A Beer Dinner

I enjoy a good beer and my fiancé enjoys one even more than I do.  His love of beer inspired me to make a dinner in which all of the recipes include beer.  

Drink...

What could a beer dinner be without a beer to drink?

For this dinner, we had a bottle of Bellegems Bruin, a beer brewed in Belgium by Bockor.  This style of beer can be difficult to categorize, but it probably falls under one of two styles: Oud Bruin, which means "old brown" in Flemish, or Flanders Red.  Both styles of beer are made by aging it in oak barrels, typically for between one and three years.  Then this "old beer" is blended with "younger" beer (usually aged for less than a year).  Oud bruin and Flemish Red beers are usually described as having fruity flavors like cherry, plum, and raisin, and are a bit acidic and tart.  They taste more like red wine than your standard lager. 


The beer we chose was quite tasty.  Bellegems Bruin is described by one beer expert as "lightly creamy, with a good firm tartness and touches of passion fruit and chocolate."*  I agree. 


Unless you are a beer connoisseur, you've probably never had a beer in this style.  It is worth trying and many folks who "don't like beer" might like these brews.  


The directions for this one are simple: open, pour, and enjoy! :)


*Source: Michael Jackson, Great Beers of Belgium (6th ed. 2008).

Dinner...

Carbonnade Flamande and Beer Bread

This is a good winter meal and is sure to warm you up on a chilly day!
Carbonnade Flamande
*recipe from Cooks Illustrated Magazine
This is a traditional Belgian beef, beer, and onion stew.  I chose to serve mine with egg noodles.  I highly recommend it served this way, though the traditional accompaniment is pommes frites.  Another option is to serve it with mashed potatoes.
Ingredients:
(serves 6)

• 3 1/2 lbs of steak (the recipe said top blade steaks, but either Trader Joe's didn't have them or I don't know another name for them.  I ended up just buying the pre-cut beef stew meat.  I was a little nervous about it, but I trimmed it up a bit and it was great in the stew - very tender!)
• salt and pepper
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 3 medium onions, sliced about a 1/4 thick
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbs flour
• 3/4 cup of chicken broth
• 3/4 cup of beef broth
• 1 beer (we used a bottle of Bellegems Bruin)*
• 4 sprigs of thyme (I just sprinkled in a little ground thyme)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbs cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Dry the beef with a paper towel and season liberally with salt and pepper.
3. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a large Dutch Oven.  Add one third of the beef to the pot.  Cook without moving pieces until browned 2-3 minutes.
4. Turn each piece and continue cooking until well browned, about 5 more minutes.
5. Remove the cooked meat from the pan.
6. Repeat this step two more times for the remainder of the meat.
7. Add remaining 1 tbs of oil to the pan.  Add onions, 1/2 tsp of salt, and tomato paste.  Cook while scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until onions are lightly browned 12 to 14 minutes.
8. Stir in garlic.
9. Add flour and stir until onions are evenly coated.  Cook about 2 minutes.
10. Stir in the beef and chicken broth, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
11. Stir in the browned beef, beer, vinegar, thyme, and bay leaves.  Salt and pepper to taste.
12. Bring to a simmer.
13. Cover and place in the oven until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.
14. Discard the thyme and bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

*A note about the choice of beer for your carbonnade flamande. According to beer and food expert Michael Jackson, a proper carbonnade flamande uses a brown beer from East Flanders. The beer we used is from West Flanders, but it was still good and the brown/red beers from the two regions are not that different.  But many cooks recommend a wildly diverse range of beers for carbonnade flamande that are both stylistically wrong and completely differing in taste.  For instance, legendary chef Escoffier recommended using either a lambic or a stout for the stew, which is a bit like saying one can freely substitute champagne for pinot noir.  Not all beer tastes the same, so use care when making substitutions. 

Beer Bread

*recipe from Mark Bittman 

I have had beer bread before and it was soooo good.  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for this beer bread.  It tasted a little bitter to me and the cornmeal was a little strange in it.  Maybe it would be better with a lighter beer and instead of cornmeal, just use flour.  However, if you are going to make beer bread, I have to recommend using the beer bread mix from Tastefully Simple instead.  It's much better and easier too.  I guess I should have stuck to what I said before and never make bread from scratch again...I am just not good at it.
Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour (I just used all regular flour.  Maybe that messed it up?)
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 bottle beer in the Doppelbock style (we used Paulaner Salvator, an excellent example of that style)

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350. 
2. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with a little oil or butter. 
3. Whisk together the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt. 
4. Add the oil or butter and beer, and stir just until everything is combined.
5. Pour into the loaf pan and bake until the loaf is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 45 to 60 minutes. 
6. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan and serving. 

 Dessert...

Beer Float

We've all had a root beer float.  Why not take out the root and just have a beer float? 

Ingredients:

• Kriek Boon Beer
• Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions:

1. Put a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream in a glass.
2. Pour the beer over the ice cream  

You should use a fruit lambic style of beer for this float.  Without getting into too much detail, these naturally tart beers are sweetened with fruit and make for an excellent dessert drink.  We used the traditional Belgian flavor kriek, which is the Flemish word for cherry.  Also traditional is raspberry (framboise), but newer flavors are available like peach (pêche) and black currant (cassis).  As with the oud bruin style of beer, fruit lambics will challenge preconceptions as to what beer tastes like.

