Caroline: It’s getting warmer out! Too warm for duck or turkey? Not to worry! Beer is great in salad. YES! SALAD!
To start I roasted some chopped up pumpkin and cherry tomatoes in some olive oil with salt and pepper in a 180C oven for 45 min.
Half way through take them out and give them a shake to unstick them from the pan and roll them around…So, here was my mistake…I put the pumpkin and tomatoes in together and as a result, the tomatoes were a little over cooked . They still tasted great, they just lost their shape a bit…Next time, I would put the pumpkin in and cook for 25 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook for another 20.
Ok Beer time! I used a lambic because the sourness of this kind of beer is a great substitute for the acid you would typically put in a dressing (like lemon or vinegar).
Geuze Salad Dressing
80 ml olive oil
80ml lambic (belgian sour ale)
1 Tbs good quality honey
1 Tbs seeded mustard
1 small clove garlic (minced)
Shake well (a clean jar with a lid works) so all ingredients smoosh together
Caroline: SALAD! (See my sad deflated tomatoes?)
So, in this salad I put some danish fetta (really creamy yum), pan roasted pine nuts (til brown), the roasted pumpkin and tomatoes, Red Coral Lettuce and the Lambic salad dressing. It was delicious! Crunchy pine nuts and creamy cheese! And I recommend serving while the pumpkin and tomato are still warm, I love the contrast in temperatures as well!
Kris: I do enjoy salad when the weather is warm. It’s also good to balance out your diet too. I decided to match this dish with 4 Pines Pale Ale from Manly, NSW. It’s 5.1% and brewed withPale, Munich,Wheat and Crystal malt and derives it’s subtle but balanced hop character from the addition of Cascade, Amarillo and Citra hops. The sweetness of the malt compliments the sweetness in the pumpkin and the tomatoes and balances the acidity in the dressing. The citrus hop character also compliments the dressing and the subtle, hop bitterness doesn’t over power the salad. Another great combination!
Caroline: There you have it, BEER IN SALAD. Who was skeptical? (I was) Yum!
Also, this recipe for dressing is enough for a couple of salads. It’s handy to make the dressing in a jar because after shaking and using you can just pop it in the fridge as is.
Delicious and healthy, who would have thought?