Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Dogfish Head and its founder, Sam Caligione, have created a wide array of different beers, such as the Theobroma, which is based on an ancient Aztec recipe and the Sah'tea, which is a take on the Finnish beer. My favorite beer produced by Dogfish Head is the Palo Santo Marron.  Last year, Clare and I took her parents to Dogfish Head's restaurant in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, where it all started.  When we left, we bought a couple of four packs home to enjoy at our leisure.

According to Dogfish Head, the Palo Santo Marron is an "unfiltered, unfettered and unprecedented" brown ale that is is aged in handmade barrels made from Palo Santo wood brought from Paraguay to the United States.  Palo Santo or "Holy Stick" is actually bulnesia sarmientoi, a heartwood that grows in the Gran Chaco, a region that straddles Paraguay and Argentina.  The wood is used for making posts and engravings, as well as charcoal.  Dogfish Head used the wood to build large wooden tanks holding 10,000 gallons each, making them the largest wooden tanks in use in the United States since Prohibition.

The Palo Santo Marron pours as dark as a brown ale can be poured before turning black.  The nose of the beer is intertwined with alcohol and caramel, with roasted notes most likely from roasted malts.  The brewer describes the taste of the beer as having caramel and vanilla notes, along with the Paraguayan Palo Santo wood.  The caramel is definitely there, as well as coffee.  The vanilla is also present, although it is subdued somewhat by the alcohol.  The beer has an ABV of 12%, which next to the Samichlaus, is the second highest ABV of a beer that I have reviewed on my blog.

The brewer suggests steak, chorizo and Cajun food as the pairing for this beer.  These suggestions are understandable, because strong beers should be paired with foods that have strong or rich flavors.  I paired the Palo Santo Marron with the Broiled Tilapia with Crawfish, primarily because I thought that the roasted malt flavors of the beer would be a good complement to the spiciness of the crushed red pepper and the smokiness of the smoked paprika, both of which were used to create the sauce for the crawfish.

I love this beer, although it is one that I enjoy only on a rare occasion.  While the Palo Santo Marron is available year round, but it is pricey at about $17.00 or $18.00 for a four pack. The beer can be found at Rodmans and other stores that sell Dogfish Head.  If you would like to enjoy just a glass of the Palo Santo Marron, it is usually available on tap at the Dogfish Head Alehouse restaurants.

ENJOY!

Broiled Tilapia with Crawfish

As I was preparing for making a Mardi Gras meal of Seafood Gumbo, I bought a package of frozen Crawfish, which is already precooked.  The package was too large for the Seafood Gumbo, so I divided the package into two and decided to use one part to make a small and quick dish for Clare.  We had tilapia in the freezer and I decided to use that fish and make a sauce that could be put over the fish.

In trying to think through the sauce, I had a brown butter sauce in mind.  I've made a brown butter sauce for pasta, but this time, it would be only for the fish.  I also wanted to layer a few different flavors into the sauce, to make it a little more complex.  I bought some sweet peppers, roasted them and diced them.  This would add sweetness to the butter sauce.   I decided to add a teaspoon of crushed red pepper, which would provide the spice and a teaspoon of smoked paprika, which would provide a smokiness to the butter sauce.   For a sauce that I thought up in about five minutes, it did not turn out too bad.  However, I think that, if I make the sauce again, I would probably reduce the amount of butter used by about a quarter or a third.

BROILED TILAPIA WITH CRAWFISH

A Chef Bolek Original
Serves 2

Ingredients (for the tilapia):

2 pieces of tilapia

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the Sauce):

1/2 cup of crawfish tails

2 roasted peppers, diced

1/2 red onion

1 clove garlic, diced

5-6 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of rosemary, diced

1 tablespoon of sage, diced

1 tablespoon of thyme, diced

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

Directions:

1.  Prepare the fish.  Heat the broiler.  Brush the tilapia with olive oil and brush a broiler-safe pan with olive oil (to avoid sticking).

