Well Memorial Day is this weekend, and Father’s Day is just around the corner. There is no better way to honor  our country and our dads than by firing up the grill! …And our stores can provide you with all your grilling needs; from meat at Jacobson Bros’ counter (Konig’s in Monroe) and all the toppings, sauces and sides throughout the store.

We have an array of traditional BBQ sauces such  Southern and (a fan favorite) Sweet Onion. These sauces are fantastic to use to top ribs, chicken or steaks. For a more non-traditional flare, try using one of our great fruit spreads or jams as a glaze. Mix our Orange Maramalde with soy sauce and fresh grated ginger to make an Asian-inspired glaze for salmon or shrimp. Or try combining our Red Raspberry Fruit Spread with chopped chipotle peppers for a sweet and spicy glaze on top of chicken breasts.

Hamburgers, brats and hot dogs are always a grilling classic, and we have all of the fixins! Fabulous Clinch Mountain Tomatoes, crisp lettuces, sweet Vidalia onions, and a wide variety of mustards. Top off your burger with a pile of shredded Smoked Pepper Jack or 3-year Aged Cheddar for a little pizazz. If you are looking for a burger alternative, try grilling Portabella mushroom caps stuffed with cheese such as our Fresh Basil Farmer or Blue Ribbon Blue. Drizzle with Brennan’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Barrel Aged Balsamic Vinegar; top with a large slice of tomato.

For our vegetarian friends, skewers stuffed with vegetables are always a good option. Try using mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and onion wedges to get a wide variety of flavors. Brush with Brennan’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil and chopped garlic before putting on the grill.

And don’t forget the sides! We have a great selection of chips, dips and salsas to complement your meal.  And of course, there’s Jacobson Brothers’ famous Potato Salad!

Enjoy the summer holidays!

We just received our once-a-year shipment of Hale’s Ales Bottle-Conditioned Nut Brown Ale. You may be thinking, ” What’s so exciting about that?” So, here’s the  lowdown on one of my favorite pre-spring seasonals from
Seattle, WA.

What: Brewers put live yeast in the bottle to work a little magic, just like  leprechauns!  The yeast is added just before bottling to provide natural carbonation, rather than carbonating the beer in a tank. The result is a  spritzy, Champagne-like carbonation and sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

How: Some folks like to pour 4/5ths of the beer and drink this “bright beer”. While others like to swirl the dregs on the bottom of the bottle and add it to their glass for enhanced mouthfeel and flavor. I suggest you try it both ways.

Why:  Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, this beer is an excellent match for Irish Cheddar, Shepherd’s Pie, and Corned Beef with Cabbage.

Sounds like a good reason to buy a six-pack and experiment for yourself!

Cheers!

So I decided that is was time to write a blog about Thanksgiving. After about 10 minutes of struggling to come up with some new thoughts, I looked back on what I had written in the past. Have you ever done that? I usually think, “B0y, I used to be smart.”  Turns out that I really liked the blog I had written 2 years ago, so I have decided to use again because really not too much changes about my Thanksgiving meal. I may try a new stuffing recipe or have pumpkin cheesecake instead of pie, but fundamentally the meal is the same. I have changed the wines to include a few new wines.

Admittedly Thanksgiving is all about the side-dishes for me. The turkey plays only a very minor role on my plate, usually found buried underneath some cranberry sauce or sweet potato casserole. I don’t think that anyone who knows me would argue that I will take squash casserole over turkey any day of the week.

I would have to say that second to side-dishes on my Thanksgiving scale is wine. While this time of year many wine writers delve into finding ideal pairings, I simply say drink what you like. Thanksgiving is such a diverse plate of sweet, savory, buttery, rich, and spicy (think sage, cinnamon and nutmeg) flavors that perfect wine is elusive to say the least. That being said, I do have a few favs that I go to year after year and a few new wines that I’m looking forward to this November 22, o’ holiest of side-dish lover days.

Secreto Viognier (Chile): Floral and fruity with peach, mango and pear flavors combined with low acidity and no oak make this wine a great T-Day pick

South Island Riesling (New Zeland): Off-dry with crisp lemon and lime flavors make this a crowd-pleaser. Sweet enough for sweet wine fans, but not too sweet as to put of most dry wine fans.

Carlson Gewurztraminer (Colorado): The heady, captivating aroma notes are lime candy, spice and rose. The taste is tropical fruit, honey, and oriental spice. Wonderful with the chaos of a T-Day plate.

Villard Pinot Noir (Chile): Fresh berries such as strawberries and raspberries. Good complexity between fruit and a touch of oak, finishing with extremely good length.

Cooper Station Zinfandel (California): This Zin opens with luscious, concentrated blackberry aromas and has flavors of rhubarb, strawberry and vanilla with lingering hints of toast and smoke.

Perini Perini Malvasia Sweet Sparkling (Italy):  This sweet sparkling has a straw yellow color with hints of gold and aromas of peaches and apricots. Sweet, soft, fruity taste with a crisp, good structure.

Well, that was more wines than I had planned on listing, but I had a hard time narrowing them down. My point being, that no matter if you’re all about the turkey, side-dishes, or the desserts, there’s at least a wine or two for you.

Happy Thanksgiving from Brennan’s!

What better way to get everyone in the family fired up about the season than creating a meal with homegrown apples in every recipe/course?   If you’re like me, that meal might be apple pie, apple crisp and apple cake, but maybe you want a healthier meal. After all, they are apples.  Speaking of apples, right now we have  Cortland, Macs, and Honeycrisp Apples.

Beverage: Hot Spiced Cider ( I decided that Cider definitely counts!)

Appetizer: Carmelized-Onion Apples Bites

Salad: Fall Harvest Salad with Apples. This one is triple points as it includes apples, apple cider and apple cider vinegar.

Main Course: Chicken with Apple Cider Glaze

Dessert:  So hard to choose, so I’m listing 3. That’s pretty good, right, just three? Plus, one is so easy it hardly even counts.

• Brennan’s Ultra Super Premium Autumn Caramel Apple Ice Cream. All you need are bowls and spoons.
• Baked Apple with Dried Fruit and Nuts: This almost doesn’t even count as dessert. I think it might be good for you.
• Honeycrisp and Pear Crisp

So, there are just a few ideas to get you started. Let us know if you try this themed menu or any of the recipes. We’d love to hear about your favorite apple recipes, too!

Happy Apple Season!

Every so often we get a request to stock lemon curd, so I have been keeping my eye out for one. Last year I found one, but sadly the packaging virtually guaranteed that it would not sell. So I kept on looking until I came across a teeny, tiny producer called My Cottage Industry. Leslie G. the owner and creator makes her products in a commercial kitchen in Southern California. When we eventually spoke, it turned out that Leslie’s mother-in-law used to be a realtor in Wisconsin and had good things to say about Brennan’s (thank you!). Small world.

When the box of samples arrived for tasting, I opened them right up to try (I was hungry). Besides lemon, Leslie also makes Passion Fruit Curd, Vanilla-Orange Marmalade and Pear Walnut Conserve. I decided to open the lemon first, got a bunch of mini spoons, and gathered several Watts Road team members to join me. I was the first to try and almost the only one to try. It was amazing. I didn’t want to share. I wanted to go hide and eat it all. It tasted better than any other curd I’d ever had. Rather than tasting artificial, like some, it truly was a lemon love affair. It tastes like the best lemon pie you’ve ever had. Well… the rest is recent history. About a month and half later, we are selling Leslie’s handmade products at Brennan’s.

In case you’ve never had lemon curd (and are looking to quickly rectify) and are wondering how to eat it (besides straight out of the jar), or are a lemon curd aficionado want to try something new, here are
10 delicious ways to enjoy fruit curds.

Tart using 2oz shell shown. 10-oz shells also available.

I am  always looking for super easy desserts using fruit and came upon a recipe for fruit tart. It looked so elegant and delicious that I wanted to make it, but I don’t have a tart pan. Hmm. Made me wonder if I have room for another pan in my baking cabinet. I am actually scared every time I open it, despite relegating  rarely used items to the basement. Would a tart pan just end up in the basement, too? Hmm…

Long story short. We teamed up with Clausen’s Bakery to make us shortbread cookie tart shell/crust. Now I don’t have to buy a tart pan and making them just became quite a bit easier. Our new shells are available in a single 10-oz or in two 2-oz shells to create individual tarts. Find them next to our strawberries and create tasty fruit tarts in minutes, like our Easy Fruit Tart. The best thing is that you can swap out the fruit you use with the season to create new combinations. Can’t wait for Chin Drippin’ Peaches!

The great thing about Easter is that the menu is that no one expects you to reinvent the wheel. Most people want a ham, lamb or brunch. It’s tradition, right? So, I’m not going to post a bunch of complicated recipes. In fact, I usually don’t. Instead, here are some very delicious, easy  recipes that we cooked up for a segment on NBC15 and the wines (and beer!) that go with them.

Of course, there’s going to have to be a cheese tray. This is Wisconsin. For ours we selected 3 cheeses that will also be great on leftover ham sammies. We paired World Champ Havarti with Brennan’s Apricot Spreadable Fruit for a tasty combo, and Marieke’s Foenugreek Gouda with it’s mapley characters is another World Champ. Our best-selling Sweet Swiss perfectly rounds out the trio.

For the cheese platter, I recommend a Prosecco like Italia or La Corte. I think of these wines as work-horse wines because they could really take you all the way through  the meal, including dessert. Light, and refreshing, with low alcohol, you create sparkling cocktails like Mimosas or Bellinis or enjoy simply chilled. If want a drier style Prosecco, the Italia Prosecco is rich with lemony notes. The La Corte is a bit lighter and a bit sweeter, but not overly so.

