Monatsarchive: December 2014

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People

31.12.2014 4 Comments

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People

We do this too often. Spinning a resolution in a sacrifice that will ultimately give way to our guilt over lack of follow through. It’s not your fault, it’s the resolution. You can spend all year giving up coffee, carbs, sugar, or sleeping in, but that’s not what we should focus on at the dawning of a brand new year. It’s not supposed to be torture, it’s meant for celebration. So don’t put yourself in a culinary time out, or throw yourself into a debt related guilt prison, give yourself a gift. Grow yourself and your interest. Save the torture and regret for Lent. If you’re a beer person, you’ve got some options. But you already knew that, you’re way more creative than those vodka soda people.

1. Get certified in beer. Make it a goal to study hard, read up, and earn yourself a Cicerone Certificate, which is a certification that proves to the world that you actually know beer. And if anyone questions you, you will now have the proof you need to silence your opposition.

2. Brew your own. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at homebrewing, there is no better time to start. Buy a starter kit, join a homebrew club, and realize that your first batch will suck, possible explode in the fridge, and then the next one will suck less. If that doesn’t scare you off, then you’ll make a fantastic brewer someday. After you stop sucking at it (don’t worry, everyone sucks at first).

3. Go to a beer festival. There is no better way to connect with the craft beer community than to drink with us. Nearly every state has a Craft Beer Week, there are ale fests, stout fest, holiday beer fests, fresh hop fests, summer ale fests, (and on and on), in every state. Find one locally or go to a giant gathering of craft beer lovers from all over the world like The Great American Beer Festival.

4. Invest in glassware. You’ll be shocked at the flavor difference between your favorite beer when you drink it from shaker pint (or, god forbid, a mason jar) and when you sample it from a glass made specifically for that beer style. If you appreciate beer, and especially if you invest in good bottles, you’ll love serving it the proper way. Although the names of a few of these glasses are a bit suspect, I love the line of glassware from Crate & Barrel (my favorites: stout glass, half pints, IPA glass, wheat beer glass, craft beer glass).

5. Learn beer terms. Grab a great intro to craft beer book like The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer, Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide from the Pairing Pros by Julia Herz and Gwen Conley or The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer by Ashley V. Routson and learn how to speak the craft beer language (affiliate links).

6. A new brewery every month. Most cities have more than enough established breweries or new start ups to take care of twelve months of brewery hopping. Stop in, grab a flight, and don’t forget to chat up the staff, beer people are the friendliest kind.

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon

Print Recipe

Servings 2 cocktails

Ingredients

Garnish:

2 Celery ribs
2 strips thick cut bacon
½ tsp chili powder
2 tsp brown sugar

Cocktail:

1 cup Calamato or tomato juice
1 cup IPA beer
1/2 tsp celery salt plus additional for glass rims
1 tsp Sriracha
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp brine for a jar of spanish olive
1/4 tsp cream style horseradish
1 tbs lime juice about 1 medium lime
1 tbs lemon juice about 1/2 medium lemon
1/2 tsp black pepper
Ice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Thread the bacon through oven safe skewers.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and chili powder.
Place on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
Bake until bacon is crispy, about 15 minutes.
Rim glasses with celery salt. Add all cocktail ingredients to a shaker half full of ice, swirl to combine. Strain into prepared glasses, garnish with celery and bacon skewer.

Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits

29.12.2014 16 Comments

Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits, plus the secret to the perfect cinnamon roll filling that doesn’t leak out the side once cut.

I’ve had a complicated year. One that began with life in one state and ended in another, literally and figuratively. A year of answering questions with "It’s complicated." Where I’m living, what I do for a living, my relationship status, my goals, it’s all been so complicated this year.

My goal for next year is simple. That’s it, just: simple. Live simply, dream simply, love simply. I’ve loved complicated food, complicated love, complicated life, but my heart feels at home when it’s simple. The joy and beauty of the perfect roast chicken, a love that comes from unfiltered devotion, a simple well made beer.

I’m trying to strip everything down to simple elements. Rebuild a life with solid blocks. learning recipes that use simple ingredients, simple techniques. Getting lost wandering around a city, rather than the pressure to make plans. Learning to forgive, and rebuild a relationship from scratch.

The way even a seasoned chef will screw up rice and scrambled eggs from time to time, simple is harder to learn than complicated. A smaller margin or error. But it’s worth it. I’ve done complicated and it left some deep scars. There is joy and healing in the journey towards pure and simple.

Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits

The trick to making any cinnamon roll recipe with a lovely thick ribbon of cinnamon sugar that does not fall out the sides once it's cut is making a paste with softened butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It will stay in place and you won't lose a grain!

