So it’s become habit to crack a beer as I cook. I know a lot of people drink wine, but I find there to be so many more flavor combinations with beer which make pairing it with meals more interesting.
For tonight’s dinner I drinking a Dragon’s Milk with vanilla and chai spices. The meal is a shallot fried chicken with fragrant blend of spices.
You may ask yourself that beer pairs well with a Italian inspired dish. It actually does because you get a nice bit of roasted notes from the beer. With the subtle sweet and complex spice finish it cuts through the pungent shallot, garlic, onion and smoky paprika flavors.
We blanched some fresh green beans and lightly toasted some bread to soak up the light sauce we made from deglazing the chicken pan with a bit of white wine and chicken stock.
We don’t really have a recipe for this meal as we tweak for what we have in the refrigerator. Sometime we throw corn into the mix other times we will toast broccoli. If I’m feeling festive we will toss in a good helping of red pepper flake to spice it up.