FEED THE RESISTANCE: THREE CUP CHICKEN...WITH "NO, YEAH" BEER FROM BELL'S
Feed The Resistance: Three Cup Chicken is paired with "No, Yeah" beer from Bell's!
A few weeks back, the marquee outside the Majestic Theater read "Eat the 3 Cup Chicken at Natt Spil...#buylocal." So, of course I had to try the 3 cup chicken at Natt Spil...and it was good (really good). And so I had to find a recipe and try to make it myself. The recipe I found that seemed to be pretty authentic called for "Shaoxing Wine" - which I tried desperately to find at several grocery and liquor stores...and failed. Finally, just the other day, someone suggested that I try an Asian market, which is where I found "Shao Xing" (2-words, as opposed to the 1-word in the recipe) wine! I paid $2.09 for a 25.3 ounce bottle - so, NO this is not a wine that you want to drink. It's a cooking wine!
In my research, I learned that the "3-cup" part of this was not to be taken literally - "3-cup" refers to the 3 equal parts of sesame oil, soy sauce and Shao Xing wine, which is what makes up the sauce for the chicken.
Since we were going international with the food today...Dee paired it with a good Midwestern beer, from Bell's in Michigan - "No, Yeah!" Not only does it have a name that totally screams "Midwest" - there are a bunch of fantastic Midwestern sayings printed on the can - "Just gonna sneak past ya"..."Ope, 'scuse me"..."Yeah No, For Sure"..."Watch out for Deer"..."Ope, Sorry" and more! The beer is described as "Just a really nice beer."
FEED THE RESISTANCE: BAKED RICE CAKE WITH HAM & CHEESE...WITH LUCKY BUDDHA ENLIGHTENED BEER!
Feed The Resistance: Baked Rice-Cake w/ Ham & Cheese...paired with Lucky Buddha Enlightened Beer!
Looking for something to do with Easter Brunch leftovers, I stumbled upon a recipe that I haven't made in several years - it's similar to Arancini (deep-fried rice balls), but without the deep-frying...which I CAN'T DO! I've tried...and failed...many times to deep fry food, and it just doesn't work! This is a cake, made with risotto-style rice and stuffed with ham (leftover from Easter) and cheese - and then baked in the oven (NOT DEEP-FRIED!). Since the flavors are similar to Arancini, I made a sauce that I found with another Arancini recipe - it's spicy, and adds a great flavor to the whole dish!
For this week's beer pairing - Dee played off the rice flavor of the dish, and paired it with Lucky Buddha Enlightened Beer - a rice beer from China. Not only did it taste great...but it also comes in the best bottle EVER!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: COCONUT-BRAISED CHICKEN OVER COUSCOUS...WITH YOUNG BLOOD BEER COMPANY'S "THE TALE OF MIDNIGHT BILL"
Feed The Resistance: Coconut-Braised Chicken w/Chorizo, Cashews & Currants...Paired with "The Tale of Midnight Bill" Milk Stout from Young Blood Beer Company.
Black Pistol Fire was a recent guest on "The Resistance Disrupter Series" with Miranda. During the conversation, they talked about food - specifically, a backwoods camping recipe with couscous, chicken, cashews, coconut and currants.  Taking a cue from Black Pistol Fire, I made a few adjustments to my favorite chicken recipe, skipping the potatoes and instead serving it over couscous, and topping it all with cashews, currants and toasted coconut (instead of the gremolata in the recipe).
FEED THE RESISTANCE: VICHYSSOISE WITH LEFT HAND BREWING'S NITRO MILK STOUT!
Feed The Resistance: Vichyssoise (chilled potato soup) is paired with a Nitro Milk Stout from Left Hand Brewing!
March is Women's History Month, which got me thinking about how few of the cookbooks that I have are authored by women. The one female author that is well represented in my collection is Mollie Katzen - probably the world's most famous vegetarian cookbook author. Mollie's book's include The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, Moosewood Cookbook, Still Life With Menu, Get Cooking...and many more, as well as several children's cookbooks.
The recipe that I made here is from the Moosewood Cookbook, which is a collection of recipes from the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. Mollie Katzen was one of the founding members of the Moosewood Restaurant when it opened in 1973, and she cooked there for 4 1/2 years. The Moosewood Restaurant is still in business today!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: GUINNESS INFUSED ICE CREAM with LUSCIOUS STOUT CARAMEL SAUCE!
Feed The Resistance: March 19,2021
Guinness Infused Ice Cream and Luscious Stout Caramel Sauce is paired with...GUINNESS! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
(Make sure you listen to the very end...to hear my reaction to doing a shot of Jameson!)
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I did a simple "no-churn" ice cream and as I mixed it up, added a little bit of the foam from a Guinness! I topped that off with more Guinness, in the form of a Luscious Stout Caramel Sauce! Dee paired it all with...you guessed it...more Guinness (and a shot of Jameson...Happy St. Pat's!).
Making the ice cream is super simple - it's a pint of heavy cream, and a can of sweetened condensed milk and whatever solid mix-ins you want to add to that. I usually add some malt powder and cocoa powder, in this case I added a little foam from a Guinness. Whip the heavy cream until you have a really thick whipped cream. Next, very carefully fold in the sweetened condensed milk, a little at a time, followed by your mix-ins. Cover that mixture with plastic wrap and pop it in the freezer for a few hours. That's it!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: MEATLOAF CUPCAKES!
Feed The Resistance: March 12, 2021
Meatloaf Cupcakes are paired with Lake Louie's "Mood" Milk Stout.
The River Food Pantry is the recipient of 2021 Resistance Community Awareness Grant, so you will be hearing more about all the good work that they do in our community in the coming months. To welcome The River to The Resistance family, I paid a visit to the pantry, made a donation, learned a little more about what's happening there, and grabbed a few things to turn into a dish to serve for "Feed The Resistance." I also invited The River's Communications Manager, Becca Carpenter to join us for Feed The Resistance this week.
Becca told us about one of the many great programs offered by The River - "FAM" or "Family At-Home Meals." FAM Meals are healthy, ready-to-eat meals for families to share in the safety of their homes. One of the FAM choices at The River this week is meatloaf and potatoes, so I decided to cook up a fun take on meatloaf..."Meatloaf Cupcakes!"
The concept is simple - just your regular meatloaf recipe, dropped into cupcake tins, with a little BBQ sauce on top, baked in the oven and then "frosted" with mashed potatoes, and finished off with some sprinkles...chives in this case - not the candy sprinkles you put on a regular cupcake.
As you can see from the picture, I'm not too handy with the pastry bag - the picture I found on the internet was much prettier, but even my non-artistic version will get the kids to eat their meatloaf (or at least try it).
Dee paired the "cupcakes" with a Milk Stout from Lake Louie Brewing! I'm betting the beer would taste great with chocolate cupcakes too! Maybe for dessert.
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FEED THE RESISTANCE: GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SAMOAS TRIFLE!
Feed The Resistance: March 5, 2021
Girl Scout Cookie Samoas Trifle is paired with Eagle Park Brewing Company's "BTO" Boch Beer.
Dinner at the Gallagher house was a mess last night! First the stove wouldn't light - by the time we got it lit, we had given up on the main course and ordered a pizza. So I went to work on dessert - a trifle made with coconut pudding, girl scout cookies and whipped cream! Yum! Except the coconut pudding never became "pudding" - it was more of a soup. I gave it another try - with the same result. So my wife suggested that I just go to the grocery store and buy some pudding and buy some whipped cream! So for this morning's pairing - we have the ultimate cheater version of a trifle...paired with an great beer from Eagle Park Brewing in Milwaukee. If you would like to try to make the actual recipe - you can find it here.
If you don't know any Girl Scouts selling cookies, there is a New York City troop that works with girls from the city's homeless population - you can order cookies from Troop 6000 here.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: BEETS WITH SAGE AND DUKKAH SPICES!
Feed The Resistance: February 26, 2021
Roasted Beets with Sage & Dukkah Spices are paired with "Murder Hornet" Pale Ale from Ale Asylum's "Apocalypse Bingo" series.
In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to cook something from Marcus Samuelsson's new book, "The Rise." In the book, he highlights black people working in the food industry and features recipes inspired by those people. Of course there are several chefs that are highlighted, but he digs beyond the obvious, and also talks about a food justice advocate in San Francisco, a publisher and podcaster in Atlanta, and the recipe that I prepared was from the chapter about Toni Tipton-Martin, an author in Baltimore, who was the first African American food editor of a major daily newspaper.
This recipe comes together very simply - the beets are roasted in the oven for 40-50 minutes. While the beets are roasting, you make the dukkah - a combination of toasted coriander, cumin and sesame seeds with coarsely ground cashews and pistachios and a little salt. When the beets come out of the oven (let them cool) - they are mixed with a little bit of the dukkah, some olive oil, lime juice, red onion and sage. A little more dukkah and fresh sage tops the dish when you serve it up!
Marcus Samuelsson was recently a guest on The Today Show, cooking and talking about the Black Business Matters matching fund, an organization that is helping black-owned businesses across the country as they work to survive during the pandemic. You can check out what he cooked on Today, and watch the video here.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: SMOKED TURKEY GUMBO!
Feed The Resistance: February 19, 2021
Happy Mardi Gras! (a couple days late)
Smoked Turkey Gumbo is paired with "Death By King Cake" beer from Oscar Blues Brewery
This is a super-simple recipe that takes a long time to make. First there's the hour that you spend simmering the smoked turkey wings in the stock...and then you need to make a roux. A couple years back, I found a simple way to make the roux - but it also takes a long time...
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, whisk together equal parts canola oil and flour in an oven-safe pot, then put that pot in the oven. After 1.5 - 2 hours, you'll have a nice dark roux, carefully remove the pot from the oven and continue with the rest of your recipe.
The rest of this recipe is pretty simple - add the onions, garlic and celery to the roux and cook until the veggies are softened (about 5 minutes), then add the stock and sliced andouille sausage. Simmer everything for another hour (what are we at, 3 hours now?). While everything is simmering, remove the turkey meat from the bones and cut it up. After that hour of simmering, add the turkey meat, bring the whole thing to a boil, and then reduce it to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve the gumbo with rice, hot sauce and some sliced scallions.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: CHOCOLATE MOUSSE!
Feed The Resistance: February 12, 2021
Chocolate Mousse is paired with Samuel Smith's Organic Strawberry Fruit Ale
The story behind this dish goes back a few years and a private cooking class that my wife and I took in Lyon, France, when we were there for the Tour de France. We spent an afternoon in the kitchen cooking and drinking with a French chef. We prepared a 3-course meal, and this was the final course. Chocolate Mousse!!!
A few days back, I found the recipe, hand-written on a scrap of paper...in FRENCH! Over the weekend we did our best to translate the notes, and messed it up bad. Last night, we gave it another shot...and it turned out perfectly!!!
Here's the notes - if you can read French, have at it...
The mousse recipe is on the right side of the sheet - on the left is a dish that the chef called "Brains of the Fisherman" - if you can figure that one out, please let me know!!!
Dee paired the mousse with an organic Strawberry Fruit Ale from Samuel Smith - and they worked together PERFECTLY! The other beer pictured here is an organic Chocolate Stout, also from Samuel Smith. Dee suggests mixing the two of them together for the perfect Valentine's Day drink!
