Beef Stew and Smallfries

For the meat-and-potatoes people in your life (ba-dum-tshhh!) It's December, and the weather here in Texas is finally cooling off. And by "cooling off," I mean that it dropped from high sixties to mid-thirties in a matter of hours. The forecast predicts that the temperature will drop further still, which can mean only one thing--it's stew season! The beef stew is a take on one I've been making for years, from a recipe called "Elegant Steak and Rice." The fries are an adaptation of a recipe I borrowed from a good friend of mine. It's a family recipe of hers (there's no better kind, in my opinion), but she normally makes it with golden or russet potatoes. I thought that the tartness of the red potatoes would complement the stew (beef stroganoff is, after all, made with sour cream). This is what happens when I am left alone with a well-stocked pantry. I experiment, and I do end up eating well.

Ingredients

Beef Stew

• 1/2 yellow or white onion
• 1 lb. ground beef (or beef tips)
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 small can mushrooms (or fresh--fresh are actually better, just remember that they have to cook longer)
• 1/2 cup cooking sherry
• Salt and pepper to taste

Smallfries

• Some sizeable red potatoes (the rule my family has always followed for potato dishes is "one for every family member, plus one extra."
• about 1 tsp oil (I'm using coconut oil for flavor and because it's healthier, but vegetable oil is a perfectly good substitute.)

Directions

First, cut your vegetables. I usually cut them first--and all at once--to avoid cross-contamination. Leave them on the cutting-board, though; the vegetables should be cut first, but the meat needs to cook first. I started with the potatoes. Cut them into thin slices, then into slivers (I just know there's a fancy term for this, but I cannot for the life of me recall it):

Then slice your onions and mince your garlic.

Brown the hamburger meat in a deep skillet. Then add the onions, garlic and mushrooms. When vegetables are sauteed, add sherry and cream of mushroom. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer.

While you're waiting for your vegetables to soften, saute the red potato slivers in the small amount of oil. If done correctly, the slivers should stick together once browned. When fries are done, remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel.

When the stew is done, serve it over the fries. Add a side of buttered bread for a complete meal.

Yes, I did give myself a larger portion after I took this picture.

Apple Bread

Recipe from: allrecipes.com/recipe/223602/apple-bread-2/

I've been experimenting with different types of bread because where I am currently, all we have in the pantry are baking goods. But that's great, I think, because bread's been a staple of literally every culture since civilization began. This is a quick-bread recipe I found to get rid of the apples that have been sitting on the counter for weeks (they were still good, mind you).

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (I have no idea how you have to change the recipe if you're using self-rising flour; I'd assume you'd omit the baking soda and salt, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• The recipe says that 1 cup chopped walnuts are an optional addition (which makes me want to try it with cranberries, too, in the fall), but I didn't have any, so I left those out.
• 3 apples (the recipe says 3 cups, which is about three apples), peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten (if I intend to take this project seriously, I need to start buying farm-fresh)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (one of those teaspoons, for my version, was a mixture we had on hand of brown sugar, nutmeg, Saigon cinnamon, and a little bit of salt)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. I know that sounds a little low, but you're going to be cooking it a long time. Prepare  your loaf pan(s) by spraying them liberally (sides and all) with cooking spray. The yield of this particular recipe is two loaves. I only baked one because we only have one loaf pan. The rest of the batter is sitting in my fridge for tomorrow.

In a large mixing bowl, mix your flour, baking soda, salt, walnuts (or cranberries, if you chose to add either), and apples.

In another, slightly smaller mixing bowl, beat together your eggs, oil, sugar, and cinnamon. I would suggest beating the eggs separately first, so that you can be sure that a) they are thoroughly beaten, and b) that no rogue bits of shell find their way into the batter.

It was at this point that I realized that we didn't have enough sugar. Panicking and not thinking, I dumped half a cup of sugar into the flour-apple mix, since recipes usually instruct you to mix the sugar in with the dry ingredients. I'm relieved to find that this didn't hurt anything, but I'll explain in a little bit why you need to put at least most of the sugar into the egg mixture.

