavender

Add the water, dried lavender and sugar to a small pan. Heat and bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat and let the lavender steep about 10 minutes, then strain, discarding the lavender and keeping the lavender flavored syrup.

In a blender, add the lavender syrup, tequila, triple sec, lime juice, frozen blueberries and ice. Blend. *whir* *whir* *whir* Taste to make sure the lime juice/tequila/triple sec ratios are good. Adjust if needed.

Meanwhile, go around each glass with a lime wedge to wet it, then press the rim down in a saucer of sugar. Pour the margaritas into the sugar rimmed glasses and enjoy. If you’re feeling hoitey toitey, pop a lavender sprig into the drink. We had the margaritas with some black bean salad and cheddar cheese and avocado quesadillas.

If that were not enough excitement, earlier in the day I received my custom cocktail napkin order from the Stationary Studio. So cute! I think the design really captures jwa’s hair and fondness for wine. The napkins are a sage green and the printing is espresso brown — the same colors that the invitations will be — I’ve been playing around at MyGatsby lately and I think I have the invitations designed.

As for the napkins, we’re having an hour or so of appetizers directly following the ceremony on the rooftop, so we got these to use during that part of the reception. Woo! Guests won’t have to wipe any caramelized onion and sweet red pepper tartlet crumbs on their pants!

The other night we pulled the little Weber grill out of the garage again and grilled some chicken, caramelized some bell peppers and onions (inside, in a pan, with a little salt, cumin and chili powder), made some guacamole and to accompany it all there was a pitcher of tasty, tasty sangria.

The sangria recipe is from the old red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. This is probably one of the only recipes I still use this cookbook for, but that alone makes it worth the shelf space, imho. I’m not sure how completely authentic it is, but it is dependably good.

Really Good Summer Sangria
1 bottle red wine (I used $4 barefoot merlot)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1-2 cups sparkling water

Add the sugar, water and the end fruit slices (6 total from the ends of the lemon, lime and orange) to the pan and heat until boiling and all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, pour the wine into a big pitcher and add the uncooked fruit slices. After the syrup has cooled down add that too, reserving the cooked fruit slices. Squeeze as much juice out of those as you can into the pitcher and then discard. Stir.

I usually make this a couple of hours before serving, just storing it in the fridge. When you are ready to drink it, add a cup of the sparkling water. Taste. Add more sparkling water if desired and serve over ice.

Now, to go with your awesome sangria, you may just want to grill some chicken. If you do, first slather some boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a paste made of fresh cilantro leaves (2 big handfuls), garlic (1-2 cloves), lime juice (about 1 tbsp), jalapeno pepper (1/2 a pepper), salt, olive oil (1/4 cup or so) and green onion (2-3). You get this paste by adding all these items to a food processor and letting it go for a few minutes. *whir* *whir* *whir*

Slather. Then grill. Then eat.

Wondering what to do with the leftover turkey and other side dishes from Thursday, I came across this recipe from Giada of Everyday Italian. Although this recipe was originally intended as a Thanksgiving meal for two, I figured it would work well enough with leftover, cooked turkey (as opposed to the raw, ground turkey she uses). It did. I made one other alteration to the original recipe — I added some ricotta cheese to make it a bit creamier. I was quite pleased with the way these ravioli turned out.

Oh and speaking of Everyday Italian, whenever I watch that show and she talks about her husband, Todd, I visualize him as The Todd from Scrubs. And then I laugh and laugh.

Turkey and Cranberry Ravioli
1 cup diced leftover turkey, a mix of dark and white meat (my turkey had fresh herbs — parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme under the skin, so I skipped the fresh parsley listed below)
3 tbsp cranberry sauce
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
3 tbsp grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 egg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
20 store-bought wonton wrappers

For the sauce:
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp parsley leaves, chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme

In a medium bowl, stir together the turkey, cranberry sauce, cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, egg, salt, and pepper.

