Beer for Breakfast Part 2 - Blueberry Ale Pancakes

Let’s talk about fruit flavoured beers. They’ve got fruit in them, which in my books makes them a healthy choice. Berries especially – they are full of antioxidants and stuff that will make you live forever or something. Not everyone is a fan of fruit in their beer, which is fair enough. They are a bit of a novelty, but maybe their place is in the kitchen?

You could make pancakes with almost any beer probably, but fruit beers add that lovely fruity (healthy) twist that works really well in the pancake format. I’ve made these before with a few raspberry beers – there are a couple of good ones that are pretty easy to get your hands on – but I was pretty excited to find Prickly Moses had made a blueberry hefweizen. Blueberries are by far my favourite of the berry kingdom.

The theory is that the carbonation in the beer makes the pancakes light and fluffy. I’ve actually found this isn’t always the case with the raspberry beers, but it’s entirely possible that I’ve been doing it wrong. Sometimes beer pancakes tend to be a bit flatter and have a more chewy texture – they’re not tough, but have more bite to them. Having said that, I actually like the beer pancakes better. Maybe it’s just knowing that there is delicious craft beer inside them – it warms the cockles or something.

However, the blueberry hef actually did make for fluffy pancakes. Could it be the difference between blueberries and raspberries? Or maybe the hefeweisen influence?Either way, they puffed right up and tasted pretty delicious.

The pancake recipe I used is from here, but I didn't have butter, so subbed with yogurt. It makes enough for two and it also leaves a little beer in the bottle which you can use to make a beery syrup to go on top.


The makings of a good start:


Pancakes:
1 cup plain flour, sifted
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup of Blueberry Hefeweizen
(Or Raspberry Ale)
2 Tablespoons plain yogurt


Blueberry syrup:
Remainder of the beer
(about ½ cup)
1 ½ Tablespoons blueberry jam
2 Tablespoons of honey

Fresh or frozen blueberries

(If you are using Raspberry beer, just substitute the blueberry jam for raspberry)



Getting it together right:

For the Pancakes, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a large bowl. Combine the wet ingredients together (egg, beer and yogurt) in another bowl or jug. Add the wet to the dry and whisk until all the lumps are gone and the ingredients are combined. How easy is that!

Heat oil or butter in a frypan over medium heat. Spoon or pour batter onto the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes. Flip and cook until finished on the other side.

For the Blueberry Syrup, combine ingredients in a small pot and reduce over medium heat by half, stirring so it doesn’t stick or burn.

Pour the syrup over your pancakes. If blueberries are in season, scatter some over the top for an added extra boost of berry goodness, or use frozen ones.

Would it be irresponsible to suggest a beer to drink with breakfast? I guess you could be having pancakes at any time of the day. Still, a good Saison would go wonderfully with this at any time of the day. Try the Bridge Road Saison.

Taking a backseat

Actually, it's always the passenger seat for me, but what I’m getting at is a metaphorical backseat when it comes to cooking with beer. As much as I like experimenting with beer in the kitchen, what I really like is having someone else do the beer cookery. You know, someone who actually knows what they're doing. Recently I've been to a few of the places that do great things with beer and food, and I felt like sharing (and raving) about them. I guess this is a bit of a personal journey story for me too, as I revisit some of the places that inspired me to try my hand at cooking with beer.

Holgate Brewery – Woodend

It all started for me at the Keatings Hotel in Woodend, home of the Holgate Brewery. This as the first brewery that the husband and I visited and we both had epiphanies of different sorts. His was about the beer, or more accurate a beer, a beer called Big Reg - a Vienna lager, which was once bottled, but is now only a seasonal release (but will hopefully be bottled again!). My light bulb moment was more about the food. The menu is full of items that use the brewery’s own beers (and occasionally the by-products), and it goes way beyond the old standard of beer-battered fish.

Since that first time, we’ve tried to get back there to eat and drink whenever possible. It’s a bit of a drive, which does make the drinking part difficult for at least one person. However, we recently discovered it only takes an hour on the train and you can drink as much as you like, as long as you can stumble back to the train station.

