Purple Nurple

My daughter loves the color purple. She kind of likes my smoothies, but sometimes I go a bit too "green" and the taste is a tad off (I don't drink them for the taste). Today, I decided to make a purple smoothie in an effort to get her to finish more of what I don't. It worked! And it's pretty damn good too. I'm not one to measure ingredients in smoothies (again, I'm not really drinking them for the taste), but trust me, this is really good as long as you ballpark it.

About a cup of almond milk
A handful of green grapes
About a cup, maybe more of frozen bluberries (I use Wyman Wild)
2-3 frozen beet slices (These are new for me, I just found them at Whole Foods) Remember, a lot of beets are GMO, so buy them organic or Non-GMO verified.
Big handful of power greens
Big handful of frozen 365 brand mixed greens or blue curled kale
2 large organic strawberries
1/4 fuji apple
1/4 lime
2 or 3 frozen 365 organic broccoli florets
Cold water, I just pour some in, maybe 6 oz, sorry-you might need to pour a bit more or less or just use a bunch of ice cubes for a really thick smoothie.

I also add, but not needed:

1/2-1 teaspoon tuneric powder
1/4 teaspoon Beyond a Century cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon Beyond a Century resveratrol powder

These shouldn't change the taste much either way; I use them to supercharge the smoothie with antioxidants.

Baby Dubbel

I never got around to posting this recipe, I'm not sure why, because I brewed it on 01.02.13. Anywhoo, it's nothing like a Dubbel, but it's nothing like a blonde either, so I decided on Baby Dubbel. The beer itself is pretty interesting and definitely yeast forward like many Belgian beers. By yeast forward, I don't necessarily mean you taste nothing but yeast, but that the yeast plays a dominant role in the final outcome. Many of your higher gravity beers utilize a good amount of sugar; candi sugar, corn sugar, brown sugar, whatever, knowing that it's often just to raise gravity or fermentable sugars and it's the yeast that builds the character of the final product. I'm drinking one of these as I write this, and man, this is a really smooth beer for 6% alcohol. It definitely has some classis Belgian fruity overtones, but it also has some of the spice often associated with Saisons. There's a bit of warming on the finish, surprising since I fermented this below the target range for this yeast-maybe it was a bit stressed. The beer is also incredibly clear for something I brewed 8 weeks ago without finings or cold crashing. I am currently conditioning 6 of these (corked) at 52 degrees and 6 (corked) at basement temperatures (currently 64 degrees) to see how they evolve over the next couple of months if they last that long.
Recipe:
7 lbs. Belgian Pilsner malt
0.5 lbs Belgian CaraPils
0.5 lbs Belgian CaraVienne
0.25 lbs Belgian Aromatic
0.25 lbs Belgian Biscuit Malt

Mash at 149° F for 70 minutes

Mashout  170° F for 10 minutes

Hops:
1 oz Styrian Goldings (60 min)
1/2 oz Styrian Goldings (30 min)

Adjuncts:
1 lb Belgian Soft Candi Sugar (60 min)

Yeast:

Wyeast 3538 Leuven Pale Ale. . I don't normally post detail about the yeast, but this yeast is a seasonal/limited availability yeast that imparts the majority of the character to this beer. From Wyeast: This vigorous top fermenting Belgian style strain produces a distinct spicy character along with mild esters. Phenolics developed during fermentation may dissipate with conditioning. This strain is an excellent choice for a variety of Belgian beer styles including pales, dubbels and brown ales.

Origin: Leuven, Belgium
Flocculation: High
Attenuation: 75-78%
Temperature Range: 65-80F (18-27C)
Alcohol Tolerance: 12% ABV

I fermented this at 60 degrees.

Bonne Bouche

Bonne Bouche is the flagship of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery’s signature geotrichum-rinded aged goat cheeses. Introduced in 2001, Bonne Bouche quickly won acclaim. Today it is one of the most popular “geo” cheeses on the market and has been awarded some of the most prestigious honors in the cheese world. Reminiscent of the Loire Valley cheeses of France, Bonne Bouche means “good mouthful” and is indeed a tasty bite.

Straight off the shelf, it's got the characteristic lemony tang of a fresh chèvre with a fluffy, lightly chalky texture and a distinct nutty aroma from the poplar ash that coats its exterior. As good as it is then, it's even better when aged in the fridge for a few weeks. As the cheese continues to ripen, it transforms as the chalky paste slowly becomes rich and creamy from the outside-in.

At its best, it's creamy enough that it droops and runs when served properly at room temperature, the faintest chalky lemony core surrounded by rich, gooey layers of creaminess with a robust, nutty funk permeating it from the rind. It's one of those cheeses that just begs for a sweet pairing. Honey is my cheese-plate partner of choice, but I could see any number of jams or preserves working in its place. Prunes soaked in cognac and simple syrup, sticky dates, anything with a syrupy sweetness to counteract the sharp tang of the cheese.

The most difficult part? Seeing that cute little disk sitting in your fridge every day and waiting until just the right moment to cut into it. Here's a suggestion: get a few of them. That way when you inevitably succumb to temptation, you'll at least have a backup plan.

Cazelle de St. Affrique

The Cazelle de St. Affrique is a wonderful bloomy rind sheep's milk cheese that while similar in texture to the brie style cheeses you may be used to it has a complexity and depth of flavor that you could not imagine coming from a little 3oz piece of cheese...



The name is actually pretty interesting. Cazelle is actually a word to describe a small stone structure used to house hay or even shepherds and sheep themselves. These structures were abundant in the area in times past. St. Affrique is the area where the cheese is made.



The Cazelle is produced by Herve Mons. What Herve Mons has done is build a business by taking very young cheeses from small cheesemakers in the region around Aveyron and aging them to perfection. In the case of the Cazelle, he takes the cheese when it is around 10 days old and makes sure that the cheese ripens to where it needs to be. Affinage is a very subtle yet dynamic art. So many things go into aging and developing flavors of cheese, be it molds or bacteria, making sure the cheese is flipped and/or washed or maintaining proper temperature and humidity. Herve Mons takes what the cheesemakers provide him and helps to create a unique, superior finished product. Any cheeses that we sell in our case  that have "Herve Mons" on the label are bound to be phenomenal, just like the Cazelle.

Cheese/Chocolate Pairing 02.11.13

Rich, bold, decadent – a chocolate and cheese pairing is a savory-sweet love connection is sure to make your foodie heart race. General pairing principles dictate that for darker chocolates, choose a more complex, aged cheese while sweet milk chocolates work best with buttery cheeses, like Brie.  Bright, fruity chocolates are perfect with sharper cheeses and nuttier chocolates find a perfect pair in high, full fat cheeses. Want to spice things up a bit? Try pairing spicy chocolates with sharp cheeses – the intensities play off each other beautifully!

Remember, when it comes to pairing, there are no firm rules, just guidelines that can get you going in the right direction. The only way to know if a pairing works is to experiment and taste for yourself. Don’t forget, even a bad pairing can be educational, so be your own matchmaker.

Here are five chocolate and cheese pairings with enough rich and delicious flavors to warm up the coldest February night that I recently sampled for Whole Foods. The goat cheese caramel went over really well as did the gouda, stilton and the brie en croute. The brie en croute tasted like a cheese filled chocolate donut!

365 Goat Cheese with chocolate covered caramels

With a simple, mild, fresh goats milk flavor, this chevre has less of the barnyardy flavors often associated with goat cheese.  The smoothness of the chevre is balanced with a soft, dark chocolate caramel with a sea salt finish.

Brie En Croute with Chocolate Fondue

Brie is a smooth, buttery cheese that presents a perfect palette companion for a rich and creamy chocolate sauce. Brie en Croute is a traditional, heated brie dish that features the cheese housed in a delicate pastry shell. The addition of a packaged chocolate sauce - or a homemade version – easily transforms it into a chocolate delight. Want to kick it up a notch? Add some almonds or mixed nuts for some more crunch, flavor and vigor.

Parmesan with Milk Chocolate

This food pairing isn't just hit or miss or a guesstimation -- it's actually been studied and analyzed by scientists in a laboratory! The goal was to chart all possible food pairings to help chefs and restaurant professionals create unique dishes. Each ingredient's volatile compounds (aromas) are quantified using gas chromatography and/or a mass spectrometer. The concentrations are then compared with their respective flavor threshold and finally matched with other ingredients that have similar compounds. Does it work for you?

