Beer and Cheddar Soup

It may not be German, and it's certainly not healthy, but this was one of the most delicious soups I've ever eaten.  Made by a special friend, it was put together with precision, to ensure that everything came out perfectly.  With ingredients like beer, cheddar cheese, cream, and bacon, I'm not sure how this dish could possibly be bad, but thankfully it delivered on flavor, where it lacked in nutritional value.  Highly recommend this at an Oktoberfest party, or on a cold winter's night.  And definitely look for smoked cheddar if you can find it - it makes a huge difference in the flavor.

Beer-and-Cheddar Soup

From Food & Wine, Contributed by Jonathon Erdeljac

• 1/3 pound piece of slab bacon, sliced 1/3 inch thick and cut into 1/3-inch dice
• 1 celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 large jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
• One 12-ounce bottle lager or pilsner
• 2 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 pound sharp yellow cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
• 4 ounces smoked cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Garlic-rubbed toasts, for serving

In a large saucepan, cook the bacon over moderate heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a bowl. Add the celery, onion, jalapeño, garlic and thyme to the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, 8 minutes. Add half of the beer and cook until reduced by half, 5 minutes. Add 2 1/4 cups of chicken broth and bring to a simmer.

In a small skillet, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Whisk this roux into the soup until incorporated and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, about 8 minutes. Add the heavy cream, cheddar cheeses and the remaining beer and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and creamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bacon and season with salt and pepper. Add a few tablespoons of broth if the soup is too thick. Serve the soup with garlic toasts.

The cheddar soup can be refrigerated overnight. Rewarm gently and thin with additional broth.

Spicy German Mustard

This mustard accompanies my soft pretzel recipe, both of which were made this past week for an Oktoberfest party.  I was amazed with how easy this process was - soak the mustard overnight in a few spices and vinegar, then blend.  Good lord, why have I been buying mustard at the store?  I know one reason - I hadn't felt like chasing down two different colors of mustard seeds until I decided that I had to try this, at least once.  And now mustard seeds will become a staple in my pantry, because I want to be able to make this at all times.

I thought this mustard was tasty - a bit tangy, slightly spicy, just a hint of sweetness.  I was expecting a darker, sweeter mustard, so I might tinker with this a bit to adjust the flavors to what I was hoping for.  But this was delicious in its own right, so I'm excited to pass this along to everyone with the pretzel recipe.

Spicy German Mustard

By Diana Rattray, About.com

Makes about 1 1/2 -2 cups

• 1/4 cup yellow mustard seed
• 2 Tbsp. black or brown mustard seed, heaping
• 1/4 cup dry mustard powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 garlic gloves, minced or pressed
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp. dried tarragon leaves
• 1/8 tsp. turmeric

In a small bowl, combine mustard seed and dry mustard. In a 1- to 2-quart stainless steel or nonreactive saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Simmer, uncovered, on medium heat until reduced by half, 10-15 minutes. Try to be patient and cool the mixture as much as possible before pouring over the mustard mixture; it turns out that both heat and acid will dull the pungent heat developed by mustard seeds, but my guess is that heat will do it faster, while also killing a lot of the flavor.  From About.com:

"It is the chemical reaction between two compounds, myrosin and sinigrin, that combines to turn up the heat when the cells of the seeds are broken and mixed with cold water. "

So my suspicion is that the use of cold vinegar will allow for a slow reaction between these compounds for a while, but eventually it gets in balance, and can be kept refrigerated until the reaction peters out, yielding a stable final product.  If you want to experiment with this (and you can bet I do), try soaking two small quantities in water and vingear, pureeing both and tasting the difference.  I also plan to try experimenting with warm vs cool vinegar liquid poured over the seeds, as well as the total soaking time, to see if these things make a difference.

Anyway, let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature for 24 hours, adding additional vinegar if necessary in order to maintain enough liquid to cover seeds.  Process the seeds and mixture in a blender or food processor until pureed to the texture you like, which can take at least 3 or 4 minutes.  If it gets too thick after a few days, stir in additional vinegar.  Scrape mustard into clean, dry jars; cover tightly and age at least 3 days in the refrigerator before using.

Mustard, in 3 easy steps: 1: Mix up the vinegar with spices

2: Pour over the mustard seeds, and let sit for a few hours (up to 24).

3: Puree.

Soft Pretzels

Oktoberfest may have already come and gone, but to most Americans, they think it's still going through the rest of the month.  So to those of you who keep on partying and don't know why, I salute you.  Why not make some pretzels to celebrate someone else's recently passed holiday?

