The loaded Baked Idaho Potato Salad is a hearty twist on a classic: This recipe adds bacon, sour cream and Cheddar cheese.

It’s time to head out to the grill and get this summer started. Father’s Day offers the perfect opportunity to bring out the meat, beer and a sweet finish for a gathering of family or friends.

There are plenty of folks at the ready with manly recipes and cocktail concepts.

Bush’s Best (what’s more manly than baked beans) engaged country singer Craig Morgan and barbecue master Rick Browne to take on the great outdoors at GrillU.com. Browne’s Buttery Lemon Chicken cooks in a bath of citrus. Morgan offers his own BBQ Apple Pie. He says he cooks for his wife and four kids at home in Dickson, Tenn. The pie is to be cooked on the grill with indirect heat. Make sure the propane tank or charcoal bag is full before trying that one.

Of course, Weber offers its take on cooking on the famous kettle grill. The company published Weber’s Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance this season, and especially delightful are the portobello mushrooms stuffed with spinach, dried tomatoes and salty kalamata olives.

Want something to make dad grow more hair on his chest? Consider absinthe. This powerful spirit was banned for 95 years, considered a dangerous hallucinogen. Now it’s back on American shelves, allegedly without the offending compound, but still sporting the strong flavors of licorice and anise. Lucid Absinthe ($60 to $65 a bottle) offers a recipe for a Green Lantern (what Dad didn’t love that superhero?), pairing it with Midori and muddling it with limes.

For a less expensive way to whet your whistle we turn to Ocean Spray and the new Pomegranate Juice Drink line. Cranberry Pomegranate Sangria not only contains the antioxidants everyone loves to feel more healthful but it offers dried cranberries, and a bit of wine and brandy for a summer sipper.

The Idaho Potato people checked in with a new twist on potato salad from Kenny Bowers, executive chef of the Rockfish Seafood Grill in Dallas. You can call it potato salad, but it’s more like a loaded baked potato with bacon, scallions, sour cream and Cheddar cheese.

What would a cookout be without ice cold beer, either to drink or to use in your cooking? The Boston Beer Co.’s chef partner Ken Oringer offers his ideas for using Samuel Adams Boston Lager as an ingredient. Oringer just announced he will open his fifth Boston restaurant in the South End. The James Beard Award-winner started 12 years ago with Clio at the Eliot Hotel just outside Kenmore Square. His Grilled Skirt Steak Taco recipe is fun and easy.

The Culinary Institute of America suggests that when pairing food and beer, the first thing you want to think about is what types of beer you like and what kinds of food would taste good with them. Crisp beers such as pilsners, light ales and wheat beers pair well with pizza, pasta, grilled chicken and grilled fish. A hoppier beer such as an India Pale Ale goes with spicy cuisines such as Cajun, Mexican and Thai.

Stouts with malt flavors are good for clambakes and with oysters and shellfish. Oatmeal stouts pair with desserts like oatmeal cookies. The recipe is here.

What a perfect finish for a meal.

Learn more about what to serve with what at ciachef.edu/beerpairing.

Chow down and be careful out there.

Recipe: Green Lantern1

GREEN LANTERN

1 ounce Lucid Absinthe

1 1/2 ounces Midori

Ginger ale

2-3 limes

Long green lime spiral (for garnish)

In a rocks glass, muddle 3 lime wedges, add ice, Midori and Lucid and transfer to a shaker. Shake thoroughly and return into rocks glass.

Add ginger ale to fill the glass and lime spiral to garnish.

Makes one drink.

From Lucid Absinthe

Recipe: Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Spinach and Dried Tomatoes1

PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS STUFFED WITH SPINACH AND DRIED TOMATOES

For the filling

10 ounces baby spinach leaves, rinsed

Extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

1 cup finely diced ripe tomato

1/4 cup oil-packed, sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 cup pitted and coarsely chopped kalamata olives

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 large portobello mushrooms, 5 to 6 inches in diameter

1/4 cup fine, soft bread crumbs

In a large saucepan over high heat, cook the spinach just until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer the spinach to a sieve and drain until cooled. Squeeze out the remaining liquid with your hands, and then roughly chop the spinach. You should have about 1 cup.

