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Pale Ale and Baby Kale Creamy Pesto

Pale Ale and Baby Kale Creamy Pesto, this five-minute sauce is a game-changer. 


Pale Ale and Baby Kale Creamy Pesto this five minute sauce is a game changer.

If you’ve ever waited tables, you’ve had this nightmare.

You’re slammed. Every table in your section has been sat all at once, plus the section you’re covering for the guy who was cut early. You have 17 four tops. The computer is broken and the cooks aren’t making your food. The bar isn’t making your drinks and the runner is on a smoke break. Your heart is pounding. For some reason, you also can’t move as fast as you want, as if you’re trudging through waist-high mud. You’re being yelled at by every customer.

Pale Ale and Baby Kale Creamy Pesto this five minute sauce is a game changer.

I’ve worked with gang members in South Central Los Angeles but the only job that ever gave me nightmares was waitressing.  The pathetically over reaching people pleaser in me fills with anxiety at the thought of letting people down. Which is one (of the many) reasons I always have beer in my house, liquor in my bar, and even though I don’t drink it, white wine in my fridge.    This fear has also implanted in me the need to be ready to entertain at a moment’s notice. What if people come over! What if the FedEx guy is hungry! I’m like an Italian grandma, I just want to feed you. Until I figured out how easy it is to make pesto, I used to keep it stashed in my fridge for people feeding emergencies. Add it to potatoes, noodles, make a creamy pesto dip, even put it in some melted butter and serve with cocktail shrimp. It’s a got-to. It’s the most impressive thing you can make in five minutes. Unless of course, you’re too busy with serving 17 parties of 4 all at once.

 

Pale Ale and Baby Kale Creamy Pesto this five minute sauce is a game changer.

Pale Ale and Baby Kale Creamy Pesto

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups packed baby kale
  • ½ cup basil leaves
  • ¼ cup pecans
  • 1 clove garlic smashed
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 3 tbs pale ale
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • ½ cup sour cream

Instructions
 

  • Add the kale, basil, pecans, garlic, salt, pepper, and beer to a food processor. Process until well combined.
  • Add the olive oil in a slow steady stream until well combined.
  • Add the sour cream, pulse to combine.
  • Use immediately or store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

 

 

Mini Triple Chocolate Stout Cakes For Two (or four)

Mini Triple Chocolate Stout Cakes For Two (or four), one bowl, no special equipment required. 

Mini Chocolate Stout Cakes For Two (or four)

 This is ridiculous.
Lets be honest, these should really be four cakes. Even if it is for a romantic dinner, I don’t know your life. You could be making a romantic dinner for your cake making self and 3 other people. Or maybe this all for you. In your cake emergency you’ve found this one bowl, small-ish chocolate cake and decided to make yourself a little treat. Which would make infinitely more sense than romance for four, but that’s your call.
On top of the fact that these are easily twice as tall as they should be for normal humans (which doesn’t really apply to you and I), these suckers have both chocolate frosting and melted chocolate drizzle. That’s crazy, but you get it. You also get that these should be served with a beast of a stout. A barrel aged mother that will punch your face. Because some of us would prefer a face punch to mid-February-obligatory-fifty-shades-of-eff-off-red-velvet-forced-romance.
Some of us.
Just pass me a beer.
Mini Chocolate Stout Cakes For Two (or four)
 

Mini Chocolate Stout Cakes For Two (or four)

Ingredients
  

  • 6 tbs melted butter
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 2/3 cup stout beer
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Frosting:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 2 tbs butter softened
  • 2 tbs whole milk or heavy cream
  • 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 3.5 wt ounces dark chocolate melted (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • In a large bowl add the melted butter, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt mix until well combined. Stir in the egg and beer.
  • Sprinkle with flour and baking powder, stir until just combined.
  • Grease and flour an 8x8 baking dish. Pour batter into pan.
  • Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center returns with a few crumbs attached.
  • Allow to cool completely, at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
  • Cover a plate or cutting board with parchment paper. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert onto the prepared plate or cutting board.
  • Use a 3-inch biscuit cutter to cut out four circles.
  • In a large bowl add the cream cheese and butter, beat with an electric mixer until well combined, light and fluffy (this will help avoid lumps in the final product, make sure it’s well blended). Add the milk, beat until well combined.
  • Sprinkle with cocoa powder, powdered sugar and salt. Mix until well combined.
  • Plate two of the cake circles, top with frosting, add the remaining two cake circles to the top, top with frosting. Drizzle with melted chocolate just before serving.
Mini Chocolate Stout Cakes for two-3

One Pot Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce

Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce. One pot, five-minute prep, even the pasta gets cooked in the pan. One Pot Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce

 

Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce1-1

Let’s say that we changed the way we categorize food. You’d flip open a cookbook, your finger gliding down the index, and in place of familiar section titles like "breakfast," and "appetizers," you’d find what you are really looking for.

