recipes

Favorite Beef Stew Recipe

 

I have made a few different beef stew recipes over the years, a beef and Guinness stew made in a slow cooker, Julia Child's beef bourguignon, but this is the one that I always come back to. It's the one that makes my mouth water every time I think of it. I love the acidity of the wine and the tomatoes and the richness of the broth and I love how the beef just falls apart. I especially love how easy it is, the main ingredient being patience. It's a great recipe for a cloudy Sunday afternoon. Recipe adapted from here. 

Serves 4 | Prep time 30 minutes | Cook time 3.5 hours

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 red onion, cut into medium dice

5 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 pound stew beef

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 1/2 cups dry red wine (I used an $8 Zinfandel)

4 sprigs fresh rosemary

8 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 cups boiling water or beef stock 

a dozen or so small potatoes, quartered

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°.

In a Dutch oven over moderately high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Add beef, generously season with salt and pepper, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until brown, about 5 minutes.

Add wine, rosemary, thyme, and garlic, stir well, and bring to boil.

Add tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven or slow cooker. 

Stir every 30 minutes or so, until beef is tender, about 2 hours.

Once beef is tender add stock and potatoes and return to oven until potatoes are done, about 25 minutes. Serve with cornbread. I like Trader Joe's boxed cornbread mix. (Egg noodles would be good too!)

Recipe // Portabella, Shiitake and Herb Lasagna

Mushrooms are my soul food. When we go out, if there is a mushroom dish on the menu I can't order anything else, and I have yet to be disappointed. One of the most memorable meals Jeffery and I ever made was on Valentine's Day about 6 years ago. We slow cooked polenta with 4 types of cheese and made a sauce out of hedgehog mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes. Paired it with macadamia nut crusted halibut. It was all delicious, but that mushroom tomato sauce is what sticks in my mind. I can even remember savoring the leftovers. If I concentrate hard enough, I can taste it. I lost the recipe, but I think I'll try recreating it sometime soon. When I was mushroom shopping for this meal, I did see some furry little hedgehog mushrooms.

You will need:

16 lasagna noodles (4 layers)

4 cups milk

1 stick butter (I used salted, if you use unsalted, add more salt to your sauce)

1/2 cup flour

About 3/4 tsp. kosher salt

About 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1/2 an onion, diced (or two medium leeks sliced into rings)

1 1/2 pounds portabella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

1 cup finely grated fresh parmesan cheese 

 

Prep.

Determine how many noodles it takes to make a layer in your pan and multiply by 4. Soften noodles in a pot of very hot (but not boiling) water. Noodles should be soft but not fully cooked. 

Make béchamel sauce: Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan and remove from heat. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in four until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Whisk in milk all at once, keep whisking until smooth. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon, if too thick add more milk, if too thin, cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in garlic, 1/2 tbs. thyme and most of the parsley (leave some to sprinkle on dish after it bakes).

Preheat oven to 375°. Heat a deep, wide pot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil. Sauté the onion (or leeks if you have them) until translucent, set aside. In the same pot, add the remaining olive oil and sauté mushrooms, covered, until mushrooms are tender and beginning to release juices, about 5 minutes. Lightly salt and pepper mushrooms. Uncover and cook until edges start to brown. Stir in the cooked onion and remaining 1/2 tsp. thyme. 

Assemble lasagna: Lightly oil a 9-by-13-in. baking dish. Spread a few spoonfuls of béchamel over bottom. Add a layer of noodles, then spoon on a layer of béchamel sauce (about 1/2 cup), followed by a third of the mushrooms and third of the cheese. Repeat layers twice more. Top with a final layer of noodles and remaining béchamel and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. 

Bake lasagna until browned and bubbling, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and let sit for 15 minutes before slicing. Pair with chilled Lambrusco (Trader Joe's has a good one).

Recipe adapted from here. (Warning, this recipe creates a mountain of dishes. And in our case they are still waiting to be washed...)

When Life Gives You Lemons

...make lemon poppyseed cookies!

meyer lemon zested

Jeffery did some gardening work for a woman with a Meyer lemon tree and came home with his backpack full of lemons. In the last couple weeks we have already made lemon poppyseed muffins, lemon bars, and Arnold Palmers. When I worked in the Inner Sunset in SF,  I would go to the Beanery every day and get myself a lemon poppyseed cookie. They have a thick layer of lemony icing and the entire thing melts in your mouth. (Those cookies along with Arizmendi Bakery's thin crust pizza led to 15 pounds of weight gain, totally worth it.)

meyer lemon poppyseed cookies

Ingredients 

Makes 16 to 20 cookies

For the cookies:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

8 tablespoon (1 stick) butter, at room temperature (I prefer salted)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the icing:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I may have used more)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the first four dry ingredients. Set aside. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the lemon zest, egg, and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed until just incorporated.

Roll into ping pong sized balls and flatten, spacing about two inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are set and the edges start to brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

Whist together the lemon juice and the powdered sugar until you have a syrupy consistency. I used a pastry brush to paint on the icing. The first coat was kind of thin, so I let it dry and then painted on a second coat. Store in an air tight container and share with your friends. They are dangerously good, and if you don't take them out of the house you might eat them all.

meyer lemon poppyseed cookies

Recipe adapted from Pham Fatale.

Greek Salad

english cucumber and tomatoes

Yesterday I gave into cravings and had popcorn and an old-fashioned glazed donut for lunch. And jalapeño and pineapple pizza for dinner. Today I needed something fresh and healthy. So I made Greek salad.

feta cheese greek olives and meyer lemon
basil olive oil balsamic vinegar

Combine and enjoy!

greek salad

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yesterday, after a long day at work, I came home to find my soon-to-be husband in the kitchen baking a cake. And he had already washed laundry and done the dishes. So all I had to do was make chicken tortilla soup.

chicken tortilla soup

It is quickly becoming one of our staples. It has all the ingredients of a burrito in a soup.

To make, boil the following ingredients in a large pot in the order listed below:

Chicken stock, water, rice, onion, garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, jalapenos, cumin, Thai chili garlic sauce, chili powder, lime, garlic salt, chicken, can of black beans, can of corn

Top with Monterrey Jack, tortilla chips, cilantro, and ripe avocado. 

I think I'll make it for mom and dad when they get here in two (!) weeks.

Breakfast of Champions

When I was a kid, my parents made waffles most Sunday mornings. We would listen to Breakfast with the Beatles on the radio and grate up fuji apples for the batter and top them with grated coconut and sesame seeds. After breakfast we would drive to Fort Bragg to play soccer, then sometimes we would go to the beach and drive home all sandy and tired and ready for dinner and the Simpsons. I think food memories are part of what makes a family. 

Jeffery and I couldn't wait until after our wedding to have a waffle iron. So we took it off the registry and laid down the big bucks. We've been making waffles weekly, experimenting with different recipes. This one is cinnamon and sesame.

Jeffery can't resist the opportunity to make anything into a sandwich. Sweet and savory in every bite.

Only the best: 100% pure Trader Joe's maple syrup.

Kitty likes to watch us eat from under the table. He wishes he were human on waffle mornings. Those are my new favorite pajama bottoms, J. Crew chambray.

Soccer practice tonight to work off those calories! What are your fondest food memories?

Update: I decided to add the recipe, because it's a good one.

Cinnamon Sesame Waffles

(makes 8-10)

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 cups whole wheat flower

1.5 tablespoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 large eggs

sprinkle of sesame seeds

1. Combine dry ingredients, then add milk, oil and eggs; whisk until blended and smooth. Let rest 5 minutes before using.

2. Pour batter into waffle iron and sprinkle with sesame seeds. For best results, serve immediately and top with butter, pure maple syrup and a fried egg.