I finally discovered Guinness this past week. It's good to drink, which surprised me a lot, but it's also quite handy to add flavor to recipes. I heard a pre-St. Patrick's Day story on Weekend Edition Sunday about cooking with Guinness, so I looked up the recipes they had put online and did a Google search for some others. Many of them involve meat, like oysters and Cornish hens, but I found great recipes for Guinness French Onion Soup and Guinness Cheddar Fondue, both of which I made this week. They were awesome. Knock yourselves out:

Guinness French Onion Soup with Garlic Croutons

• 2 Tbsp oil
• l lb onions cut into thin strips
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup Guinness Stout
• Garlic croutons [recipe below]
• Grated Swiss or other cheese for topping

Heat the oil and add the onions, black pepper and bay leaves. Sauté the onions until brown; this caramelizes the sugars and gives the soup its color and onion flavor. Add the stocks at room temperature or cold; this allows more flavors to go into the stock. Bring it to a boil. Add the Guinness Stout and bring to a boil again. Remove bay leaves. Ladle soup into bowls, then add the croutons and Swiss Cheese and place under broiler until the cheese is melted.

Garlic Croutons

• Enough oil to cover the bottom of a sauté pan
• Chopped fresh garlic (to your taste)
• Day-old French bread, or whatever you have

Cut the bread in 1/2 inch slices, making sure each slice will fit in the bowls you are using. Sauté the garlic until translucent. Put the bread slices in the pan and brown both sides. Place croutons on a bowl of French Onion Soup with Swiss cheese on top; place bowl under broiler until cheese is melted. [I used our little kitchen torch instead of putting our bowls under the broiler, and I suppose you could also microwave them for a few seconds to melt the cheese.]

***

Guinness Cheddar Fondue
(Makes one pint)

• 1 cup Guinness
• 2 lb grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 Tbsp corn flour or cornstarch
• 6-8 tsp Worcestershire sauce [I mixed a little bit of soy sauce, vinegar, molasses, and garlic powder for a vegetarian alternative to Worcestershire]
• salt & pepper
• cayenne pepper

Heat Guinness over medium-high heat. Mix grated cheddar and cornstarch in a separate bowl, then add by handfuls to Guinness, melting each handful before adding the next. Add Worcestershire and seasonings, then serve with chunks of bread and/or vegetables. [We dipped bread, yellow pepper slices, steamed broccoli florets, and mushroom caps, but you could use any kind of veggies you like.]

Labels: kitchen adventures, listening miscellany

• posted by erica 3/18/2006 12:15:00 PM
•