Such is our love for this place and its warm pub atmosphere, fantastic brews and beery food, we decided to spend our first wedding anniversary there. Oh, did I not mention that you can actually stay there, right above the pub and brewery? You can’t beat that for convenience!

We had our anniversary dinner in the dining room, and I think all the dishes we ordered used beer in some way. We started with some beer bread to share, made with the wonderful Temptress Chocolate Porter. This is not the yeasty style bread (like the type I blogged about right at the start), but the quick and easy beer bread. It’s less elastic and more crumbly,  like a savory cake really. However it is still incredibly delicious, especially when served warm with the porter butter. On this occasion the bread had also been made using the spent grain from the day’s brew.

For my main, I chose from the specials board, as I could not go past a risotto made with squid ink and the Big Reg lager. The waitress made sure she warned me that it was black – I guess not everyone might realize that squid ink is really…inky. It came topped with basa goujons (that's food speak for 'fish bites' I think). The risotto itself was just right, with that little extra flavor that I find beer lends a dish, and the goujons were possibly the crispiest fish bites I have ever have. I swear you could have heard the crunch across the room.
The husband treated himself to the kangaroo marinated in ESB, which came on a tasty bed of salad. Now is confession time for me – it looked and smelled so good, I had to take a bite outta skippy. It would seem that after a few pints of Big Reg and ESB I am open to the concept of eating our national emblem. It was actually not as bloody as I expected – I found the flavor quite subtle although the texture was a little chewy.

As it was a special occasion, we both ordered desserts. Mine was the porter fruitcake, I think with crème anglaise (things are getting hazy by now), while the husband went with the chocolate beetroot cake with ganache. They were both decadent, without being too much. The perfect end to the meal.

Red Hill Brewery – Red Hill

The next chapter in my beer-food journey concerns Red Hill Brewery. Sitting about two hours out of Melbourne, with no public transport and limited accommodation options in the immediate area, it's almost impossible to get there without a designated driver. However, it’s well worth the journey for the food alone. It has more of a restaurant / café feeling, with a light airy bar area and a huge outdoor deck nestled among the trees. While I’ve had a multitude of fantastic meals there, there is one thing I always order without fail – the Welsh Rarebit.

This is a classic beer-food dish and on paper is not really that special – just fancy cheese on toast, right? Yeah, but the cheese, it has beer in it. Let me just make that clear for you….it’s CHEESE with BEER in it. There is more than beer – there’s mustard and paprika and leeks too. To top if off (or more accurately, bottom it off…but no one says that) they use fantastic local baked bread. This would have to be my ultimate comfort food. The cheese sauce is creamy and packed with tangy flavor and a little spicy bite. I think I raved about it so much on one visit that the lovely Karen Golding actually gave me the recipe. I have made it at home, but its not the same really. Maybe it’s something about sitting out on the big deck with a beer, relaxing with that feeling of ‘all is well in the world’.

The Local Taphouse – St Kilda

As far as both Holgate and Red Hill are, I think we have visited them both more than this iconic beer pub located in St Kilda. To get there either involves an hour on a tram, or someone willing to battle with traffic on Punt Road. It’s a shame though, because they put a lot of thought and beer into the food they serve. I only really discovered this when we attended an excellent Good Beer Week event there, and not only did every single course contain beer (and some amazing beers too), but they really bent over backwards to look after this non-red-meat eater (that was before the skippy incident, okay?). I was pretty blown away by it and was lucky enough to bend the ear of one of the owners. I discovered they are very passionate about beer food and educating their kitchen staff in the use of beer in cooking, and yet they don’t make an issue out of it.

A great example of their work is a dessert we were served at the most recent Barley’s Angels meeting. It was a stout panna cotta, with strawberries macerated in Framboise and a barley malt brittle. It was A-MAZ-ING. Every element was seriously good. I expected the panna cotta to have a heavy, bitter flavor to it, but there was no bitterness at all. The sweetness was off-set by the slight sourness of the strawberries…and the barley malt brittle? It was just plain good – crunchy caramelized sugar coated barley good.

There are a growing number of places who are using beer and by-products in their dishes now, popping up all over Australia. I can highly recommend all the places I’ve mentioned, but there are plenty of places still on my to do list as well. If you are into beer and food, you should definitely pay a visit to these or any of the other establishments who are exploring the uses of beer in the kitchen.

