Thursday, January 31, 2008
Explanation
I am a scatter brain, enjoy cooking and trying new recipes. In this blog, I do not intend to explain myself. If you don't know how to dice an onion, I am not writting for you. Also, most of my recipes come from publications (magazines, subscriptions) or friends (who probably get them from publications, subscriptions). I am not giving out the exact published recipe. What you see is what I did. A printed recipe rarely ever tastes as good as the version you make with your own touches.
Lastawhile meal
Well,
it's back to working nights and the morning classes are killing me. I don't get to bed until 11:00am and it is so hard to NOT watch my stories, although I really miss Martha. I won't see her again until Spring Break (sob).
I needed to find something hearty and delicious that would last a few days. The first few days of the work cycle I am just too tired to even brush my teeth. I found a Belgian Beer stew that sounded very promising and I was not disappointed.
The recipe calls for 3 1/2 pounds of blade steak. First of all, I couldn't even find anything called "Blade Steaks," and so I had to ask Butcher. My local pantry store was selling wafer thin slices for $4/lb. Not in the budget. I asked Butcher for an alternative and walked away with a tri tip. That guy is a genious. I will return often because recipes list cuts I am unfamiliar with (don't know my meat / alternate names) and he actually made a better recommendation.
Serves 6? (4 meals so far and more to go.)
3 1/2 lbs tri tip trimmed of fat (big thick pad on bottom)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
2 med yellow onions, large dice
1 T tomato paste
3 medium cloves of garlic rasped (I prefer rasping because it melts away)
3 T flour
3/4 c chicken broth
3/4 c beef broth (may need a little more of either to deglaze pan if it gets to dark at anypoint)
12 ounce bottle belgian beer
3 sprigs thyme (not a fan so I use two baby ones)
2 bay leaves
1 T cider vinegar.
1 Dice the two onions and grate the garlic. Set both aside.
2 Trim the tri tip and cut into 1 inch cubes.
3 Heat a little vegetable oil in the skillet and brown the meat in small batches. The recipe suggested 3 but I had to do 4. The meat will still be raw so set asied in a bowl to catch all the juices. Add a little vegetable oil with each batch. If the fond gets too dark, deglaze and pour off into the meat bowl.
4 Sweat the onions with the tomato paste and a little salt, scraping the bottom. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat up and carmelize. I had to add a little stock at this point because the bottom was really getting dark - just enough to pick up the fond.
5 Add the garlic and count to 30 while stirring.
6 Add the flour and cook about a minute while stirring.
7 Add the remaining liquid ingredients and scrape up the rest of the fond.
8 Add back the beef and all the accumulated juices.
9 Bring to a full simmer and either cook (covered) in a 300 degree oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours or cover it, leave it on the stove top at a real low heat for 1 1/2 hours. I don't have a dutch oven for stove top cooking so I did this in a stock pot and left it on the stove.
I was not prepared for the wonderfully yeasty flavor of this dish. Made me wish for a giant crusty loaf of bread.
The recipe suggests serving this over mashed potatoes of buttered egg noodles, but I think it would be great over polenta.
it's back to working nights and the morning classes are killing me. I don't get to bed until 11:00am and it is so hard to NOT watch my stories, although I really miss Martha. I won't see her again until Spring Break (sob).
I needed to find something hearty and delicious that would last a few days. The first few days of the work cycle I am just too tired to even brush my teeth. I found a Belgian Beer stew that sounded very promising and I was not disappointed.
The recipe calls for 3 1/2 pounds of blade steak. First of all, I couldn't even find anything called "Blade Steaks," and so I had to ask Butcher. My local pantry store was selling wafer thin slices for $4/lb. Not in the budget. I asked Butcher for an alternative and walked away with a tri tip. That guy is a genious. I will return often because recipes list cuts I am unfamiliar with (don't know my meat / alternate names) and he actually made a better recommendation.
Serves 6? (4 meals so far and more to go.)
