Stacey: Steam Whistle Special (Week 4)

Dan    Ask Dan     calgary, cooking Kick The KD, learning, Stacey, thoughts

This week we learned how to substitute ordinary liquid ingredients in a recipe for the extraordinary Steam Whistle Pilsner.  I think the best part of the class was the parting gift: a 6-pack of Steam Whistle to cook with at home (our homework for the week)!

My favourite quote of the week, in response to my explanation of our homework was: “What, pouring it in a glass doesn’t count?”  A valid meal many times. However, I expect Dan is looking for us to be marginally more creative.

My choice for this week feels a little like a cop out (because it was so easy), but I really wanted to try it – Coq au Bière.  Or, poaching chicken in Steam Whistle.  I added some spices for extra flavour but did not add vegetables like you might for the traditional preparation using wine.  Then, I used this chicken on top of nachos (and the leftover Steam Whistle as a side). The beer flavoured chicken was novel and appropriate on the nachos, though the flavour was fairly mild.  This was the first time I have poached chicken and I was happy with how tender it was.  As a bonus, I was able to make use of the Slap Chop to create the chicken topping – I told [you] I’d use it!

Thank you also to Charcut Roast House for lending us Kirk (their beer sommelier) for the evening.  Beer pairing was something I hadn’t considered before and his suggestions to pair light coloured meals with light coloured beers was easy to remember!

Another successful week learning how to cook outside the (beer) box!

So, far as a recipe goes, you can check it out here!

–Stacey

Tara: Thoughts on Week 4

Dan    Ask Dan    

Okay, so I made chili with the beer last week and forgot to comment on it! It didn’t turn out great, unfortunately…

I was planning to make chili sin carne (i.e., vegetarian chili, or, literally translated, chili without meat) last week and had all of the ingredients. I really enjoy my veggie chili, and it has never failed me before. Thus, since our task was to give cooking with beer a try, I thought I’d venture into beer chili land. Sounds like a fun place to be, right?

I wasn’t sure how it would taste, the combination of tomato and beer, but I like chili and I like beer. To prevent it from getting too runny, I removed the liquid I would normally add (such as liquid from cooking the chickpeas–I buy dried organic chickpeas which I soak and cook myself, which is cheaper & more environmentally friendly than buying the regular ones in the can), so I could replace it with beer.

I added all of my usual chili ingredients: peppers, mushrooms, onion, corn, carrot, beans, chickpeas, tomato sauce, tomato paste, cumin, chili powder, oregano, textured vegetable protein (optional), etc…and sure enough, it looked thicker than normal. First, I dumped in half of the bottle of beer and was surprised with how “beer-like” it smelled, but after about 5 minutes, it was no longer detectable and I poured in the rest.

When it was ready, I gave it a taste, and… my taste buds were not enjoying their trip to beer chili land! It didn’t have the same “bite” that this chili usually has. I tried adding extra spices (although I’d used the last of the chili powder and couldn’t add extra… maybe that’s the culprit?) and still found it to be bland. I added extra tomato sauce and my poor taste bude still weren’t enjoying the trip. I even ate the chili with the beer to bring out the flavours. It didn’t work.

The chili wasn’t terrible, but I much prefer my normal chili sin carne and wouldn’t try this again.

On the plus side, I still have 4 more bottles of beer left. Perhaps I will be able to create something delicious with those later!

–Tara

Alyssa: Steam Whistle Banana Muffins

Dan    Ask Dan     Alyssa, awesome, beer, calgary, cooking, Kick The KD, learning, recipes, Steam Whistle, thoughts

What you’ll need…

3 bananas (ripe, mashed)

2/3 cup jam (I used up my cheat jam from last week)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 TSP cinnamon

1/2 TSP vanilla

1 1/2 TSP honey

1 cup Steam Whistle Pilsner

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat, I would recommend either 1 cup unbleached and 1 cup whole wheat or just 2 cups of unbleached)

1 TSP baking powder

My morning class had been cancelled for the day (YES!) and Say Yes to the Dress wasn’t on TLC, so I thought I better do my KTKD homework all before my 1 p.m. Geology class.

Start time: 10:45 a.m.

So I mashed up my 3 bananas with a fork, mixed in the jam, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, and beer. Then, I combined the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and added the liquid mixture to it, mixed it all up, sprayed my muffin tray with Pam and spooned in the batter.

I had a bit of beer left over, so I downed that, then did the dishes. By the time I finished brushing my teeth and straightening my hair the muffins were ready. I ate one, which was still quite warm, but I liked it. It wasn’t too sweet and the edges were nice and crunchy and the jam was a lovely addition, especially with the whole blueberries in there.

When I took another look at the muffins, I noticed they were quite flat…and the only things that I could think of was either the heaviness of the Whole Wheat flour or that I needed more baking powder. Does anyone know? Now I’m worried they’ll be hard as rocks once they cool.

Yields 15 muffins

Total cook time…1 hour

Follow-up: I just ate another one after they had more of a chance to cool down, and hooray! They still taste good and aren’t as hard as a rock.

Haley: Thoughts on Week 3

Dan    Ask Dan     calgary, cooking Kick The KD, Haley, learning, thoughts

We made jam and pancakes this week in KTKD class, both of which were delicious! We also made morrocan date balls, which I have secret plans to make. (Secret because I live with a roommate who might as well be a voracious dinosaur, as she has the appetite of one.)