Gardeners Pie (No Shepherds required)

Yes, this is another vegetarian recipe. Don’t act surprised, and before the carnivores all walk out in a huff I should point out that I actually had a request for more Vegetarian recipes. I am always both shocked and amazed when I discovered that someone has actually read the blog and taken the time to give me feedback, so I am more than happy to take their requests on board. It is certainly no problem for me to cook more vegetarian food. The good news for lovers of all things meaty is that once again you can use meat if you really want to.


Shepherds pie is made with lamb and cottage pie is made with beef, right? I’m going to call this ‘Gardeners Pie’ since its chock full of vegetable good ness. There was a suggestion it could be called ‘Brewers’ Pie’ as well, because I ended up using two different styles of beer in the finished product. Next time I might try for three.


This is one of the easiest pies in the world to make, due to the lack of pastry. You could put it in a pastry shell if you want, but it’s not necessary. It’s just a case of making the delicious savoury filling, covering it with delicious mashed potato and baking it the oven until delicious. I upped the delicious ante on this one by using Sean ‘Homebrew Chef’ Paxton’s roasted garlic IPA mash on top. This magic mash converted my mash-hating husband into a mash-lover, thus is the power of beer.

As it seems to be the case in most of my recipes, I just happened to have an appropriate bottle of beer in my cupboard - the Bridge Road Robust Porter. Porters are fantastic for cooking savoury dishes of both the vegetarian and meaty kinds, as they have the dark roasty flavour without being overly bitter. For the mash I used a Lobethal India Pale Al, but have made the same mash successfully with other IPAs. Only a small amount is used in the mash, so bitterness isn’t an issue. The hoppier the better though.


What to plant in your pie:

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup diced shallots (or 1 medium brown onion, diced finely)
3 cloves garlic, diced finely
1 large carrot, grated
2 stalks celery, diced
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen corn
1 bag quorn mince (or the equivalent amount of minced meat)
1 can brown lentils
1 bottle of porter
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon thyme*
1 tablespoon rosemary*
1 tbsp cornflour, mixed to a paste in 1 tbsp cold water
Salt & pepper

*I just happened to have these herbs on hand. You could sub them out for others – sage, bay leaf, parsley. Again its up to what you like or what you have.


The Mash Mulch (based on the Homebrew Chef recipe):

450g potatoes
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 sprigs thyme
Salt & pepper
½ cup butter
½ cup heavy cream
2-4 tablespoons IPA

Start by preparing the garlic for the mash. Preheat your oven to 150C.  Remove as much of the papery outside skin from the head of garlic as you can, then cut enough of the top of the head off in order to expose the tops of each clove.  Place it in the middle of a square of aluminium foil and drizzle olive oil over the top. Add a sprig of thyme and season with a little salt and pepper before wrapping up in a nice little parcel. Put on a baking tray and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

While the garlic is cooking, chop up your potatoes and place them in a pot, covered with cold water. Place on a high heat and bring to the boil. Cook until they are soft enough to pierce easily. Drain well and mash until smooth. (Or if you are fancy enough to have a ricer, put them through that.)

By now the garlic should be done (the original recipe says you know when it done, because the aroma will fill your entire house. It really does, and it is awesome!). Take it out of the oven, open the foil and allow to cool for five minutes.  Squeeze the cloves out of their skins and into a bowl, then mash with a fork until smooth.

In a small saucepan, place the butter, cream and 2 sprigs of thyme on to medium heat.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the thyme and add garlic paste and whisk to combine. Simmer another three to five minutes, then remove from the heat and add salt and pepper, and your IPA. Add the garlic cream to the mashed potatoes and fold in.  You might want to add half first, then check the flavour to see if it needs more garlic or IPA. I generally add the whole amount, but I like both garlic and hops.


Cultivating your pie:

Turn your oven to 180 degrees.

Slice and dice all of your vegetables. In a large saucepan, put 1 tablespoon of olive oil on low heat and sauté your onion and garlic until soft. Add the Quorn, breaking it up and cook until defrosted. Add the rest of the vegetables, stirring to combine, and cook for five or so minutes. (If you are using mince meat, add at the same time as you would add the quorn and cook well before adding the vegetables.)

