Beer Pairing Recipes - Chicken Roulade

The last installment from the Beer Pairing dinner

Cherry Chicken Roulade

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 Cup Walnuts
1/4 Cup dried cherries
1/4 Cup frozen spinach (frozen pulses better in the food processor)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 bottle Founders Cerise, or similar cherry flavored beer

This was one of the quickest dishes we came up with when planning the menu. Chris suggested we use the Cerise, then suggested cherries in the dish as a logical choice. I had some good walnuts on hand, he said spinach and it was born. For the filling, put the walnuts in a food processor and pulse 4-5 times. Add the cherries, pulse 4-5 times, then the spinach and pulse 4-5 more times. You want the texture to be smooth enough to hold together yet still have some texture from the fruit and nuts. Season up with salt and pepper and set aside.

Beer Pairing Recipes - Pretzels

As promised, here are a few recipes from my Charity Beer Pairing post.

Handmade Pretzels
3 Cups warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 Tbsp Yeast
6 1/2 Cups Flour

This is a pretty basic bread dough recipe, and pretty much any dough you have will work. Bloom the yeast for a few minutes, then stir in the flour and salt. Knead for a few minutes (the stand mixer is excellent for this) then set aside to rise for about 90 minutes. At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for up to two weeks* - just let it warm for an hour or so before proceeding.

Charity Beer Pairing

A couple of months ago, I was approached about donating an experience to be auctioned off to benefit the United Way at the WBKO Holiday Bash. They wanted something unique, and I bounced around the idea of a wine-tasting or a world-tour kind of multi-course meal. When I really got thinking about Bowling Green, it occurred to me that this town has really developed a taste for good beer. So I set out to put together a 4-course beer pairing meal.

The first step in putting together a beer pairing is getting great beer. For that I went to my friend Chris Abend down at Bowling Green Pipe & Cigar, who not only knows great beer, but is quite wise on all things culinary as well. We decided to feature a single brewery, Founders, picked four beers from their selection, and within a few minutes had a menu worked out for the event.

Of course you need something to drink a great beer out of, and for that I turned to my friends at The Fancy Pigeon. They have an extensive line of custom-etched glassware as well as other personalized gift items, and graciously offered to add 6 monogrammed pilsners to the winner of the beer pairing.

The "B" is for bad photo, which I'll blame on my camera.