Beef Stew

Sorry for the lack of updates recently folks! It's been a busy holiday season, hopefully you had a wonderful Christmas!

On the colder evenings, I like to ladle up a hot bowl of hearty Beef Stew and some crackers.

First, the meat portion. I use the Stew, or chili meat from my local grocer, but if you want to use just about any cut of steak, go ahead. Cut it into 1 inch cubes and brown on all sides. It should take about 5-7 minutes.

Once that's done, add in your Crushed Tomatoes, cubed Potatoes, Pepper, Garlic powder, two Bay Leaves, Onion powder and Mixed Veggies.

Let this stew on medium low for about 30-45 minutes covered. Stir every few minutes, otherwise the bottom will scorch, and that's not tasty at all!

Test for tenderness of the Potatoes. Once they're fork tender you're good to go! You can add some salt in if you'd like, but oddly enough it tastes perfectly fine to me as is. Bust out some crackers and enjoy this 1 pot, hearty and easy dish!

1 lb Stew Meat or cubed Steak
1 pack frozen Mixed Veggies
3 Large Russet Potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 Bay Leaves
1 can crushed Tomato
1 Tsp Garlic powder
1 Tsp Onion powder
1/2 Tsp ground Black Pepper

Brown Meat on medium in a large pot (5 quarts or so for space). Add remaining ingredients, lower heat to medium low, cover and stir every few minutes for 45 minutes. Test for Potato tenderness.

Coconut Chicken El Diablo!

Once you finish making and eating this dish, I think you'll agree that the title of this dish needs more "!" in it. I was down in south Texas a few years back and I wanted something spicy. Living in a college town at the time, I had access to huge portions of food at very cheap prices but little of it had any spice. Mostly mass produced food on the cheap for starving college kids. I went to the local market and came upon some Chipotle chilies. Basically they're smoked Jalapeno peppers, and the kind I picked up had them packed in Adobo sauce, a red spice sauce.

Now racking my brain, what would go good with these en masse that I could make? I wasn't about to put an entire can of this stuff on a burger, I may have wanted spicy but I wasn't THAT far gone. I decided on Chicken!

I took a couple of Chicken breasts and cut them into 1 inch squares and browned them in a pan with a little non stick spray and added the Chipotle peppers. It was exceptionally hot, delicious, and almost unbearable after 5 pieces of Chicken. Chipotle is one of those peppers that builds the more you eat on an almost exponential scale. I needed something to tame the heat somewhat so I could still enjoy my dish. My next trip to the store I wandered a bit further up the ethnic isle and noticed Coconut Milk in the Asian spice area. I pondered for a few moments, and picked up a can.

From here, I browned the chicken on all sides in a pan, turned down the heat to very low, just barely a simmer and added the Coconut Milk in, scraped the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan, and let it bubble for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, I added in... the peppers.

Tiny peppers of delicious death!

I added in a bit of salt, and about 2 tsp of Sugar to help bring out the flavor of the Coconut Milk. I let this bubble away for another 5 minutes and turned off the heat. My eyes weren't completely watering at this point, so I knew I had curbed the heat in the peppers. I didn't break or chop open the peppers in the container this time. The first time I did, and I paid for it later.

This dish is mildly sweet, Coconutty, and quite warm. If you're looking for a night of hot food, this will definitely slake your need for it. I highly recommend a bowl of ice cream nearby to cool your tongue, or perhaps a beer to help tone down the heat as you eat this. While not as hot as say, a habanero pepper, these pack enough of a punch for just about anyone who likes heat. If you're feeling bold, eat one of the peppers, just be careful as all the ones I've ever eaten out of the can are concentrated with heat and seeds. They are quite tasty!

1 can Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
2-3 Chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch squares
1 can Coconut Milk
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Sugar

Brown cut Chicken on all sides on medium heat in a non stick, or non stick sprayed pan. Lower heat to lowest setting, add Coconut Milk and scrape all the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan, simmer 5 minutes. Add Chipotle peppers, Salt, and Sugar. Simmer another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve!

Checkerboard Salmon

Ok, so every once in a while I like to cook some fish. Cod, Mahi Mahi, and sometimes Salmon. One day I was thinking of how I like Salmon, nice and juicy, but I was wanting something with a bit of a crust, a slightly crunchy feel to the meat. So, after a few experiments, I came up with this! I hope you enjoy!