You’d see a Strawberry Basil French Toast Casserole under the "What to make for unwanted but not unpleasant overnight guests" section. You’ll find a recipe for Cilantro and Sriracha Deviled Eggs under the "what to bring to my aunts for Easter brunch" list. And in the "something to take to a friend who just moved" section, you’ll see this pasta.

On Pot Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce. One pot, five minute prep, even the pasta gets cooked in the pan.

Of course, chocolate cake will be listed under the "I need to eat my feelings" section, the "I’m celebrating something big" portion, as well as the "how to win at the office potluck" category.

Beer will also be listed in all the sections, especially those about unwanted guests and family brunches.

 

On Pot Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce. One pot, five minute prep, even the pasta gets cooked in the pan.

One Pot Baked Rigatoni Pasta in Beer Tomato Cream Sauce

Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 3 tbs tomato paste
  • 4 wt oz cream cheese
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 12 ounces wheat beer
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 12 wt oz dried Rigatoni pasta
  • 4 wt oz parmesan shredded

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375°F.
  • In a blender add the tomatoes, tomato paste, cream cheese, sour cream, beer, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, oregano and mozzarella. Blend until well combined.
  • Add the dry pasta to a 2 quart baking dish (the pasta will get cooked in the pan).
  • Pour the tomato mixture over the noodles, top with parmesan cheese.
  • Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and noodles are al dente.

 

 

Coconut Curry Beer Chicken Soup

Coconut Curry Beer Chicken Soup. 20 minutes, one pot, so good. 

 

Coconut Curry Beer Chicken Soup

The best chicken curry I’ve ever had was in a seedy part of Van Nuys, just north of Los Angles. This was also the setting of the most awkward conversation I’ve ever had with a stranger.

The restaurant resembles a by-the-hour hotel with a history of CSI activity, flanked by a parking lot that hosts a regular rotation of drug dealers and prostitutes. It’s in a part of LA that you probably shouldn’t go to unless you have to, or really want to get a good deal on a used car or some questionable weed. I went there for the chicken panang, it was that good. Inside the place was sweet, resembling a tea house, run by a quiet family from Thailand and populated by other brave lunch time travelers, several suit and tie types that drove in from local studios.

The entire restaurant had about 11 tables, six booths and five 4 tops in the center.  I sat close to the kitchen, watching what little I could see of my glorious coconut curry and sticky rice lunch come together, feeling grateful that I’d made the drive and braved the neighborhood. A few minutes after my floral ceramic dishes filled with my much anticipated lunch was set down in front of me, the agreed upon silence of the place was broken. I look up to see who is assaulting my refuge.

"Hi, I’m Pete," he looked even more smarmy than his shiny suit and slicked back hair wanted him to be, "I’m rich and I’m wondering if you’re single."

The entire restaurant stopped their quiet conversations and turned in our direction. Even the cooks stepped out of their small spaces to witness my reaction.

"Ummm….congratulations on all the cash, Pete, but I’m not available."

He gave me a confused look, as if I’d just told him that it’s actually macro beer that’s brewed "the hard way."

"Wait…but I want to take you out." He was so confused as to why exactly my panties hadn’t flow off my body at the mere mention of all his millions.

"Yeah, that’s really nice of you to offer. But I’m going to have to decline. Thank you, It’s always flattering to be asked out." I’m trying to be nice, but my "let him down easy, don’t hurt his feelings, he’s putting himself out there," knee jerk reaction to these situation was starting to wane in favor of a "who do you think you are, asshole?" sentiment.

"I have a Bentley!" He throws his hands up in frustration.

I realize at this point that the elderly woman behind me was still holding her breath and I’m fairly certain that she hadn’t blinked in several minutes.

"That’s great. But, my answer is still no."

He rolls his eyes and heads for the door. A moustached hipster in the far booth starts to laugh in a way that sounds half ironic, half nervous, and gives me an enthusiastic double thumbs up. I laugh, also nervous and ironic in nature.

I look down at my bowl of coconut curry chicken and decide that I need to learn how to make this at home, I can handle the prostitutes and drug dealers but the arrogant Bentley drivers make me uneasy.

Coconut Curry Beer Chicken Soup 2-2

 

 

Coconut Curry Beer Chicken Soup

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lbs chicken breasts cubed
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • 1 red bell pepper sliced
  • 1 large shallot diced (about ¼ cup)
  • 1 jalapeno chopped
  • 2 cups shitake mushrooms sliced (not dried)
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • ¼ tsp fresh ginger grated with a microplane
  • 1 cup wheat beer hefeweizen, white ale
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
  • 2 tbs red curry paste
  • 2 14 oz cans full fat coconut milk
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbs fresh basil thinly sliced

Instructions
 

  • Sprinkle the chicken cube on all sides with generous amounts of salt and pepper.
  • Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the chicken, cooking until browned on all sides, remove chicken from the pot.
  • Add the bell pepper, shallots, jalapeno, and mushrooms, cooking until the vegetables have softened, about ten minutes.
  • Stir in the garlic and ginger.
  • Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan. Add the broth, curry paste, coconut milk, chicken, and brown sugar. Allow to simmer for about ten minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Ladle into bowls, top with fresh basil.

