Garlic, Onion and, Asparagus Tart

Asparagus is delicious. That is all I have to say about that.

Ingredients:

• Use Beer Crust
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, quartered
• 2 slices of bacon, cooked and cut into pieces  optional
• enough Asparagus (1 bunch is sufficient)
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, dried
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• Balsamic vinegar an oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°. Roll out crust into an a large flat oval leaving it about as thick as your pinky, unless you have fat fingers.  Place on an oiled oven pan and cook in oven for 5-6 minutes.  This is just a pre-bake to get that crust firm enough to work with.

Remove crust from oven and spread cream cheese on surface. Place asparagus, onion and garlic on crust. Drizzle a very light amount of oil and Balsamic over the veggies and crust.

Cook in oven for 10-15 minutes until desired done-ness is achieved. Remove from oven cut and devour.

Beer Crusted Multipurpose Dough

This one is worth the time it takes to make.  Most dough recipes call for yeast. That is where a bottle of room temperature beer comes in, esp. if it is bottle condition.  We have made this many different styles of ale, from dark and bitter stouts to a light summery German hefewiezen. Though any beer will work it is my finding that the light beers add a nice flavor but since hey tend to be higher carbonated it adds great texture to the dough.

This is a good base recipe for pizzas or tarts or but not bread; the beer doesn’t compare to yeast for making the dough rise. We have been playing with the idea of making it into pita though.  So here is the ins-and-outs of this recipe.

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole what flour

1/2 cup semolina flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon honey or sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil

12 oz beer of choice

Directions:

Combine 3 1/2 cups flour, whole wheat flour, semolina, baking powder, salt and the honey and whisk to combine. Add the oil and your bottle of beer and whisk to combine. You should have a stick blob of dough. Take the remaining flour and spread it onto a work surface. Place dough on surface and knead until smooth and firm.

If you find your dough is still to sticky you ruined the recipe and should restart. Just kidding! Add up to another 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour until you reach the desired consistency.

Coat a mixing bowl with oil and place dough ball into bowl, make sure to turn the dough to coat all sides with the oil. Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm, happy, draft-free place for 45 minutes to an hour.

After your hour punch the crap out of that dough as the bakers say and divide into two equal portions. It can now be used right away or refrigerated for a few days. Use in any recipe that calls for pizza dough or a similar pastry crust.

Other Thoughts:

We have used this to make Asparagus and cream cheese tart. That was excellent. It also makes phenomenal pizza crust. Broccoli chicken is great as is a fresh margarita pizza.

Beer Cheese Soup w/ Sauerkraut

I had to struggle to get this one approved by the board of directors (aka the people who eat at my table). I can understand why, sauerkraut is not everyones favorite. BUT this is one hell of a soup. I added blue-cheese to increase the funk factor. If you decide to add the blue it does make it very rich! If you want a more savory soup veto the blue!
This soup does incorporate a simple roux to thicken it. Do not fear the roux. Embrace the roux! A simple roux is a 1:1 ratio of fat to flour. Simple as that. Just don’t stop stirring. Keep the pan hot and the stirring near continuously and will make a beautiful rich bodied roux. Good rule of thumb is if it tastes like flour cook it longer.
That all being said you only need the roux to thicken the soup. IF you want a thinner soup skip the roux.
When it comes to the step saying to blend the soup- this is optional, it gives the soup a nice homogenized texture and blends the flavors together nicely. Disclaimer: When putting anything hot in a blender please be careful, you know, because it’s HOT! Seriously though only put in a couple cups at a time and use the lid! Oh yea and it’s hot!
I think this soup rocks socks! Everyone had seconds, even the people that were all “Not sauerkraut!” Open your culinary minds and give this a try. It was awesome. Cheers!

FOR da’ Soup:
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
4 Celery Stalks, Diced
3 Carrots, Chopped
1 Onion Chopped
3 Strips Bacon
4-5 Fresh Thyme Sprigs
1 Tablespoon Mustard Powder 1 Table Worcestershire Sauce
2 Cups German Hefeweizen
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Cup Sauerkraut
1 Cup Milk
2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Cup Blue Cheese

For da roux:
1oz Butter or oil
1oz All-Purpose Flour

Cook up the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from pan, keep the grease. Add butter to the bacon grease in a deep sauce pan and cook the carrots celery onion over medium high heat. Crumble bacon and add it back in. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the thyme, mustard powder, beer, broth and worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

  

Add sauerkraut and stir. Let pan return to simmer then stir in milk. Bring back to a full boil and simmer for 5 minutes before adding the cheese. Stir continuously to melt cheese evenly. Sea Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Reduce heat and begin the roux!

Melt the 1oz butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat. When the butter foams add 1oz of flour. 1 oz of flour is about 1/5 cup. Immediately begin stirring to combine well. Cook until stirring frequently mixture starts to turn brown. Add a ladle of the soup to the pan and combine with a whisk. Continue to cook and whisk and add broth until you form a runny paste. Mix this into the soup a little at a time to thicken the soup.

