Friday, April 29, 2011

The Land of Barley and Hops


While you are at work and taking care of business . . . I am having THE BEST DAY EVER!!! How do I know? I am writing this the day before THE day after all. Well here we go.

1. My husband has the day off and we're going to spend it TOGETHER with no kids. Well the 21 yr. old will be around but we'll avoid each other by mutual agreement.

2. We're headed to school for Darling Daughter to receive a Super Citizen award. Yes, I'm bragging! I figure I should enjoy it now. Next year she could decide she hates school and is becoming an atheist.

3. We've got a lunch date at the Boulevard Brewery! That's right, I get to take pictures of somebody else's food. Somebody who actually gets paid to cook!

4. School Art Expo/Ice Cream Social/Scholastic Book Fair is this evening! Okay, I'm still trying to sell that one to myself.

I am savoring the day before it even gets here. I figure I better enjoy it beforehand. What if I got a flat tire? What if I fall and break my leg? Life changes quickly savor your blessings NOW!

Lunch at a brewery? Big deal? YES it's a big deal. For us craft beer fans at least.

You have to understand Boulevard only has these lunches once a month. You have to enter a lottery to win the chance to buy a ticket. There is no Boulevard "chef" so they actually just recruit a local chef to come cook. Tomorrow it's the Chef from Bluestem. The only guideline is that they cook with beer and pair their offerings with beer!

Did I mention there's beer?

Lots and lots of Boulevard beer?

Did I say the chef gets to cook whatever they want?

Would you like to see pictures?



These are some of the barrels they age their "smokestack" series beers in. You gotta watch yourself with those beers. They have an alcohol content more like wine!


The bottling line!


Big old vats of beer in the making!

What? You wanted pictures of the food?



Salmon rillettes. Smoked and cured salmon chilled in a shot glass and covered with clarified butter. Spread it on the sesame crostini! Served with a lovely cucumber and radish salad with a sour cream dressing. The salmon made a rich and buttery spread. LOVED IT! Paired with ZON beer. A light crisp beer flavored with coriander! Very summery! Perfect with the rich salmon.


Lamb Chops! Served on a warm salad of dandelion greens and roasted beats! YUMMO! The morel mushroom demi-glaze's saltiness cut the bitterness of the dandelion greens perfectly! Paired with "Rye on Rye" from the Smokestack series at Boulevard. Wonderfully rich beer with a hint of sweetness that complimented the bitterness of the lamb seasoning and salad.


Maybe some dessert? A blackberry rhubarb tart with little oatmeal crumblies and vanilla gelato! Very, very tasty! Paired with a stout of the Smokestack series called "The Dark Truth." I usually don't like stouts but this one was rich, foamy, and had the sweetness of a stout with a nicely balanced bitterness. Perfect to accompany a buttery, fruity, dessert.



Maybe you'd like this short rib ravioli? Braised in Sour Brown Ale? With oyster mushrooms and English peas? Savory, meaty, tender. Beef and pasta, am I in heaven?



Perhaps some wild king salmon cured in lime juice and Zon? With a micro green salad and Zon-orange-coriander vinaigrette. It was served with Two Joker's Double Wit. It's almost too pretty to eat. Almost.



Maybe a cheese course? A smokey blue cheese with rosemary scented honey and hazelnuts? Some grilled Rosemary Olive oil bread on the side to wipe the plate with? Have mercy!

I always like it when they include something to clean the plate with. My Dear One gets so embarrassed when I lick the plate.

After I recover from Friday I'll make sure to tell you all about it. Does this make me cruel?

I better stick the camera in the purse NOW!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Puckery Pithy Pow Punch!


I love a big old glass of real lemonade! It's refreshing and delicious and full of vitamin C. I usually love a dessert that's full of lemons and berries for Easter. This year due to the ever changing date of Easter it was my sweet Little Buddy's birthday. We had to have birthday cake! A chocolate and peppermint birthday cake to be specifically.

Being a generally willful person who likes her own way I was determined to integrate lemon and berries somewhere else in the day. I chose cocktail hour!