These pretzels were delicious, rivaling any mall store or ballpark pretzels.  As long as you have a couple of concepts understood, you can make your own delicious version of this at home.  I got the recipe from the show Good Eats by Alton Brown, and followed it to the letter.  I will only add more detail when we get to the part about the dough, which I think is important for success.

Also, you don't have to make pretzel shapes with this dough.  I stupidly forgot to take a picture, but with this dough I made 4 large, 4 small, and 4 pretzel rolls, which made for excellent sausage sandwiches.  Just shape them into ovals, let them rise in a towel, and then treat them as you would a pretzel-shaped version.

These went great with my spicy german mustard recipe, which will be an evolving page with updates as I tinker even more to get this exactly the way I want it.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Here's an important point - you'll get the best, fastest performance out of your yeast if you can find a nice HUMID place to put the dough, not just warm.  I forget where I picked up this trick, but I like to make a small "proofing" chamber out of a plastic tote I bought at the megamart, and put the dough bowl inside along with a small container (at least a pint) of boiling water.  This creates the unbelievable rising effect seen in these photos, which I kid you not are taken only 90 minutes apart, which actually had risen too much.

Note the size of the dough ball before rising.  Also note that there are no shear marks on the surface of this - it's fairly smooth, having been well kneaded until it was elastic and just slightly tacky

My proofing box - dough + boiling / steamy water = awesome.

This is what you would like to see, although maybe this was in there a bit too long

While the dough is rising, start preheating the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces (definitely consider doing 16 pieces instead, the 8 pretzels this makes are just way too huge). Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Start with a nice long rope.  I had to roll it as shown to get an even diameter all down the length

I asked a German baker about the trick here, and he said "just bring the two ends up and let it come together".  That didn't really work, but I got it after a few tries.

It helps to look at a store pretzel while doing this.  You basically cross the tips over twice, and then press in slightly where the dough rejoins or crosses itself.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Before the bath, wash, and bake

Taking the first bath, before a quick rinse with some egg yolk and a sprinkle of sea salt

The final product!

Braised Lamb Shanks with White Beans

I've always wanted to master lamb shanks.  Filling, complex, rich with collagen, and easily portioned into undisputable gargantuan helpings you just can't argue with, they are far too underappreciated in this country.  I only know a few cultures that cook lamb shanks well - the Greeks, and the Irish.  I suppose the French can do it to, and that's what I had a run at with this recipe, kind of a take on a cassoulet but without a variety of different meats (or as many beans).

I made this recipe a few months ago and as a result have forgotten exactly where I found it, but I believe I scavenged it mostly from Williams-Sonoma and then modified the spice blend slightly, to produce more of an herbes de provence blend than just the original thyme and bay leaf mix.  My version had an overly thick sauce which would have benefitted from slightly more broth, but otherwise the flavor was so incredible that I almost phoned the last French bistro I ate in and asked for my money back.  Rest assured that I won't be ordering this out at a pricey restaurant any time soon - this probably cost me $30 out the door for two people, including meat from a top-end butcher and a bottle of wine, most of which ended up being drunk at dinner, as was the chef.

Braised Lamb Shanks with White Beans
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Seasonal Celebration Series, Autumn, by Joanne Weir (Time-Life Books, 1997)

• 3/4 cup dried small white, white kidney or cannellini beans (or 2 15 ounce cans if you’re lazy)
• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 lamb shanks, each 1/2 to 3/4 lb.
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 celery stalk, finely diced
• 1 large carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup dry red wine such as Côtes-du-Rhône, Cabernet Sauvignon or Chianti
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 1.5 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• ¾ tsp chopped fresh rosemary, or ¼ tsp dried
• 1-2 leaves chopped fresh sage, or ½ tsp dried
• ½ tsp dried marjoram
• ¼ tsp dried basil
• ¼ tsp fennel seeds
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

If using dried, pick over the beans and discard any misshapen beans and stones. Rinse the beans, place in a bowl and add water to cover generously. Let stand for about 3 hours.  Drain the beans and place in a saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until nearly tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Drain well.  Or, if using canned beans, ignore that whole process and open 2 cans, rinse, and drain.

While beans are cooking (or being opened), prepare the herbes de provence by combining thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, basil, fennel, and oregano in a small bowl.

Meanwhile, in a deep, heavy stock pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the lamb shanks and brown on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the shanks to a plate. Add the onion, celery and carrots to the pan and sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine, broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbes de provence mix, bay leaf, and lamb shanks. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the shanks can be easily pierced with a skewer, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Add the beans, stir well, cover and simmer gently until the lamb begins to fall from the bone and the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf and discard.

Transfer the lamb shanks and beans to individual plates and garnish with chopped parsley.