Summer Flavors From Bon Appetit

I've developed a new interest in The Wedge (having tasted all of the local Caesar salads.) It's a wedge of iceberg lettuce with a creamy dressing, scattered with bacon bits, hardboiled egg bits (sometimes) and chopped tomatoes. Bon Appetit shot theirs using loose leaves of romaine and that sounded good. Here's their dressing recipe:

Using 1 T of leftover bacon fat, add 1 garlic clove and saute that. Then add 1 T mayonnaise and 1 1/2 T white wine vinegar -- warning: the vinegar will hiss in the pan so stand back after adding it. whisk this together, let it cool a bit and dress your salad. I think you're supposed to fish the garlic clove out, but they didn't mention it.

The "Root Beer Baked Beans" caught my eye because the recipe uses white kidney beans. All the baked beans I've ever eaten ( a not inconsiderable amount) were brown. Anyhow:

ROOT BEER BAKED BEANS
4 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1 in. pieces
3 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced (I'd use 4)
4 15-oz. cans white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups root beer
3 T apple vinegar
3 T light molasses
2 T tomato paste (would use chipotle in adobe tomato sauce for some heat)
2 T Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teas. chili powder (I'd use 1 1/2 T...)
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre heat the oven to 400 and cook the bacon in a big pot. Take it out, drain it and then saute the onions in the leftover fat. Add the garlic. Put all the rest of the ingredients in your pot, including the bacon and bake it uncovered for 30 minutes or until the liquid thickens.

Ah, barbecue sauce... I'm too lazy to compose my own -- too many ingredients. Too much "a dab of this, a dribble of that" - I'm more slap-bang. But for those with a lot more ambition and energy than I've got -- have at it!

BOURBON AND BROWN SUGAR BBQ SAUCE
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup bourbon (reserve the rest of the bottle for the cook)
3 T brown sugar
3 T light molasses
3 T apple cider vinegar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 T Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teas. liquid smoke
1 teas. onion pwoder
1 teas. garlic powder
1/2 teas. crushed red pepper
1/2 teas. freshly-ground pepper

Put everything ina sauce pan big enough to hold and boil it over medium heat for a minute or two. Then simmer it until the sauce is reduced about 10 minutes. You should wind up with about two cups of sauce.