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Monatsarchive: March 2014

Coconut Curry Belgian Ale Chicken

 

Belgian and Coconut Curry Chicken_

This blog has always been about pushing craft beer forward. The importance of the flavors that come with good beer, and how to explore those in a new way. From the beginning you got that and you stood next to me, exposing people to craft beer through food by sharing the recipes I’ve posted.

And today, we got a win. Just hours ago Saveur, a leader in field of culinary exploration, announced the finalist for the Best Food Blog Awards. Out of the 1.3 million food blogs world wide, The Beeroness was nominated along with just 5 others as one of the Best Original Recipe Blogs.

That’s us. You, me, good food and great beer. It’s a huge step when it comes to showing the world how important good beer is. It’s  a huge indicator that "cooking with beer" is no longer seen as beer can chicken made with a pale macro lager. It’s important flavors and practical applications. It’s us pushing beer onto the same playing field as wine.

Let’s show people that craft beer is a culinary force to be reckoned with.

Vote for The Beeroness for The Best Original Recipes in the Saveur Food Blog Awards. It takes about a minute to register before you can vote. It’s a vote for craft beer, and what it does to food. It’s a way to show people who dynamic beer can be.

Belgian and Coconut Curry Chicken 2

Coconut Curry Belgian Ale Chicken

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • ½ cup chopped white onions
  • 4 large bonesless skinless chicken thighs cut into small cubes
  • ½ cup Belgian ale
  • 13.5 fl oz coconut milk
  • 3 tbs thai red curry paste
  • 1 tbs fish sauce
  • 1 tbs lime juice
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • ¼ cup cilantro chopped
  • 3 tbs roasted peanuts chopped
  • Rice or Rice noodles for serving

Instructions
 

  • In a large skillet or wok heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and slightly brown, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken, cooking until browned on all sides.
  • Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan.
  • Lower the heat, add the coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice and cayenne pepper. Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.
  • Serve over rice or rice noodles, garnish with cilantro and peanuts just prior to serving.

Belgian and Coconut Curry Chicken 3

Green Beans with Bacon and Beer Glaze

Green Beans with Bacon and Beer Glaze

When I first got into cooking, I was terrified of pronunciation. There is this huge gap between reading a word, knowing it, being able to cook the crap out of it and being about to say it out loud. To other humans. Who have ears.

I spent an entire summer making Galettes. Look at these! So cute and rustic! With a homemade crust! and I can’t talk about them in public because I don’t know if it’s Guh-Lay or Gal-Let. DAMN IT!! (By the way, it’s Gah-Let).

Then came the Great Quinoa Explosion of 2007 and I wasn’t sure about that one either. Jesus Christ why is there so many vowels?! (It’s Keen-Wa, by the way).

So then we all get fancy and stop calling them green beans and the words haricots verts start coming my way. And even after I figured out it’s pronounced "ah-ree-koh-ver" I still can’t bring myself to say it that way, they are French green beans. Because I grew up on a farm and I drink beer.

Green Beans with Bacon and Beer Glaze3

 

Green Beans with Bacon and Beer Glaze

Ingredients
  

  • 4 slices bacon
  • 2 lbs French green beans
  • 1/2 cup stout
  • 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
  • salt and pepper

Instructions
 

  • In a cast iron skillet cook the bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and allow to cool, then chop.
  • Add the green beans to the hot skillet, sear until slightly browned.
  • Add the stout and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the beer is reduced and turned into a glaze, about ten minutes.
  • Sprinkle with smoked paprika. Salt and pepper to taste (depending on how salty the bacon is, more or less salt will be needed).
  • Sprinkle with chopped bacon.

Green Beans with Bacon and Beer Glaze2

Porter Caramelized Onion Flatbreads with Smoked Gouda and Roasted Tomatoes

Porter Caramelized Flatbreads with Smoked Gouda and Roasted Tomatoes_

A few years ago I decided that I need unbiased proof that I was actually good at this recipe development thing. That my recipes were good, not because the photos were pretty, or because they sounded good, or because some guy on twitter said he wanted to marry me.

But that an unbiased panel of experts thought they were good.

