Spaghetti Blog

My mom helped me develop this recipe years ago, and since then I have added multiple ingredients, taken away others, and adapted the flavors into a rich and robust pasta sauce that can be tweaked to your individual likings. This recipe is delicious and complex and sure to warm up your mouth and soul (well most souls anyway). To top it all off, It pairs quite well with the Beire De Garde because of the herbal tomato notes in the sauce, or the 509, because of some of the light sweetness the sauce imparts and the way the 509 mellows and integrates with the flavors. Bring in a receipt showing you purchased some of these ingredients and you’ll get a $6 growler fill or a $3 22 oz bottle of the beer of your choice, so you can create the pairing at home.

Ingredients:

6 cloves crushed garlic
2 shallots minced
10 sliced, sauteed mushrooms
Sautee all the above in 3 tablespoons olive oil

Remove and set aside above ingredients
In same pan, add 1lb Italian Sausage and 1 lb lean ground beef
Brown in pan until no pink shows in center, dicing up in small pieces
Add garlic, mushroom, shallot mixture back to meat in pan

Over medium heat- add the following
1 can Organic Tomato Paste
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can Hunt’s Roasted Garlic Sauce
Or instead of the above, add your own canned tomato sauce like I do, with fresh roasted garlic, peppers, and peeled stewed tomatoes and herbs. If you don’t have that, a mixture of the top 3 works perfectly.
½ cup robust red wine, like Shiraz
½ cup Brown sugar
1 Bay leaf
2 Tablespoons fresh chopped basil
1 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp dried Italian Herb mixture
1 tsp sweet basil, dried
If too thick, a little water to thin out sauce

Let this mixture sit and simmer for about 45 minutes in large dutch oven, add extra garlic salt, pepper, chilli flakes or red wine to get sauce to your liking, tasting as you go.

Cook Spaghetti noodles and toast up some baguette brushed with olive oil and fresh garlic under the broiler to sop up extra sauce. Grate some fresh parmesan cheese over pasta and Voila (it’s much more impressive when I say that), you’re meal is ready, and a bomb as* one at that.

In my house, this meal lasts about 1 day or less. We eat some that night then Alex takes the rest to work whether I like it or not. Sometimes though, I accidentally eat half of it before I am even done through what I call “taste testing” so I can’t judge, and if Natalia comes over, she sneaks bites when I am not looking.

Enjoy.

Regan

The freezing Ellensburg wind came out to greet us last night after a beautiful, sunny fall. And it reminded us, that while we’ve been running around in flip-flops, pretending it’s still practically summer, we won’t be able to deny the onset of winter for much longer. While winter provides some significant drawbacks for people who prefer to spend most of every day outdoors and requires significantly more effort in the shoe department,, it does offer up one sizable benefit – Irish Death stew.

This recipe came from an Iron Horse pioneer, if you will. Sarah Allen was the second person to regularly serve beer at our tasting room when it first opened. She has since gone on to much more interesting things (okay few things are more interesting than people + beer), but you get the picture. She recently sent this recipe back to us, and because we love putting our beer in our food as much as we love pairing it with food, we just had to try it. We were not disappointed.

It’s a simple recipe to shop for and make:

¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 ½ pounds lean stewing beef (cut into 1 ½ inch cubes)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 to 3 large potatoes (peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
2 to 3 carrots (peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
2 large yellow onions quartered (I used sweet onions…really good)
4 stalks celery (sliced)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 to 2 sprigs thyme
2 cups Irish Death
1 teaspoon salt
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Place the flour in a resealable plastic bag. Add the beef to the bag, several pieces at a time, and shake to coat completely.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. In batches if necessary, add the beef and cook, turning, for 8 to 10 minutes until browned on all sides. Using tongs, transfer to paper towels to drain.
Place the beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, thyme, celery and garlic in the slow cooker and pour the beer over top. (If you prefer the vegetables with more texture, let the stew cook for 1 hour before adding the vegetables.) Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Season with salt. Remove and discard thyme.

When you sit down with a piping hot dish of this goodness, make sure you have a bottle of two of Irish Death on hand to pair with it. The sweet and roastly malt flavors in the beer round out the hearty meat and vegetable flavors of the stew perfectly. If you’re feeling really crazy, follow it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a little Mocha Death poured over the top. If you aren’t feeling that crazy after the stew, you can just curl up in a ball and go to sleep. You’ll want to. At least that’s what Regan did.

We would sign this “Hugs and Kisses”, but Greg already does that in his blog, so,
- Regan and Natalia

P.S.Remember to bring a receipt for these ingredients to the tasting room for $2.00 off a growler fill of Irish Death (as supply permits). Make this for your friends and family and then give us all the credit- actually, give it to Sarah!

Sometimes greatness can’t be rushed. While we do apologize for our delay in posting, we hope this pairing recipe makes it up to you. We have found a dish that will warm the soul- or at least your mouth up, as we jump into fall season. It’s delicious, takes less than an hour, and it pairs amazingly with the Fresh Hop Loco Red, our most recent (and possibly most coveted) release.

Thai-Curry Penne with Ginger-Tomato Chutney

Shopping List/ Things you need:
2 tbs butter
2 tbs fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped sweet white onion
1 large granny smith apple, cored and sliced in thin pieces
3-4 garlic cloves, minced up
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup dry marsala wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp thai red curry paste
1 1/2 cups canned unsweetened coc. milk
1/2 lb ( about 1/2 box) cooked penne pasta
2-3 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, par cooked and chopped

Ginger Chutney Ingredients ( to accompany and top pasta):
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbs minced fresh ginger (peeled)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, leave juice in
1-2 cinnamon sticks

Let’s get cooking:
Melt butter in large saucepan, add chopped onion, apple, and garlic. Saute about 6 minutes, then add curry powder and marsala. Reduce for 2 minutes, then add chicken stock, fish sauce, and red curry paste. Measure the fish sauce, too fishy = gross. Reduce for 5 minutes, then add coconut milk and simmer 3 minutes to thicken.
Cook pasta according to instructions on package.
Meanwhile.. bust out your chutney. This adds so much flavor to the dish and can be done before hand, refrigerated, and warmed up later, or you can cook it as you are preparing the main dish, like we did.
Ginger- tomato Chutney:
Combine vinegar, diced ginger, and sugar in saucepan, stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add tomatoes with juices and cinnamon sticks. Boil, then reduce and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.
Stir coconut curry sauce into drained penne. Serve in bowls of your choosing, very large mixing bowls, however much you plan on consuming, then top with Chutney, fresh basil, and fresh parmesan. This recipe is easy, unique, and delicious. Since it can be prepared in less than an hour, it definitely ranked as one of our fall favs.
Pairing:
We recommend this with the Fresh Hop Loco Red. The red possesses a balance of malty and hoppy flavors that blend uniquely, creating a rich and slightly sweet mouthfeel with an smooth malted aftertaste. These flavors balance with the rich sweet and sour effect the chutney creates and the warm spices weaving throughout the pasta…. This recipe is good, and the beer makes it even better. If we don’t have this on tap you will get a growler of Cinco de Drinco instead at the $12 price,(regular $15) or a bottle of it, for $5 (instead of $7.) The Cinco de Drinco will also pair well with this in case of emergency with the intense hop character.

Come into the brewery or the micro-pub with a grocery receipt listing some ingredients in this meal and receive one of the above beer deals!