2.  Saute the vegetables.  Heat the butter on medium heat in a saute pan.  Add the garlic and onions and saute for about five minutes.  Add the crushed red pepper and continue to saute for the rest of the five minutes.  Add the roasted peppers and fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme).  Stir the vegetables and continue the sauteing for another couple of minutes.  Add the smoked paprika and stir very well.

3.  Broil the tilapia.  Cook the tilapia under the broiler until it is done, which should take about seven minutes.  Remove from the heat.

4.  Add the crawfish to the vegetables.  While the tilapia is cooking, add the crawfish and stir.  Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook until the crawfish is warmed through.

5. Finish the dish. Plate the fish, spoon some of the crawfish and vegetable mixture over the fish.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Rockfish Provencal

Recently, I decided that I wanted to make a nice meal for my wife.  I did not know quite what to make, and, I perused a bunch of recipes until I came across one for Halibut Provencal.  I went to my local grocery store, but they did not have halibut, and many of my choices -- such as cod -- were not very sustainable. There was one fish that is rated as sustainable and, even better, it is a local fish from the Chesapeake bay ... rockfish.

Now, not all rockfish are sustainable and, indeed, the name "rockfish" is a little misleading.  Many fish go by different names when sold in the store, which makes buying fish based upon sustainability a major challenge.  Rockfish is a very good example because it may be labeled with many completely different names, such as Red Snapper, Black Bass and Striped Bass.  On the West Coast, a "rockfish" is more than likely a snapper while, on the East Coast, it is more than likely a striped bass.

So, it is important to see where the fish is caught, and that will more often than not tell you if the fish is sustainable.  Rockfish or Striped Bass caught in the Chesapeake Bay are sustainable because, unlike some of the other residents of the bay (most notably blue crabs and oysters), there are still sufficient populations of rockfish in the bay and the amounts of rockfish that may be caught are subject to strict regulation.

With all of that said, I decided to make Rockfish Provencal, which is a great dish that brings together all of the flavors of Provence, such as garlic, fennel, tomatoes, olives and sage. This is a very delicious dish.

ROCKFISH PROVENCAL

Adapted from About.com 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds of Rockfish

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic, diced finely

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

2 shallots, sliced thinly

1 fennel bulb, chopped

1 can of whole, peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup of bottled clam juice

12 black olives, pitted

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

1 tablespoon of fresh sage, chiffonade or cut into fine strips 

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a deep, ovenproof skillet over medium heat.  Saute the garlic and red pepper flakes for about a minute.  Add the shallots and fennel, continuing to saute for about another five minutes.  Add the tomatoes and the clam juice.  Breakdown the tomatoes using a potato masher until they are in large pieces.  Remove from the heat and stir in the olives.

3. Season the rockfish with salt and pepper.  Arrange the rockfish over the hot tomato mixture in the skillet.  Bake in the preheated oven for about fifteen to twenty minutes, until the cook is fished through.  Stir in the sage chiffonade into the tomato mixture.

4.  Plate the fish first and then spoon the tomato mixture over the fish.

ENJOY!

For more about sustainable choices when buying Rockfish, check out Seafood Watch.

Joel Gott Wines Zinfandel (2008)

The name -- Joel Gott Wines -- has always had a familiar ring.  It was one of those names that I know that I've heard before, but I just could not remember when or where.  But when I saw a bottle of Joel Gott Zinfandel at my local Whole Foods, I decided to buy a bottle and do a review.  The goal was to find where I had first heard of the winemaker.  I ended up learning a lot more ... and, all the while, I enjoyed a great wine.

Joel Gott has been identified by Wine Spectator with "Robin Hood winemaking."  Gott purchased the sixteen acre plot of land that was originally a chicken farm, but later became one of the wineries of Sutter Home wines, or, as the Wine Spectator put it, "the House that Zin built."  Gott arranged the purchase of the site with the goal of wine makers pooling resources, sharing equipment and producing artisan wines.  The "Robin Hood" part is that Gott planned on leasing the tanks to larger winemakers and using the proceeds to provide the smaller winemakers with the opportunity to make their wines.

