Fall Vegetable Salad with Sour-beer Vinaigrette

Serves: 4

1 delicata squash, seeded and sliced into half moons (slice the whole squash lengthwise, then cut ½" widthwise) 1–2 Tbs canola oil, divided 1 ear of corn or 1 cup frozen corn kernels,

thawed 2–3 late-season tomatoes (if not available,

use vine-ripened) 1 tsp chopped fresh chives 1 tsp fresh thyme 2 tsp gose 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced 1 cup arugula or baby kale 2 oz sharp white cheddar or other sharp

cheese, shredded Salt and pepper to taste

Wash the vegetables and allow them to air-dry. While the vegetables are drying, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C) or preheat a grill to medium high.

Toss the sliced squash with 2 tsp canola oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the squash on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and place into the oven for 10–12 minutes, or until golden brown and tender. If using a grill, after seasoning, place the squash on the grill grates and cook 3–4 minutes on each side, being careful to not burn.

If using fresh corn and a grill, remove the husks and place the corn on the grill and char on all sides, about 5–7 minutes. Allow the corn to cool and shave the kernels off of the cob into a bowl. If using fresh corn and the oven or frozen corn, cut the kernels from the fresh cob and toss the kernels in ½ tsp canola oil and roast in the oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes total.

Slice the tomatoes into fun shapes and place them on a large platter. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Place the chives, thyme, and gose into a small nonreactive bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. (Tip: if you want this dressing to emulsify, add ½ tsp Dijon mustard to the sour beer before adding the oil. This dressing will keep for a week in the refrigerator.)

In a large bowl, place squash, corn, onion, and arugula/kale. Season lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle vinaigrette over the mix. Toss gently to coat everything and arrange the salad around the tomatoes on the platter. Sprinkle with sharp cheese and enjoy immediately.

Beer Sensory Notes:

A gose is a salted, slightly sour beer from the Leipzig region of Germany, specifically the town of Goslar, where they brewed with salt water or added quite a bit of salt to the beer. It’s a unique style of beer that likely uses coriander and is soured using Lactobacillus. This creates an incredibly refreshing and lightly tart beer that generally tastes of salt and lemon peel with a bright effervescent character. There should be nearly zero bitterness in this style, and the aroma should be of lemon peel and sourdough. The beer should pour very pale yellow with a light, white head. The acidity and saltiness should be restrained and not overpowering, and there should be a high level of effervescence, yet when you finish a sip you feel refreshed and ready for the next sip. Some styles may lay claim to “the most refreshing beer in the world,” but this beer really embodies that title! Two readily available American varietals are Otra Vez (Sierra Nevada Brewing) and Seaquench (Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, more of a hybrid gose). Neither of these is traditional, yet they do a great job of enhancing the style in their own way through various fruit additions that don’t mask the flavors of a classic gose. If you’re able to find it, Ritterguts Gose (Brauhaus Hartmannsdorf Gmbh) is the best example of the classic style.

What the Beer Does for the Dish:

A classic vinaigrette is olive oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper—simple! In this recipe, the gose replaces the vinegar and lends a lemon-peel character to brighten up the acidity in the vinaigrette. Depending on the beer you choose, you can get different notes from each. Otra Vez has prickly pear and grapefruit in it, which will provide a bit of bitter pith and smooth sweetness to the vinaigrette. You still get the classic lemon-peel bitterness, but with the added smoothness from the prickly pear and a bit of pithy grapefruit character. Seaquench is an interesting take on a gose in that it’s a blend of Kölsch, gose, and Berliner weisse, but retains all the characters of a gose! You’ll get a bit of lemon-citrus character as expected but with the lime’s deeper citrus notes added, creating a refreshing vinaigrette that provides citrus balance to the dish.