My solution to my self-esteem crisis was to enter recipe contests. The second one I entered was a chicken cook-off. Of course I choose chicken thights, and added a chipotle béarnaise and a few months later I got a call: I was in the finals. The unbiased panel of experts had chosen my recipe, along with 4 others, out of thousands of recipes that were submitted as the best that were entered. A few weeks later they shipped me off to San Diego to compete in a Chicken Challenge that ended with a giant foam core check with my name on it. I’d won.

Of course the $1000 check and trip to San Diego was a great prize, but the real trophy was the validation that I was actually good at this thing I want to dedicate my life to. At a post Winner Winner Chicken Dinner press conference I’d asked one of the chefs who had been a part of the original selection process what he looked for in a recipe, clearly he didn’t make all thousand submitted recipes.

He told me that all great entree recipes have these elements: fat, acid, protein, and a fresh herb. That’s what he looked for. Maybe that’s why I always reach from something green to sprinkle on top of the entrees I make.

Although he didn’t say anything about beer. Maybe he should re think his strategy.

Porter Caramelized Flatbreads with Smoked Gouda and Roasted Tomatoes 2

Porter Caramelized Onion Flatbreads with Smoked Gouda and Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients
  

For the Crust:

  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • 1 envelope yeast
  • 1 tsp white sugar
  • ½ tsp garlic salt
  • 2/3 cup malty beer brown ale, beligan ale, etc

For the Onions:

  • 2 tbs unsalted butter
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 2 sweet white onions sliced
  • pinch salt
  • pinch white sugar
  • 1 cup porter beer

For the Toppings:

  • 4 wt oz smoked gouda cheese sliced
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 2 tbs flat leaf parsley chopped

Instructions
 

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add the flour, yeast, sugar and garlic salt. Mix until combined.
  • In a microwave safe bowl add the beer. Microwave on high for 20 seconds, test temperature with a cooking thermometer and repeat until temperature reaches between 120 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Add the beer to the stand mixer and mix on medium speed until most of the flour has been moistened.
  • Turn speed to high and beat until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
  • Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Allow to sit in a warm room until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes (while the dough rises, start the onions).
  • Remove from bowl and add to a lightly floured surface. Knead several times, cut into 6 equal sized pieces.
  • One at a time form the dough into 6 inch circles. Place on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper.
  • While the dough is rising, make the onions. In a saucepan or Dutch oven melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and sugar, cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add beer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beer has mostly evaporated and turned to a glaze about 20 minutes. Make sure to keep the heat low or the onions will burn before they caramelize.
  • Preheat the oven to 400.
  • Add the tomatoes to a small bowl. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, set aside.
  • Top the 6 flatbreads with slices of Gouda, then add about ¼ cup of caramelized onions, then tomatoes.
  • Brush exposed crust with olive oil.
  • Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until crust has turned golden brown.
  • Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.

 

Brown Ale Farro Risotto with Roasted Mushrooms

Brown Ale Farro Risotto with Roasted Mushrooms

 There is one thing I can’t stop doing every time I travel.

And not just when I get to leave the country, but even when I just leave the state. I just need to wander around a market. A locals only place, stocked with whatever people who live in the neighboring streets like to eat. Once while in Costa Rica, in a small and run down town, I found myself in a small market that had just lost all power.

Farro Beer Risotto with Roasted Wild Mushrooms3

"It happens," the shop owner told me, "We just stay open, hope the light from the door can reach to the back." I made a mental note not to buy any thing perishable, but did leave with 3 bags of coffee and an unidentifiably spice that I later used on roasted vegetables.

Sometimes these little adventures just bring me back to an ingredient that I forgot that I loved. My recent trip to a local market in a neighborhood heavily populated with Italian imigrants lead me to buy a bag of farro. I love this little grain, much more than rice, much more than quinoa and I can’t understand why it isn’t used more often. It doesn’t get mushy the way that rice can, it has a nice almost chewy texture, tons of those vitamins/protein/ health benefits that people seem to like, and much more flavor than other trendy grains.

Plus it cooks up really well with beer. Which means it wins.