A Seductive Meal

Want to seduce someone???  Just make them some Chicken Tetrazzini.  
This dinner was inspired by a clip I saw on The Soup.  It's a video of a hilarious guest on Maury who says that her man was seduced by Chicken Tetrazzini.  Check out the full clip here.  As for the recipes...they are delicious, but I'm not quite sure how seductive they are.

Drink...

 Amaretto Sour
This is one of my favorite drinks.  This was my first time having it with homemade sour mix.  I was skeptical that it would taste as good as the store bought kind, but Doug assured me it would.  He made it, and it ended up being just as good if not better!
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• Lemon Juice
• Amaretto 
• Cherry
• Orange slice

Directions:

1. Make simple syrup by putting the sugar and water in a pan and heating until sugar is dissolved, stirring frequently.  Let cool.
2. Mix the 3/4 cup of simple syrup with 3/4 cup of lemon juice.
3. Pour 2 oz of amaretto into a shaker full of ice.  
4. Add 3-4 oz of the sour mix (to taste).
5. Shake, pour into a glass, and garnish with a cherry and orange slice.

Dinner...

Chicken Tetrazzini and Cornbread Muffins

What else can I say, but Yum!

Chicken Tetrazzini

*recipe from Giada De Laurentiis

If you haven't had this dish before, you should try it right away!  It is delicious and even though it might look intimidating because of the number of ingredients, it is easy to make.  Plus, who knows who you could seduce with it!  
The original recipe calls for peas, but I took them out because I don't like them.  Feel free to add 3/4 a cup of frozen peas, but to me they seem like they would be weird in there.   
I also made mine without mushrooms because Doug doesn't like them, but you should definitely add them.  I have had it before with mushrooms, and it makes the Tetrazzini taste even better!
Ingredients:
(serves 8)

• 8 tbs butter (no one said this was a healthy recipe)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 1b white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tbs dried thyme
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1/3 cup flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 12 oz spaghetti
• 1/8 cup dried parsley
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Melt 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs oil in a large nonstick frying pan.  
3. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Add the chicken to the hot pan and cook until pale golden and just cooked through, about 4 minutes on each side.
5. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cool slightly.  Shred the chicken into bite sized pieces.
6. Add another tbs of butter and another tbs of oil to the same pan.
7. Add the mushrooms and saute until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporate and they become pale-golden, about 12 minutes.
8. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme.  Saute until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes.
9. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates, about 2 minutes.
10. Transfer the mushroom mixture to the plate with the chicken.
11. Melt 3 more tbs butter in the same pan.  Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes.
12. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, parsley, nutmeg, and remaining salt and pepper.  Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.
13. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook spaghetti according to the package directions.  Drain.
14. Mix together the pasta, sauce, and chicken and mushroom mixture until well blended.
15. Transfer the pasta mixture into a baking dish.
16. Sprinkle the cheese and breadcrumbs over the pasta.
17. Dot with the remaining 3 tbs of butter.
18. Bake uncovered until golden brown on top and the sauce bubbles, about 25 minutes.

Cornbread Muffins

I said I would never use a pre-made mix on my blog.  However, after several attempts at making bread from scratch, I realized I am just not good at making it.  So...I decided to use a box mix.  I definitely can recommend Trader Joe's cornbread mix.  It's super easy to make and tastes great.  Instead of making it in a baking pan, I just made it in a muffin tin.
Ingredients:
(makes 12 muffins)

• 1 box of Trader Joe's cornbread mix
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup of oil

Directions:

1. Follow the directions on the box.  Pour the batter into the muffin tin. Reduce the baking time to about 20-25 minutes.  When you insert a knife and it comes out clean, they are done.

Dessert...

Before cutting the cake...

After cutting...mmmm

Molten Chocolate Cake

*recipe from Betty Crocker
These cakes are really easy to make and very impressive if you are serving them to others.  Not to mention, they are incredibly good.  I think they would be even better served with ice cream, since the center of them is like hot fudge.
Ingredients:
(makes 9 individual cakes)

• unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs butter
• 3 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 1/2 cup flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Grease the bottoms and sides of cups in the muffin tin.  Dust with cocoa powder.
3. Melt the chocolate chips and butter over low heat (I melted them in the microwave).  Cool Slightly.
4. In a large bowl, beat the whole eggs and the egg yolks with a whisk until well blended.
5. Beat in 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, melted chocolate mixture, and flour.
6. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.
7. Bake about 12 minutes or until sides are set and centers are still soft (the tops will be puffed and cracked).
8. Let stand 3 minutes. 
9. Run a knife around the edges of each cake to loosen.
10. Place a cutting board or other large flat surface over the muffin tin and flip over, allowing the cakes to come out.
11. Dust the cakes with powdered sugar.

*Serve warm.  If the centers are not molten, bake for less time next time.  If they are too soft, bake a minute or two longer next time.