Coconut Curry Beer Chicken Soup 2-1

Drunken Winter Farro Blood Orange Salad with Stout Balsamic Glaze

Drunken Winter Farro Blood Orange Salad with Stout Balsamic Glaze

Drunken Winter Faro Blood Orange Salad with Stout Balsamic Glaze -6Winter citrus is like a promise. A reminder that spring is almost here. It’s not the standard beige  winter produce, it’s bright and bold and completely unlike anything else that grows this time of year. For the few weeks that blood oranges gift us with their presence, I can’t stop buying them. I slice open the orange rinds to expose the deep ruby flesh, squeeze until I get every last drop of the juice that tastes like a collaboration between a raspberry and a naval orange. The color always gets it. It’s gorgeous,  deep  and stunning. I always make cocktails, like this one. I always figure out how to bake a blood orange dessert, and I eat it raw, my teeth pulling the segments free from the white pith. Every drop of juice that’s left I save in ice cube trays. For later, when the winter has passed and the rest of the world has moved on to peaches and apricots.

Drunken Winter Faro Blood Orange Salad with Stout Balsamic Glaze -5

 

Drunken Winter Farro Blood Orange Salad with Stout Balsamic Glaze

Ingredients
  

For the Salad:

  • 1 cup farro
  • 12 ounces wheat beer
  • 1 cup water
  • pinch salt
  • 4 cups baby arugula
  • 2 blood oranges peeled and cut into segments
  • 2 w oz goat cheese crumbled
  • ½ cup candied pecans

For the Dressing:

  • 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • ½ cup stout beer

Instructions
 

  • Add the farro, beer, water and salt to a pot over high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a low simmer. Add the lid at a vent. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until cooked but still chewy. Drain off any remaining liquid. Allow to cool.
  • In a pot over medium heat add the balsamic, honey and stout beer, simmer until reduced to a syrup, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
  • In a large bowl add the arugula, blood orange segments, goat cheese, pecans and cooled farro, toss to combine.
  • Drizzle with glaze just prior to serving.

 

Drunken Winter Faro Blood Orange Salad with Stout Balsamic Glaze -2

How to Make The Creamiest Baked Mac N Cheese: Gouda Cheddar Beer Mac

 How to Make The Creamiest Baked  Mac N Cheese: Gouda CheddThe Creamiest Baked Mac N Cheesear Beer Mac. Perfectly cheesy and creamy every time!

How to Make The Creamiest Baked Mac N Cheese: Gouda Cheddar Beer Mac

 

For something so seemingly simple, it’s easy to get this wrong. It’s easy to end up with dried up pan of overcooked noodles in a curdled sauce.  It’s easy to spend too much time and too much money on something that you just want to toss in the trash. I’ve devised a plan, a set of rules to make sure you don’t have to endure that tragedy again. I’ve got your back.

1. Cheese choice. Expensive cheese is great, it’s my spirit animal. But it’s best eaten in it’s natural state. Save the cheese, and your money, and go with cheddar. White cheddar melts better than the yellow/orange versions giving you a creamier sauce. I also use a bit of gouda, not crazy expensive, and melts beautifully. I also dig a smoked version for a little kick.

2. Roux + cornstarch = a must. You can’t get a creamy sauce without a solid roux backbone. The  flour expands in your sauce to hold it together and gives it weight and thickness. The cornstarch holds the beer in place and keeps it creamy and prevents it from separating.

 

How to Make The Creamiest Baked Mac N Cheese: Gouda Cheddar Beer Mac

 

3. Cook dry noodles in the cheese sauce. Don’t boil them first. Just drop your dry noodles into your sauce. The starch from the noodles with thicken the sauce and the cheese will inject flavor into the noodles. But only cook them about half way, they will continue to cook in the oven.

The Creamiest Mac N Cheese- Gouda Cheddar Beer Mac-1

4. Undercook. Twice. First, undercook the noodles on the stove top. You’ll be cooking them again in the oven so you just want to give them a small head start. Second, don’t over bake in the oven or you’ll dry out the sauce.

You don’t really have anything to cook, you’re just browning the panko. Some recipes will tell you to bake for 45 minutes, all this does is turn the cheese to a solid and dry your sauce. Some people like that. Some people want to be able to cut a square of mac n cheese and place it on the plate beside the BBQ’d ribs.

If you don’t want that, if you want scoopable mac n cheese, don’t bake it too long. Just brown the panko and take it out of the oven.

5. Size matters. Look for large elbow macaroni, not those little guys. The big ones are better at trapping that creamy sauce.

How to Make The Creamiest Baked Mac N Cheese: Gouda Cheddar Beer Mac

You’re ready. You can do this. You’ll have the best mac n cheese on the block and it’s up to you if you want to share your secrets. Or just make them wonder how you do it.

