Herbed Beer Bread

Thanks to the eCurry blog, I found something quick and delicious to do with my self-rising flour that had expired!  I was worried about the "rising" power since it was past the expiration date and I hadn't kept it in the freezer, like I do with some of my other less-used flours.  This recipe was so simple and versatile, that I thought it would be a perfect way to use up my flour. 

On the eCurry blog, the author creates her Herbed Beer Bread with Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, and ground black pepper.  I chose a different route, since I had some fresh herbs to use up - dill and parsley, along with some dried Italian seasoning.  As you can see, I used a decent amount which made the bread incredibly flavorful.  For the beer choice, I went with Karl Strauss Amber Lager. 

After mixing together the flour, herbs, and a few teaspoons of sugar, you pour the only liquid ingredient (beer!) into the mix.  I love seeing the amber bubbles appear at the surface as it hits the flour. 

This remaining step is key.  During the last 10 minutes in the oven, the top of the bread is brushed with melted butter.  Yum.  The crust transforms into this crunchy, buttery, wonderfulness.  Subsequently, as I have made this bread (still using up my expired flour), I've experimented with different fresh herbs, like tarragon, and also stronger beers.  All combinations have been excellent which is why this bread is so versatile.  Use it to make an egg sandwich in the morning, or into some bruschetta in the evening.   This bread is a good staple to have around.

Our St. Patrick's Day Celebration!

I thought it would be fitting to start out this St. Patty's post with a picture of alcohol.  This isn't just any ol' picture of alcohol, but actually what I used in the making of this meal.  Interestingly, no one drank any beer, but I did cook with it!

So what did we drink?  Some of us drank wine, but us hard-core Irish folk had a Wild Irish Rose. The Wild Irish Rose is a whiskey based drink, mixed with lime juice and grenadine and then topped off with ginger ale.  I realize grenadine isn't alcohol, but as an integral part of the drink, I felt it warranted a spot in the booze line up.  It was quite refreshing and not overly sweet.  I personally like the taste of whiskey and would rather taste my alcohol than have it overpowered by something sugary.  We did tweak the recipe slightly and added a bit more whiskey and about 1/2 the amount of grenadine.

For appetizers, my friend put out a lovely plate of french bread, Kerrygold cheese, and strawberries.   My contribution to the mix were Emerald Eggs, or as I called them (since I have a 6 year old), Green Eggs and Ham.  This recipe is a twist on deviled eggs.  Yolks are pureed with mayonnaise, scallions, tarragon, and watercress.  The flavors were light and the tarragon shown through.  They needed a little more punch, so when I made these a second time this week, I added a bit more salt and also 1/4 teaspoon of dry mustard.  The recipe also calls for placing a piece of ham in the egg first and then topping with the yolk mixture.  It was a little awkward to eat.  This time around, my artistic director, Mark, came up with the brilliant idea of rolling a piece of ham and sticking it in the middle.  Worked like a charm!

Picked by my very own beer connoisseur, I used a full 22oz bottle of Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager as simmering liquid for the corned beef.

I pretty much stuck to this recipe I found, Slow Cooked Corned Beef.  Six pounds of corned beef were braised in beer and water, with one spice packet, a couple of bay leaves, peppercorns, and a whole bulb of garlic. Not a pretty sight, but completely delicious.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup of peppercorns, which I did use, but next time will reduce the amount.  It was great the first day, but as leftovers, the pepper continued to permeate the meat as it sat.  I let it simmer for about 5 hours, took it out and kept it warm, and then added carrots, red potatoes, and cabbage to the liquid.  Once they were tender, dinner was ready! 

On the side, I made a horseradish sauce that consisted of equal parts of sour cream and horseradish, combined with about 1 cup of the braising liquid that I reduced down first. 

The other component of the meal was Irish Soda Bread.  The bread was amazing and comforting.  I was hooked when I saw the article in the recent issue of Bon Appetit for Mrs. O'Callaghan's Soda Bread.  Just the picture of her alone was so authentic and rustic, that I was drawn in and set on using that recipe.  I didn't adjust any ingredients, but added a few oats to the top and cooked it on a pizza stone.  Besides taking much longer than the 40 minutes it said to cook it, the flavor and density was perfect to soak up juices, spread with butter, and drizzle with honey the next morning for breakfast. 