But I am not interested in their wines, at least at this time.  I wanted to try the Joel Gott Zinfandel.  Generally, Zinfandel wines are very intense in terms of the fruit, both in the nose and on the palate.  The nose of Joel Gott's Zinfandel wine is heavy on the blackberries laced with a little black pepper.  The taste of his wine is full of fruit, with blackberries, dark cherries and some spice. The ABV of this wine, as with many Zinfandel wines, is a little higher than your average wine, at 14.4% ABV.  But, you easily forget about that as you sip a very drinkable wine.

When it comes to pairing a wine like this Zinfandel, think red meat, like beef, lamb, venison and other game.  I think this wine would go well with my grass-fed strip steak with watercress chili salad or with a bistecca alla fiorentina.  This wine also goes well with aged cheeses, like blue cheese and aged hard cheeses. 

I am generally not a big fan of Zinfandels, but I really like this wine.  It transcends other Zinfandels that I have tried in the past and it is definitely one that I would have again.  I found this bottle at my local Whole Foods for about $16.99 a bottle and it should also be available at wine stores. 

ENJOY!

Grass Fed Strip Steak with Watercress Chili Salad and Citrus Dressing

My beautiful wife, Clare, is always trying to get me to eat my vegetables, which is quite a task given that I am a committed carnivore.  She has made inroads, because I definitely eat more vegetables than I ever did in the past. I've also come to realize that I need to eat more vegetables to have a healthy, balanced diet, but it is hard.  Really hard.

So, when I decided to make a steak, I decided that I would make a salad as a side.  It could not be any salad.  I am not a big fan of iceberg lettuce or other basic leafy greens.  So, when it came to what kind of vegetable I would use for my salad, my thoughts turned to watercress, a semi-aquatic leaf vegetable that, according to Wikipedia, is one of the oldest vegetables consumed by people.  Also, as explained on Wikipedia, watercress is related to garden cress and mustard, and all three are noted for their peppery, tangy flavors.

With the lettuce question solved, I still needed to make the salad appealing to me and, the easiest way to do that is to incorporate chiles and citrus.  So, I bought a red chili, along with a lemon, lime and orange, and I had the basic ingredients to make a Watercress Chili Salad with Citrus Dressing.  Remember, I made this salad for myself, and I love spicy, peppery foods, so this salad has quite a kick to it.  But, if you like chiles like I do, then you could give this recipe a try.

GRASS FED STRIP STEAK WITH

WATERCRESS CHILI SALAD AND CITRUS DRESSING

Serves 2

A Chef Bolek Original

Ingredients:
1 grass fed strip steak (about 3/4 of a pound)
1 bunch of watercress
1 red chile, sliced very thinly
1 garlic, finely diced
1 lemon (zest 1/2 of the lemon)
1 lime (zest 1/2 of the lime)
1 orange (zest 1/4 of the orange)
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Cook the steak.  Salt and pepper the steak liberally on all sides.  Cook the steak in the broiler for about seven minutes on one side, flip and cook for about another five minutes or until it is done to your desired level (medium rare, medium, etc.).

2.  Prepare the watercress and dressing.  While the steak is cooking, trim the watercress.   Juice the lemon, lime and orange into a bowl.  Add the zest from the fruit to the juice.  Add the garlic and sliced chile.  Whisk in the olive oil until it is incorporated with the citrus juice.  Salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Plate the dish.  Slice the steak and arrange the slices.  Pour some of the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly.  (Add more dressing if you like.)  Plate the salad.

ENJOY!

Seafood Gumbo, John Besh Style

I wanted to make a nice meal for my beautiful wife, Clare, inspired by Mardi Gras.  While I have eaten many a dish of etoufee and gumbo in my time, I have never made these dishes, or, for that matter, any Creole or Cajun dish.  I thought this had to change, beginning with my first attempt to make gumbo. 

I combed through a lot of recipes on my free time, trying to find  one that would be fairly easy for a novice like myself, but remain true to the culture that underlies the dish.  After a while, I came across a blogger who posted a recipe for seafood gumbo by John Besh.  A native of New Orleans, Besh has dedicated himself to the cuisine of Southern Louisiana.