Creamy Baked Gouda Cheddar Beer Mac

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 3 tbs flour
  • 2 tbs corn starch
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 12 ounces beer pale ale, pilsner, wheat beer
  • 1 tsp mustard powder
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 lbs about 6 cups white cheddar, shredded
  • 7 wt oz about 3 ½ cups gouda, shredded
  • 4 cups large elbow macaroni
  • 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 3 tbs melted butter

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter. Sprinkle with flour and cornstarch, whisk until a paste forms.
  • Add milk and beer and bring to a simmer.
  • Sprinkle with mustard powder, chili powder, salt and pepper.
  • Slowly add the cheese in, about ¼ cup at a time, whisking until well combined before adding more. Reserve about 1 cup of cheese for the topping (a mixture of both cheeses).
  • Add the dry noodles to the cheese sauce, allowing to cook until just before al dente, not cooked through, stirring occasionally. This will take about 8 minutes.
  • Pour into a 4 qt baking dish in an even layer.
  • Top with remaining cheese. Toss panko with melted butter until well coated. Sprinkle panko evenly on the top of the macaroni.
  • Bake at 400 until panko has browned, about 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sliders with Chipotle Beer Cheese Sauce

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sliders with Chipotle Beer Cheese Sauce. Perfect football food!

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sliders with Chipotle Beer Cheese Sauce

I get to do things. Fun things, cool things. This still feels new to me, these fun cool things. I spent years working with grubby, incredible, wonderful, difficult, heartbreaking kids in South Central LA.

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sliders with Chipotle Beer Cheese Sauce

Then I worked behind a desk, in the pencil skirts and stilettos that I couldn’t wear in Compton, working with elderly Holocaust survivors in Beverly Hills. I social worked my way through most of Los Angeles.

Now I get to work on TV shows, and I go to Vegas for awards dinners, and cook on the news. There are times when I feel selfish, for walking away from the good work to do the fun work.

But those feelings don’t last long. I’m so grateful for what I do now that I can’t sully that with feelings of guilt. I’m lucky. I’m excited. I cooked on the news again Wednesday, I made football food, talked about beer, and made a few jokes.

It’s the same in a way, social work and beer cooking. I’m solving problems. Beer cheese sauce separates? let me help you with that. Not sure how to tell if that beer is bitter or not? I’ve got the answer. Social work was solving problems and answering questions. I do that now too, although I’m not sure I’m saving anyone’s life.

I’ll always be a person who wants to help, wants to add to your table, wants to make your life better because we came in contact. Even if the only thing you gained from me is a slider recipe or a desire to visit Fremont Brewing. Beer social work is much easier, and I’m fine with bringing my work home with me now.

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sliders with Chipotle Beer Cheese Sauce

 

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sliders with Chipotle Beer Cheese Sauce

Ingredients
  

For the pork:

  • 1 tbs kosher salt
  • 2 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tbs onion powder
  • 1 tbs chili powder
  • 1 tbs ground cumin
  • 1 tbs black pepper
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp dry mustard powder
  • 4 lb Pork butt also called pork shoulder
  • 6 cloves of garlic peeled
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 cups 2, 12ounce bottles stout or smoked porter
  • 24 slider buns

For the cheese sauce:

  • 2 tbs unsalted butter melted
  • 2 tbs flour
  • 2 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 cup beer wheat beer, blonde ale, pale ale, pilsner
  • 2 cups shredded Cheddar do not use pre shredded
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 chipotle chilies in adobo
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • In a small bowl stir together the salt, brown sugar onion powder, chili powder, cumin, pepper, smoked paprika and mustard powder together until combined, set aside.
  • Take out your pork and stab 6, 2-inch deep holes fairly evenly spaced through the meat. Push a clove of garlic into each hole until no longer visible.
  • Rub the entire surface of the meat with the spice mixture, using it all.
  • In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil until very hot. Sear all surfaces of the meat, even the sides, until browned. The entire process will probably take about 10-15 minutes. Pour the beer over the meat, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for about 3 hours, turning the meat over about every 30 minutes, until the meat is tender and falling apart.
  • Once the meat is tender remove from heat, use two forks to shred into pieces while still in the pot (or remove, shred and return to pot). Return to the pot to heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the meat from the pot and discard the liquid.
  • Add all cheese sauce ingredients to a blender or food processor. Process on high until very well blended, about 5-8 minutes.
  • Transfer contents to a saucepan over medium high heat. Whisk rapidly and continuously until thickened, about 5 minutes.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Fill slider buns with pork, top with cheese sauce, serve warm.

 

Short Rib Black Bean Beer Chili

 

Short Rib Black Bean Beer Chili, SO GOOD. It’s eat-it-out-of-the-pot-before-anyone-else-can-have-any good.  

Short Rib Black Bean Beer Chili, SO GOOD. It's eat-it-out-of-the-pot-before-anyone-else-can-have-any good.