Stilton with El Rey 73% Dark Chocolate

Blue Cheese, with its sharp, pungent aromas and flavors will enhance the undertones of a strong dark chocolate. Stilton adds a hint of sweetness that pairs exceptionally well with

Aged Gouda with chocolate truffle or 58% Chocolate Disco with Marcona almond

Aged cheese is nutty, less acidic and with a crunchy texture that pairs well with chocolates with fillings and inclusions such as almonds, honey and maple.

Shredded Beef Tacos with Agave Jalapeno Slaw

This recipe was incredibly simple and you can use pork, beef brisket, chuck, whatever because the hours of braising could turn a rubber tire tender. I chose chuck and the ingredient list follows:

1 chuck roast - 31/2-4 pounds
Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Olive oil
1 can (7 Ounce) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce, just dump the whole thing in, no blending
2 cans Dr. Snap
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
12 ounces beer, I used 1/2 bottle Irish Red and 1/2 bottle Belgian Dubbel because that's what I had been tasting from a recent liquor store visit and I didn't really care for either one. Any beer that isn't too hoppy will work.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Roughly dice two cloves of garlic.
Add some olive oil to the bottom of a dutch oven and heat on medium high
Generously salt and pepper the chuck roast, then sear it on all sides in the dutch oven-set it aside
Add the onions and garlic to the pot and stir for a few minutes
Put the roast back in the pot
Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the beef (include ALL the sauce.)
Pour in both cans of Dr Snap.
Pour in the beer
Add brown the sugar to the juice and stir in.
Top off with a little water (or beer) to bring it up near the top o the beef
Bring it to a low simmer

Place lid tightly on pot, then set pot in the oven. Cook for at least five hours, turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. Check meat after 3 hours and raise the temp to about 300; At around 5 hours, it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it's not falling apart, return to the oven for another hour or so, but check more frequently.

Remove meat from pot and place on a cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it. Or, you can cook this in advance and stick both the meat and liquid in the fridge for a bit. I cooked this on Saturday night and skimmed off a huge orange layer of fat from the liquid Sunday morning.  Sorry. I then just ladled the liquid back over the meat until moist, but not sopping wet (Don;t want to overwhelm the flour tortilla, but if you were going to do sandwiches with this on say, a kaiser roll, by all means, just put all the meat right back into the liquid).

For the slaw:

1/2 head cabbage sliced thin
1/2 head purple cabbage sliced thin
1 carrot
1 Jalapeno
1/2 cup whole milk

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white vinegar
3 tablespoons raw agave nectar
1 bunch cilantro leaves, barely chopped
1 lime (1/2 for slaw 1/2 for pico)
Shred the cabbage, shred the carrot, cut the Jalapeno in half lengthwise, remove seed, cut in 1/2 and then 1/4's flat side down, then cut into small 1/4 moons. Get that? Or just roughly chop it onto small pieces, but I find it's easier the neat way if I'm holding the Jalapeno side with a piece of paper towel. Add to a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients except for the cilantro, juice of 1/2 the lime  Place in the fridge for a few hours to marry the ingredients.
For the Pico De Salsa (I call it this because I make this in my vitamix and I can't quite keep it at Pico De Gallo stage regardless of how gentle I am), so it's a hybrid. In all honesty, you don't need this-or cheese-these tacos are that good on their own merit, and I'm a cheese guy, my job is to SELL YOU CHEESE! I'll give you the recipe anyway, and you can certainly top this off with some queso fresco or cotija for even more flavor.
Pico De Salsa:
5 whole plum (roma) tomatoes
1 small red onion
1/2 large or 1 small Jalapeno (split, seeded, charred under the broiler for a few minutes)
Cilantro (1/4 of the bunch)
1/2 of the lime-juice
Salt to taste
Throw it all in the vitamix (blender or food processor-even a bowl with a hand mixer or you can chop it all up freehand) and pulse for a few seconds.

Assembly:
Warm the meat
Warm up some flour tortillas
Put some meat in the tortilla
Add some slaw
Top with some roughly chopped cilantro, stems and all
Add some Pico (optional)
Add some cheese (optional)
Hell, add some guacamole or fresh avocado (optional)
Garnish with lime

That's a little over 3 pounds, it's hides it well....

I didn't want to bore you with step by step pictures, but the picture above is the end result. I didn't want to gross anyone out, so I won't show you what that liquid looks like after 6 hours in the fridge.

WFM Boston, 2009

WFM Alexandria, Va 2009

Whole Foods Los Altos, Ca April 2011