The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour Cookbook Review + #BeerLoversHH Photo Contest

Good Food

This is a sponsored post

Recipe of the Week #BeerLoversHH Photo Contest
Details for this fun challenge below the recipe in this post

I absolutely love and appreciate really good food and drinking quality beer. So, when I first read the Sourcebooks email, my mouth began watering just thinking about the newly published The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour cookbook by John Schlimm (August 2014, $14.99, Paperback). But when the review copy actually arrived by snail mail and I cracked open this new book, that appetite turned from a trickle into a waterfall.  

Grilled Portobello Burger & Beer, Photo by Amy Roth Photo

Loaded with more than 325 mostly easy recipes to make at home, both familiar and innovative bar snacks and beer cocktails, this cookbook even offers up beer and appetizer pairings -- something I've never seen before. 

"Cooking should be as fun as eating," says Schlimm,  "and with The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour all my fellow beer lovers can now hit the ground running, chugging, and partying all day long!"

There's truly something in this book for every beer lover as well as each connoisseur of world-class fare, whether of the sophisticated junk food or healthy variety.  Alehouse Agave & Chipotle Mixed Nuts are an example for fans of the former, while The Grilled Portobello Burgers (see recipe below) is just one of the many healthier delicacies you'll discover inside this book.

Recipe of the Week

Grilled Portobello Burgers 

From The Ultimate Beer Lover’s Happy Hour by John Schlimm, Page 198

Pair with: Belgian Ale, American Wheat Ale, American or English Pale Ale

Grilled Portobello burgers are popping up on menus everywhere, but none of them can hold a candle to this marinated version boasting a culinary treasure trove of ingredients – balsamic vinegar, vermouth, Old Bay, soy sauce, and chiles, to name a few. The only thing that can possibly make this burger better is its sidekick of a Belgian Ale, American Wheat Ale, or American or English Pale Ale. And that’s before you even hit up the potential variations that follow, including a Portobello Fire Burger, Buffalo-Style Portobello Burger, and Sauerkraut & Portobello Burger.

Fresh Portobello Mushrooms at the market, MommyBlogExpert.com 

Ingredients

¼ cup canola or vegetable oil

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons dry white vermouth

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce

½ teaspoon to 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, divided

2 Anaheim chile peppers, seeded, each pepper carved into 2 wedges

2 jalapeños, finely chopped

8 portobello mushrooms (about 1 pound), black gills under the caps scraped away

4 potato bread rolls/buns or regular hamburger buns

2 to 3 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves

¼ cup mayonnaise

4 romaine lettuce leaves, halved and trimmed to fit inside the rolls

1 tomato, sliced

1 red onion, thinly sliced

Directions

Whisk the canola oil with the balsamic vinegar, vermouth, garlic powder, onion powder, Old Bay Seasoning, soy sauce, Tabasco sauce, and ½ teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add the Anaheim chile wedges, jalapeños, and mushrooms, and toss to coat thoroughly. Marinate the mixture at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Lightly oil the grates, if necessary, and heat the grill to medium. Grill the pepper wedges, skin side down, until blackened, about 10 minutes, turning after 5 minutes to create crisscross grill marks. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then rub off the skins with paper towels.

Meanwhile, grill the mushrooms, covered, until tender, about 8 minutes, turning once after about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Split the buns and toast them. Stir the tarragon into the mayonnaise in a small bowl. Generously spread the mayonnaise mixture on both insides of the toasted buns. Place two grilled mushrooms on the bottom half of each hamburger roll, and top with a lettuce leaf, and tomato and red onion slices. Close the burgers, and serve promptly.

Yields 4 Burgers

MBE Note: You'll find four variations to this recipe in The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour including Mushroom Lover's Burger paired with Amber Lager, Portobello Fire Burger paired with Chili Beer, Buffalo-Style Portobello Burger paired with India Pale Ale, and Sauerkraut & Portobello Burger paired with Oktoberfest beer.

The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour book cover

The Ultimate Beer Lover's 

Happy Hour Challenge

Here's how to Enter to Win

• Try the Grilled Portobello Burgers Recipe in this post
• Snap a photo of your masterpiece with a smartphone or camera
• Share on Twitter and/or Instagram with hashtag #BeerLoversHH
• Entry deadline is midnight PST on 9/4/14
• One lucky entrant will get The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour

About the Author
John Schlimm is a member of one of the oldest and most historic brewing families in the U.S., Straub Brewery. His claims to fame are many. He is an international award-winning author of several books, having appeared on national shows like Ellen, NPR's The Splendid Table, Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and Fox & Friends. Schlimm also holds a master's degree from Harvard University.

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of the cookbook featured from the publisher to facilitate this review and photo contest. Sourcebooks is also providing the prize and shipping for the #BeerLoversHH challenge I'm hosting. I did not receive any payment or other compensation and all opinions in this post are those of MBE. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.