In my family there wasn’t a choice between ham and brunch; it was both, so that’s what we did here. We made an Apricot Mustard Glazed Ham, Lemony Asparagus, Crustless Quiche and a Strawberry Spinach Salad. Again, could do Prosecco , but if you want to mix it up Riesling is a great choice here. Try Tarkine Forest Riesling is a sweeter style. If you love Rose, try Viu Manent Malbec Rose which pairs nicely with the fruity elements of the glaze and the strawberry salad. If you simply must go red, try a lighter-bodied red like Pinot Noir (Tarkine Forest).

Now I would be remiss if I left out micros because we have a brew from Scuttlebutt Brewery that tastes like it was made for Easter– Scuttlebutt Belgian-Style Tripel. It has huge aromas of pear and clove (yes!). Very much a chameleon beer, it will easily adapt to different foods with ease and your Uncle Larry, if necessary.

I hope that try some of these yummy recipes and pairings. Let us know what you think. Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring Solstice!

Rhubarb season has begun! While we’ve had mild winter, rhubarb isn’t quite field-grown (called cherry rhubarb) yet. Not until March.  Right now, Rhubarb is hothouse, or strawberry rhubarb.

Did you know that Rhubarb, botanically speaking, is considered a vegetable? Most often though, we treat it as a fruit, though it is very rarely eaten raw due to its tart nature. Rhubarb needs some sweetness like fruit juice, agave nectar, sugar or honey to balance out the acidity. Nicknamed the “pie plant” because that is the most common use for this veggie, but Rhubarb is equally delicious in savory and sweet dishes.

Here are a few easy and delicious ways to enjoy:

Rhubarb and strawberries have a natural affinity and can be combined with yummy results.

Rhubarb & Strawberry Pie

Rhubarb & Strawberry Pudding Cake

Rhubarb & Strawberry Compote with Fresh Mint

For a savory treat, try Pork Chops with Rhubarb, Onion & Raisin Chutney.

Just a few rhubarb tips:

• Never, ever eat rhubarb leaves, as they are poisonous.
• Wrap rhubarb in plastic wrap and store it in the coldest part of your refrigerator for one week.
• Cooked and raw rhubarb both freeze well.

Tailgating Dip and Super Queso Dip with Brats.

Since the Packers aren’t in the Super Bowl this year (don’t get me started), this year’s game will be all about eating great snacks with a few commercials thrown in. I considered putting together a New York or New England menu, but  realized that just because our team’s not playing doensn’t mean we need to eat Chowder. So, I put together a menu that consists of Wisconsin classics with a few healthy options, too. That way you won’t feel guilty about dessert!

Vegetable Crunch Dip with Romaine Scoops

For another hot dip recipe, try our Super Queso Dip made with our Brennan’s Pilsner Jalapeno Cheese Spread. Serve with sliced brats, tortilla chips and fresh veggies.

long van ride with no snacks. I wondered if I would like this dip as much when I wasn’t starving. Turns out I do. You can serve it already in the lettuce leaves or serve with the lettuce on the side. Either way delicious and very fast to make.

Of course, salsa and Guacamole are synomous with football snacks. Rather than a traditional tomato based salsa, I made one with blood oranges and Cara Cara Navel Oranges. So yummy and colorful! The key to this tasty

Cara Cara and Blood Orange Salsa with cut Pretty Belle Navel, Blood Oranges and Cara Caras for color comparison.

recipe is knowing how to segment oranges. After that, it is a snap.

Super Fruit Dip

Finally for the afor mentioned dessert, I made a super easy fruit dip with cream cheese, mascarpone, vanilla and a little sugar.  I paired it with our Florida Strawberries, 900 Series Grapes, Honeygold Pineapple and blueberries. When you dip strawberries in, it tastes like strawberry cheesecake! Coincidently, chocolate brownies also pair well with it. Let your kids make little skewers and dunk them in. At least they’re eating fruit, right!

I hope that you put together a fun menu for game day, try some of these recipes and enjoy watching the ads, and perhaps a bit of football, too!

OK, it’s January. Lucky for us the Packers are in the playoffs, so there is still that hint of celebration in the air (GO PACKERS!). But football is just Sunday, what about the rest of the week?  Why not add a little zest to your meals with a burst of citrusy tangerine flavor?

Tangerines are a type of mandarin, like satsumas and clemintines (no seeds). The name tangerine comes from Tangier, Morroco which is the port that shipped the first batch of tangerines. No wonder! Besides being tangy, sweet and  loaded with vitamin C,  they’re easy-to-peel!

So, give these recipes a try.  You can ward off scurvy and enjoy some delicious meals. A double bonus!

Cocktail course (That is a course right?):  Frozen Tangerine Margaritas

Salad: Radish, Arugula and Red Onion Salad with Tangerines

Entree: Tangerine-Glazed Ham with Baby Carrots.  Don’t just reserve ham for the holidays!

Entree: Tangerine Chicken

Breakfast: Citrus Salad with Gingered Yogurt

Dessert: Flambeed Tangerines with Vanilla Ice Cream

I hope that you give some of these recipes a try and and some zest (:)) to your winter!