Add the beer, Worcestershire sauce, herbs, tomato paste and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer for about 5 minutes, then add the cornflour paste and stir well. Allow to simmer until the sauce reduces and thickens nicely.

When the filling is ready, take your pie dish (or several small ones) and fill ¾. Top with the garlic IPA mash and ‘rake’ the surface with a fork. Some people might also put cheese on top, but considering the butter and cream in the mash, that could be considered overkill.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until the top has browned and filling is bubbling up around the edges.

You could serve with a green salad if you want even more veggies, or with some warm beer bread rolls if you'd like some extra carbs. As for beer, pair with something along the lines of a brown ale, or more porter - something dark, but not too serious.

Midnight Spice: Vegetarian Beer Chilli

I was pretty excited when I stumbled on a few recipes for vegetarian chilli made with the added awesome of beer. Not only does it satisfy my red-meatless dietary needs, but I love Tex-Mex style meals. This recipe is a Frankensteinian concoction of several recipes. Although the beer is not a stand-out flavour – it can be hard to pick it amongst all the spice – I think it does make this a damned tasty dish. So far I’ve made this recipe with a few different beers, including amber,  porter and even a chocolate stout (nothing special, just a Youngs Double Chocolate) and it turned out very tasty. Chocolate goes really well with Chilli, as anyone who has had a mole sauce can attest to.

This time I used a Grand Ridge Mirboo Midnight - Oaked Dark Ale. You need to stick to the darker spectrum of beers in order to stand up to the spice. This is also one of those recipes that improves over time, allowing the flavours to develop.

Raid your spice rack:

1 bag or can of mince alternative – I use Quorn, but any pseudo-mince should work. Or, you could probably leave this out and add another can of black beans...or see the note at the end.
1 medium brown onion, diced
1 green capsicum (large), sliced into strips
1 red capsicum (large), sliced into strips
1 jalapeno chilli finely diced, seeded if desired (it will be less spicy if you do).
5 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 cup of beer – amber ale, brown ale, porter or stouts are all good choices.
1 large (400g) can diced tomatoes
2 cans of red kidney beans (or, two cups dried beans, soaked)
1 can black beans (or one cup of dried beans, soaked)
1 can corn (or 1 cup frozen or fresh kernels)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon of dried coriander
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon paprika*
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Olive oil – just enough to coat the bottom of your pan
Grated cheese and/or sour cream to serve

*For a twist, use smoked paprika

How to spice up your life:

Get everything ready before you start. Chop all your veggies. Open all the cans of beans and corn, strain the liquid and rinse. In a small bowl combine your dry spices - cumin, chilli powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.

In a heavy-based pot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and put on low to medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft, then add the capsicum and continue to cook for 5 minutes or so. Add your mince alternative and turn the heat up to medium. (Quorn needs to be cooked from frozen, so you will need to break it up while it thaws out. Continue to cook until all the chunks have broken up and fully thawed.)

Pour in the beer and turn the heat up to high. Add the can of tomatoes, all the beans and corn and stir well. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer for a few minutes.

Stir in the spice mix and jalapeno, turn heat to low and cover. It should simmer for about an hour, but stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Taste to test the spice level. If you like your chilli really nuclear, you can add some hot sauce.

Serve topped with cheddar cheese and/or sour cream, with Mexican rice and / or tortillas. You could also use it as a topping for nachos, or possibly a filling for tacos.

This can be a pretty spicy dish, so you’ll want to drink something pretty refreshing with it. Lager can work in this way, although some might be a little too delicate. IPAs are a classic match for spicy foods too. I’m quite fond of more amber ale…usually a Mountain Goat Hightale Ale, which is my go-to beer.

Note: You carnivores will be happy to hear that this chilli can be made using real meat as well. Beef, chicken, turkey, possibly lamb or pork even. You will need to cook it separately in a fry pan, then try to drain as much fat as possible. Add it to the pot when you would add the fake meat - after the capsicum has softened and before the beer, tomato, beans and corn.