Print Recipe

Prep Time 8

Cook Time 12

Total Time 20

Servings 10 -12

Ingredients

For the Cinnamon Rolls:

3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
10 tbs unsalted cold butter cut into cubes
¾ cup pale ale or wheat beer
1/3 cup buttermilk
6 tbs softened butter
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
pinch salt

For the Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.
In a processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
Pulse to combine. Add the cold butter, process until well combined. Add to a large bowl.
Add the buttermilk and beer. Mix with a fork until just combined.
Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin (preferably marble) gently roll into a large rectangle, about 3/4 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
In a medium sized bowl add the softened butter, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of salt. Stir until a paste forms.
Spread the dough with the butter mixture. Starting at the long end, roll into a tight log. Cut 2-inch rounds, place in a baking dish.
Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Allow to cool.
Stir together the powdered sugar, buttermilk and vanilla until well combined. Serve the biscuits topped with icing.

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

24.12.2014 4 Comments

If there is one type of book that I will always want in the print version, it’s a cookbook. I want to feel the pages, make my own notes, and someday pass it down to future generations. It becomes a conversation between decades, an engagement among generations, that connects people in a way that nothing other than food has the ability to do.

Maybe it’s the end of a brutal year that was illuminated by the writing of my second book, a lifeline to stability, that makes me want to defend the print cookbook. Maybe it’s the ghosts of the past that seem to haunt the holidays. Maybe it was a small moment over the weekend while standing in the middle of a book store in Portland and finding a note card written 50 years ago wedged in the middle of a antique Sunday Suppers cookbook. It doesn’t matter, I have an analog soul, I like things that I feel with my hands. I love the smell of old books. As much as I love innovation and the sexiness of new technology, my heart will always belong to what I can pass down, or what I can receive from those who have gone before me. Like old cookbooks and fried chicken recipes. Somethings are just made to be shared.

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tbs kosher salt
½ sweet white onion sliced
¾ cups buttermilk
6 ounces pale ale
2 tsp sriracha
2 cups flour
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
canola or peanut oil for frying

For the Salad:

2 heads red leaf lettuce chopped
1 large avocado diced
½ cup pomegranate seeds
8 wt oz Burrata Cheese or goat cheese

Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

¼ cup honey
1 tsp sriracha
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbs olive oil

Instructions

Arrange the chicken in an even layer in a large baking pan.
Sprinkle evenly with kosher salt, top with sliced onions.
In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, beer and sriracha, pour evenly over the chicken, cover and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.
In a medium sized bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
One at a time remove the chicken pieces, dredge in the flour mixture then gently re-dip in the buttermilk/beer marinade and recoat with the flour mixture (double coating of the flour mixture will give you a crispier chicken), set on a wire rack that has been set over a baking sheet.
Allow the coated chicken to sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200.
Add the oil to a large pot until about 6 inches deep, heat to 350 degrees using a cooking thermometer clipped to the pan, adjust heat to maintain that temperature.
Working in batches fry the chicken until golden brown and cooked through (between 4 and 8 minutes each, depending on the thickness of the chicken)
Once each piece is done, place on a wire rack over a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Slice the chicken.
In a small bowl whisk together the honey, sriracha and vinegar. While whisking vigorously, slowly add the olive oil until well combined.
Add chopped lettuce, pomegranates, and avocado to a large bowl, toss to combine.
Top with burrata cheese and sliced fried chicken, drizzle with dressing.

How to Make Flaky Biscuits & Sour Cream Cheddar Beer Biscuits Recipe

19.12.2014 3 Comments

How to Make Flaky Biscuits, step by step with photos, & Sour Cream Cheddar Beer Biscuits

Biscuits, the glorious tender flaky beast that they are become the subject of massive levels of debate for something with so few ingredients. Ask a Southern grandma what she thinks and she’ll tell you you’re doing it wrong, no matter what you’re doing. Everyone has an opinion and everyone has a recipe. Lard, butter, oil, buttermilk, beer, water, White Lily flour, whole wheat flour, the ingredients vary from recipe to recipe, but one technique always gives me those gorgeous flaky layers that rival that anxiety provoking poppin' fresh tube of my youth. This brilliant idea came from the geniuses at America’s Test Kitchen, and no offense to your grandma, but these guys know their shit.

Step one:

Dough on a lightly floured surface. Try to work with the dough as little as possible or it becomes tough.

Step two:

Roll out into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Again, use as few strokes as possible.

Step three:

Here’s where the magic begins. Fold it into thirds, like a brochure or a letter about to go into an envelope.

