Monday, October 31, 2011

Ratatouille-Piccata

I adore Piccata. The white wine and lemon goodness makes me jump for joy. But, being broke makes chicken hard to come by, so I made a veggie version instead. I used a few different vegetables, so I'm calling it Ratatouille-Piccata. I've made this twice now, I the key ingredient is the white wine. Make sure it is a wine you want to drink and that it's not overly sweet.

Roughly chop 1 medium sized onion, put in pot over medium heat with 1 tbsp butter, 1 block chicken bouillon, splash of hot sauce, 1 tbsp (or more if you like) capers, and 1 tbsp minced garlic. Cook until onions start to become translucent.


Add three roughly chopped roma tomatoes and one and a half or so pounds of roughly chopped zucchini. Keep the juice that comes out of the tomatoes and add it in. Cook until zucchini is fork tender.


Add the zest and juice of half a lemon, 1 cup white wine, and 2 tbsp cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese. Stir until combined, then remove from heat. Toss with Angel hair pasta and serve immediately. 




Delicious. Enjoy!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Beer Bread

This is the simplest bread to make and it provides a WORLD of possibilities.

1 (12oz) can or bottle of beer
3 cups self-rising flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
Grease the vessel, and I recommend adding some Pam or butter to the tops to promote browning.
350 degrees for 15 or so minutes if in a muffin pan, 25 to 30 for a loaf pan or lump on a cookie sheet for a "rustic" loaf (an X cut on the top of the loaf is not necessary).

That's it. Seriously.

I tried Heinekin, Guinness, Strongbow and Blue Moon. All the beer taste basically disappears, which, I'll admit disappointed me. I was hoping for a more BEER bread than beer BREAD. However, I did notice a few things, the lighter, cheaper beers produce a more sugary bread and thus would make good sweets, like cinnamon oatmeal with raisins, etc. But I put chunks of golden delicious apples in the Strongbow batch and the apples held the moisture better and tasted a touch more like cider.



I recommend you play with the recipe to see what you like.