FEED THE RESISTANCE: RASTA PASTA!
Feed The Resistance: Rasta Pasta
Today is National Food Day - so, I thought we could explore one of the big food trends of 2025, according to Food & Wine Magazine. Every year, Food & Wine makes predictions of what they believe will be the biggest food trends of the coming year. One of their predictions for 2025 was "Fusion Pasta" - so what I made for today was a mash-up of Jamaican and Italian, or "Jam-Italian." Rasta Pasta with Shrimp combines Jamaican Jerk seasonings with penne pasta and shrimp. To pair with the some-what spicy pasta, Dee brought in Bell's Two Hearted IPA. It's always interesting to see how flavors play together. Sometimes the beer changes the overall flavor of the food, and in this case, the food changed the flavor of the beer, bringing out a more pine-flavor than when you drink the beer alone, without the pasta.
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: NATIONAL PASTA DAY!
Feed The Resistance: National Pasta Day!
Back in July, I made a delicious French Onion Pasta and Dee paired it with a Dunkel beer from Warsteiner. Towards the end of our conversation that day, she suggested that any Smoked Porter would also go really well with the pasta, which got me to thinking that my friend Jesse makes a great Smoked Porter French Onion Soup - it's one of the soup selections every Friday at MidTown Pub. With that in mind, for National Pasta Day, I thought I would do a little twist on the French Onion Pasta, and make it a Smoked Porter French Onion Pasta. Once again, it's basically pasta with a sauce that's pretty similar to French Onion Soup, but this sauce has a bit of Central Waters' Mudpupppy Porter infused into it.
To pair with the pasta, Dee brought in a Toasted Porter from Einstök, which is brewed in Iceland. The beer looked like it would be really heavy, but it drank like a much lighter brew. There were coffee notes, which usually turns me off of a beer (or just about anything else), but it worked perfectly with the pasta.
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY!
Feed The Resistance: Indigenous Peoples' Day!
Monday is Indigenous Peoples' Day! We're celebrating a few days early, with a recipe from my wife's tribe. Laura is a proud member of the Oneida Nation, and somewhere in her youth, picked up a copy of the "Three Sisters Cookbook." The "Three Sisters" in Native American culture are Corn, Beans, and Squash. The Three Sisters are important for both their agricultural sustainability and for their nutritional value. The recipe that I made for today doesn't actually feature the Three Sisters, but it does come from the The Three Sisters Cookbook - "Wild Rice Chicken Salad." The chicken salad features a sauce made with mayonnaise, milk and lemon juice. As that sauce came together, it seemed way too runny, but after a little time in the fridge, it set up quite nicely. In addition to the sauce, there's chicken (of course), wild rice, onion, water chestnuts, grapes and cashews. It's all served over the top of lettuce leaves.
To pair with the Chicken Salad - Dee brought in One Barrel's "These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty" Oktoberfest, which worked very nicely with the flavors of the dish.
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: I'M ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS!
Feed The Resistance: I'm Only Happy When It Rains!
Garbage plays a sold out show at The Sylvee tonight, so I thought it would be fun to take a little inspiration from their song "I'm Only Happy When It Rains!" And what makes a better rainy day meal than a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup? How about "Grilled Cheese Tomato Soup?" Yep, it's a tomato soup that has the flavors of a grilled cheese sandwich cooked right into the soup!
Dee wanted to start the month of October off on the right foot, and celebrate "Sober October" with an NA from Athletic Brewing Company. In this case, the "Light Copper" NA. I've always liked what Athletic does with NA beers, in particular, I've been drinking a lot of their "Hazy IPA" recently. The Light Copper worked perfectly with the soup!
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: LAST BLAST OF SUMMER!
Feed The Resistance: Last Blast of Summer!
Well, summer has come to an end, but I'm not quite ready for fall yet. Sooooo...it's one "Last Blast of Summer!" I wanted to fix one more of my favorite summertime dishes before finally saying "goodbye" to the summer of 2025. The recipe that I made for today is one that I haven't done in a long time - mainly because I lost it a few years ago, when Laura and I were cleaning out the basement and got rid of a bunch of old magazines, including all of our "Wine Spectator" magazines. The recipe for Pinkerton Avocados with Pea Shoots, Toasted Pine Nuts and Prosciutto was in one of those magazines. So, I did some digging online, and finally found it again! And it's as simple as it sounds - the Avocados are sliced and laid out over the Pea Shoots, and then Prosciutto and Pine Nuts go on top of that, with a little Olive Oil and Lemon Juice over sprinkled over the top of it all.