Step four:

Roll back into a rectangle, using as few strokes as possible.

Step five:

Repeat the magic. Fold into thirds again.

Step six:

Roll it out again, then turn it over so that the "seam" side is down. You can also turn it over before rolling it out.

Step seven:

Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out rounds. DO NOT TWIST. You’ll want to,that sucker is begging for a good turn, but resist the urge. Twisting the biscuit cutter will seal the layers and prevent the biscuit from rising as much as it should.

Step eight:

Now you’re ready to bake according to recipe directions. If you’re following my recipe, that’s some melted butter, coarse salt and enjoying the "leftover" beer that didn’t make it into the biscuit dough. You poor thing.

Sour Cream Cheddar Beer Biscuits

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
8 tbs unsalted cold butter cut into cubes
1/2 cup sour cream
2/3 cup pale ale or wheat beer
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 tbs chopped green onions
2 tbs melted butter
¼ tsp course sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.
In a processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
Pulse to combine. Add the cold butter, process until well combined. Add to a large bowl.
Add the sour cream, cheese, green onions and beer. Mix with a fork until just combined.
Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin (preferably marble) gently roll into a large rectangle, about 3/4 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
Fold the dough into thirds as you would a letter about to go into an envelope. Roll lightly, once in each direction to about 1 inch thickness, fold in thirds again. Gently roll into about 1 1/2 inch thickness (this will give you the flakey layers).
Using a biscuit cutter cut out 12 biscuits. Place in a baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Brush biscuits with melted butter, sprinkle salt.
Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites & Why I Hate Santa

17.12.2014 6 Comments

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites. Only 10 minutes prep!

Right out of college I got a job working with gang kids in South Central Los Angeles, like this one and this one. I was prepared to be afraid of them, bracing myself to be on the defense, even packing pepper spray in my purse. I wasn’t prepared to fall in love with them. I worked with kids as young as 5, and as old as 19, all either on probation or in foster care, sometimes both. To this day, some of the kids I met during that time are the smartest, most kind hearted, motivated kids I’ve ever met.

The first year I worked at a group home in a particularly rough part of Hollywood, I tried to make a big deal out of Christmas in a very middle American ignorant white girl kind of way. Let’s decorate the tree! Let’s make Christmas cookies! When I found out that the very small budget the organization had to cover Christmas gifts wasn’t enough to get the kids more than one small gift each, I ran around getting donations. Kids need presents.

To my WASPY surprise this wasn’t well received. The kids, all boys between the ages of 12 and 17, were mostly kind about it, although visibly annoyed. I wanted to know why, what where the traditions they grew up with, what did they miss? A few days before Christmas one of the younger kid, Jamal, offered to help me wrap some of the gifts, so I asked him.

He sighed, not sure how to proceed.

"Is this another one of my white girl questions that you guys tease me about?"

He laughed, "Nah, it’s just…a lot of us don’t got good memories of Christmas. It’s not really our thing. Some kids do. But most don’t."

He told me he didn’t get presents when he was little because they either couldn’t afford them or his mom was too drunk to buy any. For years he figured that it was because he was bad, that’s the story right? Santa brings presents to good kids, bad kids don’t get any. He also told me a story about waking up on Christmas morning when he was 5, spending it alone because his mom was on a bender. He sat in his living room hoping that Santa wasn’t real. Santa’s lack of existence was comforting, rather than the idea that he was alone and present-less because he was bad. It hit me how terrible the Santa story is for kids that don’t get gifts. My world opened up a bit that day, being taught life lessons by a 12-year-old will do that to you. I’ll never forget his face, so matter of fact, not the tears or grief you’d expect.

I can’t remember what I got for Christmas that year. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to name a dozen gifts I’ve been given over the years. But I’ll never forget Jamal and I hope he never has to spend Christmas alone again.

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites

Print Recipe

Ingredients

8 wt oz cream cheese
2 tbs cornstarch
¼ cup pale ale
½ cup mozzarella shredded
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
1 sheet puff pastry thawed
16 jump shrimp raw, de-veined, shelled
¼ cup honey
1 tbs warm pale ale
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp red chili flake
3 tbs cilantro chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375.
In a blender or food processor add the cream cheese, cornstarch, ¼ cup pale ale, mozzarella, garlic powder, and salt. Process until well combined
Roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface.
Place 1 tablespoon rounds of cheese about one inch apart for a total of 16 evenly spaced mounds of cheese mixture.
Top each mound of cheese with a raw shrimp. Cut the dough with a sharp knife between each shrimp/cheese mound.
Place the squares on a baking sheet.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until puff pastry is golden brown.
In a small bowl combine the honey, warm pale ale, sriracha, and chili flake.
Plate the shrimp bites, drizzle with chili sauce, sprinkle with cilantro.