Brown Ale Farro Risotto with Roasted Mushrooms

 

Brown Ale Farro Risotto with Roasted Mushrooms

Servings 4 entre sized portions, 8 side dish portions

Ingredients
  

For the Risotto:

  • 2 cups 15 wt oz faro
  • 6 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • ½ white onion chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 tbs unsalted butter divided
  • 1 cup plus ¼ cup brown ale, divided
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 2 wt oz about ¾ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

For the Mushrooms:

  • 8 wt oz assorted wild mushrooms
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions
 

  • Add farro to a large bowl. Cover with luke warm water, let stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Drain well.
  • Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Add the mushrooms, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss until well coated. Roast for 15 minutes, stir and roast for an additional ten minutes. Drain the liquid off the mushrooms, set mushrooms aside.
  • Place the chicken broth in a saucepan and bring to a low simmer, keeping to warm, but not boiling.
  • In a separate pot, heat the 3 tbs olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, but don’t allow to brown. Add the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 20 seconds
  • Stir in the faro and 3 tablespoons butter, cooking until the farro is completely coated with butter and it smells slightly nutty, don’t allow to brown. About 2 minutes.
  • Add 1 cup of the brown ale and cook until the pan begins to dry, stirring frequently. About 6 minutes.
  • Add about ½ cup of broth into the farro. Stir frequently until the farro is almost dry, and then add another ½ cup and repeat until the farro is cooked. This process should take about 30 minutes. Don’t leave the risotto while it’s cooking, the farro on the bottom of the pan burns easily. (if you run out of broth, just use hot water the same way you would broth)
  • Once your risotto is cooked through (taste it to verify that the farro is cooked and not crunchy), turn heat to low and add the cheese, cream, remaining 3 tablespoons butter and ¼ cup brown ale and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the roasted mushrooms just prior to serving.

Brown Ale Farro Risotto with Roasted Mushrooms

Beer Battered Shrimp Tacos with Chipotle Lime Crema

There are a few things you don’t realize you’re giving up when you leave LA. You know you’ll miss the weather, the sunny winter days spent sunbathing on the beach, the fact that every band always has a tour stop in your town, and the unlimited Girls Night Out options.

read more

Roasted Duck Legs with Porter Cherry Sauce

Roasted Duck with Porter Cherry Sauce

I didn’t grow up in a cooking household. With two working parents and seven sisters it was more of a defrost and feed the masses situation. It was culinary triage every day.

I never saw a head of garlic, or a homemade cake, or real whipped cream my entire childhood. The focus was on feeding the herd of people who lived at my house, while still trying to pay the bills. Homemade fancy sunday supper wasn’t at the top of that hierarchy of needs.

Which is why meals like this mean so much to me. Being able to throw my figurative heart and soul into a meal, take a few hours doing it, and serve it to people I care about. Even if it’s on a Tuesday night.

Especially if it’s on a Tuesday night.

Roasted Duck with Porter Cherry Sauce2

Roasted Duck Legs with Porter Cherry Sauce

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup rendered duck fat can sub olive oil, divided
  • 4 duck legs skin on
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped shallots
  • 3 cloves garlic grated with a microplane
  • ½ cup porter beer
  • 10 wt oz 1 ½ cupsdark sweet cherries, fresh or frozen (such as bing)
  • ¼ tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbs honey

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons duck fat (or olive oil) in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
  • Sprinkle the duck skin with salt and pepper.
  • Place the duck legs into the hot pan, skin side down, cook until skin has browned, about 6 minutes. Flip the duck legs overs.
  • Place the cast iron skillet in the oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the duck reaches 165F degrees. (If you don’t have a large enough cast iron skillet, just brown the duck legs and then transfer them, skin side up, to a baking dish). You can reduce the oven to 200 and keep the duck in the oven until ready to serve for up to 1 hour. To crisp the skin back up (of it becomes soft in the oven), preheat the broiler and place the duck under the broiler for a few minutes, keeping a very close eye to make sure the duck doesn’t burn.
  • While the duck is cooking make the cherry sauce. In a pot over medium high heat add the remaining 2 tablespoons duck fat. Add the shallots and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic. Add the porter, cherries, smoked paprika, black pepper and honey. Allow to boil, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 8 minutes.
  • Spoon the sauce over the duck just prior to serving, or serve alongside.

I use this Duck Fat (affiliate link) because it’s well priced and good quality. A little goes a long way so one jar will last a while. Also, if you cook duck in duck fat, you can save the rendered fat for later use. Like these potatoes, or this Duck Confit.

I also use this Microplane (affiliate link) all the time. Perfect for grating garlic in seconds, much easier than mincing with a knife.

