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Burgundy Beef Stew

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on January 5, 2012| 7 Comments »

beef burgundy stew

Oh, how I love mushrooms. And anything cooked in wine.

This burgundy beef stew is from a book called Cast Iron Cooking, but I never had a big cast iron pot till this Christmas (thanks Laura!). I’ve always made it in my regular pot, but I bet it would be even better in cast iron.

Cooking with wine

I don’t drink wine, I just cook with it, which would explain why I always wander down the alcoholic beverages aisle in Walmart a few times before I can find what I’m looking for. That being said, I’m pretty sure I scoured that aisle in search of “burgundy” and found none. There’s probably some key piece of wine wisdom out there that would have solved my problems, but I ended up using merlot because it was also the color of red. I think the previous time I used pinot noir. The recipe says any dry red wine will work. It’s probably amazing with burgundy, but I may never know. Nor will I know until a truly dry red wine hits the $3.95 bin at Walmart. Oh, the places my taste buds could go…

Don’t be like me.

(Unless you’re poor cheap frugal, in which case, draw up a folding chair and we can share some tap water and have a nice little chat.)

Ingredients

How about I write the official ingredients, and then I write what I actually used next to it? I’m pretty sure there is not a single morel mushroom to be found in Fort Worth.

  • 5 slices bacon, chopped (I used thick-cut)
  • 4 Tbs unsalted butter, divided (I always use unsalted, but if you have salted, it’s perfectly fine to use)
  • 8 oz. small button mushrooms (see below)
  • 4 oz. morel mushrooms, chopped (Instead of using button and morel mushrooms, I just used “regular” mushrooms and cut them into chunks. And then I added some more, because mushrooms and I have a special relationship like that.)
  • 16 small white onions, peeled, or 1 cup frozen pearl onions, thawed and drained (I used 1 large onion, roughly chopped)
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 2 lbs beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2″ cubes (I used “stew beef” and cut it into approximately 1-inch chunks)
  • 2 Tbs flour
  • 3 cups dry red wine
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or a good shake of dried thyme… maybe 1/4 tsp?)
  • 2 sprigs fresh sage (same as with the thyme)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley (or a few good shakes of dried parsley… maybe 1/2 tsp?)
I bet this recipe is stunning with all the actual ingredients.

Directions

It takes a little while to cook, but it’s worth it.

  1. Cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon pieces to a plate and set aside.
  2. Add 2 Tbs of butter to the bacon fat. When melted and stirred, add mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes until just tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the onion and carrot and sauté until vegetables are tender (maybe another 7 minutes). Transfer vegetables to the bacon plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.
  3. Melt the remaining 2 Tbs butter in the pan and add the beef, stirring and cooking until browned on all sides. Add the flour, stir, and cook about 3 more minutes so the flour can brown.
  4. Pour the red wine slowly into the pan and stir, scraping up the nectar of heaven drippings from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and add garlic, broth, thyme, sage and bay leaves. When the mixture is boiling, reduce to a low simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour. Your kitchen will smell wonderful.
  5. Dump the bacon and vegetables back into the pot and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes. Stir in parsley a few minutes before serving.

We had this with a side dish of boiled potatoes. I had never made boiled potatoes before, as they seemed too boring, but OH. Not these. I’ll post the recipe for that later.

Sauté the bacon:

Sautéing the bacon

While it cooks, you can cut up the beef:

cutting the stew beef

And the mushrooms:

chopping mushrooms

And the onions (I don’t have a picture of the carrots… sorry):

onions cut into chunks

Cook the veggies until tender:

Cook until tender

Then remove them to the bacon plate and try desperately not to eat them:

plate with bacon and vegetables

Mmmmmm drippings….:

Butter and drippings

Add the beef:

stew beef

Stir to brown on all sides:

browned stew beef

Add the red wine and seasonings and other stuff:

add red wine

And after a loooong time of self-restraint, you have this:

burgundy beef stew

Which tastes like this:

bowl of stew

Do you have any red wine wisdom you’d like to pass along? Is “burgundy” simply a code name for something else?

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Not Your Mother’s Mashed Potatoes

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on November 12, 2011| 7 Comments »

Mashed potatoes with broccoli

Wow, it’s getting a little dusty around here! I thought I’d brush away some of the cobwebs and finally post something after 2 months of silence.

I’ve been really busy, but that’s not the complete reason. I actually haven’t cooked much since my last post, because food has been pretty unappealing lately. In fact, I’ve basically been nauseated the past 2 months straight. Why?

The Big News

It seems God gave us a little surprise…. Stephen and I are having a baby! I’m 14 weeks along and officially in my second trimester. It was pretty unexpected, but we are so excited about this new adventure!

So bear with me here as I try to ease back into cooking. The nausea is certainly not gone, but it’s not as bad as it has been, and I’ve been able to start cooking again to some degree.

Back to the Potatoes…

Here’s one of the few things I’ve made recently. Growing up, Mom often put a bunch of other stuff in with our mashed potatoes to add some extra nutrition and deliciousness. I almost feel boring whenever I make regular mashed potatoes (though they are still delicious and certainly have their place).

Here’s my most recent take on throwing a bunch of “other stuff” in with my mashed potatoes to make an awesome mix of deliciousness. You can pair these with regular ol’ chicken or fish or some other kind of meat, and it’s a complete meal.

Ingredients

Ok, I didn’t measure a single thing in here. But rest assured that you can very easily wing it on this, and it will still taste awesome. I included pictures at the bottom in case you want a visual representation of how much stuff to use, though.

  • Potatoes, scrubbed and cut up into chunks (I used red potatoes because that’s what I had on hand)
  • Butter (none of this margarine nonsense)
  • Minced garlic (or diced, if your favorite garlic press in the world broke and you had to do it quickly by hand)
  • Onions, sliced thinly (or chopped, if you’d rather not encounter your onions quite so visibly)
  • White wine (I don’t care what kind. I don’t drink the stuff, so I don’t know any of the fancy names. As long as it’s wine and it’s white.)
  • Chopped broccoli (I used frozen broccoli, thawed it in the microwave and drained it first)
  • Sour cream

You can also substitute spinach for the broccoli. Or you can substitute anything in this recipe for anything else. It’s really versatile, if I hadn’t made that clear already…

Directions

I’m including step-by-step photos under the written directions.

  1. Put potatoes in a pot and fill with water to about 1-2 inches above the potatoes. Boil until potatoes get soft and edges start to crumble.
  2. In the meantime, sauté the butter, onions and garlic over medium heat until the onions are soft.
  3. Add a splash or two of white wine and let the alcohol simmer out (basically, it will look like the liquid is disappearing). Let me repeat: This is not an alcoholic food. The alcohol evaporates, leaving just the flavor of the wine.
  4. Drain the broccoli (if previously frozen) and add it to the onion mixture. Sauté until it starts to wilt and soften.
  5. Mix in a few globs of sour cream and let gently bubble for a few minutes.
  6. Drain the potatoes, pour in some milk, and mash them until smooth. You may need to add more milk, but just eyeball it.
  7. Dump the contents of the sauté pan into the potatoes and stir. Try not to eat it all before you make it to the table.

The day I took the pictures, we ate the mashed potatoes with some chicken thighs I seasoned and baked (they’re super easy, but let me know if you want to know how to make them!).

Boil the potatoes…

Potatoes boiling in the pot

Sauté the onions, garlic and butter…

Onions, garlic and butter in saute pan

Until they look like this…

Sauteed onions, garlic and butter

Then add some white wine…

Sauteed with white wine

And after most of the liquid evaporates, add the broccoli…

Add broccoli to the sauteed onions

Stir in the sour cream…

Adding sour cream

And mix it all into the mashed potatoes!

Mixing the mashed potatoes

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Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on September 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Zucchini corn orzo salad

I got this recipe out of the September 2011 issue of Everyday Food, and I only changed it a tiny bit. It looks pretty bland, to be honest, but it tastes wonderful. You can eat it hot, cold, or room temperature. I think it’s best at room temperature. We ate it with salmon, but it would be a great side dish with a lot of different things.

Ingredients

Note: It makes a huge batch. If you don’t want to eat leftovers for days and days, I would recommend halving the recipe. Even then you will probably have leftovers. If you have a big family: don’t bother doubling it.

  • 6 medium zucchini, diced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lb. uncooked orzo pasta
  • 4 Tbs olive oil
  • 5 cups corn kernels (from 6 ears of corn, or you can do what I did and measure out 5 cups of drained, no-salt-added canned corn)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice (you can also add 1 Tbs lemon zest, but I didn’t)
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
  • 1-2 cups crumbled feta cheese
Seriously. It makes a lot.

Directions

It is delightfully quick to make, especially if you’re quick at chopping the zucchini.

  1. Place chopped zucchini in a colander in the sink and toss with a few teaspoons of salt. Let sit 20 minutes.
  2. Cook orzo in boiling salted water according to package directions (do this while the zucchini is sitting). It should only take about 8-10 minutes. Drain, then add enough ice cubes to the pot to cool it down and stop it from cooking any more. When it’s cool, discard the ice cubes and drain any remaining water. Transfer the orzo to a large bowl.
  3. Heat 1 Tbs oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add corn and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add the corn, zucchini, 3 Tbs oil, onion, jalapeno and lemon juice to the bowl of orzo. Season with salt and pepper. Don’t be shy – you want lots of flavor!
  5. Stir in basil and feta. Try to stop taking bites of the delicious concoction before it’s actually time for dinner.
Something so healthy shouldn’t taste this good.
Closeup of corn zucchini feta orzo salad

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White wine lemon butter noodles with capers

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2011| 3 Comments »

Salmon and broccoli with white wine lemon butter noodles with capers

Yes, the title is a mouthful. But if you can memorize the title, then you’ve pretty much memorized the ingredient list. 🙂

The A/C went out at my apartment, so it’s about 90° in there. It’s 106° outside right now (at nearly 6 p.m.), so it’s still a significant difference from outside, but 90 degrees indoors is just not ok. Thus, I was FORCED to go sit at an air-conditioned coffee shop, at which I’m currently sipping an iced mocha and typing this post at my leisure, with no sweat in sight. Let’s not think about the fact that I eventually will have to go back and go to sleep in that sauna.

