.beef stew.

Happy New Year! I'm embarrassed that I haven't updated in so long but truth be told, I have been so busy the past few months. I'm hoping for a reprieve once we get settled into our new house next month.


I trust you all had a good holiday season? Ours was wonderful. During the time my husband had off work, we watched the movie Julie & Julia. Have you seen it? It's such a great movie and it helped to inspire me all over again! One of the recipes the main character makes is Boeuf Bourguignon and it had me craving (craving!) a rich beefy stock with cooked vegetables.


Growing up, my mom would make stew quite a lot trying to use up the odds and ends of vegetables in the freezer (She can make a mean soup!) and I would have used her method, but I was looking to do something richer... something better (sorry mom!).


I remembered back to when I made Shepherd's Pie. The rich sauce from that dish was exactly what I wanted so I took a little from that recipe and a little from my mom's and went from there.


Something about stew, is you can't rush it. The beef needs to be seared and then braised in liquid until it's so fork tender it literally melts in your mouth. This pot sat on the stove to simmer for at least 2 hours. Trust me... if you give it the proper time it needs, the results will be well worth it!



Begin by taking a package of beef stew chunks, found in any grocery meat department and cutting off as much fat and sinew as possible. Sinew is that muscle layer that sticks to the meat and makes it tough and chewy.

Stew meat is perfect for this. It's rather cheap since it's pieces of meat that are remaining once all the big, regular cuts are made. Since the butcher can't actually sell it as a steak, they sell it for occasions when you need small, bite-sized pieces of meat. The downside is you have to cut off all the undesireable stuff.

Put the cut up stew meat in a bowl or in a large ziploc and sprinkle with flour and salt and pepper. In my case, I used Lawry's seasoned salt. Coat well.




Prep your vegetables. I used one onion (sliced into quarters), 4 carrots (left in their round shape), and 3 white or gold potatoes. You want about 1 1/2 cups of all your vegetables. I also quartered mushrooms to add in later.







Slice up approximately 1/2 cup pancetta. You could use bacon, but the smoky flavor of the bacon is not what we want and will probably overpower the soup. Pancetta is usually found in the deli area of your grocer.






Make your bouquet garni. We want to add a lot of flavor to the stew and this is a great way to do it. In my bouquet, I put thyme, bay leaf, and some flat leaf parsley. In addition to the garni, I minced 1 clove garlic and set it aside.











Heat a soup pot and drizzle in some olive oil. Add a third to half the stew meat. Don't overcrowd the pan. Sear the beef as best you can on all sides. My meat tends to stick together because of the flour so it's difficult browning on all sides. Don't worry about that. Just make sure you get as many sides browned. This will lock in the juices, resulting in tender tender steak! When one half is done, remove from the pan and set aside. Repeat until all meat is seared.





Add the vegetables to the pot with the pancetta and garlic. Saute for a 4-5 minutes. When the onions are nearly translucent, add 2 cups red wine, 4 cups beef stock, and 4 cups chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring the soup to a boil and scrape along the bottom of the pan to bring up those baked on bits of delicious goodness. When the liquid begins to boil, add the bouquet garni and mushrooms, and reduce the heat down to low. Cover the top part way with a lid.

There will be a lot of broth, and we want to reduce it down a little so it leaves you with a rich sauce that has a lot of flavor. If you put the lid on all the way, the evaporated moisture won't have a way to escape and your sauce can't reduce down.

After it simmers on the cooktop for 2 hours, it's time for the last step. Remove the bouquet garni and discard. In a bowl, mix together 1 cup milk with 1/4 cup flour. Whisk well to remove all lumps. To ensure I don't have any, I strain with a sieve. While stirring, add the milk/flour mixture to the pot. Turn the heat to high and keep stirring until the sauce thickens a little. Taste and re-season if necessary.

This stew is the perfect dish on a cold winter night. Serve with salad and rolls, if you like. As Julia Child would say.... Bon Appetit!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ-Z_fQXybIkZGcydmZqcW1fMTU5MzM1ZG1uZmM&hl=en

.polenta with skirt steak and mushroom ragout.

When my husband, girls and I first made our trek north to New York to check out the area, we stayed in a hotel with a small kitchen. I was trying to avoid eating out for every meal because I'm sure if you've done it before, you know how old it gets, right?

One of the items I made was a creamy parmesan polenta with skirt steak and a wild mushroom ragout. It was so delicious that I knew I'd have to make it again.

You need to mentally break this meal into three separate tasks. 1)Polenta, 2)Steak, 3)Ragout. Each are very simple to make, but when you bring them all together, it makes for a very showy meal. Not only that, but you could easily have this on your table in 30 minutes! That's something I think we can all appreciate.

Let's start with the polenta. Polenta was considered a mexican peasant type food ... a lot like grits, cornmeal mush... that kind of thing. "Gruel". In recent years, however, polenta has come up in status and is now found in many upscale restaurants. This recipe is dressed up with a little parmesan and mascarpone cheese. If for any reason you can't find mascarpone, use cream cheese. It won't give you the exact flavor, but it will give you the creamy texture that makes this polenta so desireable.