You could also place all of those ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times. This will give you a smoother filling. It’s what I did. It’s really personal preference and whether or not you have a food processor.

Place a wonton wrapper on a work surface. Brush the edges lightly with water, using a pastry brush or your finger. Place 1 tablespoon of the turkey mixture on each of the wonton wrappers. Top with another wonton wrapper. Push out any air bubbles and press the edges tightly to seal.

Repeat with all the wrappers. These are very big ravioli and about five per person is a good serving. I used a whole package of wonton wrappers (about 30) and froze the extra ones. I also had some filling leftover. I popped it into the freezer to use in some butternut squash lasagna I’m going to make next weekend. Oh and also in the freezer? More diced turkey, goat cheese and potato soup, carrot & parsnip soup, extra stuffing, extra gravy and two pieces of pumpkin-orange-marscapone pie. I tell you, one day in February is going to be Thanksgiving II.

But, back to the ravioli. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.

Add the ravioli and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Be gentle with them and also just do this at a simmer. Meanwhile, in a small pot, heat together the butter, olive oil, garlic and parsley. Stir until warm and the butter is melted. Drizzle sauce over the cooked and drained ravioli and garnish with a little fresh thyme and Parmesan cheese.

A nice pre-dinner cocktail for this meal is the Grapefruit Cosmo, inspired by a drink I recently had at Wildwood.

Grapefruit Cosmo
1.5 oz really good vodka — Ciroc is awesome
1 ruby red grapefruit, cut in half and juiced
1 lime, cut in half and one half juiced
splash of cranberry juice
ice

Add ice to a cocktail shaker and add in the juice from the whole grapefruit, half the lime, the cranberry juice and the vodka. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Cut a slice of the remaining lime for a garnish. Ahhhh, refreshing.

***

Je Mange la Ville has a new holiday/Winter look. Also, I have added a spam-fighting device for comments. To post a comment now, please do the simple math problem you get when you add your name, email and comment. Sorry to have to add this feature but I am getting sick of deleting comments about tranny pics and viagra. Ew. Ew. Ew.

This is part two of my post for Sara’s spotlight on the cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Except, it’s not baking at all! Ha! It’s cooking and chilling. That’s right, I cook and then I chill.

Okay, then. When I saw this recipe (in fact, I spotted this recipe before yesterday’s Swedish Visiting Cake, while browsing the book), I just knew I would be making it. Even better, we already had a bottle of scotch in the house, so there was no extra trip to the liquor store necessary. The resulting flavor has a bit of a bite but it is definitely delicious and butterscotchy. Butter + scotch = great flavor.

The only issue I had, and it was minor, is that the directions are really geared towards someone with a full-sized food processor. I have the medium sized one and I had to do my processing in two batches. And my final mixing, I just did with a whisk to avoid doubling up on the food processor. So, if you have a smaller processor, I would just whisk it all, or resign yourself to mixing in multiple batches.

But, it’s completely worth all the juggling around as, I’m sure Barry & Levon would agree, this is seriously some good puddin’…

($240 Worth of) Real Butterscotch Pudding
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp water
1 3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 tbsp sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp Scotch Whiskey (preferably a strong, single malt)

Whipped cream
Buttered or candied pecans

Put the brown sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 2 minutes — lower temperature if necessary.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the milk and all of the cream and bring back to a boil. Don’t worry if it curdles while it’s heating. While the milk/sugar mixture is heating, put the cornstarch and salt into a food processor and whir to blend. Stand back when you open the lid — lots of cornstarch dust. I learned that the hard way. Turn the cornstarch/salt out onto a piece of parchment or put in a small bowl.

Add the sugar and egg to the processor and blend for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and add the remaining 1/4 cup of milk and pulse to mix. Add the cornstarch/salt back and pulse to combine.

