Interesting Beer Concoction

There are very few opportunities in the current beer scene to be smacked in the face by something GOOD and NEW. Some breweries seem to go into an alley behind a row of restaurants and grab scraps from the garbage to use in their "unique new brew." As Dennis Leary so brilliantly indicated, "Wake the $&*# up and smell the maple nut crunch," Watermelon and pizza do not belong in beer. (Watermelon Wheat is by 21st Amendment- usually a damn good brewery, and the pizza beer is by some slack-jaw named Tom Seefurth).

I was fed up with beers claiming to have exotic ingredients flavoring their brew, and further claiming that they tasted good. SO, I was naturally hesitant when I heard that Sam Calagione (fellow Muhlenberg grad) at Dogfish Head was joining with two other spectacular breweries - Victory here in Downingtown and Stone in Escondido, CA- to create a unique herb-flavored ale, but I trusted them. Damn were they right on the money.

So, the beer is a saison, which is a pale ale recipe from France. Traditionally, saison was brewed seasonally in the fall and spring, hence the name saison- french for season. The flavor of a saison is very very mild, and thus is a fantastic vehicle for loading on big flavors, and these man did exactly that. The saison is brewed with parsley, thyme, sage and rosemary.

The beer, upon first sip, has the very familiar taste of a pilsner or lighter pale ale. But then the herbs come through- you get hit with sage and thyme first, but they do change interestingly into parsley, and finally into rosemary. The herby flavor is not overpowering, but definitely present. There are also notes of orange and an ever-so-slight sweetness. We tried it on its own, and they later with a few different foods, including asian flavored pork belly and filet mignon. It was good on its own, but great with food. At $3.99/bottle, I suggest that you by it by the bottle or 4-pack if you want to try it. I will, however, be going back for more. Enjoy.

Veal Breast: Small Cut, Small Price, Delicious Results

There are some cuts of meat that we just don't think of using. Some of these cuts are gristly and tough to make tender no matter how long you may cook them. There are others, however, that are tasty, tender, and most importantly, cheap. Veal breast is on of these cuts. The piece you see here cost me a whopping $2.65 for a 3.5 lb cut, so I bought two. Veal breast is exactly what it sounds like, the breast plate of the calf. Basically, it is the portion of the side of the rib that connects with the other side by the sternum. Most cuts of the breast will include rib bone and rib cartilage. There is a muscle plate on the top of the cut, and another between a nice pad of fat. Then there is sweet, tender meat between each rib bone. The high fat content of the cut allows for a long braise , although the long cook is not necessary. A cut similar to the one above does not render a large yield of meat, but what does come off the bone is so incredibly delicious, that you will buy three or four the next time you choose veal breast so you have left overs.

Now, how does one prepare a tasty veal breast? There are several flavor profile options, but really only one way to cook this cut: you have to braise it. I went through a few braises before I found MY favorite flavor profile for the meat, but every person is different. I used a french approach, with the classic flavors. I first heated a little herb infused olive oil and butter in a enamel coated cast iron pot and browned the breasts on all sides. While browning, dice two large carrots, one large sweet onion, and three celery stalks for your mirepoix. Remove the breasts and put on a pan for later. Turn down the heat and throw in the mirepoix to soften. While that is working dice up two or three cloves of garlic and throw into the mix after about 5-8 minutes. If you want to add flavor, let some of the veggies brown a little bit. Then deglaze with some good white wine and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Although the browning of he meat should use high heat, the veg ought to cook at medium heat, unless the aforementioned browning is wanted. Add 4-5 cups of chicken stock (I add a little ham stock too), 4 bay leaves, and fresh thyme and rosemary if you have it. Place the pot in the oven for 3.5-4 hours at 275-300 degrees.

When the veal is done, it will pull apart quite nicely. There is a lot of fat, but the meaty goodness is going to be unequalled. I serve it as sort of a pulled sandwich, or if you like, make some cheddar grits and serve it over the grits. It also makes a kick-ass stew if you serve it with the juices and veg. If using as a stew, throw in some potato and extra carrots about 30 minutes before removing from the oven. ALWAYS remember to remove the bay leaves before serving. ENJOY!!!

Great new website!

Are you like me? Did you choose to hoard your wine corks when you started getting in to wine? Do you now have an obnoxious barrel of old corks from every freaking bottle of wine that you ever freaking consumed? If so, check out this website.

This is a great idea for all of us who feel that they need to retain useless cork from our favorite bottle of wine. This is a sort of hippie way to use the cork, but when you go to their website, you may agree that saving or throwing away cork is not the best idea. This is especially true when you see good wine makers going to artificial or glass stoppers for their wine. I bought a semi-expensive bottle a few months ago and wanted to save it for a special occasion. When I finally decided to pop it open, there was a plastic cork in the bottle that had flaked apart and ruined the bottle.

With that semi-pathetically told story, click on the above link and send you old dusty corks to this company. You may even get a comfortable pair of sandals out of it.

WOW, its been a long time.

I apologize to all of my readers for such a long absence of new posts. I have been incredibly busy at school with all of the graduation preparation. I do have other preparations in mind, including some delicious new recipes that I have been perfecting. Look forward to Green Chili with White Beans and Pulled Duck, my now infamous Pulled Pork Sandwiches with hand cut Green Apple Coleslaw, and other dishes soon to come. So, keep looking for new and improved posts.