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili

12.12.2014 14 Comments

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili. One pot, twenty minutes, crazy good.

For the first time in my life, winter has been the best season of the year. 2014 has been hard on me, beating me up in ways I didn’t expect, traumatic in ways I’ll never forget. Seattle, and the beautiful winter, has been like aloe on burnt skin.

Rain on the windows when I’m alone in bed, mid-50s, and overcast as I run through the trees along moss covered trails, drizzly days at small coffee shops when I finish my second book that was like the fragile line to a lifeboat pulling me out of the storm. The dark clouds in my life are starting to lift, the new normal is starting to feel like it actually is, in fact, normal, and the frenzy is starting to mellow.

For the first time in my entire life, I’m looking forward to January, a month that has always been hideous to me. It can’t be worse that the previous 11 months, and it will mark a new beginning for me. For now, to make it through the most difficult year of my life, I need comfort food, not just for my body but for my soul.

Let’s hope 2015 is my year, I’m already looking forward to it.

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

1 lbs spicy chicken sausages raw, removed from casing
1 white onion chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
12 oz pale ale
2 cup chicken broth
4 15 oz cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 large avocado diced

Instructions

Add the sausage to a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook, breaking up with into small pieces as it cooks.
Add the onions and jalapenos, cooking until softened.
Add the beer and broth, scraping to deglaze the pan.
Add the beans, garlic powder, paprika, and cumin. Simmer for ten minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in the sour cream, salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle into bowls, top with cilantro and avocado.

Beer Candied Bacon Bark and Craft Beer Lovers Holiday Gift Guide

10.12.2014 13 Comments

Beer Candied Bacon Dark Chocolate Bark plus Holiday Gifts for Beer Lovers

If you were to ask me about the best gift I’ve ever been given it’d take me a while to come up with the answer. I’m always uncomfortable getting gifts, awkwardly opening them as the giver waits for the expected reaction. Giving them, that’s where I excel. I can give a gift like a champ, and I love it. Figuring out what will make the person I care about wonder how I did it, how I found that perfect gift. Those stories I can tell you all day, the times I found the perfect present for someone I care about.

So take my gift giving advice if you have a beer lover on your list, skip the can cozies, and the kitschy pint glasses, and those weird tin signs that they won’t hang in their dens, and buy them things that will make them think you’re brilliant. Because you are. And if all else fails, make some bacon studded chocolate treats, those are always a hit.

State Beer Shirts: Not from California? It’s cool, they have other states. Maybe even yours, and if not, California is a pretty great one.
Homebrew recipe journal: For the homebrewer in your life that has a drawer full of spiral notebooks that are hard to decipher. Their future batches will thank you.
Sierra Nevada Lip Balm: The perfect stocking stuffer. And at only $1, you can fill the entire stocking.
The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link).: Don’t look so shocked. Of course I’d add my book to this list. I’m pretty proud of it. Plus, it’s a great gift for the craft beer loving cook in your life.
Oatmeal Stout Soap: Because for a true craft beer lover drinking it isn’t enough, bathing in it is imperative.
Beer Glassware: I love these. I have every one. You can’t open a rare bomber of beer and expect to put it in Solo cups.
Beer Tote: Especially great for the beer lover who frequents the farmers market. It’ll be her favorite, she can use it to haul around her growler or her produce.
Rogue Hop Salt: How can you possibly have homemade popcorn without it?! It’s hops and salt!
Growler Tap: Growlers are great, if you can drink it all in one sitting. If you’re a normal person, you can’t. This allows you to take your time and enjoy it over time. It’s amazing.
Hard to find beer, like: The Lost Abbey’s Angels Share. Especially if you live in a different region than the person you’re gifting, it’s almost a guarantee that you can get a beer that they can’t. Go to your local bottle shop and ask about it.

Beer Candied Bacon Bark and Craft Beer Lovers Holiday Gift Guide

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Bacon

6 strips thick sliced bacon
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbs stout or porter or pale ale
pinch cayenne

For the Bark

10.5 wt oz dark chocolate 72% cacao content
¼ cup stout or porter or pale ale
1/3 cup smoked almonds

Instructions

Preheat oven the 350.
In a sauce pan over medium high heat, bring the brown sugar, beer and cayenne to boil, boil for one minute.
Place the bacon on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Brush the bacon on each side with sugar mixture.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, flip, re-brush with sugar mixture, bake for ten more minutes until bacon is a dark brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool. Bacon will harden as it cools. Chop the bacon once it has cooled.
In the top of a double boiler over gently simmering water add half the chocolate and the 1/4 cup beer, make sure the heat isn’t too high or the chocolate will seize. Stir constantly until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining chocolate until melted and well combined. Stir in the smoked almonds.
Pour chocolate onto a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Sprinkle with chopped bacon. Chill until set. Break into pieces.

