FEED THE RESISTANCE: CHICKEN CASSOULET WITH FENNEL & SAUSAGE
Feed The Resistance: Chicken Cassoulet w/Fennel & Sausage is paired with Delta Beer Lab's "GLD"
I'm still obsessing over le Tour de France! Week two of the race takes the riders into the mountains of France - so I gotta do another French Dish...Cassoulet! I first discovered Cassoulet several years back when my wife and I were vegetarians - and we found a really good vegetarian version. Over the years we fell off the wagon...and meat was added to that original vegetarian cassoulet recipe, and eventually I found this recipe for Chicken Cassoulet with Fennel & Sausage! The recipe comes together fairly easily...and fairly quickly, with the most time spent chopping the vegetables. Dee paired today's recipe with Delta Beer Lab's golden ale - "GLD"...and it was GOOD!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: YUM DOGS AND BIDEN BEER!
Feed The Resistance: It's a 4th of July celebration with Yum Dogs ...and "Biden Beer" from Minocqua Brewing Company!
With the 4th of July right around the corner, I wanted to do something with the All-American HOT DOG! So, I went with my all-time favorite hot dog recipe...The YUM DOG! Dee paired the dogs with a beer named for our President - "Biden Beer" from Minocqua Brewing Company.
We also invited Chef Dave Heide to join us to talk about the great work he's doing with veterans at Little John's.
Have a great 4th of July weekend...throw some dogs on the grill and crack open your favorite beer!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: SMOKY, WARM, FRENCH LENTIL SALAD WITH "NIGHT CALL" FROM KARBEN4
Feed The Resistance: It's Tour de France Time! A Smoky, Warm, French Lentil Salad is paired with Karben4's "Night Call"
My wife and I are BIG fans of bicycle racing. Our obsession has taken us to France several times for le Tour de France, and when we can't be there, you can find us on the couch, watching the race on TV (we go out for a ride after the day's race). During our visits to France, in addition to the race, we have enjoyed the food and drink of the country - even taken a private cooking class in a chef's home in Lyon. One dish that we have always enjoyed is the French Lentil Salad. Over the years we have found recipes for several different variations on this salad - and this one is definitely our favorite! We always add a good sausage to the basic recipe, and for the first time, this time we served it with salmon. YUM!
Dee wanted to play off of the smokiness of the salad, so she paired it with her favorite Smoked Porter - "Night Call" from Karben4!
le Tour de France
I promised Dee that I would post some tips on how to watch le Tour de France - since cycling is a sport that is not like most spectator sports that we watch here in the U.S.
Let's start with the fact that it's a race that takes place over 3 weeks. There is a separate race each each day - each of those races is called a "stage." The riders have 2 rest days during the 3 weeks - they fall on the second and third Mondays of the race. Other that that - they are racing every day, and they are NOT short days in the saddle - most days are somewhere between 150 and 200k (roughly 90 - 120 miles)!
I'm often asked about the route. The route changes every year - usually making a rough loop around France. During odd years that loop goes clock-wise, during even years its counter-clockwise. The only part of the race that is the same from year to year is the finish in Paris.
This one's gonna seem really strange - Bicycle racing is a TEAM SPORT, with an INDIVIDUAL WINNER. The guy that you see on the podium in Paris every year gets all the glory, but he could not do it without the support of his team. The team does a lot of the work during each of the stages - leading pace-lines and keeping that team-leader out of the wind...keeping their guy out of dangerous situations...and controlling the overall pace of the race when another team tries to move their guy to the front. The team does a lot of the grunt-work while the team-leader gets the glory.
There are several races going on within the main race...
Stage wins are important. Each day's race has a winner - that person may or may not be the overall leader of the race (well, the winner of stage one IS the overall leader - at least for that one day).
Yellow Jersey - this is the BIG ONE! This is what everyone watches for on TV - the overall leader of the race. This is the guy with the lowest overall time, when you add up all of the stages.
Polka-Dot Jersey - this is for the best climber of the race. When the race heads into the mountains, there are "King of the Mountain" points that riders can collect by being one of the first riders up a mountain climb. The rider with the most "King of the Mountain" points wears the polka-dot jersey.
Green Jersey - this one is for the "points leader." Within each stage of the race there are sprinting points awarded. The riders sprint to specific spots along the route - the first riders to each of those spots (including the finish line) are awarded points. The guy with the most points wears the Green Jersey.
White Jersey - this is for the best young rider. Young rider is defined as under 25 years old. The white jersey is worn by the guy under the age of 25 with the lowest overall cumulative time.
So what happens if you are champion in more than one of those categories? You wear the higher jersey - if you are points and yellow jersey leader - you wear the yellow jersey and the green jersey will be worn by the number 2 guy in that competition.
U.S. television coverage of le Tour is excellent! In France they basically put a camera on the race, and you are expected to know what's going on. U.S. coverage gives you much more information -at any given time you can see where in the race each of those jersey wearers currently is, how far out in front the race leaders are, how far back each chase group is, etc. Plus, Phil Liggett and Bob Roll are two of the best sports commentators alive today. They both have amazing stories to tell and know the sport inside and out - it's kinda like listening to Bob Uecker calling a Brewers game!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: CHILLED MANGO SOUP WITH "ABBEY TRIPLE" FROM SPRECHER
Feed The Resistance: A Celebration of Summer! Chilled Mango Soup is Paired With Sprecher's "Abbey Triple!"
