I have so much food and beverage news to share today that I thought I would lump it all together in one huge smorgasbord of a blog entry.

In this entry, you will find:
* A recipe for naan that you can make at home (at the request of blog reader Jay).
* A guide to beers that make perfect accompaniments to Thanksgiving dinner.
* A link to this week's E-Cast, The Roanoke Times' new entertainment Web cast, with an appearance by yours truly, who will wrestle with a pomegranate and drink some bubbly.
* A couple of extra soup recipes, as promised.

First up, the E-Cast. If you have not yet checked out this new endeavor by the crazy folks here at The RT, here's a peek at this week's version.

You'll see that the last item is me demonstrating the proper way to open a pomegranate. I've lately been obsessed with the sweet, beautiful seeds of the pomegranate. They are delicious as an addition to a garden salad, over ice cream, in a fruit salad, on cold cereal or just right out of hand. The way they pop in your mouth reminds me of a sweet version of caviar. In this video, I demonstrate a very easy and attractive holiday cocktail. Check it out.

Now we move from champagne to beer. This morning, I received an e-mail from Patrick Kennerly, president of the Star City Brewer's Guild. Patrick had some suggestions for beer pairings with Thanksgiving dinner. Here's what he had to say:

Tired of the same old iced tea and white wine with your Thanksgiving dinner?

"Beer me" for Thanksgiving!

Renowned master brewer and chef, Garrett Oliver, founder of Brooklyn Brewery, makes these
suggestions:

With turkey: Biere de Garde, Dunkel (dark German lager), Belgian Dubbel, Oktoberfest Marzen (that makes sense!), and American Amber lager.

With baked ham: Irish dry stout, Schwarzbier, Robust Porter (try Troeg's Dead Reckoning), Hellesbock, Dopplebock, Weissbock.

With pumpkin pie: Spiced Ale, Cream Stout (the Brewers Guild December competition style!), Imperial Stout, Oatmeal Stout (do you see a pattern here?), strong Baltic Porter.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!! Be Safe!

Of course, if you are not interested in "liquid bread," which is my nickname for beer, then perhaps you would be interested in solid bread of an Indian sort. In other words, naan.

After yesterday's post about my Indian supper, blog reader Jay wrote in to say that he sure wishes he could make authentic garlic naan at home. In order to do that, he would have to have a tandoor, or clay oven. But my new Indian cookbook, "Complete Book of Indian Cooking" by Suneeta Vaswani, has what the author calls "a reasonable substitute."

In order to make this a garlic naan, I would just brush the freshly baked tops with butter and minced garlic.

Here's the recipe:

Naan
(Requires 2 nonstick baking sheets)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. softened butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cups milk

1. In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add 2 1/2 Tbsp. of the butter and pulse again. With processor running, gradually pour in milk through feed tube and process until dough comes together. Process for 1 minute more. Knead ball for 1 minute. Dough should be very soft and smooth. Form into a ball, cover with a towel and set aside for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Knead dough for 2 minutes. Divide into 5 portions and roll into balls. Cover with a towel. Working with one ball at a time, pat dough into a disk and roll into an oval, about 8 by 4 inches. Gently pull one end to make into a teardrop shape. Transfer to a baking sheet. Make remaining naans and place on baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and brush generously with remaining butter. Serve immediately.

Finally, if you read the Front Burner column today, you noticed that I was supposed to have some additional soup recipes up on the blog. Blog reader Debbie actually beat me to it, posting an unusual recipe for Apple Fennel Soup. Check that out under the comment section.
Here are a few more:

Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Jalapeno

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 to 2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño chile with seeds, divided
2 (15- to 16-ounce) cans black beans, undrained
1 (15-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped green onions
Crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes. Mix in cumin and 1 teaspoon jalapeño. Add beans, tomatoes with juice, and broth; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer 3 cups of soup to blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to pot. Simmer soup until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon jalapeño, if desired.

Ladle soup into bowls. Pass cilantro, green onions, and feta cheese separately.

Source: Epicurious.com

Alton Brown's Clam Chowder

Ingredients:
3 ounces salt pork, finely diced
1 1/2 cups small diced yellow onion
6 cups small diced baking potatoes, like russets
2 cups milk
1 (6.5 ounce) can clams, drained, juice reserved
12 Little Neck clams
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
Grape tomatoes, halved, for garnish

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepot, render the salt pork until just crisp. Remove and discard. Sweat the onion in the pork fat until tender. Add the potatoes and cover with milk. Bring to a boil and let simmer until potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper.

2. In a separate pot, fitted with a steamer basket, bring the reserved clam juice to a boil. Add clams and cover. Steam for three minutes until all clams are open. Remove the clams as they open and transfer to a bowl. Add the steaming juices to the pot with the chowder. Using a stick blender puree to desired consistency. Adjust seasonings.

3. Finely chop the drained canned clams. Fold into the chowder. Serve with steamed clams, parsley, sour cream and grape tomatoes, as garnish.

Source: Foodnetwork.com

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