Roasted Duck with Porter Cherry Sauce3

New York Beer Crumb Cake Muffins

New York Crumb Cake Beer Muffins_

A few years ago I’d had this unfortunate idea that a red eye from LAX to JFK was a great plan. I boarded a plane around 10pm in Los Angeles, alongside a 747 full of business travelers headed for jittery East Coast morning meetings.

It wasn’t so much that I irrationally figured that I could sleep on the plane, but I illogically decided that if I don’t really sleep well anyway, I might was well be not sleeping well on an airplane. When I arrived in New York 6 hours plus time change later, I hadn’t slept for a second. Although the decision to watch The Lovely Bones just after take off probably contributed to my lack of drowsiness.

By the time a subway ride and then a cab deposited me in Chelsea I was tired to catastrophic levels. Which, in the land of most girls means borderline weepy and slightly irrational. Finding out my hotel wasn’t ready for check in and realizing that my only option for sleep was cuddling up with the homeless man near the stairwell, I decided coffee was a necessity. And by necessity I quite literally mean as a route to avoid either crying hysterically or falling asleep on top of a man who smells like hot dogs and old cheese.

I stumbled into a coffee shop and begged for coffee. "Anything else?" The husky Brooklyn dweller spat at me from behind the counter.

"Umm, I…need…uh…the…" I did manage to point at a crumb cake.

"You want duh cake? Fuh breakfast?" Thank god it was just judgmental an rhetorical, he didn’t expect and answer and I couldn’t have given an intelligible one. He thrust it towards me with the coffee. I sat down at the counter, my bag still over my shoulder and started to devour it all. He smiled, one hand on his apron covered hip, "Not bad, huh?"

I nodded, words were still hours away from me.

New York Beer Crumb Cake Muffins

Ingredients
  

For the Cake:

  • 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup pale ale or wheat beer
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 tbs vegetable oil

For the topping:

  • 1 ¼ cups flour
  • ½ cup packed light-brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup unsalted butter melted
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325
  • Line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin papers.
  • Stir together 1 ¼ cups flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, beer, vanilla and vegetable oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, batter will be thick.
  • Add batter to muffin tins, about ½ way full.
  • Combine the remaining 1 ¼ cups flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Drizzle with melted butter, stir together until crumbs form.
  • Add the crumbs onto the top of the muffin batter until cups are slightly mounded.
  • Bake at 325 for 32-36 minutes or until the top crumbs have just started to turn golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature, chill until ready to serve. Dust with confectioners sugar prior to serving.

New York Crumb Cake Beer Muffins 2

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream8

I’ve learned a few things in the handful of days I’ve lived in Seattle.

People here drive like nice, sane, humans. Unfortunately, I’ve been conditioned by the LA freeways to drive like a pissed off asshole. I’ve been driving in LA since I was a teenager. I need to learn to drive like a sane human.

People here are just nice, in and out of the car. They even smile and say hi as they walk past. And when you email them, tell them you’re new in town and want to be friends, they buy you lunch. Or a beer.

You can also drink the tap water here, unlike the last place I lived it does not taste like smog. It’s actually pretty great.

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream_

It’s not even very cold here. It rains often, but really, it’s not that cold. And on that note, running in the rain beats running in the sweltering heat. So, that’s a win for the rainy land.

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream2

Beer is a bit different here too, it has a bit of an old soul. I’ll always have a big place in my Craft Beer Heart for California beer, and the burgeoning LA beer scene that is still cutting its baby teeth. The Seattle beer scene is established, it has an old soul’s wisdom with the freshness of youth. It’s exciting in a way that new things often are, but with the comfort of years of experience to guild the way.

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream4

Cider is a new venture for me when it comes to cooking. This is the first recipe that’s crossed that boundary into cider cookin' territory. Like craft beer, craft cider is beautiful and thoughtful and insanely drinkable. Washington has given me no shortage of ciders to sample and Finnriver has some beautiful bottles. I used Finnriver Black Currant Cider, which will probably be served with dessert at my next dinner party, it’s beautiful and bold but with a dryness that doesn’t let it get overly sweet. It’s perfect with a tart pie.

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream5

 

So that’s what I made.

A pie with Washington blueberries and Washington cider.

I hope this is an adequate apology for my driving. I’m working on it.