Dee had a little trouble with this one, as she had never dealt with Pea Shoots, but she came up with a great pairing nonetheless - Modelo's "CHELADA LIMON YSAL" worked perfectly with the citrus and salt flavors in the beer working really well with the citrus and the toasted nuts in the salad. Great job (as usual) Dee!
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: RIOT FEST!
Feed The Resistance: Riot Fest!
A little later today, I'm heading to Riot Fest in Chicago! In honor of that, I wanted to do something with a little bit of a Rockin' theme to it. The recipe that I used is "Rockin' Halibut" - but since the recipe says that you can use different types of fish, and I had Cod on hand... I made "Rockin' Cod!" In my notes, from the last time I used this recipe - it said "kinda like 'fancy fish sticks.'" To pair with the fancy fish sticks, Dee brought in the Infinite Citra IPA from Pipeworks Brewing Company in Chicago. She chose this particular beer, because IPAs generally pair well with fish...and she was right (as usual).
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: SIPS & SLICES!
Feed The Resistance: Sips & Slices!
Sips & Slices is a benefit for The River Food Pantry on Sunday at the East Side Club. The idea behind the event is...local celebrities team up with local chefs, and each team comes up with a dish that everyone is invited to try, and vote for their favorite. The theme for this year's Sips & Slices is "A Tailgate Taste-Off" - so today, we did a little tailgating food! I made Red Pepper, Fennel and Sausage Grinders! The original recipe calls for Hot Italian Sausage, but because we're tailgating in Wisconsin, I replaced that with Brats! I have now made this recipe with both Italian Sausage and Brats, and I would say that is equally good either way!
'Tis the season for not only tailgating, but also for Oktoberfest Beers - so Dee paired the Lake Louie Oktoberfest with the Grinders, and as usual, she nailed it! The perfect tailgating combo - I now wish that we were in the competition this weekend!
More about Sips & Slices...
Sips & Slices - A Tailgate Taste-Off for The River Food Pantry
Sunday, September 14, 1-4pm
The East Side Club, 3735 Monona Drive
Local Chefs include...
* Dan Fox from Heritage Tavern
* Tynan McCaffrey from Coopers Tavern
* Matt Schieble from Frostwood Farms
* Edwin Ramirez from Cento...and more!
Local Celebrities include...
* Dane County Executive Melissa Agard
* The Fabulous Farm Babe Pam Jahnke
* Badger Volleyball Coach Kelly Sheffield
* RON DAYNE...and more.
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: HOT HONEY SHRIMP!
Feed The Resistance: Hot Honey Shrimp!
Welcome to September! The month of September is National Honey Month, so of course I wanted to do some cooking with Honey. At the same time, I wanted to try something new - so Hot Honey it is! I know the Hot Honey trend has been around for awhile, but I've never tried it, and I've been intrigued by it. After a little digging around, I settled on Hot Honey Shrimp for my first attempt at a Hot Honey dish. The dish turned out good, but I do wish that the honey was a bit spicier. Next time I'll probably go with a home-made hot honey. To pair with the hot honey shrimp, Dee chose Slow Melt Pale Ale from Half Acre Brewing in Chicago. When drinking the beer alone, it has a very dry finish, but when paired with the shrimp, that disappeared, and they worked very nicely together.
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: TASTE OF MADISON!
Feed The Resistance: Taste of Madison!
I did not do the cooking this week - I have to give credit to Luis and Lupida from our sister-station, La Movida, who have a a couple of side-businesses... La Capital tortillas (best tortillas in the land!) and "Lil' Orbits Mini Donuts." Lil' Orbits will be on the square for Taste of Madison this weekend, so to get ready for the weekend, today we dined on their absolutely delicious mini donuts!
It seems a little odd to pair beer with donuts, but of course Dee made it work! She brought in a Coffee Lager from Titletown Brewing Company, and as usual, it worked perfectly!
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: ANNIVERSARY DINNER!
Feed The Resistance: Anniversary Dinner!
My wife Laura and I celebrate our anniversary today, so in honor of that, we have been dining on some of our favorite meals all week long. One of those is Chicken with Anchovy-Basil Pan Sauce, and that's also what Dee and I dined on today. When Laura and I had it last night, we both thought that it would be even better if served with another one of our favorites on the side - Saucy White Beans and Greens. While we didn't serve it that way, if you would like to give it a try, you can find that recipe here.
To pair with the chicken, Dee brought in one of the goofiest named beers EVER - Noon Whistle Gummylicious Hazy IPA. Yes, goofy name, but it tastes great, and went especially well with the Chicken dish!
Feed The Resistance is thanks to Brennan’s Market…Make your gatherings memorable with Brennan’s!