All told, I had about a cup of sugar left, and it was too late to cut the recipe in half (which I was going to do anyway, but how does one cut three eggs in half?). So, I saved the other half cup of sugar, stored the bowls in the fridge, and waited until we were able to take a trip to the store.

When I retrieved the bowls a few hours later, nothing had been altered save for a few ice crystals in the eggs, so I carried on with the original plan.

Here's why the sugar needs to be mixed in with the eggs: it creates a creamy, cinnamony sauce kind of like that which you find in the filling of apple pie (except this stuff contains raw eggs).

Raw eggs notwithstanding, I was sorely tempted to take a bite.

Now, you mix the two mixtures together. I added the wet to the dry, but I would recommend adding the dry to the wet, so you don't have to worry about those pesky, hard-to-reach flour reserves on the bottom.

Then, just divide the batter between your loaf pans and bake them for 90 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test (when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean).

When it's done baking, let it cool and solidify for 10 more minutes before moving it to a wire rack (or in my case, a plate).

Enjoy!

The result, if done correctly, is a soft bread with a thin, somewhat crispy crust. It's wonderful as dessert, breakfast, or a snack.

Beer Bread

Recipe from: food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440

Warning: this dish is prepared using an alcoholic beverage. Although the alcohol will "cook out," making it safe for children to eat, consumption of this dish may conflict with the beliefs of certain religious faiths. It is possible to bake without using alcohol, but please note that beer takes the place of yeast, and if the beer is omitted, yeast will be required.

The Importance of Beer to Civilization

Beer is one of the world's oldest beverages, brewed and consumed as far back as 5000 B.C., in Mesopotamia. It became popular due to its intoxicating effect, and even earned an important role in the mythologies of beer-drinking cultures. In the Middle Ages, as settlements grew more crowded and hygiene reached an all-time low, beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages were pretty much the only substances that were safe to drink. So people began to get creative with their beer, mixing in different ingredients such as fruits and a variety of grains and even some downright odd stuff such as chicken. (I want to try chicken beer.) To regulate this, the Bavarian government passed the Reinheitsgebot, the first food/beverage purity law in history, which placed restrictions on the ingredients that could be used in the brewing process.

Ingredients

• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 12 oz beer (I used Guinness because that's what was in the fridge.)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup melted butter (We keep our butter sitting out so that it's always softened; it's easier to work with, and contrary to popular belief, it doesn't go bad that way.)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder*
• 1 teaspoon salt

*Not all flours are created equal. I set the baking powder and salt away from the rest of the ingredients because the recipe I used says to omit them if the flour you are using is self-rising. Only when I was lining the ingredients up for the photo did I realize that, haha, whoops, my flour is self-rising. So after the picture was taken I put the salt and baking powder right back in the cabinet.

Instructions

Sifting the flour is imperative in order to achieve the desired consistency. Just scooping the flour out of the container with the measuring cup compacts it, and that means your bread will be hard and compact as well. The kitchen in which I was working doesn't have a sifter, and if that's your plight, just spoon the flour into the container and level it off with a knife or your finger.

It would behoove you to use a larger spoon; three cups is a lot of volume to fill.

Now, measure out your beer. The can of Guinness I used was 14.6 fluid ounces, and I only needed twelve.

Now, just mix the dry ingredients and beer until the dough looks something like this:]

Then put it in a greased loaf pan, pour the melted butter over the top to make the crust crispy, and bake at 375 degrees for one hour.

I always grease the hell out of my pans. I don't like anything sticking to them.

When it's done, let cool at least fifteen minutes and serve.

Lembas Bread

Recipe from: http://apinchadash.com/post/37843416809/lembas-bread-the-hobbit-menu

Lembas bread is something out of the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. An Elven creation, it is a thin cake, "made of meal...baked a light brown on the outside, and the inside...the color of cream." It is made to stay fresh for days if kept unbroken and wrapped, and is supposed to be extremely filling (if you aren't a Hobbit). My attempt at lembas bread turned out more the consistency of shortbread, but it was still quite tasty. Here's the recipe, as I found it on apinchadash.com.