You're going to need lots of lemons! Four to be exact. Slice up two of your prettiest ones.


Put them in the bottom of a container and throw some sugar on them!



Now a pinch of salt will cut down on the bitterness of the lemon pith. Pith is so aptly named! If you put it in your mouth you can't help but say "pppiiiiiththth!" as you spit it out.



Now we macerate! That's what they call it at least. I call it stirring and squishing the lemons with sugar. This will get them to release their juices. The sugar will also grind against the peels and become flavored with the natural flavorful oils. There's a reason the outside of citrus is called zest! It's where all the POW is. Maybe they should of called it the POW? Then lemons could have pucker, pith, and POW!

Oh well, they never ever call me before these decisions are made . . .

Anyway, go ahead and leave the lemons alone for a few minutes. The sugar can complete it's own work.



Look! You can see the juice coming out on the bottom. Sugar is so special! I wish I had taken organic chemistry, I could of made you diagrams showing you why it's so special.



Time to deal with the remaining lemons! Go ahead and juice 'em.



Darling daughter does such a good job!



Put the juice in!



Now since the price of berries is skyrocketing I decided I'd try jam! I figured they'd already smashed and sugared them for me! Why not try it?



It looked so dark I was worried! I went ahead and mixed it around so that the lemon juice had thinned the jam out a little.



It's Easter so let's kick it up a notch!



I don't want to kill all my bubbles with stirring so I decided to pour in just enough to cover the lemons and stir it till all the sugar and jam were melted. Kind of like a syrup they'd use at a soda fountain.



There everything is dissolved. Time for the rest of the water.



Oh it's so pink and festive! So bubbly and fruit!


This was big on sweet and sour! That makes it perfect for ham, sausage or even hot dogs. The raspberries, lemons AND the seltzer water have strong acidic profiles. You need to add an amazing amount of sugar to get this palatable for your average kid! Adults like it a little more sour.

Sparkling Raspberry-Lemonade

4 lemons, washed
1/2 cup-1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
2 liters seltzer water or lemon lime soda

Slice two of the lemons and place in pitcher. Sprinkle with sugar and salt and stir up, vigorously, until sugar has coated all slices. Let rest for 2-5 minutes. Juice remaining lemons and pour into pitcher. Add preserves and stir until sugar is mixed in well. Add 2 cups of seltzer water and stir until sugar has dissolved completely. Add remaining sparkling water and stir gently. Serve over ice.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Whole Grain Bread



I just love a slice of nice soft chewy whole grain bread.

It makes me feel virtuous.

I have no idea why.

From whom would I seek advice on this?

My pastor? My dietitian?

Regardless, let's get baking!

You know I like to start the night before! I mix together flour, water and yeast together and let them sit on the counter overnight. No, my counter is not warm. It's a chilly 65 deg on my counter at night. The harder the yeast has to work the better the flavor.



Next morning it should look like this. Full of bubbles. Last night it looked like something you're using to work on that exciting 3-D volcano your child is creating for their 4th grade science project.



Now you can start to make the dough. We're going to need a little more water.


A little more yeast. The old yeast is tuckered out! If you want bread anytime this morning you've got to have fresh workers.



If you just leave it be and go fix some coffee the yeast will dissolve and sink down to the bottom of the bowl. Or you can stir them into the water if you're in a hurry.


Throw an egg in. It'll make your bread stay fresh longer. I don't know why. I just know it does.



Stir it together.



Add in the sponge! It's all stringy because gluten has been developing strength in there overnight.


You're going to need some salt! It makes bread taste . . . breadier . . .



Now for our first "whole grain." A little bit of oatmeal. I like old fashioned rolled oats. Whatever you have on hand will do though. I think the packets of strawberries and cream instant oatmeal might be a little . . . disturbing though. I recommend you use some oatmeal you scoop out of a canister.



Now for "whole grain" wheat flour! It's got all sorts of beautiful flecks of fiber in it.

STOP THE PRESSES!

or the bytes, I guess . . .