With the machine running, slowly pour in the hot liquid. Or, carefully pour in half the hot liquid if you have a smaller machine. When that is combined, pour about 3/4 of it in another bowl and blend the rest of the hot mixture into the processor’s remaining liquid. Pour everything back into the pan. If you do have a big food processor, simply (slowly!) pour the hot milk all in one batch.

Whisk the mixture in the pan without stopping over medium heat. The pudding will thicken and a couple of bubbles will bubble up to the surface. Lower the heat as necessary to prevent it from actually boiling.

Now this is where I deviated from the recipe. It said to pour all of the pudding back into the processor and pulse, adding the vanilla, butter and scotch. I just didn’t feel like trying to go through the two batches thing again with my processor, so I just whisked the butter, vanilla and scotch into the pan off the heat. If you do it that way, just be careful that you don’t have any burnt spots on the bottom of your pan.

Pour the pudding into 4-6 ramekins. Four ramekins will be generous, puddin’-loving servings, six will be completely respectable-sized servings. It just depends on how many matching ramekins you have and how much you love pudding, I guess.

Cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the pudding to avoid a skin forming. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve with whipped cream and the pecan topping of your choice. I had some cinnamon-glazed pecans from Trader Joe’s that were just perfect on top!

Thanks again to Sara for hosting and inviting me to participate!

Yes, we’re taking a break in the Fall Foods Fest (Pumpkin!) for a post about vodka sauce. Typically, penne is served in this dish but I had some fresh pasta from Pastaworks so there you go.

This recipe was in the most recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine — a subscription that I make far too little use of. One of the tips they list is to use good quality vodka. Rot-gut booze will produce sub-standard, rot-gut sauce. Okay, I can get behind that sentiment and luckily I had some Crater Lake vodka from Bendistillery in the freezer. (Hmmmm, did luck really have anything to do with that?)

I also bought heavy cream (something I try to not use very much of) specifically for this recipe and another recipe that I will be posting about later in the week for WCC10.

Was the cream purchase it worth it, you ask? Hell, yeah.

Penne alla Vodka
Mostly from the Nov/Dec 2006 Cook’s Illustrated.
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 - 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 salt
1/3 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 lb penne or rigatoni pasta
2 tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
freshly grated Parmesan for serving

Puree half of the tomatoes in a food processor until smooth. Subsequently, you could also crush them with your fingers. Dice the remaining half of the tomatoes. Combine both in a measuring cup and add reserved liquid until you have two cups of tomato.

Measure your vodka out so that it is ready for you.

The vodka cow goes, “vooooo.”

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add the onion and tomato paste when hot. Stir occasionally, until the onions are light golden around the edges, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and pepper flakes. Cook about 30 more seconds.

Stir in the tomatoes and about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vodka. Return to medium heat and simmer briskly for about 8-10 minutes. Start your pasta water around now. When ready, add the pasta and some salt and cook until almost al dente. Drain but reserve some pasta water.

Stir in the cream to the tomato sauce and cook about a minute.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce and cook 1-2 minutes. Add reserved pasta water if sauce is too thick. Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Rigatoni alla vodka with vegetarian Italian sausage,

Garnish with basil and Parmesan cheese. This should serve about four — three if someone is super-hungry.

Here’s a quick recipe for a Friday cocktail. You will need:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 lemon, zest peeled off
1 big sprig rosemary + 1 small sprig
2 oz vodka (or 3 oz, depending on your mood)
ice

Add the sugar, your strips of lemon peel, rosemary and water in a small pot. Bring to a boil and let sugar dissolve while stirring. Remove from heat and let cool. Dig out lemon and rosemary and discard.

Combine 1/2 of your syrup (or a little less, depending on how sweet you wannt it), the juice of 1/2 a lemon, the vodka and some ice. Mix and strain out into a martini glass. See, you have enough lemon/rosemary syrup to make yourself another. Excellent. Garnish with a small piece of rosemary. I found this really nice as the scent of rosemary was very strong every time I took a sip!