Ingredients

1 cup butter (two sticks)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 c white all-purpose flour

Preparation

I halved the recipe, because I didn't want to use up all of our butter and sugar, in case I might need it for other dishes. I made lembas bread to accompany the pork and apple stew that is the subject of my previous post. (To be honest, I think the bread turned out to be the best part of the meal.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. While you're waiting for it to preheat, cream the butter and brown sugar together in a mixing bowl. I used a fork for this because I didn't think we had a pastry blender. Let me tell you, I was quite frustrated when I replaced the rolling pin after the bread was in the oven, and saw this:

This would have made the whole ordeal so much easier.

Using the fork, I made more of a mess than I needed to, as the butter (which was left unsoftened because the recipe doesn't say to soften it, and I don't want to do anything that might mess with the consistency of the bread) was hard as a rock and I ended up using too much elbow grease, spilling sugar out onto the countertop. Moral of this little anecdote: if you have the proper tools, use them.

When the butter and sugar are one, add the flour and stir to combine until it forms a nice dough. When mixing dough, I'm the type who prefers to get her hands dirty. Spoons just get in the way. Once the flour is mixed in, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead some more until it is a workable consistency (the recipe says this should take about five minutes).

Roll the dough out into a sheet with a uniform half-inch thickness.

Next, cut into squares three to four inches in length. As I halved the recipe, I ended up with four pieces, so the original recipe should make about eight.

Then, put the pieces on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cakes are golden brown.

Allow the cakes to cool and harden before removing them from the baking sheet. I've an inkling that these would taste amazing with a bit of apple butter or jam, but they're perfectly fine plain as well.

Pork and Apple Stew

Original recipe found here: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancient/fetch-recipe.php?rid=ancient-celtic-pork-apple-stew


My dream is to open up a beer-hall-themed restaurant that serves medieval and fantasy-inspired food. So, I've made it one of my summer projects to experiment and come up with a range of flavors that I want to use. It's been a bit of a challenge to convince my mother to go along with my plan, however, and since she buys the groceries, I'm having to adapt the recipes so that they're a little less...*ahem* exotic. This particular one I adapted because a) I'm not familiar with a lot of the ingredients, and b) the yield was enough to comfortably feed a small army. So I cut the ingredient portions down a bit:

Ingredients

1 lb pork, cubed (I used thick-cut pork loin)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 leeks, chopped

Turnip greens, chopped (any dark greens will do)

Mushrooms, sliced (I used canned--my mistake; use fresh)

2 turnips, peeled and chopped (optional)

2 green apples, peeled, cored and quartered

100 mL apple cider (or substitute apple juice; I can't find any difference in the taste)

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon chives (you can use dried or fresh)

3/4 teaspoon dried sage

3/4 tablespoon mustard seeds, ground

salt, to taste (it'll need it)

Preparation

All of the vegetables you'll need

You can prepare the leeks, chives, greens, and turnips in advance, the night before, even. Leave the apples out of this step, however, or they will turn brown. I chose to prepare mine about an hour in advance, which is good, because between this and the lembas bread (yes, I said lembas bread; more on that in another post), it took me an hour to get everything prepared. I usually go by the order in which the ingredients listed in the recipe (and it irks me when ingredients are listed out of order), but my ADD kicked in and my brain said, "ooh, purple!" so I started with the turnips.

How to chop a turnip for stew

I've never worked with turnips before, so prior to beginning, I "googled" instructions on how to chop them. Praise the all-knowing Internet. In case this is your first time cooking with leeks, too, here's what I found:

First of all, it will probably relieve you to know that turnips are prepared in much the same way as potatoes. Both are tubers, and they both take on pretty much the same consistency when boiled. First, you'll need to wash and peel the turnips.

