And the winner is!

I know I've been a bit delinquent in announcing the winner of the House of Mango Hands 2009 Pumpkin Beer Tasting. If you're hazy on the contestants, you can catch up here, here, and here. I'm very pleased to present the gold medal to...

Will Stevens' Pumpkin Ale, by Wolaver's!

This was a fun challenge for me, comparing the subtleties of so many different kinds of pumpkin beer. Maybe it will be a yearly feature, as there are many more brands of pumpkin beer that didn't make it into our brackets.

I know there were a few people pulling for the Punkin Ale by Dogfish, and I agree that it is a damn fine brew. But in the end, the Wolaver's was the unanimous winner, with a lovely wheaty undertone and the perfect pumpkin and spice notes. Plus, the Dogfish was $10 for four beers, and I found a six-pack of Wolaver's for $8.49. More beer for less money! Who isn't a fan of that?

So, as this competition comes to an end, I leave you with a little song that I learned from my old friend Dean. It goes like this:

Beer
beer
beer
biddly beer
beer
beer

Now try singing it in rounds with a friend!

Stanley P. Kachowski reminds you that pierogies are good food*

I am of the opinion that pierogies are best enjoyed while watching Steelers football. In the offseason, you can also have them at your grandma's house for a holiday, accompanied by the obscure Slovak food of your choice. (I choose babalki!) Or, if you happen to find yourself at a Pirates game, you can order them right at the concession stand. (In trying to keep at least 1,000 people in attendance, the Pittsburgh Pirates even have a mid-inning event where humans dressed as pierogies race down the field. Check out this video where a pierogie tackles Teddy Roosevelt, a racer in the Washington Nationals mid-inning President's Race.)

Imagine my surprise, then, when I came across this article advocating the consumption of pierogies DURING a triathlon. Not as a spectator, but as a competitor! Um, that is insane. I've competed in a couple of races (and by that I mean I thumped along like a maimed hyena stuck with a tranquelizer dart), and I can't imagine eating a pierogie on the run. I mean, is there someone running alongside holding a small container of sour cream for dipping? Would you just wipe your buttery hands on your shorts? The logistics alone boggle me.

In summary, pierogies are good to eat while watching sports, good to dress up as while playing sports, and also good to shove in your pocket for snacks while playing sports.

*More from Stanley P. Kachowski

Pierogies

Makes about 45

Dough, from Gourmet Magazine

1 cup flour
3/4 cup cake flour
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

Put the flour and cake flour in a bowl and stir with a fork to combine.

Make a well in the center, and drop in the eggs, salt and water. Stir the wet ingredients together first (with the fork), and then start to add in the flour mixture gradually. Once it is a loose dough, dump it out onto a clean dry surface (including all the flour and dough bits in the bowl) and start to knead it together. Knead for 8 minutes until soft and elasticy, or until you're exhausted and need a beer. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Filling

2 russet potatoes
7 oz. sharp white cheddar, shredded (Vermont makes the best cheddar!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
4 small green onions
1/4 cup sour cream

To serve

Stick of butter
1 large yellow onion
Sour cream

Peel the potatoes and chop into 2 inch chunks. Put in a pan, and cover with cold water. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil until just tender with a fork (about 8 minutes). Put in a bowl with the cheese, salt, pepper, onions and sour cream. Mash with a potato masher, or whip with a handheld mixer.

Cheating variation: Have 2-3 cups leftover mashed potatoes? Add cheese, green onions, and sour cream.

Cut the dough in half and keep half in the plastic wrap. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Roll it very thin - about an 1/8 inch. Using a round cutter about 2 -3 inches wide, cut out circles of dough. (I used my brother's wine aerator, as we were at the beach in a limited kitchen, but a can or biscuit cutter is probably a more conventional choice. Man, he was mad when he found out I touched his wine toys.)

Get a little bowl of cold water ready for moistening the edges of your pierogies.

Take about a teaspoon of filling and drop it in the middle of your dough rounds. Dip your finger in your water bowl and wet the outside edges of the dough round. Stretch and fold it over to make a half moon, and smush the dough together to seal it shut. Set the finished pierogie aside on a floured cookie sheet. Repeat as necessary. I re-rolled my dough scraps once, but after that they tend to get really tough.

To save some or all of your pierogies for later, you can put the cookie sheet in the freezer for a couple hours, and once they get good and frozen, put them in a freezer bag.

To serve, bring a big pot of water to a boil, and cook the fresh or frozen pierogie for 5-6 minutes until mostly tender.

Melt half a stick of butter in a heavy skillet. Add half the onion, and let the onion get a little browned. Push the onion to the side, and add just as many pierogie as fit in a non-crowded manner. Let them get golden brown, then flip to the other side. Repeat with the remaining half stick of butter, onion, and pierogie.

Serve with the browned, buttery onions and sour cream.

