Better With Beer Recap #2

So here it is - as I promised! More pics from the Better with Beer dinner.

 

  

  

  

  

All photos courtesy of Grayson Kemp.


More photos here!

Better With Beer Recap

So it's taken me awhile but I'm finally posting the recap to the Beer Tasting Dinner the we did here at the apartment last Sunday. My brother-in-law Grayson took all the shots of the night. They are AMAZING! I hope you enjoy!

"Grilled Cheese"

Toasted chocolate brioche and walnut yogurt cheese; chocolate brioche buttered on the bottom, topped with sage aged cheese, smoked salt and dehydrated English bacon; brown beer soaked village cheese; green olive stuffed with brie and olive oil soaked orange peel

Paired with: Birra Moretti Cocktail - the "Steven"

3 parts Birra Moretti

2 part grapefruit soda 

1 part limoncello

4 juniper berries, crushed

Mix all together and top with egg whites (beat 2 egg whites with 1 T. sugar and .5 ounces of gin)

Dim Sum

Steam bun with duck confit and cola stewed cherries; spicy frog leg in orange tempura with banana cream for dipping

Paired with: Red Rice Hitachino Nest

Margarita Pizza

Goat's brie; savory crust, lime and tequilla custard with pine nuts and salt "sea" foam, citrus pavé with grapefruit soda caviar

Paired with: Great Scott Organic Pale Ale

Oktoberfest

Kangaroo, pear and rosemary sausage; cheddar cider-beer soup;  persimon chips and a dollop of purple condiment (grapemust mustard)

 Paired with: Hen's Tooth

Pub Crawl 

Butterscotch with salt, pumpernickel beer bread pudding, vanilla chantilly cream

**DISCLAIMER: I know. This looks less than appetizing. These images are all from the night before the official dinner. It's when I try all the recipes out and plate them. So this one ended up looking much better the following night:

 See? Much better. This version has the pumpernickel bread pudding dusted with beet powder - there's also pomegranate foam (an improvisation that Ashley came up with)

Paired with: Celebrator Doppelbock 

I'll be posting shots from the actual night of tomorrow when i have more time!

  

Duck Confit

Last night went off without a hitch! What does that even mean? I'll have images of the "test night" where my bro-in-law took a bunch of the plating shots and then I'll put up the images he took from the actual night of.

For now let's talk duck.

Mmmmm duck.

The very first time I ever had duck was at Napa Rose the night before my husband and I departed for England. Laurel had been talking about the amazing duck she'd had in various restaurants for about 2 years by that point...so I was pretty much set on ordering duck WHENEVER and WHEREVER I saw it on the menu. Napa Rose is one of the nicest restaurants I had been to to date, and so when I saw it on the menu I thought, "oh i MUST get this - it will be divine." Unfortunately it was anything but divine. It was just duck breast...which sorta tasted like overcooked pork. I thought it would just melt in my mouth! But alas I was disappointed. That is until...ba da DUUUMMMMM - Paris! Yes, of course...Paris...what made me think I could get melt in your mouth duck anywhere but Paris?? Let's ignore the fact that I had no clue what the difference between seared duck breast and duck confit was at the time. Nevertheless, while in England - Tyler and I went to Paris for 2 days and 1 night to see one of our favorite bands, Dirty Projectors, play La Maroquinerie and we needed a bite of food before the show started.

We walked by a tiny restaurant 4 or 5 times debating over who should try and order in broken French before we finally walked in and awkwardly pantomimed for a table for 2. Thankfully our gracious host spoke perfect English (as did many of the people we met in Paris) and explained the entire menu to us. We ordered the duck and a Moroccan dish. The duck was served with little crispy potatoes and a pile of dry green leaves that only visually passed for a salad. We ignored the green foliage on the side of the plate and went straight for the golden thighs of our little wingless fowl. Oh my - THIS is what I had imagined it to be! The crispy skin...the buttery flesh. Oh man - did I mention I am NOT a vegan?

So when it came time to plan out the very first official two-week dinner menu - the very first thing I thought of was this dish. I wondered how hard it would be to make duck confit and use it in a different way. Thankfully duck confit is a bit of a fool proof dish - I didn't realize how practical it was! I would have preferred to cook the duck sous vide - but being without a grand to drop on a immersion circulator I decided to do it the old fashioned way - duck fat! Once I figured out how easy it was to make, I was on the hunt for my ingredients. I consulted chowhound for any insight on where to find interesting meat. They pointed me in the direction of Harmony Farms in La Crescenta.

Look at everything I found! The duck legs aren't pictured because I was already on to my second batch of confit (hence the bucket of duck fat being half gone). I went in search of duck, kangaroo and bacon and left with all of that plus frog legs.

So the basic principle behind duck confit is preservation. Apparently this cooking method was first developed to preserve fresh meat for long periods of time. I did two batches - one in the ducks own fat, the second in light olive oil.

Ingredients

6 duck legs

2-3 tablespoons salt

Rosemary sprigs

black peppercorns

garlic

crushed bay leaves

16 ounces or so of duck fat or light olive oil

Sprinkle the bottom of a pan with 2 tablespoons of salt and half the rest of the ingredients. Make sure you use a pan that can not only fit all the duck legs, but is also deep enough to submerge all the legs in fat. Place the duck legs flesh side down in the pan and sprinkle with the remaining salt and spices. Cover and let sit over night, and up to two days, in the fridge. Once it's aged in the fridge for a bit wash off all the salt and spices and blot dry with a paper towel. Wash out the pan and put the legs back in the pan. Cover with fat until fully submerged. Cook in oven at 250 degrees for a few hours until the meat pulls away from the bone. Usually between 2-3 hours. You can store the duck in it's own fat in the fridge for a few months or in the freezer FOREVER. When you want to serve it, take it out of the fat and crisp it up in a sauté pan till the skin gets all crispy. Viola! Duck confit. And boy does it smell amazing while it's cooking! :-)

Blueberry Granita, Cantelope Strawberry Granita & Coconut Fig Macaroons

So I've been a tad MIA lately and i apologize. I got hit with a cold a few days ago and it's pretty nasty. I haven't been cooking at all because obviously I did not want to contaminate anything. But I will post a little progress report with a few recipes sometime soon. I did make use of the weekend- I SWEAR.

So here's a couple fun and easy recipes I've had hanging around since the summer. Even though it's technically fall - I find that in California it's never too cold for ice cream. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 clamshell blueberries
1-3 T. honey
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1/4 cantelope, without skin and cubed
1 1/2 c. strawberries (fresh or frozen)
2-4 T. honey

For each granita purée the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Use as much or as little honey as you like - it really depends on the sweetness of your fruit. You'll generally need to use a tad more with the canteloupe. Pour in to pan and let freeze overnight. Scrape with a fork or the edge of a metal spoon to create a snow like consistency.

I served them with some store bought vanilla soy ice cream and a few of the coconut macaroons I had leftover.

Coconut & Fig Macaroons

8 dried figs, stems removed
1 ripe banana
1 1/2 c. flaked coconut (unsweetened)
1 T. honey, more to taste

I use a vita-mix but a food processor will do the trick as well. Start by cutting the stems off of the figs and then peel the banana. Drop the figs one by one into the running processor/blender - get them good and mushy before dropping the banana in there by sections. It should look like chunky baby food by now. Then slow the processor/blender down (you only want to mix in the coconut) and add your coconut. The mixture should be moist - not dry. It really depends on what kind of cookie you like - my husband loves them really moist...so i add a little less coconut. It really is up to you.


Drop them in little balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 325º for 10-15 minutes. The bottoms of the cookies should be a nice golden brown.