Tag Archives: Mountain goat

Scallops, Minted Peas and Beer Blanc matched with Mountain Goat Steam Ale

Kris: Nothing like a weekend away in the big city. I can’t go to Melbourne without visiting the Queen Victoria Markets. An amazing selection of fresh produce, cured meats, cheese, beer, wine and seafood. I thought it would be a great idea to cook dinner using Victorian produce, matched with some Victorian craft beer.

The entree I decided to create was Pan fried scallops, minted peas and beer blanc (Beurre Blanc is a classic french butter sauce, made with a reduction of white wine and vinegar. I decided to do my own version using a reduction of Lindeman’s Cuvee Rene, a classic Belgian Gueuze. It is a funky, sour blend of 1,2 and 3 year old barrel aged lambic)

Caroline: One of my favorite things about Melbourne is the Queen Victoria Markets! SO much fresh produce, so many spices, so much cheese, wine, seafood, and meats! If I died and went to heaven, I think it would be Queen Vic. Luckily We stayed with a friend who lived right by the markets and scored a ton of great snacks…

Scallops, Minted Peas and Beer Blanc

400g scallops

300g peas

10 finely sliced mint leaves

olive oil

180ml Lindeman’s Cuvee Rene Gueuze

2 peeled eschalots

5-6 pepper corns

180g chilled butter

1/2 lemon

salt and pepper

Method

Kris: This sauce can be a little intimidating, but it doesn’t need to be. The key is to make sure the butter is really chilled and you add it in small amounts so that it emulsifies and doesn’t split.

Beer Blanc

Place the beer in a saucepan over a medium heat and reduce by half

Add the eschalots and pepper corns

After a few minutes, slowly add small cubes of the chilled butter and whisk

After all the butter has been added, simmer until the sauce thickens

Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste

Steam the peas for 5 minutes until tender

Add the peas and mint to a mortar and pestle

Add some olive oil and mash

Season with salt and pepper

Heat a frying pan to smoking point

Add a small amount of olive oil and sear the scallops for a couple of minutes each side

Take off the heat and season with salt and pepper

Place the minted peas on the plate 

Place the scallops on top of the peas

Spoon over the Beer Blanc

 

Caroline: The scallops were so soft and tender, perfectly cooked, and the mint added so much freshness and lightness to the mashed peas! and Beurre blanc (beer-blanc) how can you go wrong?? Such a delicious dish, rich and still light and summery.

Kris: I have been thinking about making the Beer Blanc for quite a while now. It was a great success. The dish was also a great match with the Mountain Goat Steam Ale. It is a great interpretation of the Californian Common, an ale brewed at a low temperature. It is clean and crisp with a nice touch of citrus hop flavour and aroma.

Caroline: Matching our Melbournian dinner with a Melbournian beer seemed only natural, and Mountain Goat is one of our favorites! If only we had been in town on a Wednesday or Friday to go down to the brewery for brewskies and pizza! We drank the Steam Ale with our seafood dish. The Steam Ale is not only certified organic, but is also really delicious! Clean, crisp and refeshing; a perfect match for seafood.

TASMANIAN BEERFEST!

Kris: We have been waiting in anticipation for our first Tasmanian Beer Fest experience. It was a great weekend to drink some great beers, eat some tasty food and enjoy the company of beer lovers from all over the world.

 It is a gathering that reaffirms the passion and community spirit that exists in the Australian craft beer community. Everyone was in high spirits and there were plenty of old and new favourites to taste from Tasmania, Australia and overseas.My favorite Australian craft beers (non Tasmanian) that I tried on the weekend were Mountain Goat IPA, 4 PinesHefeweizen and Little Creatures Big Dipper IPA.

Kris: It is always difficult to choose your favourite beers/moments at a festival such as this. The tapping (and tasting) of the Lark/ Moo Brew Whisky Barrel Aged Stout at the distillery on Friday afternoon, just before the opening of the festival was a major highlight. This was an awesome collaboration between a Tasmanian brewery and distillery.It was exciting to see the differences in each of the 3 20 litre barrels that we got to try over the weekend. A perfect match for ripe, creamy blue cheese.

 Kris /Caroline : The pick of the Tasmanian beers on show for us were the Van Diemen‘s Two Head IPA, Seven Sheds Smokin Bagpipes Scotch Ale, Iron House Porter and the Moo Brew Seasonal/Imperial Stout. It was also great to see Morrison’s, a new brewery from Launceston ,showing their first batches of some English/Irish style beers.They need to tweak their recipes a bit, but their beers were showing some real promise. Definately a brewery to watch in the future.

There were also so amazing international beers on tasting at the festival too. Floyd’s/Brew Dog Bitch Please was a standout. A barley wine brewed with a selection of malts, including Laphroig peat smoked whisky malt and a mixture of  shortbread, fairy floss and fudge that was thrown into the kettle. We also really enjoyed theMikkeller Santa’s Little Helper, a Belgian brown ale brewed with christmas spices.

 The Ambersandwich business cards also made a debut at the festival.