This is a plush version of macaroni and cheese, full of intense flavors such as smoked paprika and shallots. Aged Gouda is an excellent cheese for grating and baking, with a rich, nutty taste.

Aged Gouda Macaroni & Cheese with Smoked Paprika
Serves 8

Ingredients:
2 cups dry pennette or elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and finely minced
1 1/2 cups reduced fat milk
1 cup ready-to-serve organic roasted red pepper and tomato soup
1 3/4 cup (7 ounces) Wisconsin Aged Gouda, rind removed, grated
2/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
Black pepper, freshly ground, about 1/2 teaspoon or to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to the directions on the package. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat, and add flour. Whisk until smooth and bubbly – the flour will start to turn golden brown and smell like popcorn. Stir in paprika, dry mustard, turmeric, garlic salt and shallots. Cook, stirring often, until shallots are tender, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in milk, stirring to remove lumps; add the prepared roasted red pepper and tomato soup. Stir well, reduce heat to low, and cook until slightly thickened, stirring often, set aside.

Place 1 heaping cup of cooked pasta into a buttered 9×12-inch baking dish; pasta should cover the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle about one-third cup grated Aged Gouda over pasta, repeat pasta and cheese layers three additional times or until all the pasta is in the dish, ending with cheese. Pour sauce evenly over the pasta and cheese mixture.

In a small bowl combine Panko bread crumbs with melted butter and ground black pepper to taste. Sprinkle the buttered bread crumbs over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake until the sauce is bubbly and the top is golden, about 45 minutes.

Pair with a brown ale or golden bock.

Photo by amypowersphotography.com

Here’s a nice link from travel and beer writer Travis Poling’s site, Beer Across Texas that mentions my recipes as well his palate-tingling experiences with beer ice cream made by chef Gary Butler at Freetail Brewing Co.

Peach Lambic Ice Cream

2 cups peeled, pitted and diced peaches (about 4 large peaches)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup cane sugar
4 ounces peach lambic
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin softened in 3 tablespoons warm water
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup vanilla simple syrup
Ice cream machine
Fresh peach slices to garnish

Cook the peaches with brown sugar, cane sugar, and lambic ale, in a medium saucepan over low heat, until peaches are softened and sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Blend softened gelatin with fruit-lambic mixture in a large glass mixing bowl, and then fold in the heavy cream and vanilla syrup. Stir well, cover and chill. When cold, scrape into ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze ice cream overnight to ripen and smooth the texture. The lambic gives it an oozy soft-serve consistency. You could serve it with more peach lambic ice cream – or a favorite weissbier.

Start with 2 heads steamed cauliflower, cut into chunky florets (2-3 bites per piece), and dusted with salt. Make a pickling brine base by mixing 2 parts white vinegar,  with 1 part pale ale, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon each red chile flakes, brown mustard seeds, ground turmeric, and 2 (or more) tablespoons minced garlic. (The measurements are expressed as a ratio because the brine needs to be sufficient to cover the cauliflower completely – adjust seasonings to taste.) Bring mixture to a boil and pour over cauliflower florets packed in a large glass bowl, cover and chill. Refrigerate overnight or longer for best flavor, and consume within 2 weeks.

Here’s the menu from Bacchus Executive Chef Adam Siegel for the New Glarus beer dinner with a few tasting notes about each pairing from me:

Dungeness crab and melon salad with fresh thyme, lemon and Espelette pepper, topped with crisped prosciutto -  NGBC Spotted Cow – this was an amazing match, with the mild ale highlighting the sweetness of the crab and melon

Strauss veal Tartare with a quail egg, with Parmigiano, orange gremolata and celery root remoulade – NGBC Totally Naked provided crisp carbonation, more of a textural contrast

Seared sea scallop with spiced rhubarb, fava beans, and Port wine syrup – NGBC Dancing Man Wheat brought up the caramelized sear on the scallop, but the rhubarb was a bit too sweet and served in a very generous portion…

Grilled quail breast with stewed apricot and foie gras sauce – NGBC Imperial Saison was wonderful with the quail alone, but the apricot was candy-sweet and made the ale taste very sour in comparison

Braised Shortribs with cumin, caramelized cauliflower and garlic spinach – NGBC Stone Soup, a strong golden ale modeled on a tripel, made the richness of the beef taste even better and its yeasty bite was a perfect foil for the garlicky greens

Lamb noisette with brown butter polenta, toasted hazelnut crumbs and sauteed artichokes – NGBC Fat Squirrel brown ale made a seamless match with the brown butter and lamb topped with toasted nuts

Creme fraiche panna cotta with strawberry soup, grapefruit and pistachio brittle – NGBC Wisconsin Belgian Red accented the slight tartness of the fresh fruit, although the brittle perched atop the panna cotta had absorbed a lot of moisture by the time we were served and was no longer truly a crisp brittle, more like a caramel

It was a huge crowd for the dinner – about 150 people, with about a dozen people from the local distributorship showing their support of the brand. Dan Carey spoke briefly about the beers, but spent most of the night circulating from table to table. The New Glarus Hilltop Brewery has its grand opening on Saturday  June 13, so that will be the next big party celebrating the end of two years of construction….