The only food that really comforts me is the food I make myself. The food I serve to people I love, even just one person, in my small kitchen, over an exchanging of words that are hard to speak. I don’t want to order a pizza, I want to make bread, watch it rise, smell it baking and know that I did it. I don’t want take-out in little white containers, I want a slow cooked bowl of short ribs that I can both laugh and cry over with someone who looks into my heart and likes what he sees. Sure, I love a big steamy bowl of Ramen, or perfectly creamy pile of baked Mac n Cheese, but it doesn’t comfort the same way as when I lose myself in the process of making it. I’ll look for recipes that take a while, that give me the excuse to stay in my kitchen for a few hours, recipes that aren’t hard but take some time to bring out the best of what they can do. That’s comfort food. A beer and a few pint glasses doesn’t hurt the situation either.

Short Rib Black Bean Beer Chili, SO GOOD. It's eat-it-out-of-the-pot-before-anyone-else-can-have-any good.

 

 

Short Rib Black Bean Beer Chili

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 3 lbs beef short ribs
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 white onions diced
  • 6 wt oz tomato paste
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 dried ancho chili pod stem and seeds removed, torn into pieces
  • 2 chipotle chilies in adobo
  • 12 ounces coffee stout
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 2 cans black beans drained
  • ½ cup cilantro chopped
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 325.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven.
  • Sprinkle the ribs with salt and pepper on all sides. Sear ribs in the pan until golden brown, remove from the pan, set aside.
  • Low heat to medium, add the onions, cooking until starting to caramelize, about 15 minutes.
  • Add the onions, tomato paste, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika, dried chili pod, chipotles and ¼ cup beer to a blender or food processor. Process until smooth.
  • Return the pot to heat, add the remaining beer, scraping to deglaze the pot.
  • Stir in the broth, chili paste mixture from the blender and beans. Add the ribs back in the pot.
  • Cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours or until the ribs are tender and falling off the bone.
  • Using two forks shred the ribs, remove any large pieces of fat and the bones.
  • Serve the chili topped with cilantro and cheese.

 

Short Rib Black Bean Beer Chili, SO GOOD. It's eat-it-out-of-the-pot-before-anyone-else-can-have-any good.

Baked Buttermilk Beer Popcorn Chicken with Honey Beer Dipping Sauce

Baked Buttermilk Beer Popcorn Chicken with Honey Beer Dipping Sauce. So easy and even freezer friendly!

Baked Buttermilk Beer Popcorn Chicken with Honey Beer Dipping Sauce

When I was 22 I worked at a locked down level 14 facility that housed juvenile delinquents. I was only there to work with one. A baby faced 12-year-old named Tyrell with dark chocolate skin and big brown eyes. His sweet spirit and quiet voice made it impossible for me to believe that this was the kid that had been locked up in Baby Jail for 6 months due to assault, then moved to locked down half-way house before he could go back into foster care. He was just way too gentle.

Filling out the initial forms I asked him about himself. I asked him to pick three words that described himself. He didn’t hesitate, "Male. Athletic. Japanese." He might not have thought twice but I did, he was clearly African-American.

"Umm…Japanese?"

"Oh. Yeah. I’ve been in foster care since birth and no one knows who my bio parents are. So it’s possible. I could be Japanese. It’s possible. And I feel Japanese. konichiwa!" The last word was accompanied by an exaggerated bow.

"It’s definitely possible," I smiled at how completely endearing it was.

I made a deal with him. If he agreed to work with me on anger management skills, on Fridays I’d bring him something to explore his Japanese culture. He was thrilled. We tried out Origami, we went through an English-Japanese dictionary to learn words, we played mahjong and drew Japanese cartoons. Then we came to the idea of food. I explained different dishes, each of which were met by a horrified expressions. "I only been eating group home food. I never heard of none of that." Despite his completely institutionalized palate, he wanted to try some japanese flavors. After a lengthy discussion we decided to just try some sauces, sampled with his favorite food: chicken nuggets. 

The following week I brought him 16 chicken nuggets along with Ponzu sauce, Wasabi mayonnaise, Hoisin sauce, taberu rayu, and a variety of other condiments. He wasn’t impressed. Other than the hoisin, he didn’t sample any more than once. He was disappointed that his taste buds rejected the idea that his relatives were from Japan, "Well," he sighed, "Maybe I’m only half Japanese." 

Baked Buttermilk Beer Popcorn Chicken with Honey Beer Dipping Sauce-2

Baked Buttermilk Beer Popcorn Chicken with Honey Beer Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
  

For the chicken:

  • 1 lbs chicken breast cut into cubes
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup pale ale
  • ½ cup flour
  • 1 cup panko
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 2 tbs Olive oil
  • Olive oil spray

For the sauce:

  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 2 tbs pale ale
  • 1 tbs garlic chili sauce

Instructions
 

  • Place the chicken in a large bowl.
  • Cover with buttermilk and 1 cup beer, stir gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour and up to 8.
  • Prepare a baking sheet by covering with aluminum foil and dizzling with an even layer of 2 tablespoons olive oil.
  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • In a small bowl stir together the flour, panko, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
  • One at a time remove the chicken cubes from the buttermilk, toss in the panko mixture until well coated. Gently dip back in the butter milk mixture and then toss again in the panko mixture.
  • Place on a prepared baking sheet.
  • Spray gently with olive oil spray.
  • Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over, bake until cooked through about an additional 10 minutes.
  • In a small bowl stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons beer, ¼ cup honey and garlic chili sauce.
  • Serve the chicken bites with sauce on the side.