So far, from the line up, we've checked off grenadine, whiskey, and black lager.  The remaining spirits are in the dessert!  I found this recipe on Cat's blog, Neo-Homesteading.  She came up with her own take on a traditional Scottish dessert called "Millionaires Shortbread". 

Cat's recipe for Homestead Shortbread includes a scrumptious shortbread on the bottom, layered with a mixture of dulce de leche, brandy, and chopped pecans, and then topped with melted chocolate combined with orange-flavored liquor.  More pecans adorned the top.   It was hard to eat just one of these multi-layered treats!  Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day!

Con Pane Rustic Breads & Cafe - THE best sandwiches!

I haven't blogged about a restaurant in awhile, so I thought I would tell you about my favorite sandwich shop in San Diego.  In actuality, it's a bakery, but their sandwiches are to die for.  Con Pane, Rustic Breads & Cafe is located in Point Loma in the Shelter Island area. 

As you can see in the picture, they have two magnificent blackboards filled up with handwritten menu items.  I'll begin by telling you about some of their many breads.  I haven't tried them all, and in thinking about it, I should definitely make a point to do so! There's a tie for first - Rosemary Olive Oil and Gruyere & Chive.  The good thing about the Rosemary Olive Oil is that you can get that any day of the week (except for Wednesdays since they're closed that day).  It has an incredible crust and a moist middle that is flavored with good quality olive oil and fresh rosemary.  As for the Gruyere & Chive, that is one of their weekly breads, so they only make it on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. If you are lucky enough to come on one of those days, you can enjoy this loaf made with olive oil, imported Swiss gruyere cheese, chives, and sea salt.  You have to try this bread on it's own; not on a sandwich, not with butter; just simply by itself and enjoy the richness as it melts in your mouth.


Moving onto the sandwiches.  I only have good things to say about the Turkey Cobb with Gorgonzola cheese, the Ultimate PB&J with honey roasted peanut butter, and the Almost Grilled Cheese with triple cream French brie.  However, my heart belongs to the Seasoned Roast  Beef.

The pure mention of goat cheese starts me drooling, but when combining it with seasoned roast beef, fresh roma tomatoes, sliced red onions, mayonnaise and romaine lettuce, there's a pretty good chance I won't be carrying on any conversations while eating this since I'm too focused on my meal.  For any of their sandwiches, you can pick which bread you want it on and nine times out of ten, I go with the Rosemary Olive Oil.  Another good one for this sandwich is their Point Loma Sourdough. 


Mark's devotion is to the Italian Salami.  I hadn't indulged in this one until he ordered it for the first time, and I can now confidently say, it is my second favorite after the roast beef.  He too, prefers the Rosemary Olive Oil bread (although this time he got Kalamata Olive) to compliment the Italian dry salami, house roasted roma tomatoes, spicy pepperoncini, and romaine lettuce. 

They use olive oil to give this sandwich its moisture, but not just any olive oil, rather olive oil infused with house made basil pesto.  No mayonnaise.  I know some people are mayo haters, but I'm far from that.  Sometimes, however, a sandwich is in need of something extra special, and Con Pane nailed it with this one.  Definitely one of their messiest sandwiches, since the oil tends to ooze out of the crevices in the bread, but you want that with this one.  Delicious.


We also enjoy the ambiance of the eatery.  The rich dark wood, the chalkboard menu, and the friendly service.  They pay attention to detail and it doesn't go unnoticed.

Even the filtered water is something to behold.  The tank is equipped with a beautiful stainless quarter-turn valve.  It's fun just to get water! 


The bakery is always cranking, turning out french baguettes, artisan multi-grain, raisin & hazelnut, cibattas, focaccias, and their sinful brioche cinnamon rolls, scones, and cookies.  I could go on and on, but you'll just have to go and try for yourself.  They have something for everyone's taste.  They are located in the Shelter Island area of Point Loma, but towards the beginning of summer, they will be moving to Liberty Station.

Con Pane Rustic Breads & Cafe

1110 Rosecrans Street, Suite 100

San Diego, CA 92106

(619) 224-4344

Closed Wednesdays

Monday - Friday:  7:00am to 6:00pm

Saturday:  8:00am to 6:00pm

Sunday:  8:00am to 4:00pm

So when you are trying to decide...Subway? or Con Pane?...I urge you to give this beautiful bakery a go.  You can taste the love they put into their sandwiches.  Maybe this cartoon will help with your decision making.  Good food is an art!