Wipe out the saucepan and warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until golden, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the diced tomatoes and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until all the moisture has evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Remove and discard the mushroom stems. With a teaspoon, carefully scrape out the black gills from the mushroom caps and discard. Generously brush or spray the mushroom caps with oil and season them with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the mushrooms, smooth sides up, over direct medium heat, with the lid closed, until well marked, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a work surface, smooth sides down. Close the grill’s lid to maintain the heat inside. Spoon a thin layer of the filling onto the mushrooms, spreading it evenly to the edges.

In a small bowl toss the bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon of oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle each stuffed mushroom evenly with a thin layer of crumbs. Grill the mushrooms, smooth sides down, over direct medium heat, with the lid closed, until the crumbs are browned and the mushrooms are tender, 5 to 10 minutes more. Serve warm. Serves 4

Recipe from Weber’s Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance

Recipe: Loaded Baked Idaho Potato Salad1

LOADED BAKED IDAHO POTATO SALAD

4 pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled

1 pound bacon, crisply cooked, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (fat reserved, if desired)

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped green onions

2 cups grated or shredded cheddar cheese (regular or low-fat)

1 1/2 cups sour cream (regular or low-fat)

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Cook whole potatoes in boiling, unsalted water until tender. Refrigerate until chilled, then chop into one-inch pieces.

Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl along with the remaining ingredients and thoroughly combine. Add some of the reserved bacon fat, if desired.

Chill at least 2 hours before serving. Adjust the seasoning before serving. Yields: 2 quarts

Note: Any condiments or toppings typically added to a loaded baked potato may be used.

Recipe from chef Kenny Bowers of Rockfish Seafood Grill, Dallas, Texas

Recipe: Buttery Lemon Chicken1

BUTTERY LEMON CHICKEN

6 large chicken breasts, bone in

1 cup melted butter

3 medium lemons, divided use

Salt

Ground black pepper

2 tablespoons lemon thyme (optional)

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons flour

Sheet of aluminum foil

Put the chicken breasts in a roasting pan and pour the butter over them, squeeze the juice of 2 lemons over the chicken, then sprinkle with the salt and pepper.

Roast in the middle of the barbecue grill (or oven) heated to 375 degrees for 45 minutes, basting several times with the butter and lemon juice drippings, until nicely browned or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 165 degrees.

Remove the chicken breasts from the grill, place them on a heated platter, cover with aluminum foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.

In a saucepan, mix the lemon thyme, lemon pepper and milk together. Add the flour and stir to thicken the sauce. When nicely thickened, squeeze in the remaining lemon, stir, and top the chicken.

Serves 6 to 7

From Grillu.com, developed by chef Rick Browne

Recipe: Cran-Pomegranate Sangria1

CRAN-POMEGRANATE SANGRIA

1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup brandy

1 bottle dry red wine, chilled

3 cups Ocean Spray CranPomegranate Cranberry Pomegranate Juice Drink, chilled

1 cup orange juice, chilled

1 orange, thinly sliced

2 1/2 cups club soda, chilled

Combine sweetened dried cranberries, sugar and water in small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and cranberries are plumped. Stir in brandy. Let cool.

Combine brandy mixture, wine, juice drink and orange juice in large pitcher. Add orange slices. Mix well. Chill wine mixture. Just before serving, stir in club soda.

If serving all at once, stir club soda into wine mixture. Pour into tall glasses, including a few sweetened dried cranberries and an orange slice in each. Fill glasses with ice.

For a single serving, pour 6 ounces wine mixture and 2 ounces club soda into tall glass or large, wide-mouth goblet. Fill with ice. Spoon in a few sweetened dried cranberries and an orange slice. Makes 10 servings.

From Ocean Spray

Recipe: Grilled Skirt Steak Tacos1

GRILLED SKIRT STEAK TACOS

For the marinade:

2 pounds skirt steak

1 bottle Samuel Adams Boston Lager

12 ounces cola

3 cloves garlic

1 onion

2 tablespoons soy sauce

For the topping:

8 ounces guacamole, prepared or homemade

2 limes, quartered

1 red onion, diced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

24 corn tortillas

1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Limes

Combine beer, cola, garlic, onion and soy sauce in blender and puree until smooth. Pour mixture over skirt steak and let marinate minimum 4 hours, preferably overnight

Light grill to medium heat.

Dry steak and season with salt and pepper. Grill to medium rare. Set aside and slice across grain.

To assemble: heat tortilla for 30 seconds on grill. Top with cheese, guacamole, steak, onions and cilantro. Serve with lime.

From chef Ken Oringer and Sam Adams

gciampa@projo.com