*AD – the item in this review was gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.
With St Patrick’s Day on the horizon and a lovely new drinking stein in the house, we decided that we should try out some new food recipes which could be just perfect for an evening in, or after you’ve had a few drinks. We decided to go for a mix of meals, either coming up with our own ideas for the food or taking inspiration from elsewhere. As you’ll know from reading the blog, we love trying out new recipes and have also tried our hands at a few drinks kits over the last year. But, for this post, we’ve decided to tie the two things together with some great foods to try out on an evening of drinking.
We made three different meals, ranging from snacks through to very large portions, and we’ve got the recipes for all three of them below. There’ll be red pepper and pesto grilled cheese, fried pickles as well as bratwurst in blankets. They’re all great in their own ways, and – perhaps surprisingly – we had different favourites at the end of it all.
But, before we get to the recipes, let’s talk a little bit about the stein. you’ll see it featured in a lot of the pictures, and for good reason. It’s from cuckooclocks.com, a German retailer who specialises in – you guessed it – cuckoo clocks, but also sell a large range of other large timepieces, crafts and traditional German beer steins. They have more than just a small selection, in fact, they have just shy of 500 different varieties, ranging from extravagant regional-themed ones through to ornate Pewter designs. There are even drinking boots and drinking horns in there, as well as goblet-style steins. I’m big into medieval history, and have always wanted a lever-operated stein, so this one was absolutely perfect. They are currently offering a 10% discount to use on their site so grab a beer stein to enjoy your beer at home – use code “beerathome” at checkout, valid until April 2nd.
Our first recipe was a delicious Red Pepper and Pesto Grilled Cheese. It’s a twist on an American classic, but adding in some strong refreshing and herbal qualities with the red pepper and pesto. We’ve become quite a big pesto family over the last year, and so I’m always interested in new ways to try to use it. This was perfect, and was my favourite of the three recipes.
Red Pepper and Pesto Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 30 grams Basil
- 2 tbsp Pine Nuts
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 2 slices of Bread
- 2 slices of Cheese
Instructions
Preparing the Pesto
- Smash and skin the garlic cloves, then add them, the Basil, Olive Oil, Pine Nuts and Spinach to a food processor.
- Blend the above ingredients into a paste.
Preparing the Red Pepper
- Set your oven's grill to maximum.
- Slice your bell peppers into large slices and place on a foil-covered oven tray.
- Drizzle the bell peppers with olive oil and place under the grill until charred.
- Once completely cooled, use your fingers to peel off the charred skin of the pepper (this should feel almost plastic), then dice the pepper into small cubes.
Assembly and Cooking
- Butter a side of your bread slice, and place butter-side-down onto your frying pan. Turn the heat onto medium.
- Thinly layer pesto onto the unbuttered side of the bread, then place two cheese slices to cover the pesto. Sprinkle your red peppers onto the top, and place another slice of buttered bread (with the butter facing up) onto the top.
- Once the underside of the sandwich is golden brown, carefully flip the sandwich onto the other buttered side using a spatula.
- Cook the second side until also golden brown, then remove and serve.
Notes
While grilled cheese is definitely considered one of the more basic, simple recipes out there, spicing it up with some pesto and grilled pepper really does make a difference. We’ve often got most of the ingredients lying around the house (basil being the exception), and the extra pesto can be stored quite easily too. Next up we went with something which fit well alongside the stein, Bratwursts in Pretzel Bread.
Bratwurst in Pretzel Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 stick Butter
- 1/2 Yellow Onion Sliced
- 6 Bratwurst Sausages
- 24 oz Pilsner Beer
- 1/4 cup Baking Soda
- 16 oz Pizza Dough
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 6 tbsp Sauerkraut Plus Extra for Serving
- 2 Egg Yolks Beaten
- 2 tbsp Double Cream
- 1 cup Milk
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 pinch Cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp Whole Grain Mustard
- 1 pinch Salt
- 4 oz Cheddar Cheese Grated
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C (450 degrees F)
- Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the sliced onion and cook for two to three minutes until soft. Then, add the bratwurst and beer into the pot.
- Bring everything to a boil, then cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the bratwurst are nearly cooked through. Transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside to cool. Take 1/2 cup of the beer liquid out of the pot and set aside as well.
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil on high heat. Once the pot is boiling, add in your 1/4 cup of baking soda and stir until dissolved.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
- While the water is boiling away, roll out the pizza dough on a flowered surface to a 10 x 6 inch rectangle that is about 1/4 inch thick.
- Cut the dough in half horizontally and then cut each half into three long triangles.
- Place a dough triangle in front of you, with the short end away from you, and roll out to flatten it slightly. You will want to place a sausage at the long bit near you, along with a big tablespoon of sauerkraut next to the sausage. Roll the sausage and sauerkraut together, like a crescent roll. Repeat with all of the sausages.
- Drop two to three of the wrapped bratwursts at a time into the boiling water for about 30 seconds. They will puff slightly. Then use a slotted spoon to remove the sausages from the water and transfer onto the baking sheet to dry. It will take about 5 minutes to dry out.
- Brush each of the wrapped sausages with egg yolks and sprinkle with salt.
- Bake in your pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning halfway throughout to prevent sticking. Once the dough is a deep golden brawn and the sausage has browned, it is done.
Cheese Sauce
- While the sausages are in the oven, you can make your cheese sauce for dipping.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter on medium heat. Whisk in flour to make a roux – cooking for two minutes until the flour smell has dissipated.
- Whisk in the remaining beer water, milk, and cream until the sauce is a smooth texture. Then add Worcestershire, garlic powder, cayenne, mustard and salt. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
- Whisk in your grated cheese and cook until the cheese is completely melted. Serve in a bowl along with your cooked sausages.
This was an interesting one, the ‘blankets’ in it were almost like pretzel bread, and were salty to match. Between the gloopy cheese sauce, salty breading and the meat of the bratwursts this one was an incredibly rich and heavy meal, probably perfect if you’ve had a gut full of ale. For us, it was a little bit on the heavy side, and so didn’t place as a favourite for either of us – but with a little practice and tweaking this could be something special.
Finally, our third dish of the evening was a surprisingly good snack – Deep Fried Pickles. These were Jupiter’s favourite of the three, and it’s easy to understand why. They had still had a crisp bite to them beneath the airy batter, and the little kick of brine from the pickles was absolutely lovely.
Deep Fried Pickles
Ingredients
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 tsp Hot Pepper Sauce
- 3/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 cup Cornmeal
- 2 1/4 cups Flour
- 3/4 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 jar Dill Pickles Sliced
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil For Frying
Instructions
- Combine your eggs, 1/4 cup flour, buttermilk, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, salt and garlic powder in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix together cornmeal, 2 cups flour, salt, and pepper.
- In a pot, heat oil for deep frying, to 180 degrees C.
- Dip pickle slices into the milk mixture and then into the flour mixture. Fry until golden brown and drain on paper towels. Salt once out of the oil but while still hot.
If this last one really interests you then you could try doing what we did, which was cutting the pickles a lot thicker. This way the pickles will bring more of their flavour to the dish, and you will probably have enough batter to start on a second jar of pickles. Of course, as with any of these recipes, there’s always a degree of freedom available for those who want to deviate – I know that I’d have been interested in adding another pinch of pepper or two.
I’ve got to say that I felt like a KING (or perhaps a Baron or Duke) nibbling away at these food while sipping beer from the lidded stein. I’m really happy with the design of the one which I received, and something that can’t be conveyed in the pictures above is the fact that the base of the stein is incredibly thick glass, which is quite reassuring considering how often I’ve seen thin glasses or bottles shatter over the years.