Holiday Cooking With Belgian Beer

Too often beer is left out of the gourmet cooking equation, but the holiday season is in fact the perfect time to cook and pair meals with a top-notch brew. The Belgian beer giant, Stella Artois, has made the leap easy-this fall they combined forces with James Beard House honoree, Chef Daniel Joly, to create special holiday dishes ready to pair with Stella, Hoegaarden, and Leffe. Termed La Cuisine a la Biere, part of the package when having a traditional Belgian beer is to serve it in the appropriate glass.

Stella, a pilsner, is best served in a footed chalice glass, which isn't difficult to find amongst local purveyors. Hoegaarden, on the other hand, is a white, wheat beer, that usually comes in a hexagonal glass. If you are a Boston native, you might have seen the two-liter version at Charlie's Kitchen in Cambridge: But don't despair, the Hoegaarden glasses are available in dining-room appropriate sizes. Leffe is most likely the least known of the Belgian beer giants, but with a higher alcohol content and distinctive clove flavor, it is not to be missed. Leffe is an Abbey Ale, and dates back to 1240. If you can get your hands on a wide-mouth goblet, this will be the closest to a traditional Leffe glass.

The following recipes come courtesy of Chef Joly, so if you don't get the chance to experience his holiday fare at Mirabelle in Beaver Creek, Colorado where he is executive chef, these should have you covered for a Belgian feast of your own.

Tapas Blinis with Stella Artois

? cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, separated
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon fresh yeast
2 ounces fresh sashimi-grade yellow fin tuna
Salt and ground pepper for seasoning
1 peeled shallot, finely diced
Extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons orange juice
1 bunch chives, finely chopped
2 ounces cr?me fra?che
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 slices domestic smoke salmon
? cup watercress puree
? cup yellow corn puree
? cup red bell pepper puree
1/3 cup Stella Artois Beer
Olive oil, for cooking blini
2 ounces of fresh golden osetra caviar
Baby green salad, lightly dressed

In large bowl add flour, egg yolk, milk, beer, and fresh yeast. With a whisk, mix ingredients to obtain a smooth dough. Let dough rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, slice tuna into very small cubes. Place tuna in small bowl and season with salt, pepper, finely diced shallot, a touch of extra-virgin olive oil and orange juice. Refrigerate. Combine finely chopped chives with cr?me fra?che and lemon juice. Spoon into a pastry bag and refrigerate. Using a 1-inch ring, cut the smoked salmon into small circles. Refrigerate.

Divide flour mixture into 3 small bowls. Add watercress puree to one bowl, bell pepper puree to another and yellow corn puree to the third. Whisk the egg whites, add a touch of salt into stiff peaks and fold even amount of mixture into each bowl, creating 3 different types of blini dough. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot and brush with oil. Working in batches of 4, spoon 1 tablespoon batter into skillet for each blini, then cook, turning over once, until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes. Transfer to an ovenproof platter and keep blini warm in oven.

Place corn blini on plate and top with small amount of osetra caviar. Place bell pepper blini on plate and spoon on tuna tartar. Place watercress blini on plate and top with smoked salmon. Garnish with chive cr?me fra?che and a lightly dressed baby green salad.

Pair with Stella Artois

Lobster with Butternut Squash, Carrots and Chestnut Foam

4? quarts vegetable broth
2 Maine lobsters, about 1? pounds each
1 butternut squash
5 tablespoons of honey
1 star anise, sliced
2 tablespoon of unsalted butter
6 ounces Hoegaarden beer
2 cups milk, divided
1 cup heavy cream
3 eggs
2 eggs yolk
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
6 large carrots
1 cup unsweetened chestnut cream, divided
4 sprigs of lemon thyme
Extra-virgin olive oil
Whole cloves
Baby spring organic salad, lightly dressed

Cook lobsters in vegetable broth for 4 to 6 minutes. Remove meat and reserve. Peel butternut squash and cut into large pieces. Place squash into large baking dish and drizzle with honey. Add the sliced star anise, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 5 ounces of beer. Cover and bake in a 350?F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until squash is tender. Remove star anise, transfer remaining baking dish ingredients into blender or mixer and pulse until smooth. Refrigerate. Peel carrots to uniform width and cut ends. Cook in water with 1 ounce of Hoegaarden and one spoon of unsalted butter. Boil until tender. Set aside.