Last Saturday, I had my mate, Montana, over for dinner party and we cooked like mini Jamie Olivers. First we made butternut squash soup and, then, for dessert we had Dan’s Berry Cake, but with jam instead of the berry sauce.

For our version, we replaced blueberries with raspberries, which I like a lot because I’m not a fan of chunky jam. I find that the jam gets a weird texture after the cornstarch is added and the jam has had time to cool in the fridge. I’m not sure what else I could really do to thicken it without making it ‘real’ jam, but I’ll think on it.

Honestly, this jam is so easy to make, I had no trouble at all with making it and it tastes delicious. If you want to impress someone with your [kitchen] skills, then definitely make this jam for them to have on toast/pancakes/eat with a spoon like Alceste from Petit Nicolas.

I even poured it into a jar to give it that je ne sais quoi that jam has in French settings.

–Haley

Broccoli & Cheddar Pretzel Bread

Dan    Appetizers & Co., Recipes     baking, biscuits, bread, cheesy, delicious, no yeast, savoury, vegetarian

What you’ll need…

2 cups broccoli florets (finely chopped)

1/2 yellow onion (finely chopped)

olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 TSP baking soda

pinch of salt

2 cups buttermilk

2 TBSP honey

1/2 bulb roasted garlic (finely chopped)

1/2 cup medium cheddar cheese (shredded or 1/2″ cubed)

2 TBSP baking soda

1 cup hot water

salt & pepper

Why is it called pretzel bread you ask? Well, after an at-home pretzel-making adventure went terribly awry, I decided to adapt a standard (no yeast) pretzel recipe and made this bread instead. Who doesn’t like broccoli and cheese together? Could you imagine this bread side-by-side with broccoli cheese soup? Holy broccoli cheesy amazing-ness overload Batman!

Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees. Next, place the broccoli and onion in a medium-sized pan., drizzle with some olive oil and cook on medium-high heat until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Season with salt & pepper and set aside to cool.

For the dough, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Then, add the buttermilk, honey, and stir until a soft dough forms. Take dough out of the mixing bowl and knead on a floured surface until it becomes firm, about 2-3 minutes. Fold in the broccoli mixture, garlic, and cheese. Knead the bread for another minute to help combine, adding a bit more flour if necessary.

Place the dough on a prepared baking tray and form into a loaf (mine was about 12″ long and 3″ high). With a knife, make six diagonal slices across the top of the loaf. Dissolve remaining baking soda in a cup of hot water and using a pastry brush (or hands in-lieu) cover the loaf in the solution.

Finally, top the loaf with some coarse salt and ground black pepper, pop into your preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Broccoli & Cheddar Pretzel Bread. My life is complete.

Yields 1 loaf

Total cook time…1 hour

Tara’s Wild Blueberry Creamsicle Spiced Jam

Dan    Ask Dan     breakfast, calgary, cooking, jam, Kick The KD, learning, Tara, thoughts

What you’ll need…

2 cups frozen wild blueberries

1/2 cup cranberry & concorde grape juice

1/2 TSP vanilla

1/8-1/4 TSP pure orange extract

1 1/2 TBSP cornstarch

This jam, which took us all of 20 minutes during class, took me 45 minutes. Forty five minutes! What is up with that? I’m sure if anyone else tried this, it would take them 25 minutes, tops. I modified the recipe as follows:

1. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup juice until well blended.

2. Combine all ingredients in a small pot, including cornstarch/juice mixture and remaining juice.

3. Bring to a simmer on medium-high heat.

4. Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally about 15 minutes or until desired thickness reached.

5. Remove from heat and let cool.

6. Transfer to an air tight container and let chill in fridge.

My modifications: Most of these ingredients I used because they’re what we had in our house, like the frozen fruit and the juice. I omitted the sugar to make it healthier, lessened the vanilla, and after discovering orange extract in our cupboard, decided that its tartness would go well with sweeteness of the blueberries and compliment the cranberry. Plus, vanilla + orange = creamsicle. Booyah! Although it was sweet enough for me without the sugar, I think most people would enjoy it with a bit of honey. Oooh, and cinnamon. If this jam was on shelves, it would be in the gourmet section. Well, it would be if it wasn’t for…

My mistakes: In class, we added the cornstarch to the other ingredients immediately (contrary to what the recipe suggests) and it turned out great. Looking to save time, I decided to heat the ingredients and then add the cornstarch straight in. Note: this did NOT save time. After adding only half the cornstarch, I soon found myself wondering why the jam wasn’t thickening, and why it contained deep purple rubbery chunks full of powder. Turns out you have to add cornstarch when your mixture is cold, or, as the original recipe suggests, mix it with water first. Lovely. By the time I had removed what I could from the jam in the way of chunks, it had started to thicken on its own. So I added the remaining tbsp of cornstarch to water and poured it into my already semi-thick jam. It thickened immediately and was finally ready to go.

All in all, a successful modification (minus the disgusting chunks which I could not completely get rid of).

By the way, I ate the whole pot of jam for dessert. Since my modifications made it basically just fruit [in altered form], I didn’t even feel guilty! But I did feel full!

Yields 2 1/2 cups of jam

Total cook time…20-45 min