....is a Little Piece of Home

The Fallen Star

....is Bread, Bacon & Beer Soup

Adapted from Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on Food Network

4 Slices Bacon
1 Large Onion, Diced
2 Tbsp Butter
2 tsp Dried Thyme
1 (12-ounce) bottle Amber Ale
1 Quart Chicken Stock
3 Slices Sourdough, Cubed
Salt and White Pepper
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan

Fry Bacon until crisp, remove and reserve. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, sweat the Onion, Butter, and Thyme until tender, about 8 minutes. Add Bacon, Beer, Stock, and Bread. Simmer 10 minutes. Whisk to thicken. Season with Salt and Pepper. Garnish with Cheese.

....is Beer Bread

Adapted from Calling All Cooks on the Food Network

3 cups flour

1-1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder

1-1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Sugar
12 oz. Delicious Beer
2 Tbsp Melted Butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, Sugar, and Beer and mix well. The mixture should be sticky. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes. At the last 3 minutes of baking, remove from oven, brush the top of the loaf with Butter and return to oven. (I also sprinkled sugar on the top of the dough before baking it.)

Recommendations for Beer: A Hefeweizen or Amber Ale. Something wheaty and sweet or malty and sweet.

....is Bottlecraft & a Mona Lisa Sandwich

Delicious new finds in Sand Diego:

First head to Mona Lisa and order a delicious deli sandwich, this is a Caprese with Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil, the Bread is drizzled with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. At Bottlcraft get a Beer, take a seat and enjoy!

....is a Creative Exchange!

Crafti-ish Me.

My crafty side is limited so for this creative exchange I stuck to my strength - sweet treats.

....is a Wine Closet, Part 4: Lights!

Mr. & Mrs. M have lights in the Wine Closet. Wireless LEDs, doesn't it look lovely!?!

Previously

Design & Test

Material Preparation

&

Final Installation

....is Torta di Pere

3 Pears, Peeled, in a Small Dice

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Eggs, at Room-Temperature
3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Bittersweet Chocolate Chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9inx9in Pan. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.

Brown the Butter. Melt the Butter in a medium saucepan (because it will foam a lot) and cook it stirring constantly until the Butter browns and smells nutty (about 6 to 8 minutes). It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Remove from the flame but keep in a warm spot.

Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the Eggs on high speed until pale and very thick. It will take nine minutes to get sufficient volume. (This was pretty cool to watch them get all light and fluffy!) Add the Sugar to the Eggs and whip a few minutes more.

Just as the Egg-Sugar mixture is starting to loose volume, turn the mixture down to stir, and add the flour mixture and Brown Butter. Add one third of the flour mixture, then half of the butter, a third of the flour, the remaining butter, and the rest of flour. Whisk until just barely combined and then use a spatula to gently fold the batter until the ingredients are combined. It is very important not to over-whisk or fold the batter or it will lose volume.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle the Pear and Chocolate Chunks over the top, and bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch, about 40 to 50 minutes or a tester comes out clean.

I was amazed how well the batter surrounded the Pears and Chocolate.

This one was so good we didn't share it with anyone...