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How to have your own pub night at home
Posted on January 26th, 2009 18 comments
On Friday, Josh and I decided to avoid the cold, stay inside and save money. But that that didn’t mean we didn’t feel like going to the pub. So we re-created the scene at home! Our menu: veggies with blue cheese dip, chicken fingers, crispy bread chips with two dips - guacamole & hummus. (And beer. but we didn’t make that ourselves.)
Here is a step-by-step guide to how to have your delicious pub-food that is far healthier, tastier, and cheaper than the real thing!
1. Veggies with Blue Cheese Dressing
Chop up a variety of veggies - we used the old pub standby, carrots & celery. No further instruction required. I used Martha’s dip recipe - it was unbelievably good!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp mayo
- 1/2 tsp hot sauce
- 1/4 tsp coarse salt
- 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
- Three ripe avocados (more or less depending on how many you are serving)
- One garlic clove
- Dash of lemon juice
- 1 tsp Olive Oil (optional)
- S&P
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Sounds like a fun time! And you guys got some good QT in the kitchen, too!
Diana -
A great addition to the guacamole is freshly chopped tomato…. sounds like you had a great night!
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What a fantastic idea! It makes an evening in seem more fun.
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Mmmmmm…pub food is my favourite!!!!
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What a fabulous idea! Now you need a few friends to join the time.
Great idea. I may just hook a night like this myself.
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I love your recipes! I’ve been looking for a good bleu cheese dip recipe for a long time and I’m ready to try making hummus again. The price keeps going up and up. Thank you for sharing!
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Saver Queen January 26th, 2009 at 17:54
Kelly - nice suggestion, thanks!
Money Minder - the best part is, you can enjoy it with less guilt because it’s much healthier and cheaper!
Money Funk - let us know if you do one yourself, it would be interesting to hear how your pub at home experience is!
RTC - thanks so much! the blue cheese dip is so delicious… it’s really, really tasty and a great way to eat those veggies eaten!
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Man, it’s super bowl weekend next weekend. I was going to order wings but I’m think of making my own chicken fingers now. Thanks for the recipe!
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Oh boy, your menu sounds so delicious! i just purchased a food processor today so i may give the hummus a try. i’m definitely going to try the blue cheese dip as well. yum, yum!!
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an ostrich named sam January 26th, 2009 at 21:07
I’m making your hummus this weekend, as it was on my list for the weekend past and other things took priority! Can you freeze hummus? I’d like to freeze some if possible.
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Saver Queen January 26th, 2009 at 21:10
@The weakonmist - I love the idea of making these snacks for the superbowl - great idea! you might want to try out the recipe from martha stewart that I linked to. They are buffalo chicken strips and they sound good too.
@Ms MoneyChat - so exciting that you bought a food pro. No doubt that you will get tons of use out of it!
@Sam - yup, you can freeze it! Just defrost it in the fridge.
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I am a huge fan of Alton Brown - and the chicken fingers looked delicious! I make my own hummus too. That blue cheese dip looks wonderful!
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That looks sooo amazing! What an awesome idea, I will definitely be trying this one.
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Great idea!!!
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How fun, great idea. Hummus is cheap except the tahini, for some reason it’s super expensive here. We tried making our own instead but all I had were black sesame seeds. It turned the hummus a purple/black color!
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Saver Queen January 28th, 2009 at 00:24
Miss M - hahaha, that’s so funny. purple-black hummus, not so appetizing. i have to give you props though, for trying to make your own tahini! now that is hard core frugality! Tahini can be expensive, although around here I find a great deal is at Food Basics. Since it lasts so long and you need relatively little per batch, it works out to be affordable in the long run.
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Saver Queen » Blog Archive » My search for the perfect frugal snack: A mystery solved February 20th, 2009 at 03:40
[...] to serve it with? If you have a leftover crusty bread or baguette, follow my recipe to make baguette chips -they are ever so satisfying and perfect for a spreadable cheese. Plus, if you make them because [...]
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[...] The high cost of low-brow foods and How to have your own put night at home [...]
Directions
In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, mayo, hot sauce and salt. Stir in blue cheese. Chill, covered until ready to serve.
2. Chicken fingers
There is a variety of ways to make chicken fingers, including using a deep fryer, or home deep frying using a large pot. Martha Stewart has a great recipe for making Buffalo chicken strips and doing home deep frying. We chose instead to use Alton Brown’s method of breading and then pan frying the chicken.
Ingredients
Three or four boneless skinless chicken breasts
Flour - enough to cover the chicken
2 eggs - or enough for the chicken
Bread crumbs - see my recipe for easy homemade bread crumbs!
Directions
First, cut your chicken into strips.
Next, beat the eggs with 2 teaspoons of water for every egg used.
Then, establish what Alton Brown calls a “bread assembly line” with salt & pepper, flour (or cornstarch), egg mixture, bread crumbs, and a rack to hold the chicken when you’re done. Go through the stations of seasoning, flouring, dipping in egg, rolling in bread crumbs, and laying on the rack.
When this was done, we added the chicken to hot vegetable oil in a small pan to fry for a few minutes. It took a while to get the oil to just the right temp; you’ll have to experiment a little too. There were a few chicken casualties.
Fry until golden brown.
Then, to make sure that the chicken is done on the inside, lay on a rack and slide into a 350° oven. Bake for about 12 minutes or until fully cooked on the inside and no longer pink. The chicken should still be tender and juicy on the inside. Serve with barbeque sauce and enjoy with the blue cheese dip as well!
3. Crispy Bread Chips
We *loved* these! Here is a great way to use up stale baguettes.
Ingredients
All you need is half a baguette (can be stale,) some olive oil and a little salt.
Directions
Slice the baguette as thin as you can. Drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle a bit of Kosher salt on top. Broil in an oven for about 5 minutes, or until crispy, but not burnt. You can also bake in the oven at about 350° while making the chicken fingers - the effect is similar.
4. Guacamole
Ingredients
Directions
Mash the avos in a bowl. Mince the garlic and add to the avos, along with the dash of lemon juice, olive oil if desired, and s&p to taste. That’s it - you’re done!
4. Hummus
Although not a traditional bar snack, Hummus & other Middle Eastern Dips have become popular pub food snacks. Since it’s one of our faves, we decided to include it in this pub-esque feast. The great thing about hummus is that it is incredibly affordable to make, lasts for days, and it can even be frozen. It’s also incredibly healthy, so you don’t have to feel guilty indulging.
We actually priced this one out - turns out that this homemade recipe is 10 times cheaper than even the most affordable store-bought brand.
Ingredients
2 cups (450 g) dry chick peas (garbanzo beans) – about 5 cups cooked
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) tahini (sesame paste)
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) lemon juice – freshly pressed
3 cloves garlic – peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water (use chickpea cooking water, if you have it available) – optional
2 or more tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat Italian parsley – as garnish
Directions
Blend together in a food processor. Serve with a little extra virgin olive oil on top, and eat with the crispy bread chips or toasted pita.
Finally, we topped off the meal with some beer. We didn’t get so DIY that we actually made the beer ourselves, but I’m not saying we’ll never give that a try!
So there it is - an easy, fun, pub-style night at home. Josh and I stuffed ourselves with the delicious treats - we went a little overboard, but I guess that’s what Friday nights are for!
18 responses to “How to have your own pub night at home”
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