Boozy Blue Poached Pears

A couple of weeks ago I bought some blue cheese from a harvest market. I admit that I was attracted to the name – Boozy Blue. There’s no actual booze in it, but it was a delicious, smooth and tasty blue cheese. I wanted to use the last of it in a special way, and couldn’t think of anything better than poached pears with a blue cheese filling.


This is another first for me. I’ve never poached pears before, even though I always enjoy them immensely when eating out. Poaching is usually done in water, or white wine, red wine, port, so it seemed that there should be no reason why beer couldn’t work. Again, it comes down to choosing the right beer. I wanted something a little sweeter, with dried fruit and spice flavours.  I just happened to have a bottle of Emersons Taieri George in my cupboard. This is a spiced strong ale, often described as hot cross buns in a bottle. I actually find the spice profile a little strong to enjoy drinking this beer, but it seemed to be the perfect choice for cooking.

What to pair for a pair of pears:

2 Beurre Bosc Pears
1 ½ cups Taieri George Strong Ale
1 cinnamon quill
1 vanilla bean pod (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
¼ cup of brown sugar

Filling:
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese (or more, depending on your tastes and what you have)
½ cup smooth ricotta cheese (or mascarpone)
¼ cup of crumbled walnuts


How to pair them together:

Peel your pears and cut into halves. Remove the core with a knife or melon baller, leaving a nice little cavity. Place pears in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon and set aside.

Take a saucepan big enough for the pear halves to lay down comfortably. Put the beer and sugar in on a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the cinnamon stick and vanilla and turn down to a simmer. Add the pears, lying them flat so they are submerged. If the liquid doesn’t cover them, add some water. Put the lid on and allow to simmer for 15 – 25 minutes, or until the pears are soft.

Allow the pears to cool in the poaching liquid, then with a slotted spoon take them out and place in a sealed container. Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod and discard. Put the saucepan of poaching liquid back on a low heat and simmer until it has reduced to a thick syrup.

To make the filling place the blue cheese, ricotta and walnuts in a bowl and add a teaspoon of the reduction. Mix well together.

Pour some syrup into the bottom of two bowls, reserving just a little. Place two pear halves in each bowl and fill the cavities with a scoop of the blue cheese mixture. Drizzle the remaining syrup over the top and serve.

  

You need to take care when making reductions using beer. The bitterness from the hops will intensify and can become overpowering. As this is a sweet syrup though the sugar balances out the bitterness. If you can't get a spiced ale, try something like a Belgian Tripel. You may want to add some extra spices during the cooking process, such as whole cloves or star anise.

The Way to a Man's Heart: Scotch Ale Pie

I feel I should share something – I don’t eat red meat. No beef, lamb, ham, bacon, pork, rabbit, kangaroo, goat, horse, camel… you get the idea. I was a proper vegetarian for year. I gave it up in the face of delicious salmon steaks and roast chicken dinners, but I just can’t take that final step. So, why the share? The thing is, a lot of recipes using beer are kind of…meaty. All types of meat seem to really work well with beer, whether as a marinade, carbonade, brining, braising or stew. Sure, I can keep myself busy baking with beer, but I do need a break from all those carbs occasionally.

Love is a powerful emotion. So powerful it has even allowed me to put aside my aversion to red meat and cook with it. My husband doesn’t share this aversion to meatiness. Valentines day this year was our first as a married couple, so I decided to spoil the man with a beer soaked meal. As all good wives know, you should feed the man meat, so I decided to whip up a delicious scotch ale pot pie (I also made myself a chicken ale pie – I’m not going to starve!).

Ale pie recipes are not hard to come by. They are never too specific about what kind of beer to use though. I went with a Scotch ale (specifically the BrewBoys Seeing Double), because not only did I think it would work well with the beef, but it is also one of the man’s favourite beer styles. I fully admit to being lazy and buying the pastry for the top. A better cook may have made that too, but I wanted to focus on getting the filling right (as well as making my own pie, and the sides, and dessert). I can’t comment much on the finished product, as I didn’t taste it, but the husband seemed to enjoy it and is still alive to tell the tale. In fact, he noted that the scotch ale flavour was deliciously robust throughout the whole pie.

