belgian quad braised chuck roast

Tired of the same 'ol boring slow cooked pot roast? Tired of using the same 'ol red wine for braising. I'll take your wide eyed enthusiastic looks as a yes! So put away that electric slow cooker, and put away that dull red wine. Don't get me wrong, I cook with wine too. However, everyone sees it coming. It's a fastball, straight down the middle.

Change it up a little! Instead, use a Belgian quadrupel for the braising liquid. Trust me, it'll make you want to dance after tasting it.

'What the hell is a Belgian quadrupel?' you may be asking. Belgian quads are strong dark ales, usually showcasing the aromas and flavors of dark fruits such as dates and cherries. Quads are big, bold, and complex (dare I say more complex than red wine?) and perfect for braising. Not only that, it makes for a hell of a sauce at the end too.

I began the day by heading to the Barton Creek Farmer's Market. I picked up some organic onions, carrots, and Yukon gold potatoes.

After that, I went to Central Market and picked up some Beef Stock and a nice organic grass fed chuck roast. Oh, don't forget the beer of course! This time, I went with an Ommegang Three Philosophers, which actually has a cherry lambic added for even more complexity. However, any Belgian quad will get the job done (Ranger Creek La Bestia Aimable, St. Bernardus Abt 12, Avery The Reverend). Just make sure to get a big bottle or two (or three) because you'll want to drink some too!

Cute vase with flower not included with beer

The first thing you'll want to do is get some oil heating up in a large cast iron pot. Screaming hot. Seriously, you wanna hear that oil scream like Marilyn Burns. I got my oil from rendering the fat from bacon, but you can use olive oil too. But seriously, why use olive oil if you can use bacon grease? Oh, you'll also want to preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Salt and pepper the hell out of that chunk of meat. Don't be shy, it's a big piece of meat. Once you do that, add it to the pot and listen to it sizzle. I need to get that sound as a ringtone. As your meat is browning, roughly chop your veggies.

You're not looking to cook the meat here. You just want to sear the outside to enhance the flavor. Once both sides are browned, take the meat out and add your chopped veggies.

Cook the veggies in that bacon and beef infused oil over medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Once the veggies are happy, create a big hole in the middle for the beef. Add enough of the Belgian Quad and beef stock until the liquid comes a little more than halfway up the beef. Don't drown the poor guy, otherwise you're not braising, you're stewing.

Here's the really easy part. Remember that heated oven? Well now you cover the pot, set it in the oven, and walk away. You could sit there if you wanted to, but I guarantee you'll get bored since you'd be sitting there for hours! After six hours, this is what heaven looks like.

Heaven in a pot

See that braising liquid? We're not wasting that. We're going to reduce it down to a sauce even vegetarians would bathe in. In a small pan on high heat, add the remainder of the beef stock.

Spoon the braising liquid into a gravy separator. When the fat has separated, pour the braising liquid into the boiling beef stock. Let this reduce reduce reduce, pretty much until it's looking like a sauce consistency.

Once it's reduced to your liking, take it off the heat. Take a few tablespoons of creamy gold, also known as butter, and slowly whisk it into the liquid. The butter will add obvious flavor and a nice viscus look as well.

Spoon some of the veggies onto the middle of the plate. Spoon a piece of the meat on top of the veggies, and slowly drizzle the sauce over the meat. Pair with the same Belgian quad and you've got yourself one hell of a meal. Enjoy!

farmer's market tomatoes - gazpacho

Remember the 10 pounds of San Marzano tomatoes we got at the Barton Creek Farmer's Market from Johnson's Backyard Garden? Well BBQ sauce wasn't the only thing that was made from them.

One of my favorite fresh dishes to make during the summer is a cold Spanish soup called gazpacho. If you're not familiar with gazpacho, it's basically a cold tomato based soup, typically made with cucumbers, olive oil, and other vegetables and spices. Sometimes, balsamic vinegar is used for a little added 'zing.' In this version, instead of using balsamic vinegar I decided to reduce a dark Belgian ale down to a glaze. Now, my version of gazpacho is pureed down pretty well, but still fairly chunky (almost like a salsa). The great thing about gazpacho though is you can do it to your own heart's desire. You can make it soupy, chunky, tomato-y, rustic, etc.... It doesn't matter since you're the cook. Play around with it and see how you like it!

Here's what you'll need to make a tasty bowl of gazpacho.

 - 2 to 3 pounds of tomatoes
 - 2 small cucumbers
 - 1 red bell pepper
 - 1/2 red onion
 - Reduced Belgian ale or balsamic vinegar
 - Serranos/Jalepenos (use according to your spice level)
 - 1 or 2 garlic cloves
 - Olive oil
 - Fresh lemon

First, bring a pan of the Belgian strong ale to a boil. For this recipe, I used a Maredsous Bruin.
Once it comes to a boil, let it reduce until it's only a couple tablespoons. It will look like a glaze.
Set the beer glaze aside.