Notes

A stout or porter will work well, especially a barrel aged version. For a more intense beer flavor use an IPA or a pale ale.

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken & What is a Winter Ale?

04.12.2014 6 Comments

What is a Winter Ale?

This is the time for generalities. With the Winter Ales, these seasonal favorites, it’s essential. Because you can get specific, and even technical with other beer styles, but the vast spectrum that these beers run along won’t allow for strict categorization. Winter ales are often what’s called an Old Ale, a rich amber-colored malty ale with an above average alcohol content. But of course, that’s frequently not the case. Winter ales can be stouts, Belgians, brown ales, and even IPA’s.

ABV (alcohol by volume) is a bit of a commonality among these late-in-the-year beers, most of which have an ABV around or above 8%. But, here we are again with the discrepancies. Winter Ales can be as low as 5% and as high as 20%.

Flavor seems to be the best way to round-up these beautiful beers, most of them taste like the holidays. Winter warmers (as they are often called) most commonly have flavors of cinnamon, cloves, figs, dates, nuts, toffee, and chocolate. Most are malty and low hops, but there are of course outliers, some of these beer will give you all those holiday flavors you love while still kicking you a big hop flavor, like this Abominable Winter Ale from Hopworks Beer. It’s pretty perfect for those of you IPA loving hop heads that still want to get into the Christmas Beer spirit.

So, in summation, Winter Ales are mostly Ole Ales, with a higher ABV, malty, with flavors of nuts and spice. But they can be IPA’s. Or stouts. Or have a 6% ABV. To clarify, a winter ale is whatever the brewer wants it to be, and if you’re smart, you’ll just drink it without asking too many questions.

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 tbs olive oil
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
¼ cup chopped white onions
8 wt ounces sliced crimini mushrooms
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp chopped fresh sage
3 tbs all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups chicken broth
1 cup winter ale or brown ale
1 tbs brown sugar omit if using a low hop, malty beer

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a pan over high heat.
Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with salt and pepper. Sear chicken on both sides in a hot pan until browned (chicken will not be cooked through).
Transfer the chicken to a slow cooker.
Lower the heat to medium, stir in the onions, cook until browned. Add the mushrooms, rosemary and sage, cook until darkened and softened.
Sprinkle with flour, stir until combined. Add the chicken broth, beer, and brown sugar, scraping to deglaze the pan. Pour the mushroom mixture over the chicken, stir to combine.
Cook in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours or until chicken shreds easily with a fork. Salt and pepper to taste. (if sauce doesn't thicken as much as you like, add to a pan over medium high heat, simmer until thickened.)
Serve over rice or pasta.

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

01.12.2014 6 Comments

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Somehow I ended up being the girl who brought salad to Thanksgiving. Not my usual holiday offering. Spending the holidays in an unfamiliar city and not being the host for the first time in forever drove me to beer up a salad. Maybe it’s caused by the stir-crazy-work-from-home madness that’s set in, a fall that’s actually cold, or the life I’m living that looks almost nothing like it did a year ago, but beer in a salad made everything seem right. I needed a little familiarity in my world, and all of my favorite salads contain pomegranate seeds and goat cheese. You can even forget the fact that this salad is red, green, gold and white, making it more festive than it should be allowed to be for a holiday salad. This is a season for indulgences: barrel aged beers, cakes, fudge, cookies, and pie. With all of these perfectly fantastic holiday foods, I give you a salad. But rest assured it’s a damn good salad, and with beer infused grains, it definitely made the naughty list.

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup whole farro
12 ounces pumpkin ale
½ cup chicken broth
1 lbs asparagus tripped and chopped into 1 inch sections
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
½ cup pomegranate seeds
1 cup baby arugula
3 wt oz goat cheese

Instructions

Add the farro, beer, and broth to a pot over medium high heat. Bring to a low simmer. Simmer until farro is tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Drain off any remaining liquid.
Preheat oven to 400.
Add the asparagus to a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat.
Roast asparagus at 400 until fork tender, about 8-10 minutes (less for thin asparagus, you still want some firmness, it’s best to under cook rather than overcook).
Add the farro, asparagus, remaining ingredients to a bowl, toss to combine. Serve at room temperature.