Dupont Circle, D.C.: Boy would I love those SAVOR tickets! I adore beer and if there is one thing I wish I knew more about, it was how to pair foods with beer. I tend to think of darks as reds and anything ale/lager/pilsner like whites but sometimes the flavor profiles can be startlingly different. For example, what’s a good beer for Spaghetti Bolognese? What’s the best thing to pair with Asian flavors? What about Indian? I’m surprised no one has started a blog on this yet.

Greg Kitsock: Color isn’t always an accurate guide to how hoppy or full-bodied or alcoholic a beer is, and what foods it would pair with. Two excellent books on beer and food are Garrett Oliver’s The Brewmaster’s Table and The Best of American Beer and Food by Lucy Saunders.

For Indian or spicy Asian cuisine, I like something a little aggressive, like a hoppy pale ale or IPA. A Belgian style witbier also has a way of cutting through heat. A nice German Hefeweizen, with its clovey and fruity flavors, can pair well with the spices in Chinese or Thai cooking, as can a Belgian-style saison. For the spaghetti, a nice pale ale should work, or if you want something a little more adventurous, maybe a Belgian strong ale or triple.

To read more of the reader Q&A, check out the Free Range on Food archives.

As for recommendations on beer-food pairings, I tend to stay away from specifics. That’s because I believe that everyone’s palate is different, personal tastes vary according to mood and season, and even the flavors of a specific brand of beer can change as it travels to the consumer. So my standard advice is: sample widely. Get to know your palate and your preferences. Find a good beer store with knowledgable clerks and try brews that are new to you. Host a mixed-case party and swap bottles of beer with friends. Enjoy in moderation with food – as Mitch Turner, director of education and training for Major Brands, says, “drink when you eat, eat when you drink.”  Have fun with the exploration…

To that end, I’m teaching more cooking classes, bringing together the experience of beer flavors with recipes that are easy to make. Next up, grilling classes at Fromagination in Madison on June 16 and at Larry’s Market in Milwaukee, on June 18th. cheers!

Jeffrey Glazer of Madison Beer Review is cooking his way through the Best of American Beer & Food – today’s fave is the Chicken with Artichoke Hearts Braised in Anchor Steam recipe from Diane Alexander of DC’s Brickskeller – the results are both tasty and budget friendly! Read the review (with step by step photos)  here.

Here’s a link to a press release by Brewers Publications new publisher, Kristi Switzer, with info about a broadcast at WUWM.com that covers winter warmers and seasonal ales. Adrienne Pierluissi, of Bayview’s Sugar Maple, joins me with Bonnie North, the Lake Effect arts producer, as we taste and sample seasonals such as Point Brewery’s St. Benedict’s Ale, paired with the following recipe for Barley Wine Marshmallows. I made the batch we sampled at the studio with Sprecher Barley Wine, a tasty example of the style, but you can use a homebrewed strong ale, too.

Barley Wine Marshmallows

Pg. 189, The Best of American Beer & Food

These ale-fluffed confections were originally made by Executive Sous Chef Piet Vanden Hogen at Pelican Pub in Pacific City, Oregon. Using Pelican Pub’s Wee heavy or a local Barley Wine will add a bit of beer flavor to mugs of hot cocoa, or use them as the filling for adult S’mores, made with graham crackers and bittersweet chocolate. Use organic powdered sugar for the best taste and texture. Adjust the amount of water to soften gelatin according to humidity and elevation. The texture of the bloomed gelatin should be thick and smooth, not grainy.