However, I did not find just any John Besh, seafood gumbo recipe.  I had found the "Gumbo for the Gulf" recipe.  The "Gumbo for the Gulf" was a campaign that called upon cooks to host parties and cook gumbo for their guests, all the while raising money to help families in the Gulf region who were devastated by the spill.  John Besh donated this recipe to that campaign.  So, I had stumbled upon a recipe that had been used for a very good cause, something that is generally, and in this particular case, personally important to me.

With the recipe in hand, I had to turn my attention to the ingredients.  Besh's recipe calls for use blue crabs and andouille sausage.  I could not get the first ingredient in a cost efficient manner for just the two of us (live blue crabs are very expensive) and I could not use the second ingredient because Clare does not eat meat.  (Fortunately, she eats fish and seafood.)  Also, despite checking two different stores, I could not find any okra.  Consequently, I had to make a few tweaks to the ingredients called for in recipe.

I also made one other modification to John Besh's recipe.  The original recipe serves ten people, and I was only cooking for two.  To make matters a little more difficult, some ingredients, like lump crab meat, are sold in 8 ounce containers.  The original recipe called for 1 pound of crab meat (16 ounces).  I could not just buy 1/5 of a pound of lump crab meat.  So, in the end, I decided to cut the recipe in half, hoping that, if I was to prepare the dish properly, we could have some delicious leftovers for lunch. 

In preparing the dish, I confronted the notable characteristic of my style of cooking ... the emphasis on the protein.  As you can see from the pictures, I heaped a lot of catfish, crab meat, crawfish, oysters and shrimp into the bowl.  While a mass of this seafood is usually not considered a negative, it overshadowed the broth, which was the culmination of the first successful attempt on my part to get a roux to reach the appropriate shade of dark brown that is mandated by gumbo lovers throughout the Gulf region. 

So, with all of the changes I noted above, I can't say that this is John Besh's gumbo recipe (nor do I think he would want me to say that given my gumbo falls far short of the gumbo that he would make).  So, I will refer to this dish in the style of the original Iron Chef program.  Whenever an Iron Chef would make a dish inspired by a style of cooking or a place, they would refer to the dish in a particular way, noting it prepared in a certain style.  Along those lines, I present to you, Seafood Gumbo, John Besh style.

SEAFOOD GUMBO, JOHN BESH STYLE

Adapted from a recipe by John Besh from My New Orleans: A Cookbook

     by John Besh, Andrews/McMeel Publishing and reprinted on the

     Gulf State Organizer's blog
Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup flour

1 large onion diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup sliced okra

1 clove garlic, minced

1 sprig of thyme, leaves only

1 1/2 quarts of seafood stock

1 bay leaf

1/2 pound of shrimp (preferably American)

1/2 cup of lump crab meat

8 ounces of shucked oysters

1/2 cup of crawfish meat

1 pound of catfish, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 cup of minced green onions

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Basic Creole spices (see recipe below)

Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco

1 cup cooked rice

Directions:

 1.  Make the roux.  Heat the canola oil in a large cast iron or heavy bottomed pot over high heat.  Whisk the flour into the hot oil.  It will immediately begin to sizzle.  Reduce the heat to moderate and continue whisking until the roux takes on a deep brown color, about ten minutes.

Making the roux.

2.  Saute the onions.  Add the onions and continue to stir with a wooden spoon, incorporating the onions into the roux.  Reduce the heat and continue to stir for another five to seven minutes, until the roux is a rich dark brown.

Trying to get that rich, dark brown color.

3.  Saute the other vegetables.  Add the celery, bell peppers, garlic and okra.  Increase the heat to moderate and continue to cook and stir for a couple of minutes.

Celery, bell peppers and garlic.  I wish I had okra.

4.  Create the soup.  Add the thyme, seafood stock and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally and cook for about twenty five minutes at a simmer.

With seafood stock.  Even better with homemade stock.

