Friday, November 22, 2013

Eating well this holiday season with The Homebrew Chef


By now, most well-traveled beer folks that also like to eat and drink well (that's a part of the profile, is it not?) have likely heard the name Sean Z. Paxton. If not, perhaps the name Homebrew Chef is more familiar.

Paxton is a self-taught chef who has been treating tens of thousands of eager fans across the country to his delectable masterpieces from the kitchen that both incorporate our favorite beverage as well as that pair perfectly with it in a glass. It doesn't hurt that, though he travels the world in search of great beer and food for both serving and personal consumption, he hails from gastronomically-blessed northern California.

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, many will find great help in his holiday menu suggestions over at his website.

Additionally, he recently sent along a couple of dessert recipes that landed in the pages of Draught Lines magazine, a glossy newsletter from Origlio Beverage. I'd written about some fun ideas for the holiday season and used a recipe for Hophead Peanut Brittle and one for Narwhal Truffles (pages 9-10, by the way).

A third recipe, which to me was the most appealing of them all, did not make the cut due to space issues.

It's called Spiced Beer Cake with Hazelnut Beer Brittle and Barleywine Mascarpone Mousse. I would be complete neglecting my responsibility of bringing you the best of the beer and food world if I did not find a place to share this with you.

Sure the recipe looks long, but when you break it down in to bite-size tasks (sort of a pun, I suppose, fully-intended) as Paxton has done in laying out the ingredients and instructions, you will see that the preparation can begin three days prior to the final assembly of the dessert.

It also helps that Paxton's recipe-writing skills allow the home cook to read the recipe as if Paxton himself is in the kitchen serving as personal coach. This is one recipe that I plan to serve up at our Thanksgiving meal next week.

Go check it out for yourself over at my space in The Washington Times Communities and judge for yourself.

No comments: