OMG a Recipe: Makin' Drunk Whoopie (and other delights)

Makin' drunk whoopie PIES, that is. Get your mind out of the gutter and into the trash with the rest of us! Inspired by booze-infused baked goods, I thought I'd share some recent baking shenanigans. While this features a gluten-rich chocolate whoopie pie adapted recipe, I'm also including a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe that you could make some decent whoopie with. So let's get it on -- start the Barry White/mood music playing!

That's what you get for makin' whoopie (pies) - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: The Sweet Life - Dish Up!!

Much like our blessed Memorial Day holiday week, this post is gonna be short n' sweet! Not that you need anyone's permission -- much less mine -- but it's all good in the hood to savor the sweet life. If you can have a bit of dessert, ENJOY IT.

Salted Caramel Chocolates from Fran's? OM NOM IMMEDIATELY - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Say "I Love You, Sugar Coma" with Cookie Butter

Let's face it, if it wasn't so close to Valentine's Day, I'd be calling this post, Breaking Cookie Butter Bad, or maybe Diabetes, the Gift That Keeps on Giving. One of the food fads that rode the coattails of the holidays was the entity known as Cookie Butter, aka Biscoff, aka Speculoos. It's like Billy the Kid, it had so many aliases, and just as notorious. You're either reading this with a look of bewilderment or shaking your head with glazed-over eyes, thinking back on your last sweet fix when you passed out with the Cookie Butter cradled in your huddled grasp. I say, embrace the madness. Ride the snake. Make Cookie Butter Bars for Valentine's Day and never look at the world the same again. Because it's so sweet, you'll probably go cross-eyed.

Happy Valentine's Day - I got you diabetes - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: A Sweet Bon Voyage!

Cupcake Break. That's what my old workmates and I would declare after a particularly long, stressful, annoying day or week. One of us would to a nearby bakery and bring back some sweet treats. It would usually be multiple flavors, so we could cut them into smaller pieces and sample a little of everything, and just dwell in that drug-like haze of an extreme sugar high. At least before the crushing blow of Harsh Reality set in, and we'd have to get back to work. When Trophy Cupcakes first headed Eastside, to their spot at The Bravern, that became a regular on our Cupcake Break rotation. Which leads me to today's post -- sometimes you need not only a Cupcake Break, but a Real Break. So I'm having both!

Sometimes the day needs a chocolate cupcake. Likely more than one. - Photo by Wasabi Prime

FoodTrek: Spring Fever and Yes, More Cowbell

"I got a fever... and the only prescription is... More Cowbell," so sayeth Christopher Walken's insane, Phil Spector-style record producer character on that high-larious Blue Oyster Cult Saturday Night Live skit from a few  years ago. If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about and have a strong hankering to see Will Ferrell's hairy gut shake its money-maker, you should get to know your Internets better and see a quick-edit mashup on the YouTube. I definitely got a case of Spring Fever when I indulged in some springtime shenanigans: attending Woodinville RESERVE and savoring a day of sun at Pike Place Market. Start that cowbell, we're ready to rawk.

Ramping it up with spring in the Northwest - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Breaking Up is Hard to Do (with cake)

The parenthetical (with cake) seemed a requirement in today's title because, really, everyone knows Facebook is the place to post devastatingly personal milestones in small, graphical icon tags. And so it was, a softly-lit, slow-dance crescendo moment of The Way We Were... an intense, short-lived romance destined to be as memorable as it was tearful. Star-crossed lovers in a whirlwind romance... Me and Milk Chocolate Cake...and then it all went wrong. (roll sad music and end credits)

The Cake-Up - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: I Scream for Ice Cream - You Should Too!

Tis the season for summery cold desserts! But let's be honest, we don't need cold weather to indulge in ice cream, at least I don't. Raise your hand if you've enjoyed a frosty scoop of mint chip in the dearth of winter. *Raising hand* Oh, admit it -- I'm not the only one! Anyways, I tried out some new flavor combinations and techniques with some familiar flavors, so I thought I'd share some of my tasty discoveries. So come on, I wanna hear you -- I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREEEEEEAAAAM!!!!!!!!!

Balsamic strawberry, you are my new kryptonite - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Balsamic vinegar and strawberries isn't a new combination, nor is it new to combine them in ice cream -- fancy artisanal ice creameries have been mixing this up for a while now. And they should! Balsamic vinegar, while typically used on savory things, is an incredibly diverse flavor element. Its tartness enhances food, and its aged quality can add richness to a dish (I even add it to stir fry sauces!), but add some sweetness like sugar or honey to balsamic to balance out the acid, and it can be drizzled on ice cream or tossed with fresh berries. It balances a sweet and creamy dessert, making it feel a little more sophisticated to a palate used to either just sweet or savory things.  If you make your own ice cream, there's no reason you can't do the same flavor mashup with berries n' balsamic. Heck, you don't even need to make your own ice cream, this could be used as a topping or swirled into some softened vanilla ice cream. I've got no qualms against going halfway-homemade.

Mixing up a summery delight from scratch - Photos by Wasabi Prime

To put together a quick balsamic and berry mixture to either mix into ice cream or use as a topping, I take about a half cup of balsamic vinegar and reduce it in a pot on the stove on medium-low heat, gently removing excess moisture and intensifying the flavor until it's almost like a syrup. I'll add sugar to taste, maybe a tablespoon, but not too much because you want it to keep its savory bite. I had fresh strawberries, maybe two cups' worth once they were cut down into a rough chop, and they were thrown into the balsamic syrup. The fruit juice will loosen up the balsamic, but that's okay, you want it kind of jammy as a final product. Just cook the strawberries until they're soft, but not mush -- a little bite of berry is pleasant. Keep tasting to see if you want more sugar or not, it's really a matter of personal taste. Cool and chill the mixture before adding to your ice cream.

The secret of a good ice cream swirl - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The best tip I got when mixing fruit with homemade ice cream was from local lifestyle expert, Alexandra Hedin, and she said to not add it during the churning -- they key is layering your finished ice cream with the berry mixture, and just don't mess with it. Aside from the fruit freezing and getting the paddle stuck, you won't get that lovely swirl unless you add dollops of the berry mixture over the already-churned ice cream, with just a light swirl with a spoon before continuing this layering process.  It might look like a crazy mess when it's in the serving container, chilling in the frezer, but the scooping of the finished ice cream is what will give that perfect marbled look.

My renewed love of strawberry ice cream goes hand-in-hand with an appreciation for coffee ice cream. I always compare other coffee ice creams against my gold standards, which are Lappert's Kona coffee or Roselani's coffee ice cream. They're both Hawaii-based ice cream companies, I'm pretty sure they don't ship outside of the islands, with the exception of a small Lapperts at the California Hotel in Las Vegas, but one of the reasons I consider their coffee ice creams so good is they keep it simple. They don't fall into the frappucino-whipped-caramel sauced-sprinkle of chocolate mess that is most so-called coffee beverages and ice creams. The lily isn't just gilded when it comes to a lot of mainstream coffee ice creams, it's freakin' bedazzled and clothed in a purple crushed velvet track suit with gold stitching. That's some fussy ice cream, yo. How about just enjoying the coffee flavor, with the sweetness of milk?

I like my basic vanilla ice cream recipe as a starter -- you can peek at it on this older post.  And while the milk, sugar and vanilla is simmering, I throw in about a quarter cup of fresh-ground coffee. It steeps and releases its pure java flavor. I let it all simmer until it's got the perfect blend of coffee and vanilla, add the eggs, and then strain the mix through a fine metal sieve. It will get all the large chunks of beans out, but a little will remain, and that's fine. When it's time to churn the chilled mixture, I'll add in some super finely chopped bittersweet chocolate -- run it through the food processor to get it really small and grainy. It's more as a textural element, since the chill keeps the chocolate's flavor from really permeating the ice cream. I like the little crunchy bits of chocolate as I eat the ice cream, it makes me feel like I'm having a chocolate covered espresso bean. I could leave the ground coffee in, but I think they might be too bitter, and the chocolate just adds a nice surprise of sweetness with the coffee.

I hope these little ice creamery tips are helpful as you wade through the summer heat. Ice cream maker or not, there are some nice ways to jazz up a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream!

The joy of ice cream, down to the last bite - Photos by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: You Put Your Sweet in My Savory (and vice-versa)

I remember when Reese's Peanut Butter Cups first came out (yes, I'm old enough to remember a world without peanut butter cups). The commercial had two kids, one with a chocolate bar, one with a jar of peanut butter. The kid with the chocolate bar drops the candy into the peanut butter and the famous synchronized lines, "You put your chocolate in my peanut butter/you put your peanut butter on my chocolate" was born. What, you don't remember that? My age must be showing. It got me thinking about sweet and savory, and how they can do a switcheroo in dishes without fear of cats-and-dogs-living-together mass hysteria breaking out.

Don't hate on the beets in this chocolate brownie - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Chocolate in enchiladas? Beets in brownies? Yes We Can. It's not only possible, but it's tasty. It's easy to get lulled into the traditional use of ingredients, where chocolate lives in candy bars and beets get roasted and made into soups or salads. If we looked at ingredients without the context of our own flavor preferences and just saw them for what they were -- sweet, smoky, bitter, sour, etc -- we would start to re-envision the ingredients in seemingly unlikely things. Beets are a root vegetable with a high sugar content, probably one of the highest. I remember reading somewhere how the high sugar acts as a natural form of antifreeze, preventing the vegetables from getting icy in the cold months when they're still below the ground. The same way we use carrots, another sweet root vegetable, in cakes, beets can be used as well. If we can ignore all those plates of boiled beets or bowls of borscht and just see beets as another source for sweetness, why not use them for dessert?

Of course I had our CSA to thank for this one -- we were delivered several red beets, and along with the produce, Full Circle Farms kindly includes a newsletter that has suggestions and recipes. The week's recipes included a beet chocolate cake, which I modified to become a brownie. Why? A lack of patience, mostly. I didn't want to wait for the butter to soften and the original cake recipe was more like a chocolate-beet chiffon cake, with the eggs separated and the whites whipped to help lighten the cake. I appreciate the earthy heartiness of beets, and I think it pairs nicely with bittersweet chocolate, so why not have it in a rich, dense brownie? I also went the extra mile, adding dollops of partially-frozen sweet goat cheese icing on top of the brownies, then swirling it when the oven softened it after a few minutes. This is an extra step that's nice, but not necessary. And honestly, how many people are random enough to have a little container of frozen goat cheese frosting in the freezer? If you do have this in your freezer, I doff my hat to you, fellow chevre freaks.

If you're like me and want to mess with the Mister's mind and convince them beets are not all that bad, give this beet brownie recipe a try. It's modified from Full Circle Farms' original Moist Chocolate-Beet Cake recipe.

I Can't Believe It's Beet Brownies!
2 large beets, roughly chopped (to prep, roast and peel, or boil until soft and peel)
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup hot coffee
7 oz butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a square baking dish with parchment paper to prepare for the batter. Place a medium sized pot on a burner set to medium-lo and add butter, coffee, sugar and chocolate. Melt and combine ingredients until they are fully combined and set aside to cool slightly. Place cooked and peeled beets into a blender or food processor and puree with chocolate and butter mixture until smooth.

Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together into a bowl. Fold in the chocolate-beet mixture and add the eggs. Mix everything until incorporated and pour into the prepared baking dish. Place the dish into the oven and bake until just-set, 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Use a toothpick to check the doneness of the center of the pan; it should come out slightly moist, not coated with batter. Allow the cake to cool before cutting the brownies down.

Chocolate enchiladas for... dinner? Dessert...? - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I had beets in brownies, so how about chocolate in enchiladas? Call it reverse dessert. Using cocoa in flavor-complex mole sauces isn't unusual; a combination of dried chiles and spices, simmered in a vegetable and tomato-based sauce -- pure deliciousness. Cacao doesn't naturally taste like a chocolate bar, it's bitter and the processing of the pods is similar to coffee -- there's roasting, developing a smoky flavor, and then it's ground to release its oils and flavors. So it would make sense that unsweetened chocolate is added to rich, slow-cooked sauces to impart that deep flavor. I usually make my own enchilada sauce. Not because I'm trying to be fancy-schmancy, and I would never call the recipe traditional (it's actually a pretty quickie sauce), I just prefer building the sauce myself because I'm never totally sure what the heck is in those canned sauces.

Admittedly, when I made this batch of enchiladas, they were Cheater Enchiladas. I didn't roll the tortillas, I layered tortillas with sauce and shredded beef the way you would make a lasagne. The finished dish was more like a layered casserole. I was more interested in getting the flavor of that sauce into my hungry tummy as quickly as possible, hence the shortcut. The thing to remember when making this is don't swap the unsweetened baking chocolate with sweetened baking chips. You want the bitter, almost coffee-like quality of the chocolate to add earthy flavor to the sauce, not taste like you threw in a Hershey bar.

Adding chocolate to enchiladas? Don't judge, it's delicious - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Chocolate Mole Enchilada Sauce
1.5 pounds chopped tomatoes or 2 15 oz cans of chopped tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 ounces of unsweetened baker's chocolate (usually comes in 1 oz squares)
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar (or more, to taste)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil for cooking

In a large pot, set to medium high, drizzle with oil. Add chopped onion, bell pepper and garlic and sautee until softened and slightly browned. Add the tomatoes, chocolate and dry spices. Mix to combine and drop heat to low. Let simmer for an hour, letting the vegetables soften. Add salt and pepper to taste. Use a stick blender to puree final sauce.

OMG a Recipe: Beware the Roller-Disco-Cupcake Ides of March

Beware, oh great Caesar... the sequined, frothy beer-topped Ides of March, slathered in buttercream frosting... That's not how Shakespeare's play really went down, nor was it the real story behind Julius Caesar's untimely demise. Heck, it's not even the Ides of March anymore, because we're in the dwindling days of the month. But I do have a truthful warning about March -- beyond the wealth of regrettable decisions and naked table dancing that is St. Patrick's Day, there is an inherent danger in baking cupcakes for a friend's birthday... endless leftovers!

Beware the army of cupcakes, out to put you into a diabetic coma - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Yes, file it under First World Problems -- an excess of cupcakes is never a terrible thing. I just as easily could have packed the Mister off with the little frosted devils the Monday after the birthday, but no, I am a greedy, evil cupcake leprechaun, fit to horde away my sugary treasure. Get away from me pot o' gold, you rotten kids -- and no,  you can't have any of me Lucky Charms, neither! Despite the photo of Epic Infinite Cupcakes, we didn't have quite that many left in our possession, but I will say we've been having dessert every night and loving it.

As annoying as the Cupcake Craze may be, I will say it's a dessert that travels well. You don't need utensils or plates. Everything is individually portioned. Just hand 'em out and people eat. Done. I volunteered baked sweets for a friend's birthday party which happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day, which also happened to fall on a Saturday. They say 2012 is the year the world ends, and if those weren't the foretold signs of an apocalyptic end, I don't know what is. St. Patty's on a Saturday? Nostradamus, how could you not have seen that one coming? The party was thankfully cataclysm-free. There was roller-rink boogie-ing, there was much wine and beer-ing, and somehow we wound up at an all-night karaoke place that lets you rent suites so you can keep your shame all to yourself. Two o'clock in the morning later, we arrived home intact, with a tupperware full of leftover cupcakes. Alive and well, with dessert. Not such a sad state of affairs.

Sure, it's more steps than cake from a box, but the sugar high alone is worth it - Photos by Wasabi Prime

This is a sort-of OMG a Recipe, as I have a recipe available for the cupcakes, but it isn't mine, I did a quick search on my Epicurious iPhone app to find a chocolate cake recipe that sounded good. I went with the Ganache-filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Seven Minute Meringue Frosting, but left out its more showy aspects. No ganache filling. Not even a fluffy meringue topping. It sounds lackluster, but I just wanted a nice, basic dark chocolate cake, so I didn't add the chocolate chips and I replaced the water with a dark beer, specifically Black Butte Porter. I didn't heat it, I poured in a cup's worth cold, into the batter, and it turned out fine. I wanted it to be a beer-chocolate cupcake, and since it was St. Patrick's Day and there was much seasonal buzz about McDonalds' annual Shamrock Shake appearance, I went with a mint-flavored white chocolate buttercream frosting. The buttercream frosting was the only tricky bit; it took a few rounds with the mixer to get it to the right consistency, plus some rest time in the fridge, to help set the consistency a bit more. I went with a recipe similar to this white chocolate frosting, adding some powdered egg whites to stiffen it up a bit and have it set enough to where it was a little dry to the touch, just so the cupcake tops wouldn't fuse together during transit. The minty flower cookies were an add-on for both decoration and for easy grabbing out of the container. I would have gone with Girl Scout Cookies, as the cupcake was somewhat inspired by their Thin Mint cookies, but alas, I was too late to get my addictive dose of Scouted treats.

Disco Roller Night delights Warwick Davis' angry scary Leprechaun - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As for the evening itself, despite the potential for much harm to one's liver, I think the scariest thing was all the 70s/80s super short-shorts all the guys were wearing for the retro-themed rollerskate birthday party. You didn't know if it was St. Patrick's Day or a porn movie about to happen. Luck o' the Irish, indeed.

OMG a Recipe: There's No Crying in Baseball and It's Never too Cold for Ice Cream

I think that's pretty much my double-mantra for life: a stubble-faced Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, screeching to a weepy Racine Belle player that there is absolutely positively no crying in baseball, and no matter how many inches of snow are piled atop the ground, it is never too cold for ice cream. Not ever!! Also, it's never too late to enjoy the flavor of peppermint, especially when you've been saving the best of the holiday candy for last!

The last of the Christmas-themed posts (I swear) - Photo by Wasabi Prime

This is one of the biggest challenges of blogging, which is notoriously known for getting backlogged with posts: getting holiday-sensitive material posted somewhere near its relevant holiday. Nobody wants to hear about a Christmas roast in the middle of June. Sure, I could plan all the holiday festive eats and treats ahead of time and have tinsel-festooned posts appearing all throughout December, but that would mean kicking off the holidays a month or two earlier, and frankly, I just don't wanna be decking the halls with Christmas cookies in September. All that being said, yes, this is a peppermint chocolate ice cream, using a holiday-specific candy, to boot. But I hold my belief to be true -- ice cream knows no season, and that goes for its flavors, too.

Keep Christmas in your heart, or your freezer, it sets up real nice - Photos by Wasabi Prime

We received a lovely bar of Theo peppermint and dark chocolate over the holidays. Score, right? Theo Chocolate is amazing, both in flavor and principle. They're local, organic, free trade -- it's like the trifecta of goodness and quality that Portlandia loves to make funny-but-true skits about. And it also becomes such a precious thing that I get all Gollum about it and don't want to just eat it, I just sit in a corner, all hunched over, petting it like the One Ring and the Mister asks if I'm gonna share that thing or what? Fair question. So my solution, much like the Lord of the Rings story: destroy The Precioussssss! Well, pulverize the heck out of the chocolate bar and spread its tasty goodness across several portions by making ice cream out of it. Portlandia, are you listening? After you've Put a Bird on It, decided We Can Pickle It, you can now Make Ice Cream Out of It!

How Wasabi rolls when making ice cream at home - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Along with the Precious Chocolate Bar that I was in danger of hoarding like a house full of cats, we replaced our old n' busted ice cream maker with a fancy-schmancy version that gets tacked onto a KitchenAid mixer. Happy Boxing Day to us! Yes, the KitchenAid attachments are great, with the one teensy drawback that you have to spend a small fortune or pre-sell some organs to get the KitchenAid mixer itself. I admit, we are fortunate to have this mighty appliance, but if you want to make your own ice cream, don't feel like you have to buy a bunch of extra crap. A smaller, less expensive ice cream mixer works dandy (which was what I was using before) -- it's all about having a good-sized freezable container that gets super-cold and either an electric mixing attachment or even a hand-cranked paddle to churn the ice cream as it freezes. I have to admit, the KitchenAid attachment's maiden voyage had it working almost too well -- the freezable container is big, so more surface area than other smaller ice cream makers; after it's had a couple of days to get super cold in the freezer, it makes the ice cream mixing super-fast. As in, don't let the paddle idle for one second, because the motor will just get stopped in its tracks by the rapidly thickening ice cream. It doesn't freeze solid as a brick, but enough to where the mixer's motor gets stuck and that's a bad thing, so just keep all the parts moving.

But back to the good stuff, the ice cream itself: it's not rocket science and once you start making your own, you'll think twice about buying the mass market stuff because you can really customize the flavors. The way I make ice cream is like how I cook -- I make things based on the ingredients I have. The holidays left us with extra heavy cream, plenty of eggs and holiday candy, so my brain went: Ice Cream. I love peppermint ice cream, but I also love chocolate mint, and that's where the Theo candy bar came in -- I melted down half the bar into the ice cream batter/mixture and bashed up the other half with a candy cane to make a crunchy texture to add to the churned ice cream. When I make chocolate ice cream, I prefer a bittersweet chocolate flavor, so I always add a small bit of finely ground coffee -- like, just a scant half teaspoon's worth. It just gives it a little more depth. It might feel too strong for some, but that's just my personal preference. You don't have to worry about large grounds getting into the ice cream, as I always strain the ice cream batter before it's chilled -- a metal strainer is the best thing and it's probably one of my favorite kitchen tools, since it can work for hot and cold uses.

For the basic ice cream batter, this is my base recipe -- it starts off with less sugar, in case you add extra ingredients or flavorings that are sweetened, and you can always add more sugar to taste as you simmer it. It's basically a frozen custard base -- eggs, sugar and milk/cream. It's your choice to add vanilla, chocolate or any other flavorings, which usually are added in small increments if it's strong like vanilla. If you're wanting to make chocolate ice cream, I melt down about a cup and a half's worth of chocolate chips into the heated milk and sugar. It's also fun to mix things, like vanilla with orange zest, to make a creamsicle flavor. Or in this post-holiday batch of ice cream, I melted chocolate and added more crushed chocolate and peppermint. If you decide to add some crushed bits of something into the ice cream for texture, sprinkle it into the already-mixed batter, layering it with the churned ice cream as it's poured into a container (preferably glass) to finish setting up in the freezer. As you scoop the finished ice cream, the bits will mix itself into the ice cream and it's less hard on the motor of your ice cream maker if it doesn't have to churn chunky solid bits like nuts.

Wasabi's Ice Cream Base

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk or 2 cups whole milk, 1 cup cream if you want it extra-rich
3 whole eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Special tools: ice cream maker, metal strainer, whisk, silicone spatulas

Place a medium-sized pot on the stove and set it to medium. Add the sugar and milk/cream, warming to a simmer, whisking to make sure sugar is melted. At this point, add whatever custom ingredients you wish to the mixture, including the salt, whisking to fully combine and spend a few minutes to develop its flavor. Drop the heat to medium low.

Take the lightly beaten eggs and add some of the heated cream and sugar liquid into the eggs and whisk to temper them; this helps bring the temperature of the eggs up gently. Add the egg and liquid mixture slowly into the pot, whisking steadily to incorporate and keep the eggs from scrambling. This will thicken mixture and it will start to resemble a loose pudding. Check the temperature to make sure it hits 160 degrees - this ensures that the eggs have been cooked. Keep whisking until it gets to that temperature and then remove from the heat. Pour the mixture through the metal strainer, using the spatula to help move any of the solid bits around to get any excess liquid from them. There's going to be little chunks from the egg, plus any solid bits from the flavorings you may have added, so it's good to not skip this step -- no one wants unpleasantly chunky ice cream!

Let the mixture cool and chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least six hours so that it's fully chilled before churning in your ice cream maker.

FoodTrek: Holiday Cheers to Winter Beers

The sunny days of summer are long past, replaced with a distinct chill in the air. We're all looking for ways to get cozy and seek out the rich flavors that seem to call out with a rebel yell in the wintery season. We start to think of hot mugs of steaming coffee, bittersweet nibbles of chocolate, and... beer?! Well of course. It's Seattle, after all! Raise a glass and toast the holiday season with a brewski or twoski, as we did at this year's Winter BeerFest.

And lo, unto you I bring you tidings of comfort, joy and delicious beer - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As in previous years, Winter BeerFest was held in the Ballard neighborhood, over at Hale's Palladium, a large event space adjacent to Hale's Ales Brewery. Fitting, no? This festival is especially tuned-in to the Seattle/Northwest vibe, as along with beer, there's a booth set up by Caffe Vita, slinging espresso shots of pure comfort, joy and caffeine to offset the mellowing buzz of beer. There was also a large table full of samples from Theo Chocolate, another local Seattle favorite. They're of the only organic, fair trade chocolatiers in the country, whose sweets are as good as their intentions. They had recommended beer and chocolate pairings, which if you're looking for a unique gift for chocolate and beer lovers, a few bars of Theo chocolate packaged up with some wintery Scotch Ales or smoky Porters would make a really fantastic holiday treat for someone special. This year they had something extra fantastic to add to the mix -- Taylor Shellfish Farms had a table set up, offering freshly shucked Virginica, Shigoku and Olympia oysters, all raised locally, and marvelously good with some of the more crisp hop-heavy beers.

Holiday cheers to Washington beermakers! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The main event is, of course, the beer itself. Much like how Oktoberfest yields seasonal harvest beers rich in aromatic spices and flush with grains and hops fresh from the fields, winter seasonal beers reflect a style of beer that uses more developed flavors, like malted (partially sprouted) barley, grains that are roasted to get that charred coffee-like flavor, and deep-flavored sugars like molasses. You could say they reflect the flavors that yield from a warming fire on a cold day. It's not to say there is no ubiquitous hoppy IPAs at the festival, there are a few for the hop-head die hards. Most of the beers that are showcased at Winter BeerFest tend to be darker -- you'll find your lion's share of Stouts, Porters and specialty smoked beers. There are holiday-themed beers where they're spiced with things like cinnamon, coriander, ginger and other flavors you'd normally expect to see in a mulled wine. This year had several barrel-aged beers, where they sit in an old whiskey or bourbon barrel, with the beer absorbing some of that added flavor, making a really incredible tasting experience.

Palladium of brewskis - an early moment of calm before the place got totally packed - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I went with the usual Brew Crew, which is to say Mr. Wasabi and several friends who either do their own home brewing, work in the beer industry, or are just super beer nerds who take advantage of any opportunity to fully immerse themselves in yet another beer-tasting adventure. Everyone has their own personal tastes when it comes to beer, which makes for a good way to navigate the many tastings. You won't get through every table, that's just the plain and simple truth. And even if you did, your palate would be completely hosed a third of the way through, as there were many beers with fairly high alcohol by volume numbers, which as the math would have it, leaves one flat-on-their-face drunk. When there's a group of friends who all have personal favorites when it comes to styles, you have tasters who will be attuned to finding the best-in-show samples of winter beers. Mr. Wasabi prefers Doppelbock style beers, which is a malty, rich style of beer developed in Germany by Paulaner Monks in Munich, designed to be drunk during fasts, when they weren't allowed to eat solid food; it's oftend called "liquid bread" or Lent beer. For winter, it's just a good, hearty beer that's stick-to-your-ribs good. One of his notables was the SnowBockalypse by Icicle Brewing Company, from Leavenworth. We had one friend who managed to track down anything close to an IPA or with a generous use of hops, like Wingman Brewers' Ace IPA or 7 Seas Brewing's most LOL-named beer, the Ballz Deep Double IPA. Given our friend's mantra when it comes to beer is for the hops to punch him in the face, he was more than happy to go ballz deep at the festival, so hey, he's got that going for him.

Brewer-designed holiday cheer - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As for me, I stuck with my winter beer guns -- I prefer the rich, smoky coffee-chocolate notes in Stouts and Porters. One of my favorites was Fremont Brewing Company's Bourbon Abominable Ale, aka the "Bbomb." Which makes me think of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and their punk band Sex Bob-Omb, and that of course makes me smile. Their ale most totally Bbomb-diggity, with a strong wood and vanilla flavor from the aging in 20 year old bourbon barrels, along with a nice chocolate-coffee bitterness. It's not a shy beer, to be sure, and went really nicely with the Theo chcocolates. I also enjoyed Snipes Mountain Brewing's No-Bake-Stout, a nicely well-rounded chocolate oatmeal stout that wasn't gimmicky or fussy, just very well made. I also made a beeline for Black Raven Brewing's Gunpowder Plot Bourbon Nitro Porter, one of the only nitro-poured beers at the festival (at least that I saw), which aside from the really lovely flavors from the bourbon barrel, the pour ensures  the porter has a velvety, creamy texture.

We wish you a Merry-Beer-mas and a Happy Brew Year! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Overall, the best part of enjoying all these winter beers was the decoration of tables and general sense of holiday cheer. Breweries pulled out all the stops, wearing costumes, creating big holiday displays. They keep a kid-like sense of fun for a grown-up beverage, making this one of the most festive beer events you'll ever have the pleasure of attending.

UnRecipe: Yippie-Kai-Yay Holiday

The holidays are all about tradtion, so for as much holly-jolly spirit as one feels when Charlie Brown gets the pathetic twig of a tree for the Christmas pageant, or hearing Jimmy Stewart scream "Merry Christmas, everybody!!" as he runs through winter streets like a lunatic, or even the many warnings of "You'll shoot your eye out," traditions don't necessarily replace one another, they simply build and become like a collection of memories to call upon when the holidays come calling. This year was a first for the Prime -- after last year's icy-hell travel experience, I skipped traveling to spend Christmas with the parental-sans for the first in my thirty-odd years (I love my family, I know it's weird), and decided to start building some new traditions in my Pacific Northwest home.

Holiday dinner for eight... even though we only had six chairs - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I wasn't the only one staying home for the holidays -- several friends had no definite plans for the evening of the 25th and we opened our doors for another 'Fugee Holiday. Mr. Wasabi and I had a dinner for eight on our hands, so under the watchful eye of Miss Indy, the kitchen went into mad prep mode a few days in advance.

From the First Thanksgiving experience, along with previous large meal preparations, I've come to the same conclusion that many other home cooks probably discovered: it sucks to be sweating over the stove when guests are about. Plus it's no fun when everyone else has a cocktail in hand and you're stuck sweating over a skillet sizzling with hot oil. So despite preparation taking over previous days, it was worth doing as much of the work ahead of time, so all that needed to be done the day-of was warming things in the oven, a quick pan-sear and oven bake, and throwing items together at the last minute.

The dinner prep of Gibraltar, but it's worth doing in advance! - Photos by Mr. and Ms. Wasabi

Despite the UnRecipe header, I relied on two recipe books for the menu, based on their manageable ingredient list, what could be made ahead of time, and then some UnRecipe alterations along the way. The amazing local talent of Chef Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbal Kitchen provided a recipe for a salad of greens with wine-poached cherries, as well as an eye-poppingly rich chocolate pot de creme dessert. The main course was a roasted pork tenderloin with green lentils and root vegetables, by Szmania's Chef Ludger Szmania, from a book and program supporting nonprofit groups called Celebrated Chefs, which includes a collection of Seattle area restaurant recipes. I signed up and got the book months ago, but have only just begun to start cooking through some of the dishes -- for providing email and personal information, it's not a bad tradeoff, as the book is a nicely-bound hardback featuring recipes from good restaurants in the Seattle area. And I haven't been inundated with emails saying I have an inheritence from a long-lost relative in Nigeria, so I figure they can't be totally selling my information off.

Festive swine! Photo by Wasabi Prime

I couldn't help myself from modifying the tenderloin recipe by brining the pork first, using Thomas Keller's poultry brine recipe from Ad Hoc, which perfumes the meat with a nice citrus and parsley flavor. I doubled both the brine and the seasoning rub because I had two pork tenderloins, plus a small chicken. The lentil and root vegetables were cooked a day in advance, so all they needed was a reheat in the stove.

Among the other make-aheads included the decadent pot de creme chocolate custards, which I substituted Earl Grey tea for jasmine (more UnRecipe meddling!). Dried cherries with a bit of red wine and a sprig of thyme were poached a day in advance and kept in the fridge before being sprinkled over the salad. A bit of the holiday mulled cranberry spiced drink was made ahead of time as well. By making and preparing as much as possible, it left the seasoning and searing of the meats for Christmas Day, with a finish-off in the oven, which also reheated the lentils and vegetable side dish.

Getting our snack on with cheese, crackers and booze - Photos by Wasabi Prime

For appetizers, a large wheel of Brie was wrapped in store-bought puff pastry and baked until crisp the day-of. There was a bit of flourish added: I had had steeped balsamic vinegar with dried figs and a vanilla bean for a Christmas gift for Mr. Wasabi. Not wanting to waste anything, I kept the figs and chopped them small, sprinkling over the finished baked Brie with a drizzle of honey. The cheese was served with sliced apples and crackers brought by friend Sassy J. A mix of olives tossed with lemon zest and warmed in the oven were served as a savory snack, and an array of bubbly cocktails, wine from Miss Alice's collection, the mulled cranberry spiced wine, and homebrew beer from Mr. K were served. Let it never be said that the House of Wasabi doesn't like to get their drank on.

Winter salad where even the cherries were drunk on wine - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Once everyone had some snacks and a frosty beverage or three, salad, meats, and lentils were laid out. I will say having the oven keep everything warm and just setting everything out, already done, is a nice thing. When I watch cooking shows and the celebrity cooks and chefs flipping food in skillets to the amazement of their guests, I'm always kind of baffled. My friends like to sit, eat, drink, and relax -- and dammit, so do I, especially at my own home. So with some minor salad construction and plating the main courses on serving platters, it was time to get our grub on.

Pan-seared and baked pork tenderloin and chicken - roast beast was not available. Photos by Wasabi Prime

This was probably the largest sit-down dinner the Wasabi Household had hosted. We'll either do small dinners with friends or a big twenty-something gathering where it's more of a stand and wander while you snack. I much prefer smaller gatherings these days, but seating can be tricky when you only have six chairs. Mr. Wasabi solved this by creating the new tradition of casually gathering around the warmth of a large television to watch what we would like to consider a new Christmas classic. Nothing says "holiday" like watching Bruce Willis, circa 1988, with a lot more hair, running from Severus Snape and his band of Euro-terrorists in Die Hard.

Semi s'more dessert, way better than Twinkies - Photos by Wasabi Prime

With the power of  John McClane's action hero wit, we Mystery Science Theater-ed the hell out of this movie, calling out its holiday movie relevance at every turn: "Ho-ho-ho, now I have a machine gun," written on a recently deceased terrorist -- totally a Christmas movie. We balanced the wine and food with a wicked sugar high brought on by baked treats provided by good pal Miss SJBe and the chocolate pot de cremes. I had also made a batch of homemade marshmallows, not wanting the Epic Fail of a previous attempt to haunt my holiday steps forever. These mallows from Alton Brown's recipe were nowhere near perfect, but plopped atop each custard and hand-torched with the force of an explosive Nakatomi Tower, who the hell cares, as fire truly made it better. There was so much sugar being eaten, I think we could see into another dimension -- yippie-kai-yay, indeed.

Bruno wants to roast marshmallows - screencap from Die Hard/photos by Wasabi Prime

Sometimes traditions are just as much about breaking with the old and starting anew, even if they're a little off-kilter... and violent. While the holiday was tinged with a bit of sadness over missing Christmas with Wasabi Mom and Dad, creating new traditions with much beloved friends made for a very special holiday the Prime will not soon forget. Many, many thanks to the fabulous friends who made it out to the homestead to join us for a holiday dinner -- you made this Christmas at home so very special and happily memorable.