Notes

These freeze well. Just cook them completely, allow them to cool and then transfer to a gallon sized freezer zip lock bag. Freeze for up to three weeks.
Once ready to eat, cook for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven or until warmed through.

I use the Chili Garlic Sauce from Huy Fong foods, it can be found in most supermarkets in the Asian foods section (affiliate link).

I also use this Olive Oil Sprayer, it’s perfect if you want to avoid using cooking spray. (affiliate links)

Baked Buttermilk Beer Popcorn Chicken with Honey Beer Dipping Sauce

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs

 

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs. Crazy good one pot chicken. 

 

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs -3

Let’s talk about an interesting question. A specifically head-tilt inducing question I’ve been asked a few dozen times over the past few months, "How do I get people to try craft beer?"

My furrowed-brow-blank-stared response is usually as simple as, "Why wouldn’t they?" The logic for trying something new is simple: To see if you like it. The request to sample anything isn’t a contractual obligation to fall in love, we don’t want you to propose to beer, to have babies with beer, we are asking for a first date. A quick meet over coffee at a strip mall Starbucks to see if there are sparks. A few sips of a flight of diverse beers to see if something strikes your fancy. Hate hoppy beers? Lots of people do, try a Belgian or a white ale. Can’t get past that stale Miller Light from college? Neither can we, it’s not what we serve here. Saying you don’t like beer based on a few run-ins with off balanced brews a few years ago is like saying you hate California and won’t visit Napa Valley because you didn’t like the traffic in Anaheim when you went to Disneyland when you were 7.

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs -4

Beer is broader that most people realize with a flavor database that is arguably larger than any other alcoholic beverage on the market. A few tactics to try? Sure, let’s talk strategy. Peer pressure? We all know from 8th grade health class and high school parties that it works like magic, use it to your advantage. Shame and guilt! I grew up with Catholic grandparents and can attest to the effectiveness of this approach. Tease them and call them afraid? If Marty McFly taught us anything it’s that being called a chicken will get people to take on any dare regardless of personal consequences.

We do need to delve a little deeper in this discussion. Why do you want this specific human to fall in love with your adult beverage of choice? Because you want a brewery buddy for on location beer mecca visitation? Do you want someone to talk to about beer? Or are you just being bossy and controlling? Once you isolate your reasons for wanting to push beer on others, you’re at a better jumping off point for negotiations (unless you’re being bossy, then you just have to let it go). Regardless of the outcome, we still have to respect the fact that some people just don’t like any beer. Which isn’t always a bad thing. More for us, right?

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs -1-2

 

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs

Ingredients
  

For the Harissa Paste:

  • 8 dried guajillo chiles stem and seeds removed, broken into pieces
  • 2 dried ancho chilies stem and seeds removed, broken into pieces
  • 1 cup room temperature stout or porter
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 cloves garlic grated with a microplane
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon caraway seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin

For the Chicken:

  • 6 chicken thighs bone in, skin on
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • ½ white onion chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 1 can 14.5 wt oz diced tomatoes
  • ½ cup stout beer
  • 2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley

Instructions
 

Make the Harissa:

  • In a small bowl add the guajillo chilies and ancho chilies. Pour the beer and the water over the chilies. Use a heavy object such as a coffee mug to make sure the chilies are submerged. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. Drain the chilies reserving 2 tablespoon soaking liquid.
  • Add the chilies, 2 tablespoons soaking liquid, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, coriander, caraway and cumin to a food processor. Process until the mixture is a paste. Harissa can be made up to a week ahead of time and the flavors develop over time. Make at least one day ahead if possible, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to use.

Make the chicken:

  • Salt and pepper the chicken on all sides.
  • Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet until very hot, add the chicken, skin side down. Cook until skin has browned, turn over and brown on the other side. Remove from pan (chicken will not be cooked through).
  • Add the onions, cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan. Stir in 1/3 cup harissa and tomatoes. Add the chicken back in the pan, skin side up.
  • Roast at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
  • Remove from oven, preheat the broiler.
  • Place pan under the broiler until skin has crisped, about 2 minutes.
  • Remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley prior to serving.

Stout Harissa Chicken Thighs -1

Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco

Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco. So easy and SO good. The Romesco is insanely amazing. 

Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco

Cod needs to be made with butter. It needs the beautiful richness to pull itself up through the firm flesh of this gorgeous fish and have it’s way with the flavors. Cod needs to be seduced by the warm golden pool that’s melted beneath it. Cod’s underrated, overlooked as people reach past these thick white filets to grab a brilliantly pink salmon. The texture is just as good and the flavor is better, it’s more accessible, it makes you want another helping, even when you’ve finished the entire pan. A flavor mellow enough to tease you into begging for more, but strong enough to stand up to a bold romesco. Romesco is the touch that runs the perfect line between rough and gentle. It’s bold, warms, spicy, delicious and demands to be remembered in an effortless-cool sort of way. These two make the perfect partners, add in a beer and some good company and you never know where the night will take you.

Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco

Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco

Ingredients
  

Romesco Sauce:

  • 2/3 cup 2.8 wt oz sliced almonds
  • 1 large bell pepper roasted (from a jar is fine)
  • 1 cloves garlic smashed
  • 6 wt oz tomato puree
  • 2 tbs chopped Italian parsley
  • 3 tbs pale ale
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ¼ cup olive oil

For the Cod:

  • 4 cod filets
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 tbs unsalted butter
  • 5 cloves garlic smashed
  • 2 tbs pale ale

Instructions
 

  • Put the almonds in a pan over medium high heat. Pull the pan back and forth across the burner to toss the almonds until the almonds have lightly toasted, about 3 minutes (keep a close eye, they burn quickly).
  • Add the almonds, red pepper, garlic, tomato puree, parsley, beer, red pepper flakes, smoked paprika salt and pepper to a food processor. Process for about one minute, then slowly add the olive oil until well combined.
  • Dry the cod well then salt and pepper on each side.
  • Heat the butter over medium heat until melted, add the garlic and beer, stirring until slightly reduced and thickened (about 5 minutes) making sure to the heat isn’t too high or the garlic will burn.
  • Add the cod, cooking on each side until cod is cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.
  • Plate the fish with some of the beer butter drizzled around the fish.
  • Top each filet with 2 to 3 tablespoons of Romesco sauce.

 

Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

 

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

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 3-1

 

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

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.

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette 4-1

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili

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

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili -3

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.

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili -4

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 -2


 

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili

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.

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

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken -1

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

 

 

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken

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.

 

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad 

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

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

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.

 

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly P

Pork belly is a bit of a trade secret. It’s rich, delicious, and if you can get your hands on it, fairly cheap. It’s like shallots and Maldon salt, these little touches that turn a home-cooked meal into something that rivals a commercial kitchen. Pork belly is a favorite among chefs, and it’s easy to see why.

This gorgeous, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth cut of the pig is actually bacon, before it’s baconed. It’s hard to come by, but not impossible. Don’t plan to just pick this up at Safeway, you’ll have to call around to local butcher shops.

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly_The great news is, once you find it, it’ll probably be less than $4 a pound. One thing to keep in mind is how differently the meat and the fat need to be cooked. The meat itself needs the slow and low treatment or it’ll dry out, a good brine will help with this as well.

The fat, on the other hand, needs an intensely high heat. Finishing these little bites of meat candy on a hot grill is also a great idea. Adding some sugar to the skin will help with a beautifully caramelized crackle.

It’s also perfect with beer. Fancy, slow-cooked bacon was just made for a beautiful, balanced IPA, one with extra hops but a strong malt backbone. Beer and pig, it’s hard to go wrong.

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly 2

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup very hot water
  • 3 tbs kosher salt
  • 1 tbs white sugar
  • 1 tbs whole cloves
  • 1 tbs whole allspice berries
  • 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
  • 24 ounces stout
  • 4.5 lbs pork belly
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbs rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 tsp red chili sauce such as Sriracha

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl or baking dish stir together the hot water, salt and sugar until the salt and sugar has dissolved.
  • Add the cloves, allspice and peppercorns. Stir in the beer, test to make sure the brine is cold (if not, chill until cooled).
  • Add the pork belly, cover and chill for 12 to 24 hours.
  • Remove from the brine (reserve brine), rinse the pork belly well.
  • Place a wire rack over a baking sheet (alternately, a baking pan will work), pour about 1 cup of the brine in the baking sheet making sure the wire rack is not submerged.
  • Place the pork belly on the rack, bake at 275 until pork is fork tender, about 4 hours.
  • Remove the pork from the oven, raise the oven temperature to 500.
  • Stir together the brown sugar, vinegar, chili flakes, and chili sauce.
  • Brush the pork belly with the sugar mixture.
  • Roast for ten minutes, re-brush with sugar mixture, roast again until pork is golden brown and the top is crispy.

