Laila Loves Oberon

Instilling a love of Michigan beer in my 5 week old daughter – who needs breast milk when you have Bells?

Pancakes

Every time I make pancakes I try to do a little something different. This is a fairly easy thing to do since I rarely ever use exact measurements. Once you’ve done it enough, you can tell when batter is too runny or thick. I also don’t shy away from using batter mixes – I don’t use Bisquick, but some other mixes work quite well. This morning I used Trader Joe’s Multi-grain batter mix. A couple of eggs, canola oil, milk and a bit of vanilla extract are added to a couple cups or so of batter mix. Whisk the mixture until smooth. Apply batter with a tablespoon to a buttered griddle. If it is desired, add blueberries, bananas, apples, chocolate chips, pecans, bacon bits (basically whatever sounds good) to the batter before flipping the cake. This morning we had some very sweet blueberries, so they were added.

Bacon was fried in the cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. I cook my bacon a pound (the usual pre-packaged amount) at a time. By the time the last piece of bacon is taken out of the skillet, there is a good 1/8 inch of bacon grease in the pan. Seemed to me that this was the perfect place to fry a couple of eggs.

This “sandwich” is modeled after the McGriddle, which is a good idea in theory but hard to stomach in its fast food form. My version:

5 dollar size plain pancakes (3 on bottom 2 on top)
3-5 slices of bacon
2 eggs fried in bacon fat sunny side up
Maple syrup

The flavors meld extraordinarily well. The sweetness from the syrup, the saltiness of the bacon, and the creaminess of the yolks come together and form what could be described as the true breakfast of champions.

Jeni’s Ice Cream

Last Valentine’s day I bought Heather a 6 pack of ice cream from Jeni’s Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio. First of all, it should have been a 7 pack, but they forgot to pack my Chocolate Cayenne (!!!) – no big deal, though, I contacted them that night and they immediately responded and apologized. They were so apologetic, in fact, that they will pay for my next order as long as I cover shipping – great customer service.

I write this tonight because I finally finished off the last of the Strawberry Rose Petal. An excellent, rich ice cream that is sweet, tart, floral, and creamy. The rose complements the strawberry perfectly. Rose is a wonderful, if tricky, flavor to work with – Middle Eastern desserts often use rose water as a flavoring agent. The floral flavor can be off putting at first, but once one is acclimated to the taste it is welcome. I cannot honestly remember the nuances of each of the other flavors except for the Thai Chili. Yes, it was quite spicy – peanut butter, toasted coconut, cayenne pepper, & coconut milk. A sweet and hot ice cream with the added textural pleasure of toasted coconut – basically, heaven in a pint.

Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is a funny thing – it is relatively easy to make, but it is also relatively easy to screw up. Sure there are hundreds of boxed choices in your local mega-mart, but I’m not counting those since they 1) are incredibly simple to make & 2) many times do not include much in the way of real cheese. I had some heavy whipping cream and cheese that needed to be used, so what better than a little mac and cheese?

First off – I didn’t use a recipe, meaning I just kept adding until it tasted right. Second, after this little experiment it makes less sense to me why anyone would ever use boxed mac and cheese – it is just as easy to make the real deal. I used elbow macaroni that I boiled in water with sea salt and olive oil. For the cheese sauce I used heavy whipping cream, butter, cracked black pepper, super sharp cheddar, New Zealand grass fed cheddar, 2% shredded sharp cheddar, and shredded colby and monterey jack. Over medium-low heat I melted the butter (probably around 2 oz) added the cream and some pepper. Once the cream starts bubbling, start adding the cheese. Whether it is in chunks or shredded, it’ll melt. Dump the (drained) macaroni in a greased casserole dish and pour the cheese sauce over it. Top with shredded cheese and place in a 450 degree oven until the cheese on top looks brown & crusty. Allow 15-20 minutes for setting time once the dish is removed from the oven.

There is a richness here that is not present in boxed versions, thus this version can stand alone as a meal in my estimation. However, it would hold its ground as a side dish to fried chicken, meatloaf, or your favorite barbecue. To cut the richness and complement the sharpness of the cheese, I paired a Bells Two Hearted Ale with dinner. Two Hearted is an American Pale ale meaning there is a significant amount of hops. The hops lend a bitterness and citrus undertone which works perfectly against creaminess of the macaroni.

Our vegetable was a garden grown kale and tomato sauté. Place the kale with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper in a cast iron skillet. Cook the kale down adding oil as needed. The tomatoes are added near the end of the cooking. I did not have garlic on hand or else I would’ve added some to this.

Barbequed Flank Steak Sandwich with Tzatziki and Sugar Roasted Asparagus

Just about every ingredient used in tonight’s meal came from Trader Joe’s. The flank steak came from Australia – hormone/antibiotic free. A simple store bought rub was used to season the steak. Subsequently, the rub relied way too much on salt, so the steak’s flavor was overwhelmed by the rub’s large amount of sea salt. From now on, I’ll be making my own. As you can tell from the picture above, the steak was cooked thoroughly as well. Heather likes her meat to have little to no pink. I’m a fan of very rare meat, but when cooking for both us – well done wins out. I placed the steak on a piece of grilled Tuscan pane with a few chunks of grass fed New Zealand cheddar. The other piece of bread has around 2-3 tablespoons of tzatziki, or cucumber yogurt sauce. To make tzatziki:

16 oz. of Greek style yogurt
1 medium size cucumber – seeded & diced
Fresh mint – chopped
Sea salt
Garlic (4-5 cloves) minced or roughly chopped
olive oil
red wine vinegar

Mix it all together in a bowl and there you have it. Tzatziki can be eaten with pita bread, but more famously, it can be found on gyros. It worked quite well with the steak offering a cooling component to a rub that was fairly spicy.

The asparagus is made by drizzling olive oil over the asparagus and then liberally sprinkling sugar all over them. Grilling can take anywhere from 7-15 minutes depending on how crisp you like you asparagus or how caramelized you’d like your sugar. Heather really enjoyed these and I couldn’t help but think that sugar roasted asparagus would well with ice cream or blended into an ice cream. Ah, a future endeavor.