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream6

 

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream

Ingredients
  

For the Pie Dough

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • 1 cup cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
  • 1/3 cup ice cold pale ale the higher the ABV the better
  • milk or cream for brushing

For the filling:

  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 1 ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ cup cider
  • 5 cups blueberries fresh or frozen

For the Whipped Cream:

  • 1 cup heavy cream chilled
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tbs lime zest
  • 1 tsp basil minced

Instructions
 

  • Add 1 ½ cups of flour, salt and sugar to a food processor, pulse to combine. Add the butter, process until well combined and dough gathers around the blade.
  • Add the remaining flour and pulse 6-8 times or until all the flour has been coated.
  • Transfer to a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the beer until completely incorporated into the dough (don’t add the beer in the food processor or your dough will turn into a cracker). Dough will be very soft.
  • Lay two long sheets of plastic wrap on a flat surface. Divide the dough evenly between the two sheets, Form into flat disks. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour and up to 3 days.
  • Roll disk out on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a 9 inch cast iron skillet. Place in the freezer while you prepare the fillng.
  • In a large bowl whisk together the cornstarch, sugar and cider. Add the blueberries, toss to coat.
  • Pour the blueberries into the cast iron skillet.
  • Roll out the second disk. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter (I used a star shape), layer the shapes onto the top of the pie. Brush with milk or cream.
  • Bake at 350 for 60 to 75 minutes or until the top is a light golden brown. Allow to sit at room temperature until the filling has set, about 2 hours.
  • Just prior to serving add all the whipped cream ingredients to a stand mixer. Beat on high until soft peaks form.

This is a GREAT cast iron skillet. It’s a splurge, but it will last for the rest of your life. You can even pass it down to your kids (affiliate link).

Blueberry Cider Skillet Pie with Lime Basil Whipped Cream10

Irish Red Ale Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

Irish Red Ale Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

When you write a cookbook, you fall in love with some of the recipe. You don’t love them all the same, you don’t even remember them all the same. Recipes aren’t like children, you’re completely allowed to have favorites.

When I wrote The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link), there were a few recipes I immediately feel love with, like Hefeweizen Brioche Pull Apart Bread (page 82), and the Porter Osso Buco (page129), and Amber Ale Carrot Cake with Mascarpone & Beer Spiked Cream Cheese Frosting (page 179) and a few I added because I was already in love with them, like the Beer Pecan Cinnamon Rolls (SO GOOD! page 26) and this soup.

craft beer cook

This was a soup that I’d been making for years, with and without beer. Gleefully sprinkling the bowls with two of my culinary guilty pelasures: goat cheese and pomegranate seeds. Adding in the hop bitterness of an Irish red ale gave a great balance to the creamy decadence.

Now that we are around the corner from Saint Patricks day, I’m sharing this recipe with you. It’s a new way to celebrate the Irish, and a vegetarian friendly one at that (if that’s your thing). After all, corned beef isn’t even a tradition in Ireland. But beer always is.

Irish Red Ale Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

Ingredients
  

  • 1 3.5 to 4 lb butternut squash
  • 1 head garlic
  • 6 tbs olive oil divided
  • 2 shallots sliced
  • 2 ½ cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup red ale
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • pinch cayenne
  • ½ cup cream
  • 3 ounces goat cheese
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • Cut the squash down the middle lengthwise, scoop out and discard the seeds. Place cut side up on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tbs olive oil.
  • Rub most of the white papery skin off the garlic head. Cut the tip off the head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Place garlic on a small square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil, fold aluminum foil up over the garlic to form a tight packet. Place garlic on baking sheet with the squash.
  • Place baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the garlic and allow to cool. Continue to roast the squash until fork tender, about an addition 20-30 minutes (total of about 1 hour). Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to handle. Gently scoop out the flesh (should be between 4 and 4 1/2 cups).
  • In a pot over medium heat, add the remaining 3 tbs olive oil and the shallots. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots have caramelized, about 15 to 20 minutes (do not cook at too high heat or the shallots will burn). Add the broth and the beer and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the roasted squash, add the soft garlic cloves (discard the rest of the head) and stir until well combined.
  • Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth (you can also work in batches to puree in a food processor or blender). Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, cayenne and cream, allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Ladle into serving bowls, garnish with goat cheese and pomegranate.

You can buy The Craft Beer Cookbook at cookbookBarnes & Noble and Urban Outfitters.