What it takes:

500g steak (best to use a cheaper cut – it actually tastes better)
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g shallots – peeled and quartered
125g small button mushrooms – cut into halves
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon tomato paste
250ml (1 cup) scotch ale
150ml (3/4 cups) beef stock
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 tablespoon of cornflour
Frozen puff pastry (or you can make your own, if you have the time and nous)
1 egg – beaten - to brush


How to make it work:

Cut the steak into medium chunks – about 2cm cubes. Heat the oil to high in a large, heavy saucepan. Brown the meat evenly in batches, then remove from the pan and cover with foil.

Turn the heat down to low and add the shallots and mushrooms to the remaining oil. Cook until they are soft and golden. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Pour in beer and stock and add the herbs. Return the meat to pan (and any juices that are on the plate) and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Stir every now and then to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom or burning.

Blend cornflour with two tablespoons of cold water, stir into the steak mixture and cook for a couple more minutes until thickened. Cool completely.

Preheat oven to 190°C. Roll out the pastry to fit top of pie dish (or dishes – I made two small pies). There should be 1-2 centimetres of extra pastry hanging over the edge. Fill dish with meat mixture. Brush the outer rim with water and place pastry over the top, pressing the edges down to seal. Brush with egg and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until puffed and golden. Allow to sit for five minutes or so before serving.

Drink more Scotch Ale with the pie, or a malty beer such as an ESB or Amber Ale. You need something with a bit of flavour to stand up to the pie, but nothing too hoppy or bitter.

I served the pie with a side of vegetables (those things that are often on your plate next to the meat) and the Homebrew Chef’s roasted garlic IPA mash (made with Murray’s Icon 2IPA), and followed by a dessert of double chocolate beer-a-misu (made with the Holgate Temptress, of course!). I think I definitely earned some brownie points. Hmmm...brownies...

Arroz con pollo… a la cerveza!

Arroz con pollo translates as ‘rice with chicken’. That’s a fairly loose description that allows free reign for a bit of experimentation, right? However, using beer in this is not actually that unusual – it’s actually a commonly used ingredient when making this traditional Spanish dish.

Let’s take a step back. My original plan was to make a beer paella. Actually, I did make a beer paella, but it was a little disappointing and needs some tweeking. I’ll come back to it, but decided to stop off on the way and try something a little easier that uses basically the same ingredients and flavours. It really is very easy – put everything in a pot and cook until delicious. That’s my kind of recipe!

The beer I chose for this is the Epic and Dogfish Head collaboration brew – the Portamarillo smoked porter. There are a couple of reasons I wanted to try this particular beer in this particular dish. First, the smokey flavour. I like to use smoked paprika and thought this would enhance this further. Second, the use of Tamarillos in the brew. This fruit is a relative of the tomato, although slightly sweeter, and my thinking is the flavour would work well in this kind of dish. While neither of these elements are overly evident, the beer definitely enhances the finished product. As with so many meals I’ve cooked with beer, there is just an extra depth to the flavours.

 

Ingredientes

500g skinless chicken thigh, cut into chunks (about 1 inch squarish)

2 large portabello mushrooms, sliced

1 medium red capsicum, sliced

1 small zucchini, halved and sliced

1 medium brown onion, halved and sliced

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 cup long grain rice (I used basmati and it worked really well)

¾ cup Portamarillo smoked porter (or similar)

1 cup chicken stock

1 can diced tomato

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon Spanish paprika

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon dried coriander

Good pinch of saffron threads

 2 tablespoons Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Método

Slice all your veg and cut the chicken, and measure out your rice, spice and liquids.

Heat the olive oil to medium-high in a large non-stick saucepan and brown the chicken in batches. When the chicken is cooked through, remove to a plate, cover with foil and set aside.

There should still be plenty of oil, so turn the heat down to low and cook the onions until soft. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute or so, then add the rice. Stir to coat all the grains well in the oil, until the grains start to turn translucent. Add the spices and stir to combine and allow the spices to become aromatic. 