3 envelopes plain powdered gelatin (3 tablespoons)
4 to 5 ounces cold water
Unsalted butter for pan
¼ cup sifted organic powdered sugar for pan
4 ounces decanted (settled, with no foam) Scottish ale or Barley Wine
2 cups pure cane sugar
¼ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
6 ounces corn syrup
½ teaspoon Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract
2 cups organic powdered sugar sifted with 2 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Bloom or soften gelatin in 4 to 5 ounces water in the bowl of a stand mixer. While the gelatin softens, prepare a 9-by-13-inch glass baking pan by greasing it with butter inside and sprinkling it with powdered sugar to cover base and sides. Rotate pan so sugar is evenly applied. Set aside.
2. Combine ale or barley wine, sugar, salt, and corn syrup in a large, deep saucepan over medium-high heat, and bring to soft-ball stage, 238° F on a candy thermometer. Mixture will foam and turn caramel colored.
3. Place bowl with bloomed gelatin into a stand electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Turn mixer to MEDIUM-LOW and slowly pour in hot sugar mixture, whisking into bloomed gelatin until it starts to fluff. Do not whip too fast or the hot syrup will splatter. Stop mixer and scrape sides. Restart mixer on MEDIUM-HIGH and whip until mixture becomes white and fluffy, about 10 minutes, adding vanilla extract during final minute of mixing.
4. Scrape mixture into powdered sugar-lined pan and spread evenly to desired thickness (about 1 inch). Sprinkle top with powdered sugar-starch mixture and set aside. When cooled and set (from 30 minutes to 3 hours depending on humidity), turn slab out onto a cookie sheet covered with half of the sifted powdered sugar mixture. Slice into cubes with sharp knife or scissors dipped in warm water between each slice. Roll cubes in remaining powdered sugar mixture so all sides are coated. Let air-dry until not sticky (time varies according to humidity), and place in an air-tight covered container. Will keep up to 10 days.

Makes about 50 marshmallows.  

The recipe mentioned is for Wisconsin Gruyere Fritters, from The Best of American Beer & Food. I donated a signed copy of the cookbook for the NPR fundraising drive, but if you want just the recipe for the fritters, here it is:

 Wisconsin Farmstead Gruyere Fritters 

Adapted from a recipe by chef Govind Armstrong of LA’s Table 8 Restaurant, these fritters must be served while gooey and warm – so plan accordingly.

2 cups canola oil

1/2 pound grated Gruyere cheese

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 eggs

1/3 cup farmstead or Saison-style ale 

2 tablespoons minced chives

Pour oil in a 9-inch deep skillet, to a depth of at least one inch, and place over medium-low heat. Heat oil slowly while preparing the fritter batter.

Place gruyere into medium mixing bowl. Stir together flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a measuring cup, and add to cheese. Toss the cheese to coat evenly with flour mixture. Whisk together the eggs, ale and chives in a large bowl, and then pour into cheese mixture. Stir to blend.

When oil temperature reaches 360°F, begin adding the fritters. As you add the fritters, the temperature of the oil will drop to about 350°F, which is ideal. Don’t crowd the pan or the fritters won’t cook evenly, and you’ll wind up with greasy lumps of cheesy dough. A deep 9-inch skillet can hold 4 small fritters with room for a pair of tongs to turn them.

Use tablespoons to shape fritter dough into mounds. Fry in batches of 4 fritters. Cook until golden, then turn and fry another half minute. Remove and drain on paper towels. Before adding the next batch of fritters, filter out browned bits with a mesh sieve or slotted spoon to prevent oil from turning bitter. Let oil reheat to proper temperature and then fry again. 

When fritters are cool enough to handle, but still warm, serve in romaine lettuce cups.

Makes 12 fritters

Suggested pairing: Strong golden ale or Saison-style ale.

It’s been almost 20 years since I first poured stout into a batch of brownies, but one taste of these moist, fudgy and deeply chocolaty bars will convince even the stoutest of skeptics. No matter what style of stout you choose, you’ll be sure to enjoy the roasty flavors of the dark ale with these truffle-like treats.

Recipe adapted from “The Best of American Beer & Food: Pairing and Cooking with Craft Beer,” by Lucy Saunders (Brewers Publications, $22.95, available at www.amazon.com).

Fudge Stout Brownies

Makes 16 fudgy brownies

Butter to coat pan

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup coffee stout (see note)

2 tablespoons Irish whiskey

¾ cup sifted flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped nuts (such as macadamia, pecans or walnuts) (optional)

Suggested pairing: Coffee stout or Imperial stout

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 9-inch metal baking pan by buttering it well and dusting the inside with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. Set aside.

In 2-quart saucepan, melt the ½ cup butter over low heat. Add chopped chocolate, stirring often, until melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool to lukewarm (still liquid but not hot).

Stir in sugars and mix well 1 minute. In large measuring cup, beat together 2 eggs, yolks, vanilla, stout and whiskey until smooth. Sift flour with salt into a separate bowl. Stir stout mixture into saucepan in thirds, alternating with flour by 1/3 cupfuls, and stirring after each addition until batter is just blended. Stir in nuts if desired. Do not overbeat.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven about 1 hour. Let cool to lukewarm before slicing. Use a knife dipped in warm water and wiped clean with each slice (otherwise, because of the very fudgy texture, the brownies will clump).

Note: Coffee stouts are made by breweries across North America, but if you can’t find one, substitute 2 ounces sweet stout mixed with 1 ounce brewed espresso.