So. The noodles.

I know it looks plain, but the goodness that bursts onto your tastebuds is surprisingly flavorful.

As I started to eat, Stephen said “Did you get a picture of it for your blog yet?” I immediately thought 2 things: (1) He loves it! and (2) I just threw a bunch of stuff in a pan… how am I supposed to turn that into a recipe? That’s how I roll, folks. Which is why I will never become a great chef.

Ingredients

But I’m going to try. FOR YOU. Here is my rough attempt at reconstructing the noodle dish.

  • Angel hair pasta
  • A few Tablespoons of butter (REAL butter)
  • A couple glugs of white wine (not “cooking wine”)
  • A few teaspoons of capers, chopped a little smaller if they’re big
  • 2-4 tsp lemon juice
  • A few good sprinkles of garlic powder

The great thing about it is, you can experiment with how much of each ingredient you use, and it will still taste delicious no matter what.

Directions

It’s incredibly quick, easy and low-maintenance. I threw the whole meal (salmon, steamed broccoli and noodles) together, start to finish, in about 30 minutes.

  1. Cook angel hair pasta as usual, drain, and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, you can make the sauce:
  2. Combine all the sauce ingredients into a small skillet over medium heat. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half (the alcohol cooks out, leaving you with a delicious browned butter and wine flavor).
  3. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta in the pot and stir. If it looks a little dry, add 1-2 Tbs butter and heat over low heat for a few more minutes, stirring every now and then.

And that’s all! It doesn’t look like much, and I had to warn Stephen ahead of time that I wasn’t actually serving him plain pasta with random little green things in it.

Despite its humble appearance, it definitely has enough flavor to stand on its own, and it pairs marvelously with salmon. It stands out from all the “normal” pasta that people expect, so it’s an easy dish to add to a fancy meal if you’re having people over.

Note: The Albertson’s near us has had an incredible sale on salmon for the last couple weeks. It turned out to be a pretty cheap meal!

White wine lemon butter pasta with capers, beside salmon and broccoli

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Asparagus & tomato-stuffed portobello mushrooms

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on August 1, 2011| 5 Comments »

Section of stuffed portobello

This recipe from a magazine clipping sat on my parents’ refrigerator for years before I moved off to college and took it with me. Someone had unceremoniously written “Gross!” while someone else countered the scribble with an equally messy “Yummy!” but it remained uncooked. I love mushrooms and asparagus, and I was enamored with the idea of cooking it, but eventually it became nothing more than a glorified refrigerator decoration.

But hark! I rescued it from the depths and decided to try it once and for all. And oh, friends. It delivered. I don’t even know what magazine it came from anymore (if anyone knows, please let me know, and I’d be happy to attribute it!), but if you like mushrooms and asparagus, you won’t be disappointed. I wish I could take credit for something in it, but I actually followed the recipe this time. Almost. I know.

Ingredients

Ok, I guess the one thing I changed is that I didn’t have multigrain breadcrumbs, I only had Italian-seasoning breadcrumbs. I would use multigrain next time.

  • 4 portobello mushrooms, gills scraped off with a spoon
  • 2 tsp + 1 Tbs olive oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups asparagus, sliced into 1-inch sections
  • 2 Tbs chopped shallots
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup multigrain breadcrumbs (I would actually use less next time, maybe 1/2 cup)
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

It’s actually pretty quick. I am a fan of The Quick.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Remove the mushroom steps and coarsely chop them. Brush the 2 tsp oil over the smooth top of the mushroom caps, and place them top-down on a baking sheet (make sure you use one with edges so nothing drips into your oven).
  2. Heat the other 1 Tbs oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook asparagus, shallots, garlic and mushroom stems for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are barely tender.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in the tomato, salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps.
  4. Combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese and sprinkle it over the mushrooms. Bake for 10 minutes or until the breadcrumb topping is golden brown (mine doesn’t look golden brown in the picture because there was too much breadcrumb topping).

A bunch of asparagus contains more than just 1 1/2 cups, so I used the leftover asparagus for the side dish. I had made a tomato dish the previous night, so I dumped it into another skillet and stirred in the remaining asparagus pieces plus a few handfuls of fresh spinach.

It’s so colorful and pretty!

Stuffed portobello with section cut out on plate with side dish
Stuffed portobello on a plate with side dish

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