In a saucepan, put 3 1/2 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil.


While whisking, add 1/2 cup polenta to the stock. It will begin thickening after 3 minutes. Stir to make sure it doesn't burn or get too thick. If it's super super thick, add a little more stock. We don't want runny polenta but we don't want it too thick either. Season with a little salt and pepper. Don't add too much salt.


Add 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Mix well. Taste the polenta at this stage. The cheese adds more saltiness so if you've put in too much sal beforehand, it's going to be too salty. This is why I said to not overdo it. If it needs more salt at this point, go ahead and add it.

That is all this dish needs! See what I mean? EASY!! Set the saucepan aside.

Now for the steak. You want to use skirt steak for this meal. I couldn't find skirt steak so I went with a flank cut. They're pretty comparable. Both are very lean cuts of meat and have very little fat. They are also rather thin and cook quickly.


Begin by seasoning both sides well with fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt.


Heat a skillet on medium high heat. Pour a little olive oil into the pan and then put your steak in. Wait until the pan is hot before putting your oil and steak in. The instant heat will sear the steak, which locks in all the juices and flavor. That's key for a good steak.

Let this sear on one side for 3 1/2 minutes then flip over and sear the other side for another 3 1/2 minutes.

Now if this were a skirt steak, which is MUCH thinner than flank, you'd probably be ready to pull it off the pan at this point. However, this was a thicker piece of meat so I covered the pan, lowered the heat just a smidge and let it cook through for another 3-4 minutes.

I like my steak medium rare, so if you want it more done, let it cook a few more minutes.

Once the steak is done, pull from the pan and put on a cutting board. Let it sit and "rest" for about 5 minutes before slicing.


Slice diagonally against the grain tilting the knife at a 45 degree angle. This gives you nice striations and it's easier to get thinner slices. That's what we're going for!

Now let's do the final step: mushroom ragout.


Mince 1 clove garlic.









Peel 2 shallots and slice thinly.












Clean 1 - 1 1/2 cups mushrooms. I suggest using a mixture of wild mushrooms like crimini, white, and shiitake. I had crimini on hand in the fridge and used those. Trim off the stems and slice.








Roughly chop a little italian flat leaf parsley.












Heat 1 tsp olive oil and a little butter in a skillet. Don't let them get too hot otherwise it can distort the flavor.










Add the mushrooms and stir the pan to coat them with the butter/oil.











When the mushrooms start browning, add the garlic and shallots. Stir to mix and saute for a few minutes.










When the aroma is strong, season with salt, pepper, and a little thyme. If you're using fresh thyme, toss in a few sprigs.











After the shallots start getting soft, add 1/4 cup white wine, and 1/4 cup chicken stock. Keep cooking this over medium high heat until the liquid begins to evaporate and reduce by half.

Pull from the heat. It's time to plate up!







Begin by putting some polenta on a plate. See how thick this is? It will hold it's shape like pancake batter.










Take some of your steak slices and lay them in a fan-like fashion on top of the polenta.











Spoon some of the mushroom ragout on top and then sprinkle with a little parsley. Serve immediately.

Now that you've seen each step broken down, it's important to time this right. Each step doesn't take a lot of time to make. Start with the steak because that will probably be the one that takes the longest to sear, cook, and then rest before slicing. While it's in the pan, you can quickly whip up the polenta. That can sit over low low heat while you quickly saute up the ragout. By overlapping your cooking times, you will have this meal on your table within 30 minutes. Something quick, delicious, and elegant in the time it takes to order and have pizza delivered. You can do it! Enjoy!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_1278489b9cq

.beef and butternut squash couscous.

My car has been in the shop all week so we've been relying on using Jim's car for any running around. He retires from the U.S. Navy in 8 days and has been on job hunting leave the past 3 weeks, but he had to go in this week to assist "the new guy" to get him ready for a big training that's coming up. Did I mention we're moving to New York in a month?

So anyway.. back to where I really mean for this story to go. I have basically been stranded at home with no vehicle and the only available vehicle has been taking my husband to and from work. Meaning I have to figure out meals using ingredients I have in the kitchen. It wouldn't be so bad, but I really do need to go grocery shopping. We had Jim's retirement party this past weekend and most of my good stuff went toward making food for that.

Yesterday I stood in front of my extremely messy fridge, staring into the abyss of nothingness. Can't really make much with condiments, hm? I remembered I had a little beef made for stirfry in the freezer. I didn't use all of it when I made minestrone soup for my friend last week. So I pulled that out and started thawing it.

I also had a butternut squash that I had been debating making soup with, but everybody has been making that recently and I wanted to give you all something NEW to make with it. So. Beef. Butternut Squash. I peeked in my thinning pantry (trying to use things up before the move) and found a box of Pine Nut CousCous. Yum. I'm starting to get an idea!

