When I got the email from Foodbuzz saying, “Hooray! You’re part of the New Belgium Tastemaker Program!” I was excited. My brother introduced me to Fat Tire Amber Ale several years ago – one of New Belgium’s best selling beers. The objective of the challenge was to branch out and create a recipe that features (or pairs with) any of the New Belgium beers.

I decided to use New Belgium’s Seasonal Mighty Arrow Pale Ale for my recipes.

My girlfriend Deede came over this past Saturday and the taste testing and recipe creation began. She came armed with a cookbook and big recipe binder and I had stacks of cookbooks and my iPad. We went back and forth – Savory? Sweet? We were throwing ideas out one after the other… We decided on doing both – but that kind of happened by accident. More on that later.

First off… the history and story behind New Belgium Brewing Company and Mighty Arrow Pale Ale. According to the New Belgium website, Mighty Arrow Pale Ale is a brewed tribute to Arrow, the owner’s Aussie/Boarder Collie mix who ran (literally) New Belgium for 12 years. When she wasn’t patrolling the brewery grounds, she was famous for her office visits. The website says she never met a tummy rub she didn’t like.

Sausage and Beer Caramelized Onion Tart

Tart Filling Ingredients:
1/2 Cup New Belgium Brewing Company Mighty Arrow Pale Ale
3 Apple Chicken Sausages
5 Medium Size Sweet Onions
Salt
Pepper

Tart Crust Ingredients:
6 oz. All Purpose Flour
4 oz. Unsalted Butter – chilled
1/2 Cup Beecher’s Flagship Handmade Cheese (Aged Cheddar) – grated
Pinch of Kosher Salt
3-5 Tablespoons Ice Water – just enough until the dough comes together

Directions:
We prepped the crust ingredients, I broke out my 1980’s Cuisinart, and we pulsed the crust to perfection.
1.  Blend your flour and salt in the food processor
2.  Gradually add cheese and cubes of chilled butter – using pulse feature, cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal
3.  Add a tablespoon of ice water while the processor is going
4.  Keep adding ice water until you see small moist clumps form – ours needed 3 tablespoons
5.  Remove dough from processor and gather into a ball
6.  Flatten into disk, cover in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for an hour

Note: The dough can be made up to two days ahead of time. Keep chilled and then soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

Deede took on the job of rolling out the crust – she is the crust/pie queen. Once the dough was the right size, she gently placed it into the tart pan. She then removed the overlap pieces of dough.

Bake the crust at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes and let cool a bit before placing the topping into the tart crust. You might need to pierce the dough several times with a fork to keep it from puffing up. Deede uses pie weights, I didn’t have any.

We both sliced onions. Deede taught me an Alton Brown trick and OMG – slicing onions with a handle – brilliant! You only cut the end off the top of the onion and you peel the skin layers down into a handle to grip while you slice. Wish I would have gotten a picture, but we were up to our elbows in onions.

We ended up doing 3 pans of onions so they would all be done around the same time. I added a little vegetable oil to the pans and cooked them over a medium to low temp until they softened and browned.

We cut our chicken apple sausage into pennies and we measured out our Mighty Arrow Pale Ale.

We added the beer to the onion and sausage mixture and let it cook down until the liquid was absorbed – this took about 20 minutes on medium heat – we didn’t brown the sausage before adding it to the onions.

Once the filling is transferred into the tart pan, place tart back into the oven at 350 degrees F.  for another 15-20 minutes – or until crust is slightly browned.

I loved the sweet flavor of the onions and sausage and I could definitely taste the cheddar and beer flavors as well.

Printable Tart Recipe (.pdf)

Next up – the Sweet Recipe – We had originally wanted to do something with apples as a topping to the tart. We ended up switching gears and creating recipe #2.

Beer Battered Apple Rings

Ingredients:
2 Granny Smith Apples – each apple made 6 rings
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour – plus a little extra for dredging
1/2 Cup New Belgium Brewing Company Mighty Arrow Pale Ale Beer
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar – firmly packed
Powdered Sugar – for dusting
Caramel Sauce – for drizzling

Add flour, beer, and salt to a bowl and stir/whisk until the batter is smooth. Let the batter stand, covered at room temperature for 15-20 minutes.

Peel and core your apples and cut them into 1/4 inch thick rings.

In another bowl, combine the lemon juice and tablespoon of brown sugar.  Place apple slices on cookie sheets and sprinkle mixture on your slices and let sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Place 2 – 2 1/2 inches of vegetable oil in a heavy pot or skillet and heat until it reaches 375 degrees F.

Lightly dust each apple ring with flour before dipping them into the beer batter bowl. Coat well and let the excess batter fall back into the bowl. Using tongs, drop coated apple rings into the hot oil, turning once. They cook really fast. Less than 2 minutes for the entire process. Transfer the rings to cooling racks with paper towels and then sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with caramel sauce before serving.

The beer battered apple rings were absolutely delicious! We tried them piping hot before the photography session – you don’t want them to sit very long, but something tells me, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Printable Beer Battered Apple Ring Recipe (.pdf)

Creating recipes using a designated ingredient was fun. I can’t thank Deede enough for her patience and dedication to the task. My kitchen was a disaster area, but it was totally worth it. Thank you Foodbuzz and New Belgium Brewing Company for the opportunity to participate.

Cheers & Enjoy,

Disclaimer: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a stipend to cover the cost of the beer and recipe ingredients.