In large bowl, add cream, milk, eggs, and egg yolks to the butternut mixture. Mix and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to create a butternut cream flan mixture. Stand carrots vertically in small baking ring, and fill with butternut mixture and bake in warm oven at 200?F for 15 to 20 minutes or until the flan is firm. Set aside.

In small saucepan, cook 3 ounces of the unsweetened chestnut cream with 1 cup of milk and sprigs of lemon thyme. Let mixture cook 3 to 4 minutes. Finish with 2 tablespoons of butter and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Just before presentation whip the cream into a foam.

Sear the lobster tail in olive oil with cloves to warm it up again. Stand the carrot ring and flan on the plate and place the lobster tail inside; garnish with chestnut foam and a lightly dressed organic salad.

Pair with Hoegaarden

Colorado Rack of Lamb with Herbs, Celery Root and Black Truffle Mousseline

2 bundles of Italian parsley
2 bundles of chervil
2 bundles of fresh tarragon, stem removed
? cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons almond powder
2 eggs
7 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
2 8-bone racks of lamb, cleaned
4 large Colorado Yukon Gold Potatoes
6 ounces Leffe Blonde
1 celery root
1 cup of heavy cream
2 cups of milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 black truffle
3 whole seasoned tomatoes
12 green asparagus tips
2 eggs
7 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
Fresh rosemary, sage, and savory for garnish

For herb disc, blanch herbs in boiling water, cooling quickly in ice water bath; using towel, press out excess water. In a food processor, finely chop herbs and mix with bread crumbs, almond powder, eggs, and soft butter. Place an appropriate amount of the herb mixture in a cooking form to evenly fill. Cook in a 350?F oven for 3 to 4 minutes. Let rest, then carefully remove the herb "cookie" from the form. Peel and cut the Yukon potatoes. Using 2 different sized rings, create a 2-inch wide potato cylinder, then core it using the smaller ring. Cook the potato shells in clarified butter and Leffe Blonde in a slow oven at 300?F degrees for 30 minutes. Set aside. Clean and cut the celery root and boil in large saut? pan with milk and a dash of salt. Make sure the milk covers the celery root. Over medium-high heat, cook for about 20 minutes; using a colander, press the root and milk mixture into a bowl. Add cream, salt, pepper, and the finely chopped truffle. Mix and spoon into the potato shells. Keep warm.

Sear the lamb in a hot pan and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes until medium-rare. Deglaze the pan and save the jus de viande (meat juice) for presentation. To serve, place the potato shell, with black truffle stuffing, with and rack of lamb on the plate. Add the herb cookie and garnish with fresh herbs and jus de viande.

Pair with Leffe Blonde

Apples crepes Hoegaarden & beer sorbet

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 cups milk
? stick melted butter
? cup Hoegaarden beer
1 T vegetable oil
zest of an orange
zest of a lemon
1 apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

Preparation:

Using a large bowl combine flour and a ? cup of sugar. Whisk in the eggs one at time, then slowly add the milk, melted butter and the zest of orange and lemon. It is always better to allow the batter to set-up for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Compote
In a medium saucepan, combine the sliced apples, a pat of butter, the Hoegaarden beer and remaining sugar. Cook until the consistency of a sauce.

Heat a no-stick pan until hot, add enough butter/oil to coat the pan. Add a thin layer of crepe batter and cook on both sides until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is finished.

Take each crepe and fill with the apple compote. Sprinkle with confectionary sugar.

Beer sorbet
11 oz Hoegaarden
3 oz glucose
11 oz sugar
20 oz milk

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients together. Churn in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. Freeze overnight. Serve along side the warm beer crepes.

Pair with Hoegaarden