I noticed a jar of roasted red peppers in my fridge so I grabbed those too. Oh and I had green onion! I began my meal.


I started by making the couscous according to the directions on the package. It doesn't take that long to make, but that's okay. This was a VERY quick meal to make. We're talking under 30 minutes!


While the couscous steams on the stovetop, I sliced up one bunch (about 1/3 cup) of green onion. Slicing on the diagonal so it looks pretty.


I only needed to use the flesh of the neck on the squash. Cut it off just above the bulb part and cut the top off. Use your knife to cut off the rind.


Then dice into bite-sized cubes. Pretty easy. Man this squash smelt soooo good.


What you want to do next is cook the squash a little. Put in a small pan of water and boil for about 5 minutes.


Strain after those five minutes and let sit.


While the squash cooked and drained, I made the dressing. In a bowl put: 3 Tbsp olive oil, 3 Tbsp lemon juice, 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed (see next picture), 1/4 tsp cardamom, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, and a dash of salt. Mix everything well using a whisk.


To toast the coriander seeds, heat up a skillet. Dump in the seeds and shake to toast. You might hear tiny popping sounds as the oils start releasing. I used the side of a mug to crush them. Once crushed, dump into the dressing.


Using the same skillet you toasted the coriander in (I hate messing up more pans than necessary), put a little olive oil. Start cooking the beef and butternut squash.


Add the green onion. If you don't like onion, I really suggest you try it this time. You'll cook out a lot of the onion flavor that you probably don't like. Cook those with the meat and squash for a couple minutes.


Add a couple spoonfuls of roasted red bell pepper. Season with a little salt and pepper.


Add a small shake of red pepper flakes. You could use red chilies but I didn't have any on hand. I wanted just a little heat so I used one quick shake. Cook another minute. The heat will release the oil from those seeds.

Now add the cooked couscous to the pan and mix everything together.

If you want to get fancy, you can spoon some of this into a round shaped bowl. Press firm, and then release it onto a plate to give you a formed shape. Drizzle with dressing. Otherwise just spoon into bowls and drizzle with dressing.

The box of couscous doesn't make much. We had just enough for Jim, me, and our 7 year old. It was really good. My almost 11 month old loved it so much she ate almost half of mine!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_120gbgbrkg8

.beef minestrone soup.

This is the best soup you will ever make. It's rich, full of vitamins, full of vegetables, some meat, protein, iron and it's delicious!

Yesterday I was on the phone with a sister from Church who is very sick. She does so much for everyone, that I thought I would do something for her. So I told her to just relax and I was bringing a big pot of soup over for her and her husband.

My mom is a really good soup maker. I have actually gotten better at making soup the past 5 years or so. This one is my daughter's favorite because she plays a game -- figuring out what I put in the pot. So much fun. If you have kids that might shy away from soup, try this one and let them have a contest to find the most items in the pot!


First, chop up 2 stalks of celery. I left them in nice slices so visually they look good.


Find two skinny carrots.

Peel and chop. Again, I leave them in their round shape -- that's why I pick skinny carrots so they're bite sized.


Peel one big, or two small gold or white potatoes.

Dice into bite sized chunks.


Dice one small onion. I had some red onion that needed using so I used that. It's okay to use white, yellow, or red!


Mince two cloves garlic.


Take 1 lb stew meat or stir fry meat.

The stir fry meat, that I used, was cut into long thin strips. I cut those strips into smaller pieces.


In a soup pot, heat a little olive oil. Put the meat in with one bay leaf and cook.


When it's almost cooked, add all of the vegetables and garlic to the pot. Stir around and cook.


Season well. I used a brand from the Spice Depot. This blend is great on salad, but I used it in my soup because it had all of the herbs I wanted.

In my next entry, I want to share a little bit about this company and their products. Some great stuff. I think you'll be interested in hearing more about them.


When the potatoes start looking glossy, add 3 cans beef broth and 1 can chicken broth.

I always add a can of chicken to my beefy soups because beef broth can often taste very flat.


Then add 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained), and 1 can white beans - either great northern or navy. Do not drain these either. Just dump it all in.

Mix well and re-season with the spice depot spice grinder.

Bring to a boil.


Once the soup starts boiling, reduce heat to low and add 1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas.


Add 1/2 cup corn, fresh or frozen.


And add 1/2 cup green beans cut, fresh or frozen.

**At this stage, I did add about 1 tsp sugar to the pot. This is optional.

Cover the pot and let cook for about 30-40 minutes. Before serving, remove the bay leaf. Serve with rolls, bread, crackers, and salad.

NOTE: If you want to make this in the crockpot, first cook the meat almost to completion on the stove. Spoon into your crockpot and add all of the remaining ingredients. Season well. Cover with the lid and turn on medium or high. Cook until vegetables are cooked through - about 6-8 hours.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_119f6hgtqfs