The Beer Factor - With Beer with Food Week fast approaching..

- PubChef looks at ideas to cash in on the event

Marketing the event

Tent card specials: A dish of the day,with a beer-matching suggestion, including tasting notes.

Menu suggestions: Particularly with chalk-boarded menus, offer a beer suggestion under each menu item, with a couple of lines of tasting notes.

Newspaper recipe: Offer your local paper a free "cooking with beer recipe" on the basis that they print the name of your pub on the bottom, along with a reference to national Beer With Food Week.

Staff training: Your staff are your frontline sales and marketing team. So conduct tastings with all staff, and issue tasting notes and food suggestions from your menu. Get the staff vibed-up and motivated.

Cuisine a la bierre: Introduce a dish cooked with beer, other than steak and ale pie. Look at desserts, marinades and dressings.

Mail shot: If you have a mailing list, use it to advertise Beer With Food Week, including some tasting notes and "beer with food ideas".

Beef in beer massala with onion bhaji dumplings

An English inspired curry - beef, beer and spices combine together brilliantly and topped with fried onions added to dumplings it's a contemporary twist on traditional beef stew & dumplings…

Serves four

Ingredients

450g/1lb lean beef cubes

1 onion - chopped

2 cloves garlic - crushed

2 tbsp curry paste

150g/5oz cauliflower - cut into small florets

75g/3oz spinach

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

300ml/1/2pt English beer

For the dumplings:

1 tsp oil

2 onions - sliced

175g/6oz self-raising flour

75g/3oz low-fat spread

3-4 tbsp water

Method:

In a large casserole dish place the beef cubes, the chopped onion, the crushed garlic, the curry paste, the cauliflower, the spinach and the tomato ketchup. Pour over the beer, mix well, cover and place into a preheated oven for approximately two hours, stirring halfway through.

Meanwhile, make the dumplings: heat the oil in a pan and cook the onions for 10 minutes until softened and golden brown, allow to cool slightly. In a bowl place the self-raising flour and rub in the low-fat spread. Add the cooked onions and the water and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Divide into eight balls. During the last 20 minutes of cooking time drop the dumplings into the casserole and cook uncovered for the remaining cooking time.

Serve the massala with the dumplings and rice or alternatively with mashed potato and extra steamed spinach.