Imperial stout and root vegetables – it really is winter

Jeff Green | Jan 20, 2016

There is something to be said for comfort food in the winter time. Many of us enjoy skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, snowmobiling, skating and ice fishing, but there is no denying that when the sun goes down and the temperature drops, it's time to get warm; we need comfort, warm socks, sweaters, etc.

And we need food, the right kind of food. That's where root vegetables come in for me. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are delicious in the winter, to be sure, but there comes a time when we need some roots with more substance; roots that can stand up to sitting in a simmering pot for hours as the broth gets richer and sweeter and saltier.

For that purpose there really is nothing like carrots and rutabagas. They are designed for the winter. You can you dig through the snow, chop through the frost with your shovel and pull up a frozen carrot or rutabaga that were left in the garden by mistake or design, and once it comes out of the icy soil encasing your prize, you will find an undamaged bright yellow or orange root vegetable that has only become sweeter for its exposure to the elements.

That is a winter vegetable.

There are dozens of ways to cook them, together or apart.

They are good prepared as a casserole together, ideal to serve with a roast turkey, beef or ham dinner.

Cut them into ½” by 3” rectangles (2-3 cups of each veggie) and toss them together in a pyrex baking pan with pads of butter, a little maple syrup or honey and 1/4 cup water. Cover and bake for an hour at 350ºF.

Rutabagas love beans as well. We make an Indian dish in my home that we call the Royal Bean, which makes full use of the sweetness and slight bitter aftertaste of the rutabaga.

Ingredients.

1 medium-sized or half a large-sized rutabaga - peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick x 1 inch wide x 4 inch long slices (the width and length do not need to be uniform, but the thickness should be)

3 large onions (1½ very thin sliced and 1½ coarse chopped)

1 - 16 oz. can kidney beans

Curry paste or curry powder

1 tomato or ½ 16 oz. can tomatoes

½ cup cooking oil

Heat oil in large frying pan over medium high heat and add as many sliced rutabagas as can fit in the pan in a single layer. Lightly brown on each side and remove to a plate. Brown more rutabagas until they are all used.

Once the rutabagas are all done, fry the thin-sliced onions over medium heat until brown and crispy but not burnt. Remove to a plate. Then clear the coarsely chopped onions. Add curry powder (or paste) to the oily onions, stir in and cook until the powder changes colour if using powder, about 1 minute. Add the kidney beans, with liquid from the can plus 1/2 cup water. Cook until the mixture starts to thicken (about 5 minutes) then stir in the rutabagas and tomato and simmer the entire mixture together for 5 to 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or crusty bread.

Finally, the comfort food of comfort foods,

Beef Stew with Stout

There is no trick to beef stew. I like to brown the beef in hot oil and remove it from the dutch oven, then fry onions and garlic before adding back the beef, but I have made it in a hurry by cooking the onions and garlic and beef together and I can't say for sure there is a difference in the end product.

However you start, once the beef, onions and garlic stick to each other a little bit, add the root vegetables (carrots, rutabagas and parsnips) salt and pepper, and stir over medium heat until they begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add liquid to cover. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and add the stout. Simmer with the lid mostly covering the pot to keep the liquid, but leaving room for steam to escape to avoid making a boiled dinner.

Add potatoes 30 minutes into the cooking, and add more liquid if necessary to cover all the meat and veggies.

The stew is ready when the meat is soft and no longer chewy and potatoes are cooked through. It will stay good for several days of re-heating. Add water each time.

Stout and Imperial Stout

Once upon a time in Ontario, Stout meant imported Guinness, or perhaps Murphy's from the LCBO. That is so far from true anymore. Most craft brewers in Ontario make at least a serviceable stout, and St. Ambroise, a larger independent brewer from Quebec, makes a really good oatmeal stout. For those of us who get to Kingston on occasion, Stone City Brewery (Division & Clergy) always has their Ships in the Night Oatmeal Stout available in bottles and 32 and 64 ounce Growlers. It is 5.6 % alcohol, similar to the St. Ambroise stout but slightly smoother and richer due to the added alcohol. Any of these can be added to beef stew and served with it.

There is also an entirely different class of stouts, Imperial or Russian Imperial Stouts. These are strong beers; from 8 to 9 % alcohol is common. They are sipping stouts, not to be consumed in a pint glass or out of the bottle but rather in a smaller glass; cold but not ice cold.

Some prime examples of Imperial Stouts brewed in Ontario are Nickel Brook's Bolshevik Bastard Russian Imperial Stout, and Grand River Brewery's Russian Gun Imperial Stout. From Quebec, also available through the LCBO there is Dieu du Ciel's Péché Mortel (Quebec brewers love religious references in their branding) And if you ever get to a good Depanneur in Quebec, try La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout by the Charlevoix Brewery.

These beers are strong flavoured but can be consumed with rich stews.

Finally, there are the more extreme 12 to 15% specialty beers that brewers love to put out in the winter. The flavours are intense and the beers have a lot of body. They are almost like inky black smoothies, and can be flavoured with chocolate, vanilla, or coffee. They are best drunk on their own or with rich desserts or chocolate and some cheeses.

They also cost as much as reasonably priced wine and commonly come in 750 ml bottles. A word of caution: in some cases a single bottle contains as much alcohol as a six-pack of beer.

Among the best in Ontario are Nickel Brook Kentucky Bastard (which is aged in Bourbon barrels) or Winey Bastard (aged in Pinot Noir casks); Muskoka Brewery Winter Beard (Double Chocolate Cranberry); and Flying Monkey Chocolate Manifesto.