Beer Mignonette

Drinks and seafood are something that most people have together, but not necessarily mixed into one thing. One of my favourite drinks is a Caesar (a tomato and clam juice, Clamato, mixed with vodka and spices). While traveling internationally people would cringe at the idea of a mussel and a refreshing drink together.  I think that beer and various seafood's were made for each other and it makes sense to have the salty fresh taste from the sea and the cool refreshing flavours of a good beer combined. In the last couple years I have taken my addiction of bivalve molluscs to another level starting with a beer and oyster combo in New Zealand (see below).

After a long afternoon of Stand Up Paddle Boarding the pairing of a a couple beers and a couple oysters was exactly what I needed to recover. If you can throw an oyster in your beer you might as well put some beer in your oysters.
This beer based mignonette is the perfect way to ensure that you still taste the natural greatness of the oyster while tempering some of the flavours so that no single flavour is overwhelming.
My friend hosted an amazing dinner party where different beers were used to enhance every dish from the appetizers to dessert. I swung by early to help and ended up shucking the oysters that we covered with the mignonette. I have a new appreciation for oyster shucking because I felt like I was going to lose my hand at any moment. These were some of the better ones that I miraculously did not mangle. Try to keep the beer intake to a minimum when shucking or you probably will lose a finger or two (safety first).

Ingredients:

• 1 shallot
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
• 1 beer (We used Creemore Springs - Premium Lager)
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Open the beer and let stand for 20 min so that it loses some of the carbonation.
2. Mince the shallot.
3. Mix the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.
4. Let sit for 30 min to 1 hr to let the shallots absorb some of the beer and lose some of there potency.
5. Spoon over fresh oysters and top with a squeeze of lemon.

Salsa

The bruschetta was so successful I decided to see what else I could whip up with minimal effort and pretty much the same ingredients. Salsa is a mostly tomato dish that has a totally different flavour profile than bruschetta. To take it to the next level I grilled most of the ingredients first to char them and infuse a bit of a smokey flavour.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups tomato
• 1/2 medium white onion
• 1 jalapeno
• juice of 1 lime
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 handful of cilantro

Directions:

1. Cut the tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno in half.
2. Peel the garlic.
3. Grill 5 - 10 min or until the skin on the tomatoes and jalapeno is starting to char.
4. Put everything in a food processor and chop until fine.
5. If required drain some of the liquid of in a mesh strainer.
6. Add some salt and pepper.

Bruschetta

If there is bruschetta out I usually can't stop myself from devouring it. It is something you can whip together in 10 minutes and you can't beat the fresh burst of flavours. If you can let it mingle for a couple hours in the fridge it is perfection.
You can buy French/Italian loaf or make some yourself  or find another recipe here (I made a half recipe of the sub buns).


Ingredients:

• 4 cups tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp extra olive oil
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 6-8 basil leaves
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp  black pepper
• 1 tbsp white onion (optional)

Directions:

1. Chop in a food processor.
2. Enjoy!

Raspberry Sherbet

It is a sad day in our household... this is the last creation in our ice cream maker before it cracked and had to be thrown out. It has been a bit of a heat wave here so a fresh raspberry sherbet is exactly what we needed to take the edge off. This was our first venture into making a sherbet and it was pretty much the same as the Philadelphia style ice creams.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups frozen raspberries
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup sugar
• juice of one lemon

Directions:

1. Blend the raspberries, milk, and sugar in a food processor.
2. Strain the mixture to remove the seeds.
3. Sir in the lemon juice.
4. Freeze in your ice cream maker.