Published by mel on March 11, 2010 in breakfast, dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
Nothing says St. Patrick’s Day like a green beer at noon. At least, that’s what it meant in college. Now that I’m “all grownup” drinking green beer, especially before noon, is “frowned upon”. Yet, I have to do something to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, and nothing is more Irish, or more celebratory, than Guinness.
I happen to absolutely love Guinness. (We drank quite a few on a cruise we recently took to the Bahamas. I think all of the bartenders on the ship came to know us as the Guinness Couple.) You may have noticed my Guinness Mustard a few weeks ago. Now, it’s Guinness Brownies. Ah, Guinness Brownies. They are moist and a little malty, super rich and very chocolatey. I love them so.
No better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than with a batch of these brownies. Trust me.
(Oh yeah – I used whole wheat pastry flour. Makes them “healthy” right?)
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Published by mel on May 15, 2009 in recipe and sides & bites.
Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely love beer? I’m not talking about Bud Light, Coors or the most-revolting Miller High Life. I’m talking about amber lagers, hoppy pale ales and creamy, mocha-flavored stouts. Last weekend in St. Augustine, we went to a microbrewery for dinner and found some pretty delicious beers. I love microbrewery menus. Yes, you can read all about the beer-making process, but you also get to see how that beer makes it into the food. Beer mustard, beer battered everything and on this particular menu, Cheese & Ale Soup.
Although tempted, I would have been crazy to order the soup. We were sitting out on the balcony and it was 85 very humid degrees. I would have melted. In the words of the Soup Nazi – No soup for me! But it sounded so good, I decided to make my own version, using potatoes as the basis.
I started with your basic soup starters – sauteed onions and garlic. Added a few diced potatoes, some stock and summer ale. After some time simmering and a quick run-in with the immersion blender, I stirred in the cheese and secret ingredients. Served with crumbled pretzels and more cheese, I finished up my beer soup. Beer, cheese, potatoes and pretzels. You really can’t go wrong there – the soup was great. So great and so easy, I can’t wait to make it again.
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Published by mel on January 14, 2009 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Since it’s January, food magazine and blogs everywhere are posting their top food trends for 2009. This year’s trends include upscale comfort food, cheap cuts of meat, pork, lots of egg dishes and beans. Beans are trendy? Apparently. Since I love beans of all kinds, sizes and colors, this is a trend I can definitely get into.
This weekend, I was browsing the Rancho Gordo site looking for some bean-cooking ideas, and I came across this recipe for Drunken Beans. Beans with beer? Yes please. I cooked some dried Good Mother Stallard Beans (sub pinto or anasazi beans) with dried chiles de arbol and dried chipotle peppers. Then I sauteed spicy Spanish chorizo and garlic, added some pale ale and stewed the beans in that.
The result? Something like baked beans, but infinitely more flavorful. We ate them with some Guava BBQ Chicken for a seriously hearty, spicy and delicious Sunday supper. So, be trendy this year and make yourself some drunken beans!
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Published by mel on November 3, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Beer is fun. And so it goes without saying that cooking with beer is also fun. Since the brew brings the flavor, you can lay off the spice drawer for a night. You can also experiment with different varieties based on season — a Corona and lime marinated skirt steak in the summer, Pumpkin ale and short ribs for Autumn (this recipe coming soon). And of course there’s the sampling while you cook…
Since it’s Fall, I went with a nice, coffee-flavored Stout, whose name I cannot recall at the moment, but you can substitute your favorite Mocha Porter (Rogue makes a good one), brown ale or a time-tested Guiness. The recipe starts with sauteed onions and browned sausages in a rather large pot. Add some sliced apples, pears, whole cranberries and a bottle of stout and pop it in the oven for an hour and a half and you’ve got a delicious Sunday supper.
Make sure you’ve got some crusty bread to mop up the beer-y juices, or serve with roasted or mashed potatoes. Either way, you’ve got a hearty, healthy and really tasty meal.
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Published by mel on April 8, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Beer, bratwurst and apples seem more like fall than spring, but since we don’t really have seasons here in Miami, I think it’s fair game any time of the year. This easy recipe only has 5 ingredients and minimal active time. Simply brown the onions and sausages quickly, add the apples and beer and pop everything in the oven for 40 minutes.
My beer of choice was a Rogue Mocha Porter, which lent a warming, coffee-scented flavor to the dish. Perfect comfort food. I served the brats with a side of roasted brussel sprouts, but they’d be really good with roasted or mashed potatoes.
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