irish Archives - The Beeroness

When you write a cookbook, you fall in love with some of the recipe. You don’t love them all the same, you don’t even remember them all the same. Recipes aren’t like children, you’re completely allowed to have favorites.

When I wrote The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link), there were a few recipes I immediately feel love with, like Hefeweizen Brioche Pull Apart Bread (page 82), and the Porter Osso Buco (page129), and Amber Ale Carrot Cake with Mascarpone & Beer Spiked Cream Cheese Frosting (page 179) and a few I added because I was already in love with them, like the Beer Pecan Cinnamon Rolls (SO GOOD! page 26) and this soup.

This was a soup that I’d been making for years, with and without beer. Gleefully sprinkling the bowls with two of my culinary guilty pelasures: goat cheese and pomegranate seeds. Adding in the hop bitterness of an Irish red ale gave a great balance to the creamy decadence.

Now that we are around the corner from Saint Patricks day, I’m sharing this recipe with you. It’s a new way to celebrate the Irish, and a vegetarian friendly one at that (if that’s your thing). After all, corned beef isn’t even a tradition in Ireland. But beer always is.

Irish Red Ale Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

Ingredients

1 (3.5 to 4 lb) butternut squash
1 head garlic
6 tbs olive oil, divided
2 shallots, sliced
2 ½ cups vegetable broth
1 cup red ale
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
¼ tsp turmeric
pinch cayenne
½ cup cream
3 ounces goat cheese
½ cup pomegranate seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.
Cut the squash down the middle lengthwise, scoop out and discard the seeds. Place cut side up on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tbs olive oil.
Rub most of the white papery skin off the garlic head. Cut the tip off the head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Place garlic on a small square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil, fold aluminum foil up over the garlic to form a tight packet. Place garlic on baking sheet with the squash.
Place baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the garlic and allow to cool. Continue to roast the squash until fork tender, about an addition 20-30 minutes (total of about 1 hour). Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to handle. Gently scoop out the flesh (should be between 4 and 4 1/2 cups).
In a pot over medium heat, add the remaining 3 tbs olive oil and the shallots. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots have caramelized, about 15 to 20 minutes (do not cook at too high heat or the shallots will burn). Add the broth and the beer and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the roasted squash, add the soft garlic cloves (discard the rest of the head) and stir until well combined.
Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth (you can also work in batches to puree in a food processor or blender). Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, cayenne and cream, allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Ladle into serving bowls, garnish with goat cheese and pomegranate.

http://thebeeroness.com/2014/03/12/irish-red-ale-butternut-squash-bisque-goat-cheese-pomegranate/

You can buy The Craft Beer Cookbook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Urban Outfitters.

A bunch of years ago I was in Dublin, Ireland for the St. Patricks day celebrations. I had flown over from LA, with only two nights booked at the Brewery Hostel at the base of the Guinness brewery. The night of the festival I was without a room, all at once ecstatic to be in Dublin for the Merriment and panicked to be without a place to stay.

I had three options.

1. Through a friend of a friend twice removed, I was connected with an Irish man willing to take me in for the night.

2. I had met some lovely Australians who were working on renovating a flat in town, but it was completely empty of any furniture and the electricity and water were both shut off, but it was walls and a roof.

3. Wander the streets for the evening, falling in and out of pubs, until I pass out on the street with some of the more rowdy locals.

I hesitantly opted for option one. If you have ever been a young girl with a backpack and a guidebook in a foreign city, I don’t need to underscore the concerns I had with this set up. Lucky for me, this man was Irish to the core: friendly, hospitable and a perfect gentleman.

I spent most of the evening running around Dublin, from pub to pub, drinking the local beer (Guinness), probably offending the bartenders by tipping them (not a custom in Ireland, “Would you tip your doctor?!”) and watching the locals swell with patriotic pride as fireworks burst over the River Liffey in the heart of Dublin.

All of this, the people who welcomed me in, the beer that warmed my soul, and the celebration that swirled around me, will always give me a deep love for Ireland and Her people.

Kiss the Irish, they deserve it.

Mushroom, Stout and Goat Cheese Pot Pie

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil (plus additional as needed)
4 large carrots, chopped
2 large leek, chopped (white and very light green potion only)
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ lb assorted mushrooms (i.e. portobello, crimini, shiitake)
1 cup peas
1 cup broth (vegetable or beef)
12 ounces stout
¼ cup AP flour
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
3 ounces goat cheese
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
2 tbs melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the carrots, leeks and celery, sauté until the carrots start to soften.
Add the mushrooms and cook until softened and darkened, about 5 minutes (add additional olive oil if the pan starts to dry).
Add the peas, broth and stout. Bring to a simmer. Sprinkle with flour, stir to combine. Stir in the oregano, pepper and salt. Cook until thickened, about 2 minutes, remove from heat.
Divide evenly between 6 oven safe (12 to 14 ounce) serving bowls, sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese.
Roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured surface, cut into 6 equal squares.
Top each bowl with one square, press into shape.
Brush with melted butter, slice 3 to 4 small slits in the top of each bowl.
Bake at 375 until puff pastry is golden brown.

http://thebeeroness.com/2013/03/01/mushroom-stout-and-goat-cheese-pot-pie/