Now for the good part – add the beer! Also add the stock and tomato and turn up the heat. Stir it all together and bring to the boil before adding the vegetables and returning the chicken to the pan (makes sure you also add any liquid from the chicken plate). Turn down to simmer for about 15 minutes. Check the pot occasionally and give it a stir to make sure it doesn’t stick too much to the bottom. A little caramelisation is good, but you don’t want the rice to burn and become bitter.

When the rice has absorbed the liquid and has become tender, you are ready to eat. This should be enough to feed four people once (or two people twice – you do the math). 

The good news is that the Portamarillo comes in a handy 500ml bottle, and as you only need ¾ cup of the beer in the recipe, you get to have a glass or two while you eat. I guess its not a huge surprise, but it compliments the food brilliantly. Maybe pick up a couple of bottles, so you can have a few more glasses.

My cupcakes bring all the boys to the yard: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

I think there may be a few people waiting for this recipe. It is the one I get asked about most often. Maybe it’s the idea of combining two pretty awesome, yet somewhat unlikely things.

Beer and cake is not a natural match to a lot of people. There are plenty of recipes that use beer in cake out there though. Even Nigella makes a Guinness cake! This recipe is a hybrid version of a few that I came across, and it seems to give consistently good results with a number of different stouts. (I did actually try a different recipe to make Guinness cupcakes on St Patrick's Day, and ended up with a batch of fail-cakes. I'll stick to this recipe from now on!)

Maybe you didn’t think that chocolate cupcakes could get any better? Wrong. Beer makes everything better. Well, the right beer will, such as a stout that is dark and thick. The roasted malts used in the brewing process of stouts can often produce beautiful chocolate and/or coffee flavours. Some breweries take it a step further and will add chocolate or coffee to the beer to give those flavours a bit of oomph. Adding stout to a chocolate cupcake gives a beautiful moist texture with a lovely depth of flavour, as well as the slightest bite of bitterness. If you’re feeling decadent, try making them with an Imperial Stout…although you may get lynched by beer lovers who think it’s a waste of good beer.

This Easter we are lucky enough to have a special limited release chocolate stout from Mildura Brewery. Called 'Choc Hops' , we had a preview of this chocolate infused beer at the March microbreweries showcase. It has now been released in bottle form, as well as being available on tap at several good bars over the Easter long weekend. What better beer could there be to make an extra special Easter treat with?

The goodies...

125g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

200ml (just over 3/4 cup) good stout – chocolate stout, coffee stout, oatmeal stout, imperial stout…they all work in slightly different but awesome ways.

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Now hop to it…

First, preheat the oven to 180C degrees and line your cupcake pan with pretty papers. (Note: They must be pretty or the cupcakes won’t taste as good.)

Cream the sugar and softened butter together, until pale. This is easiest done with electric beaters, but you can do it the old school way if you want the exercise.

Add the egg, vanilla and yogurt (or sour cream) and beat to combine. Add the stout, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you mix it in. (The batter may look oddly lumpy and curdled at this point, or maybe that’s just me? Still, it all works out in the end!)

Sift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a separate bowl and mix well. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet mixture; stir to combine. Don’t use beaters for this part – a wooden spoon is all you need. Add the second half. Stir until smooth, but try not to over mix. (The lumps should disappear into a smooth batter.)

Spoon or pour the batter into the cupcake pan, filling each ¾ full.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when you press the top. (Note: Make sure you lick the bowl clean. The batter is incredibly delicious and should not be wasted.)

…and to top it off…

1 cup icing sugar, sifted
50 g soft butter
2 tablespoons stout
110 g dark chocolate (I use 70%)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over hot water, or in a microwave. Set aside.

While the chocolate is cooling slightly, beat the icing sugar and butter together until blended and smooth. Gradually add the stout a little at a time, making sure it is thoroughly mixed in after each addition.

Carefully fold the chocolate into the icing mixture until it has a smooth consistency. Spread or pipe the icing onto cool cupcakes.

These should definitely be enjoyed with more of the same stout, or even a really good porter. Flavoured porters such as Holgate’s chocolate porter, 'Temptress', or the lovely Meantime coffee porter are fantastic matches as well. Basically, any dark style beer with those complimentary chocolate and coffee flavours will work a treat.