5.  Add the spices and protein.  Add the Creole spices and taste to make sure that you have just the right amount.  Then, add the catfish first.  Stir gently.  After about three minutes, add the oysters.  Continue to stir gently.  After about one to two minutes, add the shrimp.  Continue to stir and then add the crab and crawfish.  Add the Worcestershire and Tabasco.  Allow the seafood to cook for about two to three minutes more and then take off the heat. 

My favorite seafood ... Crab, Oysters, Shrimp, Crawfish and Catfish

6.  Plate the dish.  Spoon some rice into bowls.  Serve the gumbo over the rice.

And, last but not least, the recipe for basic Creole spices.  One note, I upped the cayenne pepper because I like things spicy.  For those who do not like the heat, just add 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper:

BASIC CREOLE SPICE

Adapted from a recipe by John Besh from My New Orleans: A Cookbook

     by John Besh, Andrews/McMeel Publishing and reprinted on the

     Gulf State Organizer's blog 

Makes 1/4 cup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of celery salt
1/2 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1/2 tablespoon of coarse sea salt
1/2 tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice.

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together.

As I noted above, I ended up plating a lot of catfish, oysters, crawfish and shrimp, which obscured the very good broth that lies underneath. In doing so, I learned something from this endeavor ... Clare and I need to invite people over for gumbo, so I can divide the protein and rice between more bowls for hungry guests and, in the process, show off the broth. If the recipe turns out as well as it did when I made it this time, I think there will be no shortage of people willing to eat it!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday.  And, of course,

ENJOY!

Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Classic

Austrian ...  malt ... liquor.  One would not ordinarily put those three words together.  However, leave it to a brewery who can date itself back to 999 A.D. and has been brewing on a commercial basis since 1681 to tie those words together.  Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg is the oldest family owned brewery in Austria and, in a land that stands in the shadow of Germany's many beers, this brewery makes a truly stand out beer.  I mean, malt liquor.

Samichlaus is "Santa Claus" in Swiss German and the name speaks of the seasonal nature of the beer. The beer is brewed only one day a year -- on December 6 or the day of Saint Nicholas.  The brewers produce this beer in the style of a Bavarian dopplebock. the characteristics of a dopplebock emphasize strong maltiness and richness in both the nose and the taste.  However, the Samiclaus is no ordinary doppelbock.

As the legendary beer hunter Michael Jackson once noted, "it takes almost a year of slow secondary fermentation to develop the full strength of Samichlaus," adding can think of no other beer that has such a long period of cold storage (in German, lagering). Nor could the location of the cellars be more appropriate. The whole of the brewery is set into the foothills of the Alps, where the technique of lagering was born (though that was, it must be conceded, on the more easterly side of the mountains in Bavaria)."  Check out this website for more about Michael Jackson's view of this beer. 

Labeling itself as "l'une des bieres les plus fortes au monde" (or one of the strongest beers in the world), the Samichlaus takes all of the features of a doppelbock to the extreme.  The beer pours not like any beer, but more like a hard liquor.  The only thing betraying the hard liquor appearance is the off-white foam from the beer.  The nose of the beer is very boozy, with intertwining scents of maple syrup and molasses. The scent of the beer is very rich and warns the drinker to proceed with caution.

As you drink this beer, the flavors surpass most barleywines in terms of the alcohol (it is 14% ABV) and the complexity of the taste.  The Samichlaus is probably as close as a beer can come to hard liquor, something to be sipped and enjoyed slowly.  The body of this beer is full, the taste is very boozy, but smooth and soothing as you drink it.  The beer has a sweetness from the malts, as well as the taste of vanilla and candied sugar, with a faint hint of oak (although, to my knowledge, this beer does not age in oak). 

While I would ordinarily try to offer food pairing suggestions, I think this beer is good just by itself.  This is a beer that you enjoy after you have eaten, like a digestif. 

This beer is available at beer stores that have a fairly large international beer section.  It sells for about $20 a four pack or about the same amount for a 22 ounce bottle.  I purchased a four pack at State Line Liquors but I have seen the 22 ounce bottle at Whole Foods.

ENJOY!

Sauteed Rainbow Swiss Chard with Parmigiano Reggiano

An interesting fact ... Swiss chard did not originate in Switzerland; instead, it probably originated in Sicily.  This leafy vegetable, which is a descendant of the sea beet, is very common in both French and Italian cuisines.  So, how exactly did it get the name, "Swiss chard"?   The answer lies probably with seed catalogers in the 1800s, who gave the vegetable its name in order to distinguish it from French spinach varieties.   

Although catalogers sought to distinguish Swiss chard from spinach, the two vegetables share one thing in common ... they are very nutritious.  Swiss chard has a lot of vitamins A, C and K. It also more than thirteen polyphenol antioxidants, including kaempherol, which, according to medical studies, reduces the chance of certain types of cancer (like lung and pancreatic cancer) when consumed as part of a healthy diet.  Swiss chard also has syringic acid, which is believed to aid in the  regulation of blood sugar levels.

For me at least, there is a significant obstacle between all of that goodness and my stomach ... namely the bitterness of the raw vegetable.  I have learned to overcome this bitterness by sauteing chard, usually with a little butter and oil, along with other liquids, such as a dry white wine.  When I came across this recipe, it reminded me of the few times that I have made this vegetable in the past.  The recipe calls for the use of Parmesan cheese; and followers of this blog know that whenever a recipe calls for Parmesan, I only use Parmigiano Reggiano.  However, you can feel free to use other Parmesan cheese or other cheeses when making this recipe.

SAUTEED RAINBOW SWISS CHARD WITH PARMIGIANO REGGIANO
Adapted from Allrecipes.com 
Serves about 4

Ingredients:
1 bunch of rainbow Swiss chard (substitute regular Swiss Chard)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (like Parmigano Reggiano)
     (plus more to garnish)
Salt, to taste

Directions:

1.  Cut the stems and center ribs out of the leaves and dice the stems and center ribs.  Coarsely chop the leaves.

2. Melt the butter and olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Stir in garlic and onion, and continue to saute until the onions become translucent, which should take about five minutes.  Add the chard stems and white wine and continue to saute until they soften, which should take an additional five minutes.

3.  Sir in the chard leaves and cook until they become wilted.  Stir in the lemon juice and cheese and season with salt.

ENJOY!

For more information about Swiss chard, check out Wikipedia and World's Healthiest Foods.

Daleside Brewery Morocco Ale

Clare and I were checking out a new beer store in Silver Spring when I came across a beer called "Morocco Ale."  My first thought was that the beer could not actually be from Morocco.  I did not think there could be any craft brewers in a country where the predominant majority of citizens are Muslim, a faith that prohibits the consumption of alcohol. 

In fact, Morocco is England, or, more specifically, south Cumbria, where there is Levens Hall.  Originally, it was a medieval tower built by the de Redman family of the Yealand Redmayne.  In the late 1500s, the Bellingham family acquired the land and built a large residence, which incorporated the medieval tower.  About one hundred years later, Colonel James Grahme of Levens acquired the property and the residence, which became known as Levens Hall. 

So what is the connection between Levens Hall and a beer called Morocco Ale?  The recipe is believed to have originated around the time that Colonel Grahme of Levens was a courtier in the Court of King James II.  According to legend, Grahme called the beer "Morocco" because of the Moors who visited the court when Catherine Braganza married Charles II.  Part of Catherine's dowry included the city of Tangiers, which is located in present-day Morocco.  The legend behind this beer continues ... during the English Civil War, someone buried the recipe in the gardens of Levens Hall, near some evergreen trees.  It was eventually recovered and used to brew beer for special occasions. 

Today, the beer is brewed by Daleside Brewery for Levens Hall. Despite the history of the recipe, this beer is not an Old Ale.  Instead, I think it is better described as an English Brown Ale.  The beer pours a very dark brown, with an off-white foam.  The nose of the beer is not very hoppy, but more malty and sweet in character.  The malt also provides the predominant flavor of the beer, accompanied by sweeter flavors of caramel and, to a lesser degree, toffee.  The ABV of this beer is 5.5%

The flavors of this beer are milder than some other English Brown Ales that I have tried.  I think that, based upon the flavors in the beer, the Morocco Ale can be paired with hamburgers, stews or chili.  I also think this ale could be paired with roast beef and mashed potatoes, which could make for a classic British meal.  I'm sure that there are other pairings that could work well with this beer.  

Overall, this is a good beer.  It is available for $4.99 a bottle at Fenwick Beer and Wine in Silver Spring.

ENJOY!

For more about Levens Hall, check out its website.  

Grass-Fed Ribeye with Bone Marrow Mushrooms and Parmigiano Reggiano

Red meat gets a bad rap.  There are a lot of studies out there that say eating red meat is not good for your health.  Yet, if you make certain choices, you can actually enjoy a steak that can also be healthy.  For example, as I have mentioned in a previous post, I always try to buy grass fed beef, because it has more Omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for a healthy diet.  One can add to the health benefits of eating red meat with the ingredients used in the dish.  For example, from what I have read, beef bone marrow is high in protein and monounsaturated fats, which are supposed to lower your LDL cholesterol levels. 

Previously, I tried my hand at cooking beef bone marrow as part of my Iron Chef challenge.  It was my first effort at roasting the bones, extracting the marrow and then using it as an ingredient in three different dishes.  Although I think I did okay for a beginner, I have always wanted to use this ingredient in different ways, seeing what I could do to impart the flavor of the marrow to other ingredients. 

For this dish, I decided to use bone marrow in making a topping for a grass-fed ribeye.  I first roasted the marrow in the traditional way.  After removing the marrow from the bone, I used it in place of oil or butter to saute oyster and shiitake mushrooms with various herbs and spices.  Generally, if you overcook marrow, it reduces to a liquid; however, that is exactly what I wanted for this recipe.  The bone marrow would become the liquid in which I would cook the mushrooms, which would soak up the liquified bone marrow as they cook.  When the mushrooms were done, and the ribeye was almost done, I topped the ribeye with the mushrooms and a good amount of Parmigiano Reggiano.   I finish the ribeye off under the broiler, allowing the cheese to melt into the mushrooms and begin to brown.  The end result is a very decadent, but somewhat "healthy," topping for the ribeye. 

GRASS-FED RIBEYE WITH BONE MARROW MUSHROOMS

AND PARMIGIANO REGGIANO

A Chef Bolek Original
Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

6 marrow bones

1 pound of grass-fed ribeye

3.5 ounces of oyster mushrooms

8 ounces of shiitake mushrooms

4 cloves of garlic, diced

2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, chopped finely

2 tablespoons of fresh sage, chopped finely

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon of mixed peppercorns, cracked

Salt, to taste

Ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions:

1.  Roast the marrow bones.  Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cook the marrow bones for 30 minutes.  Remove the bones from the oven and remove the marrow from the bones into a bowl.

2.  Begin to cook the ribeye.  Start the broiler.  Salt and pepper the ribeye to taste.  Place the ribeye into the broiler and cook for about eight each side.

3.  Saute the mushrooms.  Add the bone marrow to a pan on high heat.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about two minutes.  Add the mushrooms, rosemary, sage, thyme, cracked peppercorns and crushed red pepper.  Cook for about ten minutes.

4.  Add the mushrooms of the ribeye steak.  After flipping the ribeye and about five minutes into the cooking of the second side of the ribeye, add the mushrooms and top with the Parmigiano Reggiano.  Return to the broiler to cook for three minutes and perhaps more until the cheese begins to melt and brown.  When that starts to happen, remove the steak.  Let rest for a few minutes and then serve.

My mouth is continuing to drool as I finish this blog post and I wished that I had more of both the mushrooms and cheese (as well as the ribeye).  Although I am still learning how to use this ingredient, I really love cooking with bone marrow.  Not only will I make this dish again, but I will also think of new ways to use bone marrow in other recipes.

ENJOY!