I forgot to take a picture of the brown sugar! You've just gotta have brown sugar in whole grain bread. Otherwise it doesn't have that beautiful brown color and slightly sweet taste to it! What was I thinking? Was I thinking? I suspect the children wanted me to change the TV to Bakugan or Bey Blade or something.


Go ahead and mix all of those ingredients together.



You've got to add enough plain old all purpose flour to make a nice kneadable dough. The all purpose flour has good gluten in it that makes your bread soft and stretchy. Whole grain wheat flour doesn't have a lot of gluten available in it. I want a "wheat" bread that is soft and stretchy so over half the flour is "all purpose."


Now I always try to hold back some flour to see how the weather conditions are affecting things. Obviously I haven't added enough yet!



So I'll add some more and give it a whirl for a minute.



This looks better! It's cleaning the sides of the bowl.



I don't know. It still looks wet!



But when I poke it with my finger . . .



It doesn't really stick to my finger.



So I'm going to let it rest for 20 minutes. This 20 minute rest is as good as a 10 minute kneading extravaganza! I've got coffee to drink! Blogs to read! Children to wake!

Oh wait, I already blamed the earlier photography mistake on the children being awake. Okay . . .

Cats to feed!



Pour a little oil in a bowl . . .



Then throw the dough in . . .



Flip it over so all sides are oiled . . .



Ew! I added too much oil to the bowl!



So now I've got to clean it up. Otherwise it'll all soak into the dough. I need to wear my glasses . . .

What's that in the bread, mama?

It's pepper!

Pepper?

It's pepper!



I'm going to throw this in the freezer and use it to light my next batch of charcoal. Go ahead and cover the bread and let it rise. You might want to turn it (pictures of turning are in this recipe) every hour or so but you also might just leave it there to percolate for 3 hours if that fits your time line better. Regardless, after it's risen to double it's size at least once you can form the loaf.



Dump it out on a floured counter top. Flatten it out a little and then start rolling.



Until you get a nice little loaf shape. Why do I always forget to take pictures of the whole loaf shaping business? It's important for internal texture! You want to roll it up like you would a King's Cake or a batch of cinnamon rolls.  Now pick it up and put it on a cookie sheet and let it rise for an hour. Cover it with plastic wrap or a thin towel so it doesn't dry out. Let it rise for a good hour. Thirty minutes in you're going to want to preheat your oven to 350 deg. F. It takes a good long time to properly heat an oven for bread baking!



Oh look it's ready!


Cut some nice little slices in the top. These are expansion joints! I actually don't know the baking term for them. But they allow the bread to get bigger without exploding so I call them expansion joints.

Now since whole grain bread is a little darker in general I like a lightly browned crust.



So I just spray it with a little water. You could use a brush for this too. My sprayers tend to migrate. I've actually kept this one for six months. I think it's because it's pink. Now put the bread in the oven for 40 minutes if it's a nice big "double" loaf like I made or 30 minutes for a single loaf. Turn it around halfway through regardless.



Voila! It's all brown and crusty and crispy and crackly looking! If you like a thick, chewy crust just put this bread on a rack and let it cool as is.



I find my kids like a softer crust though. So when it's fresh out of the oven I spray it with oil. It makes the moisture stay in and soften it.



Mmm, bread!



With butter!



Chewy and soft, with a slightly sweet nuttiness!


Whole Grain Bread-single loaf*

for the sponge
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup all purpose flour

for the dough
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour

Mix together sponge ingredients and leave covered on counter overnight.

Next morning, dissolve yeast in water and add sponge and remaining ingredients reserving 1/2 of all purpose flour. Knead together, adding remaining flour as necessary, to make a soft dough that forms a ball. Let rest for 20 minutes covered. Knead again and put in oiled bowl. Cover and allow to rise until double in bulk. Form loaf and allow to rise on cookie sheet, covered, for 1 hour. Cut joints into loaf and brush or spray with water. Bake at 350 deg. F for 30 minutes. Rotate pan halfway through cooking time.

*This recipe easily doubles. Just bake it about 10-15 minutes longer.