Here is my entry for Sugar High Friday 21: Ice, Ice baby, hosted by The Delicious Life. And if you haven’t seen the original posting you really should. It’s very funny.

My original plan was to make nutella gelatto but I altered that plan when I had some extra blueberries lying about and jwa posed the question, “Do we really need nutella gelatto?” I replied, “Yes, of course we do,” but after a little more thought, decided to go with the healthy option. Although, I think it’s a little suspect when the person who just made a pineapple upside-down cake questions my nutella gelatto plan — but I suppose that’s a moot point now. I just thought I’d point it out.

One thing I do really love about this sorbet, though, is that it is so simple. Fruit + liquid + sugar + a little lime juice. That’s it. And, in using so few ingredients, the blueberries really stand out in this sorbet.

For the liquid, the original recipe called for water. This is where the Je Mange la Ville adage, “Why use water when you can use wine?” kicked in. I was thinking of using a zinfandel but we didn’t have any around. Then I remembered the Bonny Doon Bouteille Call that we had in the house. It was sweet, thick, all raspberry tasting and just waiting to be used for something delicious. I thought it would work great in this and it did. I would also imagine that using raspberries instead of blueberries would work well too with the boo-tay call.

I decreased the sugar in the original recipe from 2/3 cup to 1/3 cup because the wine is on the sweet side. You will need to adjust the sugar based on what liquid you use. Oh and speaking of the original recipe, I found that in The Ultimate Ice Cream Book.

Blueberry Bouteille Call Sorbet
1/3 cup sugar + 2 tbsp
1/3 cup Bouteille Call wine (or a zinfandel — if using a non-dessert wine or water, adjust the sugar accordingly)
1 heaping quart blueberries
juice of 1/2 lime

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Place 1/3 of the blueberries in a blender with the wine syrup. Blend, then add the remaining blueberries and blend until smooth. I start with 1/3 of the blueberries just to make it easier to start blending in the beginning.

If desired, strain through a colander to remove some of the skins. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. It’ll be soft but ready to eat.

Freeze for 2 hours for firmer sorbet.

Thanks again to Sarah at The Delicious Life for hosting this event! Coming up: Monday: Greek Chicken Pie — I promise!

Tagged with: SHF21.

It’s Friday (in a couple of hours) and it’s supposed to be 100+ in Portland. What to do? Why, make a frozen drink on a stick, of course. Last year, as I was wandering around Fred Meyer or Target or someplace like that, I saw this plastic popsicle mold and thought it might be fun (you can get nicer ones at Williams-Sonoma and Cooking.com and places like that, although, I really like the little plastic drip tray on mine). Anyway, all you do is pour the liquid in, freeze it and you have a melony treat.

Add some liqueur and vodka and what more could you want? Besides — the color alone is awesome.

Midori-Melon Popsicles
Recipe from Gourmet magazzine).
1 peeled ripe honeydew melon, cut into cubes
5 tbsp Midori (melon liqueur)
3 tbsp vodka
1 1/2 tbsp superfine granulated sugar
Special equipment: 6 (1/3-cup) ice pop molds

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Pour purée into a sieve or colander lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth, set over a bowl. Let the mixture drain, undisturbed, for 30 minutes.

Discard the foamy solids in sieve. Pour liquid into molds and freeze at least 24 hours. If you have separate wooden sticks for your mold, insert those after about an hour of freezing time.

Now, I only had a four-popsicle mold (instead of six), so I had a little leftover melon mixture. If this happens to you, don’t be afraid to pour it over some ice and kick back with a melon drop. I was going to use this for my SHF post but then I came across a recipe for Nutella Gelatto. Yeahhhhh. That should be up next week…

Speaking of Next Week
I know today was supposed to be either the garden or the Greek chicken pie. Well, it’s too hot to sit in the garden or turn on the oven, so I don’t really feel like posting about either thing. Both of those posts will be coming soon, when we should be back to a more reasonable 80-ish outside.