Here is the optional step: Use an immersion blender OR ladle 2-3 cups of soup at a time into a blender and blend until smooth.

Thats all folks. Serve it with a hoppy beer, such as a Pale Ale or Bohemian Pilsner. If you have some crusty bread you can toast, I say go for it. We had a hot pepper bread with some home made garlic butter. Awesome! Drink eat and hope for better weather!

Spicy Pale Ale Mustard

Looks whose back! It’s me! Anyway, tonight we are making some mustard from scratch. All total it took us 15 minutes and only one first degree burn! I told you this mustard was hot!  Here is what you will need:

Druthers Pot Roast

Whipped up a pot roast using a Belgian Style Stout from a Saratoga Springs based brewpub known as Druthers. It was so delicious, we’ve actually made it twice. I wanted to try this recipe with Druthers’ porter which has a wonderful carmel flavor- I thought would have went really well with the carrots and onions. Unfortunately they were sold out, so I picked up a growler of the stout instead. The stout didn’t disappoint in the slightest- making this a succulent and hardy meal, perfect for this time of year.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
2 lb chuck roast
2-3 yellow onions coarsely chopped
2 lbs red potatoes quartered
3 gloves of garlic minced
1 lb carrots cut in half, then in quarters (lengthwise)
3 cups beer.
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp thyme

Directions:
Marinade the meat overnight using one cup of the beer a dash of thyme and a teaspoon of pepper. when you are ready to cook, remove the roast from the fridge. Preheat oven to 350°. If you have a Dutch oven use it! We didn’t so I had to improvise using a skillet and a croc pot.

Add oil to skillet (or Dutch oven) and place over medium high heat. Rub meat with salt pepper and thyme on both sides, then sear until brown. Once both sides are sufficiently browned, remove from pan.

 In same pan, reduce heat to medium and add garlic, cook for 1 minute. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. If using the croc method place meat in croc, add onions, and 2 additional cups beer. If using the Dutch oven just place meat back in Dutch oven. Either way cover and place in oven for 1.5 hours. After that add potatoes and carrots.

     

Flip the roast and stir the veggies. Add a touch more beer if needed, there should be plenty of juices. Recover and bake for another hour. Remove from oven and devour.

Hope you enjoy this as much as everyone around here did. Cheers!

         

Sweet Chili Beer Chicken Fingers

With football starting back up its time for chicken wings. Well these are close enough in my opinion. This is a recipe from the beeroness. She operates a really cool blog about cooking with beer if you have  half a second check her out (she is way better at this than I am).

Anyway, I changed it up a bit and of course used one of my own hand crafted beers but man did they come out well. The beer I chose was an apricot pale ale the bitterness of the hops plays really well with the sweet apricot flavor. If you want to see the original recipe click the link above and it will shoot you over to her site. Hope you enjoy and I will let her recipe speak for itself! Cheers.

 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs chicken tenders
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 2/3 cup beer
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbs honey
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp red chili flake
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs rice wine vinegar

Directions

• Coat the chicken on all sides with cornstarch.
• In a separate bowl, add the beer, soy, honey, chili powder, garlic powder, red chili flake, salt, and vinegar, stir with a whisk until the honey has dissolved. Add the chicken, cover, and let sit for thirty minutes to an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 425.
• Place the chicken and extra marinade in a glass pyrex baking dish and bake at 425 for  40 minutes.
• Remove from oven and devour.

Stout Cheese Dip

So it’s summer and the last thing anyone wants is to be in a hot kitchen. That where this dip comes in. It takes only minutes to make, and best of all no heat required. Use some fresh veggies to dip in it and you’ve got one hell of a good snack.

2 cups shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar
1 shallot, chopped, or 1/4 small red onion, chopped
2 scallions, sliced
2 tsp grainy mustard
1 tsp prepared horseradish
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup stout or dark beer

Directions:

Place the sharp Cheddar, shallot, scallions, grainy mustard, horseradish, rosemary, and salt in a food processor, and pulse several times to combine. Add the sour cream and beer; blend until smooth. When I did this I used Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. This beer is not a mellow beer, it stands up well to the grainy mustard and spiciness of the horseradish. Giving credit where it is due, I found this recipe through Men’s Health. Also if you don’t have a food processor a blender on a lower setting works just as well. Cheers!

Pulled pork (and beer)

Pulled pork

Hello and welcome to another exciting addition to Beer for Food! It is after Memorial day so BBQ season is in full swing. As many of us probably have a slew of outdoor get-togethers and parties to attend this is an easy to make, and, delicious to eat recipe. If you start the night before it works perfectly.

Beer and Chili

So without a doubt it is chili season. I have a base recipe that I can mix and match to make many different styles of chili from.

Chili with some added peppers

Beer BBQ Sauce Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 small yellow Onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 clove Garlic, peeled, mashed and chopped
• 6 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 2 Cups Beer
• 2 Cups Chili Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper

Directions:  In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and sauté pepper, salt, onion and garlic until translucent.  Add lemon juice, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and beer.  Cook over medium heat for five to seven minutes, until sauce bubbles rapidly.