Irish Red Ale Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)

How to make homemade marshmallowsP

These are easier than you think.

And the possibilities are endless. Try your favorite extracts (coconut marshmallows?!), or food coloring to match your party, or covering them in chocolate. Once you make them, it’s hard to remember why you went so long without trying your hand at these.

Step one:

Prepare the pan. Grease well (cooking spray, butter or vegetable shortening) and then cover in powdered sugar.

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)

Step two:

In the bowl of a stand mixer add 3 1/2 packets of gelatin to 1/2 cup ice cold water. Let stand while you prepare the sugar.

How to make homemade marshmallows2Step three:

In a pan over medium heat add 2 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 cup corn syrup and 1/2 cup water. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to high, allow to boil until the mixture has reached 240 on a candy thermometer.

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)

Step four:

Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar into the gelatin mixture. Once all the sugar has been added, raise speed to high. Beat on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)

 Step five:

In a medium bowl, add the egg whites and salt. Beat with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla into the marshmallows.

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)Step six:

Pour marshmallows into prepared pan. Smooth into an even layer, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)

 Step seven:

Allow to sit at room temperature until set, about 3 hours. Invert pan on a flat surface, slice into squares.

How to make homemade marshmallows8

To make beer marshmallows, check out Chocolate Stout Covered Beer Marshmallows.

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (step by step with photos)

Ingredients

  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 ½ envelopes unflavored gelatin (such as Knox)
  • 1 cup ice cold water, divided
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbs vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Grease a 9×13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold water. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  3. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the remaining ½ cup water, sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  4. Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  5. Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  6. Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.
  7. While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
  8. Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  9. Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares.

 

IPA Crab Salad Sliders with Apple Daikon Slaw

IPA Crab Salad Sliders 2

There are some rules to Party Food.

Not a lot, just a few. After all, parties are about lack of restrictions.  First, there needs to be a bit of portability involved. One hand, no utensils type of portability. If you’ve every tried to navigate the consumption of food that requires a knife and fork while trying to mingle, you understand the hard and fast nature of that rule.

You also need something low maintinace. Something you can set down and leave for your guests to grab, sans explanation.

Lastly (only three rules, after all, this is a party), you want something fairly quick and easy to put together. After all, you have other dishes to make, and dishes to wash, and people to mingle with.

But if you can work in beer, there are some bonus points involved.

IPA Crab Cake Sliders with Apple Daikon Slaw

Ingredients
  

For the Slaw

  • ½ large honey crisp apple cut into thin matchsticks
  • 3 ounces daikon peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
  • ¼ cup green onions sliced
  • 2 tbs IPA
  • 1 tbs raw honey
  • ¼ tsp mustard powder

For the Crab:

  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 2 tbs IPA
  • ½ tsp Old Bay seasoning
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • pinch chili powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbs IPA
  • 8 wt oz lump crab meat
  • 10 Slider Buns

Instructions
 

  • Whisk together the IPA, honey and mustard powder in a small bowl. Add the apples, green onions and daikon, toss to coat. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl add the sour cream, IPA, Old Bay, onion powder, chili powder, salt, pepper, and IPA beer, stir until combined. Fold in the crabmeat.
  • Spoon crab meat into slider buns, top with slaw.

IPA Crab Salad Sliders_

Beer Marshmallows with Chocolate Mint Beer Sauce

Beer Marshmallows with Mint Chocolate Stout Sauce

I told you last year that I wouldn’t further assault you with tales of my trip to Ireland for Saint Patrick’s day, until it was close to Saint Patrick’s Day.

Beer Marshmallows with Mint Chocolate Stout Sauce2

But here we are, just a week away. So I’ll force another story of Ireland down your throat. But I made you some beer marshmallows so I hope we can call it even.

The night after I arrived in Dublin, still jet-lagged and a bit shaky, I found myself at a table in the back of an old Irish pub with a couple of Irish farmers in their early twenties. A scrawny, fair-haired, Irish boy, who admitted that he’d never left the mossy soil of Mother Ireland, asked me about life in the famed Los Angeles. "So…you’ve, like, met famous people. Like movie stars? and people in bands?"

Beer Marshmallows with Mint Chocolate Stout Sauce3I said that I had. Just part of living in LA and having friends who work in music. It wasn’t a big deal. His eyes widened, he bought the next round and pressed me for details, "WHO HAVE YOU MET?!"