 

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw + $350 Giveaway

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw 2

I’ll cook anywhere if you ask me to. A dorm kitchen, a camp stove, a closet with a griddle. Just make sure that I have a few things on hand. One of the items that I’ll always request, if you ask me to cook outside my comfort zone, is an enamel cast iron pot. These things are beast. If you treat them right, they’ll do the same right back. You’ll have this beautiful shiny pot for so long, your grandkids will fight over it once you’re gone. When I wrote my first cookbook, The Craft Beer Cookbook. I wrote it with recipes that I want you make for the rest of your life, because these are recipes that I want to make for the rest of my life. I used a cast iron pan, a Dutch (or French) oven, lots of beer (clearly) and ingredients that I love.

It’s the end of a long and difficult year for me, and as a way to celebrate the year, as well as my birthday, I’m giving you a gift. I’m giving you THREE of my favorite things. First, my book, The Craft Beer Cookbook. One of my proudest accomplishements. I’ll be shipping it to you myself and I’ll scribble whatever you want in it. You want me to profess my undying love for you? I’ll do it. Of course, because you’re the best.

Second, the amazing people at Le Creuset have agreed to send you one of my favorite cooking implements ever: the 5 1/2 qt French Oven. In red, which is my personal favorite color. This is a staple in my kitchen, a must for anyone who loves to cook.

Third, beer. Of your choice. BevMo is giving you a $50 gift card to grab the beer of your choice for general drinking purposes or perhaps to try your hand at cooking with beer. Or possibly both. If you’d like some recommendations for which beers to spend this windfall on, I’d be happy to provide those to you as an addendum to the prize. But really, there is no way to lose when you have yourself some money to spend at BevMo.

To enter, use the Raffle copter fields below (it may take a second to load), Like us all on Facebook, follow us on twitter, tell your friends about this and let me know what you make in your new pot, with your new beer and your scribbled on cookbook. And feel free to invite me over, even if you’re just cooking on a camp stove. I’m down for that.

The $350 Beeroness giveaway: with @LeCreuset and @BevMo

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(this post includes affiliate links)

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw

Ingredients
  

For the Pork:

  • 3 lb pork shoulder
  • 6 cloves garlic peeled
  • 2 tbs kosher or sea salt
  • 2 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 24 ounces stout beer
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 12 French roll sandwich buns

For the IPA Jalapeno Slaw:

  • 1 large jalapeno stem and seeds removed, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
  • 2 cups purple cabbage thinly sliced
  • 2 cups green cabbage thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup cilantro chopped
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup IPA
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • ¼ tsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven 300.
  • Using a paring knife, create 6, 2-inch deep holes fairly evenly spaced through the meat. Push a peeled clove of garlic into each hole until no longer visible.
  • Sprinkle the pork evenly with salt.
  • In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, pepper, paprika, chili powder, and onion powder. Rub the spiced all over the surface of the pork.
  • In a large oven safe pot or Dutch oven (with an oven safe lid) heat the oil until hot but not smoking. Sear the meat on all sides, about 3 minutes per side.
  • Add the beer and broth, bring to a simmer.
  • Cover and place in the oven. Turn the meat over every 30-45 minutes. If the pot begins to dry out, add extra broth or hot water. Allow to cook until meat is falling apart, about 3 to 4 hours.
  • Remove from oven, shred using two forks while still in the pot. Allow to sit in the pan juices for ten minutes while you prepare the jalapeno slaw. Remove meat from pan juices, draining off most of the liquid prior to serving.
  • To make the slaw, combine all the jalapeno slaw ingredients in a bowl, toss to coat. Fill each sandwich bun with pork topped with slaw.

Recipe from The Craft Beer Cookbook

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw_

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks, just 20 minutes to a delicious and perfect dinner. 

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

I’m always drawn to things I know nothing about, comfort zones make me a bit restless. While this can get me into a bit of trouble in my personal life, it has substantial benefits in my saucepans. Take me to a market in an unfamiliar city and I’ll immediately search for an ingredient I’ve never worked with. It was tea mixtures in Morocco, and spices in Costa Rica, and apparently in Seattle, it’s fish cheeks.

The texture is firm, a bit more like scallops than a regular fillet, the flavor a bit sweeter. It’s a cut of fish for people who don’t much care for fish. The crust is simple and the entire dish comes together in about 20 minutes. It’s Sunday Supper good on a weeknight time schedule.

Plus you get to open beer, that’s always a win.

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Ingredients
  

  • 3 tbs unsalted butter
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • ½ cup wheat beer
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 4 large sea bass cheeks or sea bass fillets
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup Italian bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbs melted butter

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • In an skillet over medium high heat melt the butter. Add the garlic, stir for 30 seconds. Add the beer and lemon juice, remove from heat. Add the fish, sprinkle with salt.
  • Add the pan to the oven (make sure the pan is oven safe and the handle is not plastic or rubber), bake for 12 minutes.
  • While the fish is baking make the crust.
  • Add the bread crumbs, lemon zest, pepper and melted butter to a small dish, stir until well combined.
  • Remove the fish from the oven, turn the broiled on.
  • Pack the bread crumb mixture onto each of the fish until well crusted.
  • Place under the broiler until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Plate the fish, spooning the pan sauce onto the plate around the fish.

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks