Happy Hour - Bourbon Sour with Egg White

Way back at the end of December we took a little trip back to Lexington, Kentucky. We liked it so much when we were there last year that we decided to return.  

We visited Buffalo Trace Distillery and saw their bourbon making process.  It's a gorgeous operation. We had a great tour and even got to watch them hand-bottling Blanton's bourbon. 

Fettuccine Alfredo

When I was a kid, Fettuccine Alfredo was one of my favourite dishes. Any time we went to an Italian restaurant, it was my go-to treat.  Really, the restaurant or bottled version of Alfredo sauce over pasta can make a perfect meal for children picky children - soft, mild and creamy. But this version, made with fresh pasta and piles of freshly grated cheese, is a little more grown up. 

This Alfredo sauce recipe comes from the experts at Serious Eats and has a reasonable amount of butter and cheese, but lots of cream.  I used my fresh pasta that I told you about last week for the fettuccine, and it was sublime.

Here's what you need:

The Beer Baron: One Stout to Rule Them All

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron. You can find him on Twitter @geekcanuck

For St. Patrick’s Day, Ontario Craft Brewers are encouraging beer lovers to support craft brewers by drinking local stouts and seasonals. It is a noble and worthwhile goal but if you really want to raise a special pint, you owe it to yourself to track down not just a stout but one of Ontario’s amazing imperial stouts. Imperial stouts and Russian Imperial Stouts take all the lovely, malted notes of stout and dial it up to 11 with even more depth of flavor, complexity and awesomeness.

Half the fun of craft beer is sharing and the sense of community, so rather than just my own, personal preference for imperial stouts, I rounded up a group of eight stout lovers from my local beer appreciation group and decided that together, as a fellowship, we would find one stout to rule them all.

In the hopes that you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day full of delicious, Ontario-brewed imperial stouts this year and beyond, we present our top-12* Ontario imperial stouts:  

12. Grand River Brewing’s Russian Gun Imperial Stout 8.0% ABV

There are no losers in this competition and Russian Gun’s No. 12 proves it. While it does mask its 8.0% ABV wonderfully well, it just came across as more stout than imperial stout, especially against the heavy hitters we gathered.

Fresh Pasta

On a snowy Saturday I decided to make fresh pasta for the first time. I received a KitchenAid Pasta Attachment set for my KitchenAid mixer as a Christmas gift and decided to give it a try.

First I needed to find a recipe for egg pasta. This recipe from Serious Eats worked beautifully. It includes extra yolks and made a wonderful, tender noodle.

Here's what you need to make the pasta: 

The Beer Baron - With a Little Help from My Friends

The craft beer community is just that: a community. While it is a community full of big beards, countless beer-based puns and people who would proudly try a pumpkin peach ale, it is absolutely a community and has always felt welcoming and supportive to me. Apart from the fact that I believe you could strike up a friendly conversation at a craft beer bar or festival easier than just about any place in the world, collaborations between craft brewers is another example of how strong the sense of community is.

While I can’t imagine macro brewers AB InBev and Molson Coors ever collaborating on a beer and what that hell spawn might actually taste like, I’ve been looking forward to a collaboration between my local London brewery, Forked River Brewing Company, and one of my favourite Ontario craft brewers, Sawdust City Brewing Co. for quite some time.

When the Sawdust City team headed down to London from Gravenhurst, Ontario on October 8, 2014 for Arts & Draughts, a beer tasting event in support of a local theatre, they stopped by Forked River and tweeted a picture of the two brewers working together to create a collaboration beer.

Now, after months of waiting, their first collaboration, a 9.1%, bourbon-barrel aged imperial brown ale called Deforestation, has finally been released.

Like the best porters and stouts, an imperial brown ale has enough body and character to stand up to barrel aging, which could easily overwhelm lesser beers. Deforestation has strong roasted malt notes and a nice touch of caramel and chocolate that balance wonderfully with the vanilla and oak of the bourbon barrel.

Unlike the oily blackness of an imperial stout – like Forker River’s own Weendigo, which is also barrel aged – Deforestation has a lot more carbonation and a luxuriously creamy head. Despite the fact that it is a pretty hefty 9.1%, it is a really approachable and downright quaffable beer… just be sure you are in for the night or have a designated driver before said quaffing.

With an enticing mix of aromas from the beer and the barrel aging process as well as a wonderful balance of caramel sweetness and both hop and dark chocolate bitterness, Deforestation was worth the wait and is further proof that collaboration and community and great taste are worth being celebrated and even…

*This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron.

     

Steak with Miso Butter, Asparagus & Shiitake Mushrooms

In the summer we cook steaks on the grill. We do it in the winter too, usually. But this winter the snow and cold has made cooking outside impossible so this is a great way to get your steak fix indoors. 

Sirloin steak is diced into quick-cooking cubes and seared in a pan while asparagus and shiitake mushrooms roast in the oven. Then the steak is coated in miso butter for a rich and tasty sauce. Served over rice this makes a wonderful, meaty meal. 

This recipe comes from Cooking Light. You should be able to find miso paste in any large supermarket or Asian market. Look for white or yellow soybean paste in a plastic tub on the shelf. Refrigerate after opening and it lasts for months. 

Here's what you need for this tasty dinner:

Tart of the Month: Chocolate Tart

Perfect for February when you need a chocolate pick-me-up. This tart is very rich with a buttery crust and caramel-chocolate filling. 

This recipe comes from David Lebovitz, an awesome American pastry chef living in Paris. 

I've learned so much from my tarts of the month. I used to be afraid of making pie crust, but I learned last month how easy it can be. This is a whole new way to make crust that reminded me of the pâte à choux I used to make gougères, except with no eggs.

Here's what you need for this chocolate tart: