Cooking
with Beer
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Our favorite Fresh
Air kids, Kyle & Saquan cooking up a
storm. Congrats go out to Kyle who graduated from high
school with a 3.94 GPA!!! |
We
love cooking so we plan to share some of our favorite recipes.
Here is one to get you throught the dog days of summer and
the on slot of zucchinis from the garden. We had a volunteer
squash in our garden that we let grow until I realized it
was some mongrel of a gourd that didn't seam worth eating
and was on its way to taking over the apple tree so I decided
to whack the whole thing. I clipped the blossoms for stuffing
and that started the night of frying everything up with beer
batter - Enjoy!
Stuffed
Squash Blossoms
15 squash blossoms - clip blossoms in the morning when they
are in full bloom and stuff soon after.
1 cup soft cheese - ricotta, chevre, cottage
1 egg - acts as an emulsifier* (holds it together)
1/2 tsp seasoning - try a mix of something like Slap Your
Momma or Bayou Bang
1/4 cup 2nd ingredient - something to give it flavor like
a hot pepper, crab or corn.
Mix ingredients
in a bowl. Put a scoop in each blossom and gently twist petals
closed slowly. Can be stored in a container in the fridge
until you are ready to fry them up.
Beer
Batter
1cup flour - white or combination with wheat & mesa
1/2 tsp seasoning if desired
1 egg
3/4 cup beer - style dictates taste so choose what you like;
light, dark, sweat or hoppy.
Lightly mix flour, seasoning, egg, and beer to a medium batter.
Don't over mix. Dip stuffed squash blossoms or zucchini cut
into homestyle wedges into batter and then deep fry at 375
until lightly browned. Drain and place on a plate with paper
towels to soak up extra grease. We used just a regular fry
pan but if you've got a crowd break out the old turkey fryer.
Official Recipe
The beer batter is from the Junior Auxiliary's Vintage Vicksburg
cook book we got while traveling in 2004. They did it with
shrimp with lemon seasoning. We did it with anything that
wasn't glued down in the refrigerator. You can find real
recipes for stuffed squash blossoms but I just winged it
as usual after looking at epicurious.com.
Beer
Pairing
Enjoy with a beer similar to what you make it with or a
notch or two up on the flavor scale. My personal summer
favorite is a crisp German lager or a citrusy Belgian.
*Although
dish soap can be used as emulsifier it is not recommended
for food such as a meat loaf. If you do make such an error
don't let it hold you back from cooking in the future. Quite
a few years after a friend did that to her future husband
she won the Taste of Vermont in 2011!
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