America's Beer Distributors

Does “home for the holidays” mean that your house is the family gathering spot? If so, and you’ve got a crowd to feed, give some thought to adding a little holiday sparkle to your favorite dishes. Beer provides that unique taste in many ways. It can add a complementing flavor to traditional holiday meals – both as a poured beverage and as an extra addition to a recipe.

From the National Beer Wholesalers Association in Alexandria, Virginia, here are two new recipes that will delight friends and family this holiday season with the subtle flavor of special beers.

When you need to serve a special festive meal - a party buffet or dinner for Christmas or New Year’s Eve - try Stuffed Pork Roast with Lambic Juice.  This beautiful dish provides both the warmth of roasted pork along with the crisp freshness of a fruity stuffing and jus. Start with a center-cut pork loin, butterflied either by the butcher or at home by slicing through the meat, opening both sides and pounding with a meat mallet to flatten. Make a stuffing by combining dried apricots, plums and cranberries with a Lambic Fruit Beer, warming in the microwave and marinating for an hour. Roll the pork around the stuffing, place in a large pan and roast for about an hour and a half. While the meat is cooking, making a complementary Lambic Beer Jus by combing beef broth, mustard and apricot preserves with more of the fruit-flavored Lambic Beer. When the meat is ready, slice to serve, either plated or from a large serving platter.

Start 2009 on the right foot by serving Pale Ale Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day. This dish contains all of the black-eyed peas needed to bring luck in the New Year, flavored beautifully with a strong Pale Ale Beer. Prepare this recipe by sautéing together chopped onion, ham steak, bell pepper, celery, paprika, garlic and thyme. Stir in well-soaked black-eyed peas, chicken stock, beer and rice; cover and cook until the rice is absorbed. This dish is perfect as a part of a New Year’s Day buffet, or as an entrée served with greens (for wealth in the New Year) and cornbread.

Stuffed Pork Roast with Lambic Beer Jus

Serves 6

½ cup dried apricots, chopped

½ cup dried plums, chopped

¼ cup dried cranberries

1 bottle (12 oz) Lambic Fruit Beer

4 scallions, chopped (about ½ cup)

1 ½ TBLS fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp black pepper

3 TBLS butter, softened

1 (3 pound) boneless center-cut pork loin roast, butterflied

Lambic Beer Jus:

1 cup Lambic Fruit Beer

2 cups low-sodium beef broth

3 TBLS apricot jam or preserves

2 tsps honey-Dijon mustard

¼ tsp kosher salt

In medium glass bowl, combine dried apricots, plums and cranberries; add bottle of Lambic Ale Beer. Place in microwave and cook on high for 4 minutes, or until simmering. Remove from microwave and let fruit marinate for one hour. Preheat oven to 450 F. Drain dried fruit through a sieve over a bowl, reserving marinade. Place fruit in another bowl; stir in scallion, thyme and ¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Open butterflied pork loin roast. Place plastic wrap over pork and, using a meat mallet, gently pound pork so that it is an even ¾ inch thick. Rub half of the butter over the pork and sprinkle with half of the remaining salt and pepper. Mound fruit stuffing lengthwise down the center of the pork. Roll up the pork and tie firmly with kitchen twine to make a compact cylinder. Rub outside of the pork with the remaining butter and season with remaining salt and pepper. Place in large, heavy bottomed roasting pan. Place in pork in preheated oven and roast 15 minutes. Pour reserved ale marinade over roast. Lower the oven temperature to 300 F; continue to roast pork 1 hour and 10 minutes longer, basting with pan drippings. Remove pork from oven, transfer to cutting board and loosely tent with foil. Let pork rest 20 minutes. Reserve the roasting pan and drippings.

Make Lambic Ale Jus by placing roasting pan over two stove-top burners over medium-high heat. Pour the cup of Lambic Fruit Beer into the roasting pan, scraping up brown bits. Let boil 2 minutes. Add beef broth, bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes more. Whisk in jam and mustard until blended. Continue to simmer 3 minutes, or until jus is reduced to about 1 ½ cups. Remove from heat. Stir in salt and accumulated juices from cutting board. Cut pork into thick slices and serve with Lambic Ale Jus.

Nutrition Information, Per Serving:

540 calories; 21 g fat; 9 g saturated fat; 33 g carbohydrate

Pale Ale Hoppin’ John

Serves 6 – 8

1 pound black-eyed peas

1 ½ TBLS extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, diced (about 1 cup)

1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)

2 ribs celery, diced (about 1 cup)

¾ pound ham steak, cut into ½ inch dice

2 cloves  garlic, chopped

1 ½ TBLS thyme leaves

½ tsp paprika

2 cups chicken stock

1 bottle (12 oz) Pale Ale Beer

1 cup white long grain rice (raw)

1 tsp salt

1 bunch scallions, chopped

Place peas in large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil two minutes. Remove from heat, cover pan and let stand one hour. Drain in colander, rinse well and set aside.

Warm oil in large fry pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, pepper, celery, ham, garlic, thyme and paprika; sauté 6 minutes until onion and ham are lightly golden. Stir in peas, chicken stock and Pale Ale Beer; bring to a full boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in rice; cover pot and simmer an additional 25 minutes, or until peas are tender and all liquid has been absorbed. Stir in salt and blend well. Transfer to large serving bowl, sprinkle with scallions and serve warm.

Nutrition Information, Per Serving:

400 calories; 6 g fat; 1.5 g saturated fat; 59 g carbohydrate