When you are arguably the most devoted brewery to pumpkin beers in the country, you get to throw a party for the genre. Elysian Brewing‘s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival (GPBF) is the nation’s largest and longest running all-pumpkin beer celebration, a staunch commemoration of the squash-ale hybrid that brings in more than 80 pumpkin beers from across the globe. For its 12th anniversary, held on Oct. 8 in CenturyLink Field’s North Lot outside of Elysian Fields, Elysian made roughly 20 of its own for the category, including house brews and collaborations. But the granddaddy of them all, the Night Owl pumpkin ale takes the cake — er, semifreddo — as the featured ingredient in this recipe from Chef Andrew Gribas of Elysian Bar in Downtown Seattle.
For Gribas, cooking with beer, specifically pumpkin ale, can enhance the dish in a number of ways. “Depending on your application, [the beer] adds depth of flavor and color, like in this semifreddo recipe,” Gribas says. “I think Night Owl is great with the semifreddo. Not to sweet and great spice as well, [with] a golden color once reduced.”
Naturally, he recommends the Night Owl as the pairing for his Pumpkin Ale Semifreddo, noting the ale offers a “contrast great with the sweetness of the dessert.”
This recipe takes about 24 hours for the semifreddo to set and freeze so plan ahead of time when pumpkin cravings hit. Embrace the gray weather with a pint of pumpkin beer, a slice of semifreddo and a date in your calendar for the returning GPBF this October.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Yields: 1 loaf
Ingredients:
4 cups Elysian Night Owl pumpkin beer
1 cup candied pumpkin seeds (recipe follows)
2 cups canned pumpkin
1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
6 egg whites
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a large saucepan, bring the pumpkin beer to a boil, lowering to a simmer and reduce until about ½ cup, approximately 5 minutes and of syrupy texture. Set the beer syrup aside and allow to cool.
For the candied pumpkin seeds, toast pumpkin seeds in a sauté pan until crunchy then add ¼ cup of sugar and mix until caramelized. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, add ¼ cup of sugar to canned pumpkin and combine. Over a water bath, dissolve ¾ cup sugar with the egg whites and allow to cool. Once the sugar-egg mixture has cooled, pour into a mixer with a whip attachment and whip until stiff peaks form. In another mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream and vanilla together, then fold into the sugar-egg mixture. Finally, fold in pumpkin purée and beer syrup. The less folding, the more marble color.
Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Chop the candied pumpkin seeds and put in the bottom of the pan, then pour in the pumpkin semifreddo base and freeze for 24 hours. When ready to serve, flip the pan upside down, unwrap and slice.