I was felt slightly pushed back and delved into the database of my past celebrity meetings. I wasn’t sure who he’d like to hear about so I started to go with my favorites, "Ummm. I met James Brown once. He told me I was pretty and did a spin for me."

He was confused. "Who’s that? Who else have you met? Do you know Madonna"

"No. But I did go to Elton Johns birthday party. It was small, only a handful of people but I was too nervous to talk to him. But I did spend the night talking with-"

"Let me cut to the chase." He turned serious, he wanted to get right to the information he was looking for, "I want to know if you’ve met THE GUY."

I was blank. Who was the GUY? Which guy?

Beer Marshmallows with Mint Chocolate Stout Sauce4

 

"You know!" The dozen Guinnesses he’d had since he’d left the sheep farm were starting to settle into his demeanor.

"I really don’t know. Who’s THE GUY in Hollywood?" I was more curious than confused.

Exasperated he finally spit it out, "EDDIE MURPHY!"

"Oh. No." If I’d had one million guesses I wouldn’t have pulled that name, "I haven’t met him."

"That’s too bad. But you know, he lives in LA. So, you might. Right? At some point, like at Starbucks or something?"

"Ummm, yeah. I guess there’s still hope."

Beer Marshmallows with Mint Chocolate Stout Sauce5

But, sadly I did leave LA  never having met Eddie Murphy. So unless he’s a Seahawks fan, we may never meet. But I do suspect that if he’s a beer drinker, he might like beer marshmallows. With stout chocolate sauce. And if he doesn’t, then it’s probably a good thing we never met.

Beer Marshmallows with Mint Chocolate Stout Sauce6

 

Beer Marshmallows with Chocolate Mint Beer Sauce

Ingredients
  

For The Marshmallows

  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 ½ envelopes unflavored gelatin such as Knox
  • 1 cup beer flat and cold*
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Sauce

  • 10 wt oz dark mint chocolate I used Green & Blacks
  • 1/3 cup chocolate stout

Instructions
 

  • Grease a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold flat beer. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  • In a large saucepan (mixture will bubble up considerably) over medium heat, add the remaining ½ cup beer, sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  • Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  • Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.
  • While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
  • Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  • Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares.
  • To make the chocolate sauce, add all chocolate sauce ingredients to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted.
  • Dip the marshmallows into the chocolate, remove with a fork, set on wax paper until set. Or just pour it on in a ridiculous but photogenic stream to make a delicious mess.

Notes

*The beer in these marshmallows can be very present. Pick a beer you like. Try to avoid really high hop beers, they can get really bitter. If you want a low beer flavor, pick a pilsner, pale lager, or wheat beer. You can also use a malty belgian or a brown ale. If you LOVE hops, you can use an IPA but take note that the beer bitterness will be very present.

 

Molasses Stout Glazed Salmon with Herb IPA Mashed Potatoes

Molasses Stout Glazed Salmon with Herb IPA Mashed Potatoes2

No matter how often you move, there are things that you forget. Every time. You forget that you won’t know which drawer to put Sharpie markers and batteries in (they always end up in the same drawer), you’ll turn to grab the knife from where is "used to be," you won’t know where the Target is, or where to take your dry cleaning, or where to buy the best prosciutto and you can forget about that guy who offered to sharpen your knives for free if you bring him cookies THAT guy doesn’t exist in your new land.

I have a gypsy soul, I’ve never missed my own bed, I don’t have the home sick gene, I’m never nervous about new roads or new words or new food. I look forward to building a new database of people and place. But there is a learning curve with a new place. Things I didn’t know that I didn’t know. I’ve had to adapt to a new climate, one that was not 80 degrees on Christmas, and involves a near wardrobe change when I need to run out to the car to grab the beer I left in the back.

But the upside is that beer would have been overly warm in my old land, in this place, it was the perfect 43 degrees and ready to drink.

Now I just need to find a guy to trade knife sharpening for baked goods and I’ll be half way there.