3 1/2 lbs tri tip trimmed of fat (big thick pad on bottom)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
2 med yellow onions, large dice
1 T tomato paste
3 medium cloves of garlic rasped (I prefer rasping because it melts away)
3 T flour
3/4 c chicken broth
3/4 c beef broth (may need a little more of either to deglaze pan if it gets to dark at anypoint)
12 ounce bottle belgian beer
3 sprigs thyme (not a fan so I use two baby ones)
2 bay leaves
1 T cider vinegar.
1 Dice the two onions and grate the garlic. Set both aside.
2 Trim the tri tip and cut into 1 inch cubes.
3 Heat a little vegetable oil in the skillet and brown the meat in small batches. The recipe suggested 3 but I had to do 4. The meat will still be raw so set asied in a bowl to catch all the juices. Add a little vegetable oil with each batch. If the fond gets too dark, deglaze and pour off into the meat bowl.
4 Sweat the onions with the tomato paste and a little salt, scraping the bottom. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat up and carmelize. I had to add a little stock at this point because the bottom was really getting dark - just enough to pick up the fond.
5 Add the garlic and count to 30 while stirring.
6 Add the flour and cook about a minute while stirring.
7 Add the remaining liquid ingredients and scrape up the rest of the fond.
8 Add back the beef and all the accumulated juices.
9 Bring to a full simmer and either cook (covered) in a 300 degree oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours or cover it, leave it on the stove top at a real low heat for 1 1/2 hours. I don't have a dutch oven for stove top cooking so I did this in a stock pot and left it on the stove.
I was not prepared for the wonderfully yeasty flavor of this dish. Made me wish for a giant crusty loaf of bread.
The recipe suggests serving this over mashed potatoes of buttered egg noodles, but I think it would be great over polenta.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Breakfast for Dinner
I love breakfast for dinner. Since our household is comprised mostly of my husband and myself (sometimes a stepson), I don't like dinner to be a chore. I don't think it should take an hour and 45 minutes to prepare a meal for two. I am not cheerleading for a 30 minute lifestyle, I just hate spending an hour on dinner that will be gone in less than 30 minutes. Yet, I do.
I work nights 7 on, 7 off and I go to school in the morning so there are nights when I am only willing to spend 15 minutes cooking. Impossible you say. What can you cook in 15 minutes? Breakfast tacos baby. Dear husband and I are quite happy eating breakfast for dinner. Besides, sometimes his dinner is my breakfast!
Tonight we made a sausage potato popover pie. I am not posting the recipe yet, because I don't have it handy, but I'll tell the story. I am in my 7 on cycle and sleep during the day. I made a very specific grocery list and debated the other morning whether or not I should ask DH to go shopping for me. During our brief morning time together he told me he was going shopping that day so I gave him the list. Wouldn't you be surprised to know he bought everything on that list just exactly right! (I think I'll start teaching him to cook. Wait, that means I'll have to clean?) So, when he got home from work tonight I was already cooking and asked him to pitch when. I just needed him to fry the potatoes while I mixed the batter and grated the cheese. He grabbed a beer and helped out. This made cooking so fun because I didn't have to multitask and burn something or put something on hold while I was grating cheese.
The result? It was delicious and DH said this was definitely on the reorder list. It was delicious and simple and if he helps, I will make it again.
I work nights 7 on, 7 off and I go to school in the morning so there are nights when I am only willing to spend 15 minutes cooking. Impossible you say. What can you cook in 15 minutes? Breakfast tacos baby. Dear husband and I are quite happy eating breakfast for dinner. Besides, sometimes his dinner is my breakfast!
Tonight we made a sausage potato popover pie. I am not posting the recipe yet, because I don't have it handy, but I'll tell the story. I am in my 7 on cycle and sleep during the day. I made a very specific grocery list and debated the other morning whether or not I should ask DH to go shopping for me. During our brief morning time together he told me he was going shopping that day so I gave him the list. Wouldn't you be surprised to know he bought everything on that list just exactly right! (I think I'll start teaching him to cook. Wait, that means I'll have to clean?) So, when he got home from work tonight I was already cooking and asked him to pitch when. I just needed him to fry the potatoes while I mixed the batter and grated the cheese. He grabbed a beer and helped out. This made cooking so fun because I didn't have to multitask and burn something or put something on hold while I was grating cheese.
The result? It was delicious and DH said this was definitely on the reorder list. It was delicious and simple and if he helps, I will make it again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)