On being cured of a severe dislike

Did you know that Glasgow, Scotland has the highest per capita concentration of Indian restaurants of anywhere aside from India? Well, I heard that somewhere. Who knows if it's actually true. It was the first place I had Indian food, and I suffered such intense gastrointestinal distress I thought I might die. Very slowly I tried things that were curry-scented, or tandoori, or yogurt marinated, and now, nine years later, the smell of Indian food no longer sends me running for the bathroom. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that I rather like Indian food. If you are interested in making it at home and don't want to buy those jars of pre-made sauce in the "ethnic" aisle of the grocery store, consider getting Raghavan Iyer's book, 660 Curries. I know that sounds like an exhausing amount of curries, but, dude, India is a really big country. I've probably made 10-12 dishes out of it and all of them have been outstanding. The coconut cashew chicken curry, though, nearly made my head spin around. From deliciousness, not being possessed.

Coconut cashew chicken curry
Serves 2

2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
1/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup shredded dried unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup cilantro
6 garlic cloves
2-3 green chiles, stems and seeds removed
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, or two chicken leg quarters (skin removed)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon garam masala

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Toast the cashews, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until they are golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon, leaving as much oil as you can.

Combine the cashews, coconut, cilantro, garlic, and chiles in a food processor and puree.

Re-heat the same skillet, and toast the sesame and cumin seeds until they smell nutty and toasted (about a minute or two). Stir in the cashew/coconut puree, and stir about 1-2 more minutes.

Push the mixture to the sides of the pan, and brown the chicken in a single layer. Pile the cashew mixture on top of the chicken so it doesnt burn. Flip the chicken over to brown the other side, again piling the cashew mixture on top.

Combine the salt with 1/2 cup water. Pour this mixture over the chicken, scraping up and browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. Turn the heat down to a simmer, and cover the chicken until it is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Stir and baste the chicken occasionally.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon. Shred the chicken with two forks. Stir the yogurt and garam masala into the sauce in the skillet. Add the chicken back in and stir to combine. Serve over rice.

Another way to eat syrup

Mmm, weekend breakfast. There are so many possibilities! Why have lame-o cereal and orange juice when you have time to make something that will really work to soak up whatever you drank last night? Dippy eggs, toast, and bacon? Waffles? Bagels and lox? Or (drumroll please) APPLE PANCAKE! It takes a little bit longer than your average breakfast, but that just means your loved one has time to run out to fetch you a decaf skim latte while it bakes. This is a classic in our house, and we've played with the spices and sugars enough to get it just right. Goldilocks would be proud.

Apple pancake, adapted from Dishing Up Vermont
Serves 2-4

3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon (divided)
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
maple syrup (warm, please)

Put a cast iron skillet (or other oven-proof skillet) in a 425 degree oven.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, salt, vanilla and 1 teaspoon cinnamon until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the sliced apples, brown sugar and remaining 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

Take the skillet out of the oven and melt the butter. Add the apples in a single layer, then pour the batter on top.

Bake the pancake for about 25 minutes, or until puffed. Serve with warm maple syrup.

So easy even a caveman could make it

There's an awesome pizza place in my hometown of Beaver, PA, called Mario's. It's BYOB, serves a-frickin-mazing wood-fired oven pizza, and makes the most delicious chicken piccata pasta. These are all factors that make it the best place to eat in downtown Beaver. Plus there's a 92% chance you'll see my brother's friend Ryan there.

Mario's is also the first place I tried what is now my favorite speedy weeknight dinner. It's called beans and greens, and it might be the best complete dinner on the planet that can be ready in less than 20 minutes. You can use any kind of greens. Kale makes a nice hearty meal, spinach is soft and silky, and swiss chard is a happy medium between the two. I probably wouldn't use collard greens, because they take forever to cook. My trick to delicous kale and chard is to cut the stem out. The stems take longer to cook, and if you leave them in, the stems can be stringy in your final product. You could also use a hard sausage (like one of those fancy sticks of salami) here with delicious results.

Beans and greens
Serves 2-3

2 links fresh sausage, or 4 oz. hard sausage
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 bunch greens, de-stemmed and roughly chopped (no need to de-stem spinach)
1/2 cup chicken broth, beer or water
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Heat large skillet over medium heat. If you're using fresh sausage, squeeze it out of the casing and roughly break it up with a spatula. If you're using hard sausage, chop it into 1/4 inch half moons. Either way, brown the sausage. (I never add oil when browning sausage, because it has enough fat to get going on its own.) Add the sliced onion and cook just until starting to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and hot pepper flakes. Cook 30 seconds. Add the greens, turning them with tongs to equally wilt them. Add the liquid, and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. If you're using kale or chard, turn the heat to low and cover and cook until the greens are tender, about 5-7 minutes for kale and 3-5 minutes for chard. You won't need to do this for spinach, because it wilts and softens so quickly.

Stir in the beans and warm through, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and add the vinegar. Taste your final product to see if it needs salt. Because sausage and canned beans can be really salty, you might not need any. This is also great accompanied by some crusty bread.