(Originally by Left Handed Toons. Check them out for more funnies.)

Thanksgiving Feast

For the last few years, I've hosted a somewhat non-traditional Thanksgiving feast.  I love this holiday.  I look forward to inviting family and friends over for a casual, kid-friendly get together.  I call it a Thanksgiving open house since I try (key word - try) to keep the food as warm as possible so people can come by as they can and not worry about walking in on everyone sitting down to a formal Thanksgiving meal.  My main struggle with this event has always been the turkey.  Personally, I'm not a fan of the big bird and really only like the dark meat.  Also, with people coming throughout the afternoon/evening, I don't want the involved part of carving a turkey or worse yet, the turkey drying out, etc.  So this year, I've found the perfect replacement -  Butterball's turkey roast.  It's a combo of white and dark meat, which keeps it extra juicy.  I realize butterball doesn't sound that exciting, but I found a great marinade and it cooks on the bbq.  In this Marinated Turkey Breast recipe, you first rub the meat with a mixture of garlic, fresh basil, and pepper.  Then pierce each breast with 3 whole cloves and marinate them in soy, lemon juice, oil, and brown sugar.  The instructions are to marinate for at least 4 hours, but I let these roasts go for a full 24.  They were moist and had an excellent flavor.  I sliced them up and served them in an electric skillet with accompanying cranberry sauce.  No gravy this Thanksgiving. 

All in all, I think I cooked about 14 items; some were winners and some were just okay.  Hopefully those folks reading my blog that were at our house that day, will agree with me on my selection of dishes to highlight :)   One hands-down success was the Rosemary Roasted Cashews from Ina Garten.  These were slightly sweet and slightly spicy since they were tossed with fresh chopped rosemary, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper.  A definite keeper.

I also enjoyed the Citrus, Fennel, and Rosemary Olives (at the far left of the picture) as well as the Winter Fruit Compote (in the middle bowl). 

Another fun make-ahead dish was Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato Fougasse.  Extremely enjoyable for me since I hadn't made a yeast bread in years.  The smell of fresh bread baking was to die for.  This would probably go better at a cocktail party type of function, but I must say we are enjoying the leftovers! 


One very big success was the Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole.    This was probably the simplest dish I made, and was also a huge hit with the kids.  I did tweak the recipe a bit, but only by adding green onions and a few dashes of green jalapeno pepper sauce.  I also made this one day ahead and took it out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before putting it in the oven.  So easy and very comforting.  This next dish was actually better the second day - Caramelized Onion-Potato Gratin.  The topping of breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, and lemon zest was definitely not crunchy the second time around, but when reheated, melded beautifully with the potato, onion, and cheese flavors. 

A strange, yet flavorful addition to the Thanksgiving menu, was a dish true to my Lebanese heritage - Kibbeh Meatballs.  Ground lamb mixed with bulgur, shallots, parsley, and spices.  Mix it all in a food processor, shape into balls, brown them in a pan, and serve with a cucumber yogurt dip.  These were excellent when eaten right away, but did tend to dry out as they sat in the electric skillet (note to self).  Those of you who read my post from New York may recall the raw kibbeh (kibbeh nayye) that was also made from minced lamb and bulgur.  I highly doubt I'll ever attempt serving kibbeh nayye to any guests (especially at Thanksgiving!), so kibbeh meatballs is about as close as I'll get.  


As for dessert, I only made a couple of items since I knew others were bringing some.  Pistachio Sour Cream Cookies and Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes.    The cookies were a great combination of a not-so-sweet cookie and a fairly sweet frosting (pictured at the top). If you do attempt to make the cookies, just know that it is basically impossible to find pistachio paste.  Your best bet is to make it yourself by grinding up pistachios, powdered sugar, and a little bit of water in a food processor until it is the consistency of marzipan. The Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes are a Paula Deen recipe.  That may say it all, but for those of you who don't know Paula, she could easily take the name "Butter Queen", then you add the word "butter" in the title of the recipe, and you've got to believe these pumpkin bars are loaded with it!  These were rich and decadent and completely satisfied my pumpkin pie craving. 


I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and please feel free to share any of your wonderful recipes with me!  Now onto making Mexican won-tons for Christmas...to be explained in my next post.