Next, bring a pot of water to a boil.
While the water is coming up to a boil, cut an 'X' into the top of each tomato (like so). The reason for doing this? We're going to be boiling the tomatoes for a bit, and when you do this, the skin peels right off.
At this time, get a large bowl filled with water and ice for an 'ice bath.'

Once the water is at a rolling boil, add around 5 to 6 tomatoes at a time.

Keep the tomatoes in the boiling water for around 30 seconds, just until the tops are softened. We don't want to cook the tomatoes here.
Once they're done, transfer them to the ice water to stop the cooking process.

When they're cooled off, peel off the skins and transfer to a bowl. I used a salad spinner bowl so the juices would be caught at the bottom of the bowl.

At this time, just let the tomatoes cool down while we cut up the vegetables.
Peel the skin off the cucumbers, spoon the seeds out, then do a rough chop.

Dice up a red bell pepper.

Dice up 1/2 of a red onion.

Dice up jalepenos/serranos.
Now, all of the components are ready for the food processor.
Add the tomatoes, cucumbers and garlic cloves to the food processor first.
Puree until desired consistency is reached.
Now add the rest of the vegetables to the food processor with the tomatoes and cucumbers.
Do a really quick pulse to mix everything together.
Take off the food processor.
Add the reduced beer glaze, a little drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Mix with a spoon and refrigerate covered for at least two hours.

For presentation, add the finished gazpacho to a glass or bowl. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and zest a little bit of lemon on top too. Top with basil or cilantro, and a swirl of the lemon skin.

farmer's market tomatoes - bbq sauce

Farmer's markets truly are the best places to get inspiration on what to cook. Just recently, Johnson's Backyard Garden had a bulk sale on tomatoes, 50% off orders of 10 pound boxes to be exact. In fact, they're still having the sale on their plum tomatoes so if you want some, get them now since they go fast. I went ahead and got 10 pounds of their San Marzano tomatoes, which are really good tomatoes for sauces since there are less seeds and they have a thicker skin, providing even more tomato flavor.

OK, so now I have 10 pounds of tomatoes, what do I do with them? Meggie and I went to the Barton Creek Farmer's Market to pick up the tomatoes and anything else we could find. Well this is what we found.

Red Pepper

Cucumbers

Onions, serranos and jalepenos

San Marzano tomatoes

With all of these ingredients, I decided to make not one, not two, but three different things. Fresh salsa, slow roasted tomato BBQ sauce, and gazpacho. For this post, I'll focus on the BBQ sauce.

I looked in my pantry to make sure I had my favorite ingredients for a homemade BBQ sauce.

What you will need for a batch of homemade BBQ sauce is:

 - 2 to 3 lbs of tomatoes
 - Onion
 - Chicken stock
 - Tomato paste
 - Apple cider vinegar
 - Brown sugar
 - Honey
 - Worcestershire sauce
 - Molasses
 - Paprika
 - Chile powder
 - Cayenne pepper

Since we're slow roasting the tomatoes for this sauce, set the oven to 250 degrees.
Cut the tomatoes in half and set them on a baking sheet, skin side up.
Add olive oil, salt and pepper
The tomatoes will take around 2.5 hours, and should look like this when taken out of the oven

At this point, the tomatoes are still hot so let them cool before taking the skin off.
While the tomatoes are cooling, dice up one small onion.
Add the diced onions to some oil in a pot and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent.

This is a good time to start taking the skin off the tomatoes.
Since we slow roasted them, the skin should come off easily.
If you happen to be making a homemade stock or sauce by means of reduction, place skins in the liquid to add an extra layer of flavor, then you're not wasting anything. Otherwise, just discard skins.
Place tomatoes in the pot with the onions. Make sure to add the leftover liquid on the baking sheet.
Add all other ingredients to the pot with the tomatoes and onions.
Everything is to taste. I like my BBQ sauce sweet and spicy, so I add a lot of brown sugar, molasses, honey, and cayenne pepper.
Add a little chicken stock for reduction purposes.
Add a couple tablespoons of tomato paste for thickening purposes.
Add a tablespoon or so of the paprika and chile powder.
Add a few dashes of the Worcestershire sauce.
Stir everything together and over medium-low heat and simmer the sauce for up to three hours.
After three hours, the sauce should look something like this.

At this point, use a hand blender or add small batches of the liquid to a blender and blend the sauce to a smooth consistency.

This BBQ sauce is great on anything. Chicken, brisket, grilled veggies, napkins, socks, etc.... Also, as you can see, it's very easy to make.

If you don't have time for all of this, you can still make a quick BBQ sauce. Just forgo the slow roasting and only simmer the sauce for 30 minutes. You won't get the depth of flavor you get from slow roasting and simmering, but you'll still have a damn good homemade BBQ sauce on your hands.

I hope you enjoy!