A peeled versus an unpeeled turnip

Next, you'll want to slice off the top of the turnip and the root, as these serve no known nutritional purpose and are about as appetizing as a brown paper bag. Then, cut the turnip in half...

...then half again...

...and finally, chop the turnips into manageable chunks, preferably bite-sized.

Set these aside and you're ready to chop the leeks.

How to prepare a leek for stew

I've never used leeks before, either, but something tells me that I'm going to become quite familiar with them in the coming months. I'm very, very glad I sought help for this step, because had I not decided to do an Internet search, something would have gone very wrong.

The white part is what you'll want to use in the stew. It works in much the same way as an onion. The bit at the bottom of the white part is, of course, the root. Do not cut off the root.

Let me reiterate that point. Do not cut off the root. The leek will fall apart if you do. You will be separating root from remainder later, but not now. The first thing to do is clean the leek. You'll want to make a cut down the length of the leek, like so:

This will expose the center of the leek, where dirt may be hiding. Next, run the leek under cool water. Then, you may cut off the leaves.

The leaves may be saved and used in vegetable stocks.

Now, all you do is slice the white portion of the leek, and voila! On to the chives.

Preparing chives

Chives are a fancy name for the green, leafy part of a green onion. They can be found dried, but it's much cheaper to buy them fresh, especially if you don't use them all that often.

Preparing chives is a no-brainer. All you do is chop the green part, like so.

You only need a tablespoon for the stew itself, but you can use more for garnish, if desired.

Preparing turnip greens

As stated before in the "Ingredients" section, any dark greens will suffice--collard greens, kale, whatever you want to put in there. In my case, it was whatever I could find. My local supermarket usually has a better selection, but I guess today was not a good day to go looking for weird green plants not normally used by a Texan family in cooking. I went to the store in search of kale (a plant with which I am reasonably familiar) and left with turnip greens, because that was all they had.

To prepare turnip greens, you first have to remove the stem. To do this, fold the leaf in half and run your knife down the length of the leaf beside the stem. Discard the stems; I don't believe there's anything you can do with them.

This is very relaxing.

Repeat the process with every leaf (including the small ones) and you'll end up with a pile of usable greens.

This is about how much you should need.

A compost bin would probably be ideal.

Now you can chop them like you would any other type of greens.

Remember your knife safety and curl your fingers under your knuckles to avoid cutting them off.

Set the chopped greens aside until you are ready to prepare the apples.

Preparing apples for stew

This recipe calls for the apples to be peeled, cored, and chopped. For this step, a paring knife is ideal. I chose to cut them before peeling them, but you can peel and cut in whatever order works for you.

Quartering the apples will make them easier to core. Once they are quartered, dig your knife in and pry the core out.

Now that all of your vegetables are out of the way, you can start on the real star of the dish--the pork.

Preparing the pork

I cut the pork last in order to avoid cross-contamination. It'll be cut into stew-meat-sized chunks.

For this endeavor we purchased a little over a pound of thick-cut pork loin.

This would have been quite tasty on the grill, as well.

First, cut off some--but not all--of the fat. A little bit of fat still attached will help with the flavor.

This is going to the dogs.

Next, cube the meat.

Cooking the Stew

Whew, that was a lot of preparation. Now we can actually get to cooking. The first step is to brown the pork with the leeks in two tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Once the meat is brown, add the mushrooms and turnips and cook for an additional two minutes. A tip concerning the mushrooms: don't use canned. They're too bland. Fresh mushrooms will taste much better. I used canned because that was all we had.

Add the chives, sage, mustard seed, and thyme, along with your cider and 800 mL of water.

100 mL is about half a cup, which means that 800 mL is about four cups.

At this stage, it would be a wise decision to switch the stew over to a soup pot.

Bring the mixture to a boil and add the greens and apples. Then reduce the heat and simmer for an hour and a half (this is the recommended time; I stopped it after one hour). The stew is done when the pork is tender. Like all stews, it is best served with bread.