Fennel Pollen Grilled Tempeh

Since my spice cabinet is filled with Savory Spice Shop herbs and spices, it is always a fun endeavor creating something vegetarian for dinner. I’m interested in Fennel Pollen lately, so I thought I’d make a tempeh dish featuring this “spice of the angels.”
I didn’t really measure anything for my marinade, but it was basically
  • 1 TB dehydrated onion
  • 1/2 TB garlic powder
  • 1/2 TB dried parsley
  • 1/2 TB smoked Spanish paprika
  • 1 tsp whole fennel seeds
  • a pinch of fennel pollen
  • 2-3 TB olive oil
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • a splash of worcestershire
Mix that up, and pour it over some temepeh.
I let mine sit for an hour or so before grilling. Then, I opened my last jar of pickled onions from last summer’s crop. My pickled onions are so delicious- they’re not just any old pickled onions- they’re olive oil pickled onions, which means they have a coating of olive oil over the top which kept them from spoiling all winter (they did not withstand a boiling bath or any heated canning process). The olive oil mixes with the vinegar to create a salad-dressing-like flavor effect (or profile?).
I’ll be making twice as many pickled onions this year… But, first, back to my grilled tempeh. Grill it for a few minutes on each side. Easy.
I served mine with some grilled ciabatta, smoked provolone, olive oil pickled onions, and Red Rocks Hickory Smoke Ketchup, which is, quite frankly, the best ketchup.
So, go grill some tempeh and enjoy a meatless BBQ. Wash it down with a beer cocktail!

Vanilla Bourbon

If you read my blog, you’ll know that I have been having a pretty intense love affair with cocktails lately. They’re fun. I like to be around them… get to know them… explore their flavor profiles.

And since it all seems to boil down to flavor profiles at this stage in my cocktail affair, it’s only right to explore the flavor profiles of this spring’s Cocktail Element, created by my esteemed sommelier/mixologist friend, Evan Faber of SALT. Last month I infused some Chipotle Tequila. This month it is Vanilla Bourbon.

How do you make Vanilla Bourbon? Soak a vanilla bean in some bourbon. It’s easy. I got some Madagascar vanilla beans from Savory Spice Shop and let them sit, whole, in a jar of Maker’s Mark for 3 days. I used on bean per liter jar of bourbon. You taste subtle notes of vanilla in my vanilla bourbon, and it seems smoother to me than regular bourbon. Now I need to experiment with a vanilla bourbon cocktail. Stay tuned…

 

Fennel Pollen Turkey Burgers

The turkey burger. It’s become my spur-of-the-moment, don’t have dinner plans and don’t have 2 hours to cook, go-to guy. I’ve added all kinds of cheeses, herbs, spices, jalapeños… lots of stuff, and they usually come out great. But, I might have my new favorite here.
The secret ingredient? Fennel Pollen. All of you sausage lovers out there probably appreciate the flavor of fennel seeds. But have you tried fennel pollen? It is the pollen that comes from the tiny yellow flowers on the fennel plant and, according to the label, is sometimes called the “spice of the angels.” I must agree with that statement. And you’re probably asking yourself, “Where can I find this spice of the angels?” Well, Savory Spice Shop, of course. Where else would I get my secret ingredients?
Here’s how I made my new favorite burgers-
  • 1.5 pounds ground turkey thigh
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 tsp dried parsley
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • a pinch of fennel pollen
  • ground black pepper
My least favorite part is mixing it with my hands and making the patties. I’ll admit it. But, I made 8 patties, grilled them for approximately 7 minutes on each side, and topped them with some Tillamook white cheddar cheese.
Left over ciabatta bread served as my bun, and homemade olive oil pickles from last summer’s crop added the perfect crunch to my spring-time, fennel pollen burger. Come to think of it, these will be great for grillin’ over Memorial weekend, and will pair well with my Honey Pepper Rascal Beer Cocktail.

Honey Pepper Rascal, a Beer Cocktale

Now, before anyone accuses me of only writing about cocktails anymore, let me just say that a lot of thought goes into these cocktails that I enjoy. Flavor profiles are considered, of course. What’s a flavor profile? Let’s save that for another day.

First, I have a story. Last spring I caught an Alton Brown show on making a black pepper infused vodka. I am a big fan of the Bloody Mary, so I was super excited to make black pepper vodka for my summer libations. I followed his instructions, but not exactly. I added too many peppercorns and let them infuse way too long. The result was more like a black pepper extract than a black pepper vodka. It was disgusting.

But, lucky me… I happen to have the esteemed Evan Faber, formerly of SALT the Bistro, as a spirits and cocktails advisor. He took on that role some time this past winter (unbeknownst to him:), so after months of letting my unpalatable pepper vodka sit in the freezer, I reached out for help. Turns out there is a traditional Russian drink of vodka flavored with honey and pepper. To make a long story short, I cut my vodka with more vodka and added some dehydrated honey powder I picked up at Savory Spice Shop. After a little more waiting I wound up with a really delicious honey pepper vodka.

And now it’s time to play! So, taking some inspiration from Dan Mirsky, the man formerly in charge of beverages at The Pinyon, I made a beer cocktail. Dan suggested a ratio of 1 oz liquor to 6 oz beer, and that’s what I made here.

  • 1 oz honey pepper vodka
  • 6 oz Avery White Rascal Belgian-Style White Ale
  • juice of 1/2 lemon

I used a Avery’s White Rascal for two reasons: 1) Avery is the best local brewery in Boulder and 2) white ales have a lighter flavor profile that goes well with citrus (the lemon) and would compliment the spice from black pepper and the sweet from honey. White beer allows these added flavors to come through and create a cocktail rather than be hidden in a darker beer.

So, let’s start talking about beer cocktales. (Get it? cockt-ALES. Did I need to point that out?) They’re the new frontier of cocktails for me. I think 2011 is going to be the summer of beer cocktales!

Welcome to my kitchen

A Bolder Table is a place where I bookmark my favorite recipes for later along with some occasional musings. It's my personal digital recipe compilation... Let's say it's my cookbook. Thanks for stopping by! -Megan
© 2017 A Bolder Home LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Boulder, CO Personal Chef Services