Cilantro Hummus

Ingredients

4 raw garlic cloves or 5 roasted garlic cloves
¾ teaspoon salt
1- 15oz can garbanzo beans or chick peas
3 tablespoon well stirred tahini

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons water

¼ cup cilantro

1 tsp cumin

Directions

Puree all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.  You can add more olive oil or water to reach desired consistency.

Have New Age Craft Brewers Gone Too Far?

Recently i've heard more than a few people talking about how brewers have gotten a little too experimental.  I can see where they are coming from.  Take a walk through your local bottle shop and really pay attention to what is on the shelves these days.  You'll see Double IPA's, Tripel IPA's, Black IPA's, Coffee Stouts, Lemongrass Wheats, beers brewed with pumpkin, beers brewed with Yerba Mate and many more.  With so many different styles of beer available from a growing amount of brewers, it's easy to get lost when trying to decide on a beer.  It's not just the Americans who are making all these wacky beers either.  Belgians are now making Double IPA's and Barley Wines.

You may be surprised to hear that putting all these funky, often strange ingredients in beer is not all that new.  Belgians have been brewing using herbs, spices and barrel aging beers for centuries.  In Scandinavia there are many ancient recipes that call for different roots, barks and local herbs.  Believe it or not, hops have not always been a part of the brewing process.  What we are seeing a lot of today is the resurrection of ancient brewing traditions.  Dogfish Head makes a beer called Midas Touch, which is derived from a recipe from an Egyptian Tomb from 2700 years ago.  It's brewed with honey and  muscat grapes and has a very interesting flavor to it.

It is breweries like Dogfish Head that really push the envelope.  They're not afraid to try anything.  Experimentation is the only way we'll be able to keep our beer scene interesting.  If every beer brewed was supposed to appeal to every beer drinker out there we would be drinking some pretty boring beers.  Homogenization of beer in the 80's anyone?  As our palates expand and crave more flavor, the craft brewers of the world will be there to appease our taste buds.

I recently picked up a beer at a local bottle shop called Lambrucha by Vanberg & DeWulf.  The idea of the beer is a blend of lambic beer with kombucha - a fermented health drink.  I have to admit, I am a fan of both Lambic Beer and Kombucha to begin with, but never would I have thought to blend the two.  The resulting beer has a welcome tartness and fine bubbly carbonation.  It's a great spring or summer beer at 3.5% ABV so you can have a few glasses of it and spare yourself the nap afterwards.

I've been keeping track of all the beers I drink using BeerCraving.  This site helps you remember the beers you drink through pictures.  You can add tasting notes and even tag the place where you bought the beer to remember for later.  They'll be launching a beer app in January which will make it even easier to keep track of  the beers I drink.

So to all you highly experimental craft brewers out there, continue to make the most interesting beer you can think of.  I can't guarantee we'll like everything you produce, but we will admire the risks you take to further the craft.

TED Video: Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat

Tangy Baked Beans

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

½ cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 ½ cups water
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups cooked pinto beans
2 tbsp real maple syrup
¼ cup collard greens, kale or mustard greens, stem removed and chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp hot sauce
¼ cup ketchup
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Put beans in a small baking dish or divide into 2 french onion soup crocks.

In a medium sauce pan, sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until soft, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, one minute.  Add 2 ½ cups water and remaining ingredients except beans and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.  Pour liquid over beans to cover by about ½ inch.  Cover dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove foil, and if necessary add more liquid to cover.  Bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Allow to cool 10 minutes then serve.

Easiest Tomato Soup

Soup doesn't have to be complex to be delicious.  After all, it is a very humble food.  It's eaten by both rich and poor in almost every culture around the world.  Sometimes less is more, and this soup is a perfect example.  This soup uses only a few ingredients to create one of the most comforting foods I can think of.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1/2 cup onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 - 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes in tomato juice, preferably organic
2 cups water
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
14 leaves fresh basil, chiffonade or chopped
olive oil

Directions

Sweat onion in olive oil with some salt over medium-high heat until translucent, 4-6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute.  Add tomatoes with juice, water and red pepper flakes being sure to break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer uncovered for one hour.  Puree with blender or immersion blender.  Adjust seasonings, add basil and serve with a drizzle of olive oil over each bowl.  Serve with crusty bread or grilled cheese.

Heirloom Tomato and Pesto Salad

This weeks farmers market was filled with tomatoes!  All shapes and sizes were represented with a ton of heirloom varietals.  The vast array of tomatoes inspired me to make a salad that really celebrates the season.  These tomatoes are easily twice as good as anything you could find at the supermarket and worth seeking out.  For this recipe the more colors, the more variety, the better your salad will look and taste.  My suggestion is to visit the local farmers market or even better, pick some tomatoes from your own garden.  Tomatoes from Florida ripened with ethylene gas just aren't going to cut it here.  One taste of this salad and you're sure to be making it again and again. Here are a few shots from Sunday morning at our Denver Farmers Market:

Serves 2-4

Heirloom Tomato and Pesto Salad


Ingredients


4-5 of the best tomatoes you can find
1/4 cup of your favorite pesto, homemade

Directions


Dice tomatoes with a sharp knife, doing your best not to squish them.  In a medium bowl, mix in pesto.

Serve immediately.

The Best Zucchini

Squash season is upon us.  Since we'll soon have more of these than we know what to do with, I figured I'd offer up a great way to cook zucchini that I cook over and over again. The idea here is to keep the texture of the zucchini while still getting a nice sear on it.  This is one of my theories as to why so many people love grilled zucchini, because there is almost no way it can get soggy.  If you cook with high enough heat and be sure not to crowd, you'll get the same affect in the pan.  This recipe is incredibly simple and is one of my favorite ways to prepare this vegetable. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 small to medium zucchini, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp good paprika



Directions

Heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add zucchini to the pan making sure almost all slices have surface contact to the pan.  Add salt but don't stir.  When zucchini slices are just beginning to turn brown(1-3 minutes), flip them over.

Let them cook for 1 more minute, then stir in paprika and pepper and cook 30 more seconds.  Remove from heat.  Serve hot.