Summer official starts on Sunday - so today we celebrate the coming of summer! More than anything, I love the name of this soup - it's a chilled fruit soup made with mango, coconut milk and serrano pepper...and it's called "A Bowl of Mango Sunshine!" And that's exactly what it is - Sunshine in a bowl! This is the perfect chilled soup for those 90+ degree days that we've already seen several of, and summer hasn't even officially started yet. This couldn't be any simpler to make - it's mango (I cheat, and buy frozen mango chunks - that way I don't have to try to cut up an actual mango), coconut milk, milk, lime juice, salt, honey, mint leaves and serrano pepper all mixed up in a food processor, and then chilled. Done! Dee paired the soup with the "Abbey Triple" from Sprecher that we got from The Meat Market in Middleton! The beer perfectly cut the heat from the pepper.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: SAUSAGE & HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD WITH "THE COMMUTER"
Feed The Resistance: Sausage & Heirloom Tomato Salad is paired with "The Commuter" from One Barrel Brewing!
It's like 8000 degrees outside right now...so we really need a good summer meal...and a good summer beer! I also wanted to celebrate the fact that Farmers Market is moving back to the Capital Square! One more weekend at Alliant Energy Center, then everything moves up to the Square on June 19! My wife and I hit the market at Alliant last weekend and picked up some beautiful tomatoes for this recipe that I found in Food & Wine magazine several years ago. The recipe calls for chorizo sausages, but the first time I made it I didn't have any chorizo, so I used Italian sausage instead, and it turned out great. Ever since then I have used either chorizo, Italian, or a combination of the two. For today's dish, I grabbed both from UW Provision. Dee paired the salad with this week's "Tap That" beer of the week - "The Commuter" from One Barrel Brewing right here in Madison!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: MEAT-FEST WITH TOMATO JAM AND "MADTOWN NUTBROWN"
Feed The Resistance: Lotsa Meat and Tomato Jam is paired with Ale Asylum's "Madtown Nutbrown"
I have a really good friend who loves to smoke meat! He'll spend an entire weekend tending to the smoker...and share the results with all of his friends (THAT'S a good friend to have!). One night, while having dinner at his house, I got in my head the idea that the smoked meat would be even better with a tomato jam. I didn't even know if there was such a thing - but it sounded like there should be, and it felt like it should accompany this great smoked meat. Fast-forward a couple of months and I found a recipe for Tomato Jam in Food & Wine Magazine, so I gave it a try. My instinct was correct - even though the recipe was intended to be served with biscuits, it went great with the meat!
This week, for Feed The Resistance, we welcome a new sponsor - UW Provision...with 2 locations; The Meat Market in Middleton and Local Source Foods in Sun Prairie. The sausages and jerky that you see here came from Local Source Foods, and the Beer came from The Meat Market (both locations have beer & wine, and of course...meat!).
FEED THE RESISTANCE: 6-PACK BRAT STEW WITH A PAIR OF YOUNG BLOOD BEERS!
Feed The Resistance: 6-Pack Brat Stew is paired with "Shower Bier"...AND..."The Tale of Midnight Bill" from Young Blood Beer Co.
It's Memorial Day weekend...and 'round here, that means BRATFEST! Yes, Bratfest is a little different this year - but it's happening again! And that is reason to celebrate! In honor of Bratfest, I found a fun Brat recipe that originated with a woman right here in Madison! A tip of the hat to Vivian Henoch for creating the recipe for "Six-Pack Brat Stew" - which she describes as "coq au vin without the coq or the vin...or cassoulet without the beans or the olé." Dee paired the stew with a pair of beers from Young Blood Beer - the lighter "Shower Bier" and a Milk Stout with Toasted Coconut called "The Tale of Midnight Bill."
FEED THE RESISTANCE: 'EPOISSES GRILLED CHEESE & PEPPER JELLY SANDWICH WITH VOODOO RANGER IPA!
Feed The Resistance: 'Epoisses Grilled Cheese & Pepper Jelly Sandwich with Voodoo Ranger IPA!
In honor of "American Cheese Month," I wanted to do a grilled-cheese sandwich, with a bit of a twist...The 'Epoisses Grilled Cheese and Pepper Jelly Sandwich. The first twist is trying to figure out how to pronounce "'Epoisses"...and the cheese itself is a bit of a twist on the common grilled cheese sandwich. This cheese is a VERY PUNGENT cheese. It's a French cheese that I sometimes have trouble finding, and this was one of those times. So, I grabbed another VERY PUNGENT French Blue Cheese and used that. The pepper jelly adds a nice spice to the sandwich, which goes well with the Voodoo Ranger IPA!
Speaking of the Voodoo Ranger IPA - thank you to Jessie from New Belgium Brewing for giving us a tour of all the different Voodoo Ranger IPA's.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: BEER-CANDIED BACON WITH GOOSE ISLAND 312 LEMONADE SHANDY
Feed The Resistance: Beer-Candied Bacon with Goose Island 312 Lemonade Shandy!
In celebration of American Craft Beer Week, I wanted to create something with beer. I found an amazingly simple recipe for Beer-Candied Bacon...just a mixture of beer and brown sugar, brushed onto bacon and baked in the oven. That's it. Simple!
To add to the Craft Beer Week celebration, we had a special guest in the studio with us - Tyler Peters, from Goose Island Beer Company brought in their brand new brew - "312 Lemonade Shandy," which paired perfectly with the bacon!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: SUMMERTIME SALMON SALAD WITH KARBEN4's "FANTASY FACTORY"
Feed The Resistance: For Mothers' Day - Summertime Salmon Salad w/ "Fantasy Factory" from Karben4!
With Mothers' Day right around the corner - I wanted to make something for Mom! My Mom loves Salmon...although she's not a terribly adventurous eater, so I'm not sure she'll like this dish. But...when I was growing up, the rule was that I had to try EVERYTHING - I didn't have to like everything, but I had to at least try it. So that's the rule on Sunday - Mom, you need to at least try it! (I won't make her try the beer - she's just not a beer-drinker at all).
