Cooking with Da Brewski!

I know Octoberfest has passed, but I have been researching cooking with beer and I'm going to get on it! Don't limit yourself to cooking with just wine, beer offers the same flavor-enhancing, tenderizing qualities. There is of course the beer-batter which is a delicious coating for anything fried, but use beer in place of water for many other things such as in chili, braising meat (thinking short ribs, beef shank and sausages), even in soups (my brother made a Jamie Oliver recipe for Guiness Pie once, it was delicious!). Beer is great for adding that nice bitter, tangy note that many dishes need to bring the flavor "up". There are so many kinds of beers I have never heard of (lambics, saisons) and many are brewed with the same care as a private reserve wine, I can't wait to start learning (drinking) more! Beer pairing is also gaining popularity in many fine dining restaurants as it can be even more food-friendly than wine. Here are a few recipes using beer, use them all together for a beer-fest if you want, Cheers!

Beer Batter Bread

2-1/2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp Italian seasoning

1 can or bottle (12 oz) beer

1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375. Grease or spray with pan-spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a bowl mix all of the ingredients, except the beer and the butter. Once mixed well add the can of beer and mix just until all dry ingredients are mixed in. Pour into loaf pan and pour the butter over the top. Bake 45-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Beer-Cheese Soup

2 Tb butter

1 large stalk celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dijon mustard

2 large pinches Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

-Cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes, add

3 cans chicken broth, low sodium

-Bring to a boil, simmer 15 minutes and puree in blender or use an immersion blender.

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup flour

-Toss cheese with flour in a bowl, slowly add to simmering soup while whisking. Once incorporated add

-1 can or bottle (12 oz) beer

Simmer and serve

Thick & Hearty Chili (great for scooping up with the beer bread!)

2 Tb canola or olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

5 cloves garlic, diced

1 lb ground beef, turkey or diced chuck roast

2 large pinches Kosher salt

3 Tb good quality chili powder

2 Tb ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

2 Tb ketchup

-Over medium-high heat add all ingredients and cook until well-browned and starting to stick to the bottom of the pan. Then add

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 can or bottle (12 oz) beer

-Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and simmer until all of the liquid is almost evaporated, except for about 1/2 cup. Add

28 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree

1 drained and rinsed can kidney beans

1 drained and rinsed can black beans

Bring to a simmer, lower heat and let simmer about 15 minutes. Can sit on low all day and just gets better!

No more cereal for dinner

(Picture of Rachel Ray in her undies with dinner.... most men's dream wife!)

Since becoming a single mother life has certainly changed. One of the biggest changes is what we eat for dinner! Cereal was on the menu a couple of times a week, the other nights were frozen meals, fast food or dinner at Grandma and Grandpas. The change was brought on by sheer exhaustion from raising two kids on my own, as well as less time for stocking the refrigerator with healthy foods selected specifically for the weeks menu. But mainly I think it was kind of "bucking the norm". I no longer had anyone to complain about not having a complete meal, the kids were thrilled to have cereal for dinner, they thought I was the coolest mom! I no longer had anyone to be the "perfect wife" for. I COULD not cook dinner, COULD leave the dishes in the sink overnight every once in a while, COULD budget my money the way I wanted, COULD wear ratty sweats all day on my day off.

I'm over it.

I have decided that I will from now on I am going to take care of the "new" us the way I did for the "old" us. I enjoy cooking (that's why I became a personal chef!), waking up to a sink full of dishes actually annoys me also, I am a little stingy and can loosen the belt a little bit when it comes to the budget, but I won't give up the sweats every once in a while!

I hope to be married again someday, to be the "perfect wife" for a wonderful man, but I'm not going to wait for that to happen to give the best to my kids, and myself. So no more cereal for dinner, in a pinch it will be Pho! (About that in the next post...)

Pho, my new favorite meal

My kids and I were feeling awful, stuffy, cold and we were wanting a bowl of comfort, something warm and healthy. We wanted chicken noodle soup, but I was not up to chopping and my aching body was not up to standing at the stove. We talked about going to the store and purchasing canned soup, I am not a fan and the ingredients don't make me want to eat what is lurking behind the aluminum can professing to be "natural". We thought about the warm soup available in the deli at most large supermarkets but again I didn't want flour-thickened imitation chicken broth with over cooked noodles and a couple of pieces of carrot and chicken thrown in to make it appear to be something good for you. We wanted something truly homemade and healthy to make us feel better. Passing by one of the many Pho houses I remembered my sister asking me 3 years ago if I had tried Pho (pronounced Fuh) and I had no idea what she was talking about. I knew it was a Vietnamese restaurant, but that was about it. I decided to go in and take a look at the menu, it looked like just what we were wanting. I asked the waiter if the food was made with fresh ingredients, no boxes or mixes and he said yes so we decided to order a Pho Ga, chicken, my kids didn't want to try any of the more exotic soups made with tripe, fatty beef flank or tendon. I later found out that traditional pho is made with beef. When the soup came the kids were so excited, they get to assemble their own food! The delicious broth came with a plate of thinly sliced chicken breast, cooked rice noodles, sliced scallion, onion and jalapenos, cilantro and Thai basil leaves, bean sprouts, lime wedges and a bit of what smelled like hoisin sauce. You add what you want and mix it in, eat the noodles and vegetables with chopsticks and the soup you can pick up the bowl to slurp (what most of the patrons in the restaurant did) or eat it with an Oriental soup spoon. The flavors were so delicious, fresh and clean, my kids and I slurped and made yummy sounds ("mmmm, so good") until the bottom of the huge bowl revealed itself. We were absolutely stuffed, but not in the way you get stuffed from eating a big piece of meat and potatoes, we felt satisfied, not sick. We instantly felt better, soothed by the warm broth and our sinuses cleared by the slight heat of the chili's. My daughter requested that I figure out how to make it so she could have it all the time, that this was her new favorite restaurant food, it trumped the Mongolian grill restaurants, her old favorite. I thought about how in America herbs are used as mainly a garnish, but here we added about 1/2 cup of fresh herbs as an actual ingredient to each bowl, and how incredibly healthy fresh herbs are. After all they are a dark leafy green, right? I also thought about my sister and how I wish I had asked her what she loved about Pho (she was murdered last year, may she rest in peace), but I will never know. I imagined her sitting with her kids at their favorite Pho restaurant in Portland, just as I was sitting at one with mine. I researched Pho a little bit online and discovered that first of all Americans pronounce it wrong (we say Fo), and just like any other regional dish, it is a little bit different everywhere you go. Some add cloves to the broth, star anise, or even cinnamon sticks. Traditionally the broth is made "with the lot", meaning everything from the butchering of the cow is used, at most Pho restaurants in America you have to ask for this special broth. I am so happy we discovered this "new" noodle soup (new to us anyway). Just about every ethnic group has their own noodle soup like the Italians have their minestrone, the Chinese have their wonton, Japanese their Udon, and just about every grandmother has their chicken noodle soup, my little newly postmodern family has a new favorite: Pho.