Molasses Stout Glazed Salmon with Herb IPA Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
  

For The Potatoes

  • 2 lbs russet potatoes peeled and chopped
  • 6 tbs unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp sage minced
  • ½ tsp thyme. minced
  • ½ tsp rosemary minced
  • 3 tbs IPA beer

For the Salmon

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • ¼ cup shallots
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup stout
  • 2 tbs molasses not blackstrap
  • ¼ tsp smoked paprika
  • ¼ tsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • 4 4-6 ounce Salmon fillets

Instructions
 

To Make the Potatoes:

  • Add the potatoes to a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Allow to boil until fork tender. Drain and return to pot.
  • Add the remaining potato ingredients, stir and mash with a potato masher until well combined.

To Make The Salmon:

  • Preheat oven broiler.
  • Add the oil to a pot over medium high heat until hot but not smoking.
  • Add the shallots, cook until softened and slightly browned, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the soy, stout, molasses, smoked paprika,onion powder and chili powder. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes.
  • Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray lightly with cooking spray (or drizzle with vegetable oil.
  • Place salmon on the foil, skin side down.
  • Brush liberally with glaze.
  • Broil for 3 minutes, re-brush with glaze, and place under the broiler for 3 more minutes. Repeat (re-brushing and broiling) until the salmon is cooked through and flakes easily with a fork.
  • Serve over potatoes.

Molasses Stout Glazed Salmon with Herb IPA Mashed Potatoes_

Stout Soaked Mushrooms and Herbed Goat Cheese Crostinis

LA to SEA

Photos from my Instagram account 

I made it.

From LA to Seattle, up Highway 1. Past fat lazy seals, miles of winding coastlines, epic Redwoods, and into an unusually sunny Seattle. Although the sun has now given way to the typical rain, it’s somehow comforting.

Although figuring out how to wield a camera in low light has been a bit challenging.

Stout Soaked Mushroom & Herbed Goat Cheese Crostini

But the food isn’t. This part of the word has gorgeous produce, fantastic seafood, incredible beer. I’m starting to get familiar with the Northwest breweries and the beautiful beer that I’m now so close to. If you know of a local brewery I should go to, please, I’m all ears.

Stout Soaked Mushroom & Herbed Goat Cheese Crostini4

As I unpack the boxes, rely heavily on my navigation to get around, figure out what local stations to set my car radio to,  and try to amend my ill-equipped wardrobe (warm socks?? I need new socks?), I’m excited to be here. My Gypsy Soul gets to wander a new city.

Stout Soaked Mushroom & Herbed Goat Cheese Crostini3

Stout Soaked Mushrooms and Herbed Goat Cheese Crostinis

Ingredients
  

  • 1 wt oz 1 ½ cups assorted dried mushrooms (I used Porcini, Shiitake & Chanterelle)
  • 12 ounces stout beer
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tbs unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup chopped shallots
  • ½ tsp kosher or sea salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 baguette sourdough or French
  • 4 ounces chevre goat cheese softened
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Instructions
 

  • Put the mushrooms in a small bowl or jar. Cover with the stout beer. Leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours or until the mushrooms are soft and have reconstituted.
  • Drain the mushrooms and rinse well to remove any residual grit.
  • Slice the mushrooms into thin slices (unless mushrooms were pre sliced).
  • In a pan over medium high heat melt the butter with the olive oil.
  • Add the shallots and cook until softened and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the mushrooms to the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cook until most of the oil and butter has been absorbed, about 5 minutes.
  • Preheat the boiler on the oven.
  • Slice the baguette into 18-24 slices.
  • Place the slices on a baking sheet. Place until the broiler until golden brown, about 2 minutes, flip over and place under the broiler until golden brown the opposite side.
  • In a small bowl stir together the goat cheese, thyme, sage and rosemary.
  • Spread each slice with goat cheese, top with mushrooms.
  • Serve immediately.

Stout Soaked Mushroom & Herbed Goat Cheese Crostini5

Top 15 Chocolate Pie Recipes

 

Chocolate Stout Cherry Pie3

I’ve learned a thing or two about what you like since I joined Pinterest. You like heathy food, football food, chocolate food and pie food. Today, I’m focusing on those last two, they’re the most fun anyway.

If you fancy yourself a bit of a Pinterest junkie and need a new fix, you might want to wander over to Foodie and check that out as well. It’s just as easy to make collections and much easier to share those with the embed feature.

In honor of the upcoming Pi Day (March 14th), here is my collection of Chocolate Pies. Now if you’ll just grab me the strongest coffee you can find and fork, I’d like to get started.


This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.