Raspberry Jam Filled Almond Bars

It has been said that a picture speaks a thousand words, but this picture conjures only two- "oohhhh god!" I would love to take credit for these delicious raspberry filled almond bars, but alas, I cannot. My wife began baking a few months ago. In her words, "I felt that I had to contribute in the kitchen and you won't let me cook." This is true to some extent, I am a little territorial, and my kitchen is my home. I remain, however, extremely open to her newly found love for confections. Instead of my writing the recipe of a dish that I have never cooked, I will hand over the reigns to my lovely wife, Christa.

Sweet! I am excited to share this recipe with your blog readers - although there was a time when I considered keeping it "Top Secret". I figured at very least it would help me secure more dinner and party invitations from our friends and family simply by keeping their hope alive that I might bring these bars along. But, alas, I have come to terms with the fact that they are so good that it is unfair to keep them to myself and so, I will share the recipe with the world.

Decadent Raspberry Almond Bars

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened


Filling:
3/4 cup almond paste, diced (4 oz)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
Pinch salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (about ½ regular sized jar) raspberry jam
1/2 cup sliced almonds (just eyeball the amount of almonds. I'm pretty sure I used more than 1/2 cup)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Grease a 9-inch square metal cake pan (a buttered non-stick pan worked great) or line with parchment paper to extend 1 inch above rim on 2 sides; set aside. You can use a bigger pan and just double the recipe as well. This recipe isn't too finicky.

Step 1 - Crust: In bowl, whisk flour with icing sugar; using a fork, blend in butter until it creates fine crumbs. Press mixture by hand into bottom of prepared pan to evenly cover the bottom surface. Bake in the center of 350°F oven until pale golden, 16 minutes. Let cool on rack. (a larger batch/pan may need just a little longer – maybe 17 minutes)

Step 2 - Filling: In bowl, beat almond paste, sugar, butter and salt until combined. Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract until smooth. Mix in flour; set aside.

Spread raspberry jam over base; spoon filling over jam. Drop large spoonfuls evenly spaced across the top and use a rubber spatula to just prod the filling into the empty spots so that the surface of the jam is completely covered with almond filling. Work slowly to avoid mixing the jam up into the almond filling). Cover evenly with sliced almonds.

Step 3 - Bake in center of 350°F oven until light golden and filling is just firm to the touch, about 30 minutes (Larger Pan may need a little bit longer – no more than a couple extra minutes though).

Step 4 - Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack rack. Make sure you let the bars cool as completely as possible before cutting. Once cool, run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the filling from the sides. You can then cut them right in the pan, or, turn the entire pan out onto a large cutting board and cut them upside down. You may want to put them in the fridge to let them firm up before slicing Use a sharp knife to cut and you may want to run knife under hot water or wipe with a damp cloth in between cuts to make the process a little bit easier.

Good luck, and let us know how your bars turn out!

Food Blog Royalty

Here is a list of the top rated food blogs out there. There are some very good blogs in this list that ought to be checked out. The most interesting thing about the top blogs is that they are specifically geared towards one thing. Give some of these a look-see, I am sure that you will find something that you like.

Sea Scallops with Saffron Rice and Truffle Oil (and a scallop lesson)

In a few days, my wife is going to be running a half marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at Disney (you can make donations here). So, a few days before she left, I thought I would cook her a nice dinner. I drove out to the local seafood market, which I previously wrote about, here, called Hills. Winter is never a great time of year to get impressive seafood, but there were a few things I had in mind that ought to have been of high quality, regardless of the season. First, scallops are always sort of "in season." There are two very distinct types of scallops, and NO, I do not mean the difference between sea and bay. Sea scallops are going to come either dry packed or wet packed. The difference is that lovely caramelization that you can clearly see on the above photo.

Wet packed scallops are packed in a combination of phosphates (used for preservation), which causes the scallop to absorb water. You pay for the added water. The added water is also forced out during cooking, which prevents the delicious crust that formed on my scallops. Wet packed scallops look snowy white after cooking, and are shrunken, dry and taste more fishy.

Dry packed scallops are completely natural, with no added anything. They are shucked on board and flash frozen. They are usually thawed properly by a good seafood market. Most importantly, however, they cost less (because of no added water), look fantastic when caramelized, have a buttery but tight-grained texture and taste amazing. The price per pound will be more (these were $18 per lb) but I bought seven scallops for $10, well worth it.

I served these with a saffron rice and finished them with a few drops of black truffle oil. The rice was a short grain rice. I added a 1 to 1 stock mixture of veg stock and chicken stock to cook the rice. To that, I added more onion powder, garlic powder, a pinch of tomato paste (and I mean about an eighth of a teaspoon), salt, white pepper, and saffron. Bring 1 1/2 cup of stock to a rolling boil, add the extras, and the rice, cover and turn down to a simmer. 18-20 minutes later, you should have a risotto textured rice with a nice "juice." Uncover and take off the heat.

For the scallops, add two pads of butter to a non-stick sauté pan with a little oil to prevent the butter from browning. After the pan is good and hot, season with salt and white pepper and put the flattest side of the scallop UP. You will serve the flatter side down, so brown the slanted part. Cook for about four to five minutes on the seared side, or until nicely browned. Turn ad repeat for three minutes. You can then finish them in the oven for about five more minutes. Serve about scoop of the rice, place your scallops down, and finish with a little truffle oil or truffle salt. YUM!