***

In other news, jwa and I tried the Hawthorne Fish House (same owners — same menu) tonight. Not bad. I forgot my camera, so no full review. The calamari was good (very lightly coated and not rubbery at all). The best calamari I’ve ever had, though, was at Pacific Way Cafe when they had it for an appetizer special. It had this cumin-dusted batter and a spicy dipping sauce. It was crunchy and spicy and….

Okay, I lost my train of thought there. Sorry. jwa had the spicy catfish last night, which was really tasty and I had the perch. I liked it (reminded me of the Midwest and everything) but after I tried his, I wish I had gotten that. I wasn’t crazy about the wasabi-buttermilk slaw but that could just be because I’m not a huge cole slaw fan. I would definitely go again for the catfish and calamari alone (along with an ice cold Alaskan Amber) — and the jalapeno tartar sauce, which was a great accompaniment.

I was very excited about this challenge’s theme — Cinco de Mayo, as I love Mexican food. When I cook Mexican food, I tend to make these types of dishes up, rather than follow a cookbook’s specific recipe. This challenge had my sorting through my cookbook collection looking for a suitable contender from my large collection of books.

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, The El Paso Chile Company Margarita Cookbook is the only Mexican cookbook that I appear to have. So, that is what I used for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge. Of course, the cookbook is more Tex-Mex than Mexican but I figured that it was close enough for my needs.

Opening the book up, I discovered a theme — it contained mostly drink recipes. Makes sense. There’s a big ol’ margarita on the cover and it is called the “Margarita Cookbook” after all. I pondered briefly and decided I could work with that and made myself the Tequila Sunrise from page 50. Then it was time to pick some recipes.

The last few pages of the book are devoted to snacks and a few main dishes. I chose two appetizers for my Cinco de Mayo celebration and starting cooking.

Here’s the thing though — all of the recipes in the “Margarita Cookbook” involve tequila. Problem? Not really. So, go grab your bottle and cook along!

Tequila Sunrise
1/2 cup orange juice
2 ounces tequila
1/2 ounce Chambord liqueur
1 lime wedge
Optional: splash of club soda

Fill a glass 3/4 of the way up with ice. Add the juice and tequila and stir. Slowly our the Chambord down the side and let it settle to the bottom of the glass. Top with club soda if desired and serve with a lime wedge. Ahhhh! Refreshing!

Charred Tomato Salsa Borracho
3-4 large tomatoes
1/3 cup minced white onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup tequila
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno chile
3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 cup cilantro

Char the tomatoes and pepper under the broiler until blackened. If the pepper finishes first, just remove it and place in a plastic baggie to steam. Let the tomatoes cool slightly and core.

Remove the blackened skin from the steamed pepper and chop, removing the seeds and stem. Add with the tomatoes (do not remove the tomatoes’ charred peel) to a food processor, along with all of the other ingredients.

Process until fairly smooth. Serve with chips.

Rounding out my WCC#5, is a “Boilermaker” Bean Dip. Yep, not only is there tequila in this bean dip, but also beer. I made a half recipe of what was in the cookbook. I’ve listed my smaller, slightly-different-than-the-original version below.

Boilermaker Bean Dip
1 15-oz can of traditional style refried beans
1/4 cup Mexican beer
2 tbsp tequila
1-2 tsp canned chipotle chilies in adobo
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions, chopped

Combine the beans, beer, chipotle and tequila in a sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until bubbly and hot. Add the cheese and mix until melted. Transfer to a serving bowl and add the chopped green onions. Serve with chips and enjoy (along with the salsa and tequila sunrise)!

On a related note, I keep my extra chipotle in the freezer. After opening a can, I use what I need and then wrap each pepper and some adobo sauce up in plastic wrap and freeze all my single servings in a big freezer bag. That way, whenever I need a small amount of chipotle (and most recipes just call for one or two peppers) I can just grab what I need.