appetizer

Porter Date Jam Crostini with Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese

 

Porter Date Jam Crostini with Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese 2

If there was any doubt about how much I like self-torture, you can defer to this: I’m writing another cookbook.

My first cookbook, The Craft Beer Cookbook took four months and most of my sanity to write. And here I am, doing it again. Maybe it’s the post publisher amnesia, maybe it’s that I had such a great time on the book tour, or maybe it’s that I like self inflicted torment.

Either way I’m nearing the half way point of writing my second cookbook. The topic this time is appetizers and party food. Craft beer lends itself to party food. The community of people that beer draws, and the flavors of the great beer that those craft beer people create just have to be shared. A book about food that’s at the center of a gathering of good beer and great people is therapeutic for me right now. It’s a reminder of the good parts of these lives we live, that the Quality of Life that we all strive for has more to do with who we share it with any other peripheral accessories that the world can offer.

A book about food that’s meant to be shared with people we love, I can’t think of anything I’d rather spend my time creating.

Porter Date Jam Crostini with Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese 3

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Porter Date Jam Crostini with Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • ½ cup white onions
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup smoked porter
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbs molasses (not black strap)
  • 15 madjool dates (about 8 wt oz), pitted and chopped
  • 1 long french baguette
  • 4 wt oz goat cheese, crumbled
  • 4 wt oz prosciutto, sliced
  • 1/3 cup baby arugula leaves

Directions

  1. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Cook the onions until soft. Stir in the garlic, then the porter, vinegar, molasses and dates.
  2. Simmer until the dates have softened and broken down and the beer has reduced, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about ten minutes.
  3. Add to a food processor and process until mostly smooth.
  4. Preheat broiler. Cut the baguette into 24, 1-inch slices. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet. Place under the broiler until golden brown. Flip the slices over and place back under the broiler until golden brown on the other side.
  5. Spread each slice with porter date jam, top with crumbled goat cheese, prosciutto and arugula.
http://thebeeroness.com/2014/06/09/porter-date-jam-crostini-prosciutto-arugula-goat-cheese/

Porter Date Jam Crostini with Prosciutto, Arugula and Goat Cheese_

IPA Ceviche Lettuce Wraps

Beer Ceviche Wraps 2

We tend to feminize or masculinize food. Beer is man food, as is bacon, grilled red meat and bourbon. While tea, lavender, scones and blueberries tend to been feminine. Chocolate seems to be neutral go-between, grabbing it’s gender label once the final product is presented. Chocolate Stout Cake with Maple Bacon Frosting: Man Cake. Chocolate Strawberry Mousse: Girly.

Although I don’t ascribe gender to my food, I can clearly see the lines drawn in the sanding sugar. These daintly looking no-cook treats will fool you like the little vixens they are. One look at these mango and shellfish filled lettuce cups and you firmly place these in the Chick Food category. But with a sharp bite of beer and a punch of spicy heat, they would beg to differ.

Along the lines of my  I think now is a really good time to tell everyone minor motorcycle crash story, It’s past time to tell you that alcohol intensifies heat. While there is no way to tell the precise Scoville Units in any given jalapeno pepper, I can tell you that number will be dramatically increase after those suckers have spent an hour soaking in a high ABV IPA. So if you don’t want to turn on the oven, and don’t mind a little capsasin abuse to the mouth, this is a great meal.

If you’re man enough.

Beer Ceviche Wraps 4

 

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IPA Ceviche Lettuce Wraps

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 lb raw shrimp, diced
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • ½ cup lime juice
  • 1 manila mango, peeled and diced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • ½ red onion, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, diced, seeds removed
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • 1 tsp sriracha
  • 2/3 cup IPA beer
  • 4 heads endive
  • 1 head radicchio

Directions

  1. Place the shrimp in a small bowl. Cover with ½ cup lime juice and ½ cup lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate until the shrimp have turned pink, about 2 hours.
  2. In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients (except the radicchio and the endive), allow to marinate for at least one hour.
  3. Just prior to serving, drain the shrimp, add to the mango bowl and toss to combine.
  4. Scoop a few tablespoons of the ceviche into the leaves of the endive and the radicchio, serve chilled

Notes

For a lower heat level, reduce Sriracha to 1/4 or 1/2 tsp.

http://thebeeroness.com/2013/07/18/ipa-ceviche-lettuce-wraps/