Beer, Beer and more Alcohol

Beer, Beer and more Alcohol.

As we now know alcohol in moderation is not too bad a thing to add to our cooking or drinking.

A good thing about beer isn’t that it’s just nice to drink, well to some of us; it can add a different dimension to your cooking. I put beer or especially wine into most things that I cook. Whether the recipe says to or not.

Here are a couple of recipes that definitely need alcohol.

They can both be cooked in a wok and your small oven/grill for the matchstick fries.

The steak recipe for a pepper steak might sound a bit fiddly for a steak but with the sauce you’ll be glad you bothered.

With the sweet potato matchsticks, green salad and the steak this is quite a good high protein low carbohydrate meal.

Afraid I can’t say that about the mussels in Guinness though. Being close to St. Patrick’s Day, you maybe wondering what do with the left over Guinness besides drinking it.

Pepper Steak

Ingredients

2 tbsp each of black and green peppercorns

2 tbsp green peppercorns in brine (drained)

for the sauce.

2 tbsp coriander seeds

200g Good quality steaks per person filet or sirloin about an inch thick.

If the steak is a bit thick, cover in cling film (plastic wrap) and give it a battering with your meat mallet, rolling pin or empty wine bottle, be careful though.

Sea salt

2 tbsp virgin olive oil

250g roughly chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves finely sliced

(sliced garlic leaves less of a smell on your breath, supposedly.)

80ml port                        80ml brandy            (rough measures)

250ml white wine

250ml beef stock

3tbsp non-fat sour cream (if you like).

Method

Grind the peppercorns and coriander in a mortar and pestle or a food processor. (Not the drained peppercorns, they’re for later).

Wash the steak under cold water and pat dry with a clean cloth or kitchen roll. Time to flatten the steak now if needed. When dry sprinkle both sides with the salt and rub in the ground peppercorns and coriander evenly on both sides of the steak. Set aside for 15 minutes.

It’s best to cook steak in a griddle pan; you know the pan with the ridges to help keep the steak out of the cooked fat. Though I have cooked pepper steak and other steaks in my wok and they have turned out fine.

When using an electric wok, swirl hot oil around the wok sides where you'll place the steak(s).

Heat the oil in the pan. Once the oil is heated to spitting point, quite hot, drop in the steaks and lower the heat from high to medium. Cook for about 7 minutes 4 minutes on the first side then 3 on the other, this should give you a medium rare steak.

Remove the steak to warm plate and cover tightly with foil.

Now for the sauce:

Pour away most of the fat from the pan, leaving about 1 tbsp. Throw in the chopped shallots and sliced garlic, cook for 2 minutes on a medium heat, should be turning golden brown.

Pour in the drained green peppercorns, white wine, port and brandy and stir well, scraping all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the stock and mix in well, let it bubble away for 5 to 7 minutes to reduce to the thickness you like. Remove from the heat.

If you’re adding the sour cream now whisk in the sour cream- then pour over your steak. Eat well.

A great way to cook a steak and impress anyone.

A good wine to serve with this dish is a spicy tanniny fruity red Zinfandel.

You could just serve a side of salad with the steak but for something a little more wholesome. You can serve a plate of matchstick fries either ordinary potato or sweet potato.

What you’ll need:

2 large baking potatoes or 2 sweet potatoes peel the sweet potatoes but just wash the baking potato, leave unpeeled.

Egg white from 2 large eggs, better still get a carton of egg white and guess how much you need. It’ll come in handy for other things. Like a lower fat omelette or scrambled egg.

Tsp chilli powder                        salt and ground pepper to taste.

What to Do:

Preheat your oven to 200°C or equivalent about 420°F

Coat a baking dish/sheet with canola oil with a brush or the yucky spray stuff.

Slice the potatoes length ways into chips about as thick as your little finger, being careful not cut your finger while checking. Cut them in half and half again to make matchstick style chips.

Put the egg white and chilli powder in to a bowl add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until the mixture is lightly frothed. Add the matchstick chips coating them all well before placing into the baking dish.

Cook on the bottom shelf for 40-45 minutes checking and turning every 7-8 minutes or so to ensure cooking to a golden brown all round.

While these were cooking you could have been sorting out the steak.

A John’s Tip: Read through the recipe first and get all the ingredients out on your work top. The number of times I’ve cooked something and forgotten a vital ingredients. How about Chicken cooked with Honey and fresh lemon……….without the Honey.

Mussels cooked in Guinness:

You'll need a large saucepan or even better your wok.

Ingredients you’ll need:

2 tbsp virgin olive oil

2 stalks of celery, chopped.

1 large onion, chopped.

2 cloves of garlic, sliced.

2 to 3 lbs of fresh mussels.

240ml (1/2 pint) Guinness , a can will do, and drink what’s left over.

Bunch of parsley

Some nice country crusty bread, French or Italian style.

What to do:

Chop the celery into 1inch pieces, chop the onions, slice the garlic.

Clean and de-beard the mussels, they die when you de-beard them, best to do this as close to cooking as possible.

Heat the oil in your wok or saucepan, add the onions, garlic and celery, cook until onions starting to soften 3 to 5 minutes, don’t let them burn.

Turn down the heat and slowly add (it can froth up you pour in too quickly) the Guinness, increase the heat and bring to a simmer, add the mussels, cover and cook till the mussels have opened about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle over a handful of chopped parsley.

Serve immediately.

Either serve in large bowls or communally straight from the cooking pot. With chunks of the crusty bread to mop up the Guinness and mussel juices.

To be extra healthy serve with a green salad with watercress.

To drink, well why not a Guinness or two. For the ladies a glass or 3 of Sauvignon blanc or a good Rosé. Goes with most things when you’re not sure what to serve.