First, your salmon. The amount doesn't matter all that much, just as long as you can fit it in one go into the pan. here I have about a 1lb whole fillet from my local grocer. 

Heat up your oven to 425F, and get an oven safe pan coated with non-stick spray ready. This dish will not be covered in the oven.

Don't remove the skin, as you'll need it to hold everything together. Take a long kitchen knife, and very slowly, and gently cut the salmon lengthwise all the way across, and about 90% through the salmon. You don't want to go all the way through, and you'll cut in about 1 inch strips.

Once that's done, turn the fillet 90 degrees and do the same in intersecting lines. You're going to basically make a 1 inch cube.

Once that's complete, sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp of salt. No other ingredients are going on at this point, they'll just burn. Spray your skillet liberally with some non-stick spray, turn your burner to medium high. You can also use some olive oil, but be careful as too much and you're looking at a potential grease splatter-fest as soon as you slap your fillet onto it. Once you barely start to see some smoke coming from the oil, quickly put your fillet meat side down and DO NOT MOVE IT. Don't poke it, don't stick your spatula under it NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO! I know it's rough, but trust me on this. Just trust me. 

Now, as you can see in the picture above, the salmon will start to cook and you'll see the meat start to turn from orange next to the pan, to more of a pale white-orange. You may want to back down your heat to medium. This is fine, what we're looking for is the meat to be that pale cooked pink about half way up the fillet. This will take about 5 solid minutes. Once it's about half cooked on the sides, take your spatula (a pancake spatula comes in very handy here FYI) and press down against the pan and start to gently work it under the Salmon. You'll notice that it has some stick to the pan, but not really a whole lot. Remove it from the pan, and place it on some foil, or an oven safe pan and stick it in the oven @ 425 for about 20 minutes.

Remember when I told you not to mess with the fillet with your spatula? Notice that nice bronze crust on top of the Salmon? If you futz'd with it while it was in the early stages of getting this crust, it would tear, have an improper crust, or at worse burn from smaller pieces of meat being torn off and turning to charcoal. The Salmon will attach to the hot pan almost immediately, and as it cooks it will form a crust and start to remove itself normally from the pan, saving you a LOT of cleaning, and giving you some delicious crust for your efforts!

Once the fillet is out of the oven, sprinkle with Pepper and Dill. If you'd added them in earlier they would have blackened almost immediately upon contact with the pan. Not tasty.

1 Salmon fillet 1-2 lbs
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Dill
Lemon (optional)

The Incredible Edible... Bean?

One of my favorite foods just so happens to be Beans. I'm rather partial to Pinto, and Black Beans. Packed with fiber, protein, and tons of other great nutrients, Beans often rank in the top 10 of healthy and tasty foods.

Beans themselves are quite plain. No flavor really at all. In this case, that's perfectly fine, because beans love to absorb flavors. Starting small and dried out that you find in the store, as they sit in whatever liquid, they readily absorb whatever you place in front of them, ready and able to be transformed!

Now, what you have to decide before you start is, what kind of bean do you want? Black? Pinto? Red? They are each best spiced with their own variations. Pinto is more of a rural, rugged bean from the old west. Black complements Mexican food greatly. Red is excellent in chili, and in Cajun food. I have memories from the past of having Beans, Cornbread and Ham for dinner. Ohhhh, delicious Beans!

Regardless of the bean chosen, the kind you start with is dry. You have to soak it. In the past, the soak was done overnight. You dump the beans into a wide pot, or a plate, pick out the bad beans (visible defects, half beans, rocks), rinse them a few times (a colander comes in hand here), then place them in a deep dish full of water overnight. You can speed up this process by heating the water to a boil, then cutting the heat. This will speed up the liquid absorption to around 4 hours.

If you notice in the above picture, I have some spices added. Me personally, I like to add in some flavors to the water. Onion powder, Garlic powder, Chili powder. Some folks may think this wasteful, but the water I covered these beans with didn't have any flavor, and the beans are absorbing the water, soooo... Also, you want several inches above your beans. These puppies will absorb liquid like mad and will expand greatly.

4 hours soak on the left, un-soaked on the right

Once soaked, drain the beans and rinse with clear water. Then comes the cooking part!

First, I start out with a mirepoix of 2 Celery stems, 1/2 of a medium Onion, diced, and 2 whole Carrots, peeled and diced.

Once the mirepoix has mingled for a few minutes, add into a large crockpot. Add your soaked beans, and about 4 cups of water, or better Chicken stock. Add spices, Pepper, Bay leaf, Garlic, Thyme.

 Hold off on the Salt till finished. Salt makes the skins on the beans less receptive to liquid, and a bit tougher. Once cooked, add Salt to taste.

2 Lbs  Pinto Beans

2 Celery stalks, chopped

2 Carrot, chopped

1/2 white Onion, chopped

2 Tsp Garlic powder

1/2 Tsp Thyme

1 Tsp Black Pepper

2 Bay leaf

Salt to taste

6 cups Water (or Chicken stock)

Sort beans, and soak overnight, or boil briefly for 1 minute, then sit for 4 hours. Rinse. In a sautee pan combine chopped Onion, Carrot, and Celery over medium heat. Sweat for 3 minutes. Once completed, add to a large crock pot. Add Beans, Garlic powder, Thyme, Pepper, Water/Chicken stock (enough to cover the beans with about 1/2 inch of liquid), and Bay leaf. Stir intermittently while cooking. Cover, set heat on crock pot to high. Cook for 8-12 hours in crock pot. Monitor and add 1/2 cup Water/Chicken stock as needed to keep beans slightly submerged with liquid. After 8-12 hours, check for tenderness. Add Salt to taste. Enjoy!

An afterthought here: I really like beans. They have good flavor, are versitle, and freeze well. A few years ago a person I met wanted to make a BBQ dinner for some folks, and brought along some tasty Pinto beans. I talked to him briefly, commenting that it tasted quite a bit like what I've had in the past, and asked him if he had any pointers. He asked me if I wanted to know the secret to "makin' a good bean." I replied yes, curious to what his experience could pass to me. His reply: "The secret to making a good bean is.... well you just gotta make it right!" I'm not sure if he was holding back, or if it was a family secret. I stood for a few moments waiting for something a little more tangible. He merely shook his head and said "Yep, make it right." 

Marinara!

So, I've been looking for a long time for a good marinara sauce. I love the sauce that comes with the mozzarella sticks, and often I use the sticks just to get more sauce. It looks so simple, yet tastes like it was simmered all day in a vat of deliciousness. Depth, richness, and totally tomato.

So I looked up a recipe, and saw such variations that it made my mind hurt just contemplating the variances. So I gathered what I had, and I gave it the ol college try! I was missing a few of the "absolutely vital" ingredients, but I strove ahead anyways. What is exploration without a little chance right? So we strive ahead readers!

I started with about 3 Tbsp Olive Oil, and half of a diced Onion.

DICED! Your move!

I sweat the onion in the heated oil for about 2 minutes. We're not looking for carmelization, just sweating and translucence. Add some minced Garlic and let it mingle.

Onion + garlic = mingle heaven!

Once the Onion and Garlic have mingled together in the oil, it's time to bring some crushed Tomato to the party, and some SPICES!

Feel the mingling, FEEL IT!

Once the Tomato has been incorporated, turn the heat down and let it simmer. Small, slow bubbles are good, large rapid bubbles, not so much. Let everything mingle together. HEY! Consider it to be a slow dance. The Tomato has got to get to know the Onion and Garlic.

One the sauce is finished, I placed the Meatballs from the previous recipe into the Marinara sauce. Honestly, I had a picture of it, but it was so delicious that... I ate the picture too!

3 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 medium Onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Salt
1 Bay Leaf
1 heavy pinch black Pepper
1 can crushed Tomato
1 Roma Tomato, diced

Heat Olive Oil over medium heat, add diced Onion and Garlic. Sweat for 3 minutes. Add crushed Tomato, Bay Leaf. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes.

From here you can add some Rosemary, Thyme, Basil or more Garlic. This sauce is really flexible, so put what you want in it. This is great with Meatballs, regular pasta, Mozzarella sticks, you name it!

That's a spicy meatball!

Well, not really spicy persay, but tasty? In the words of Mr. T. : I pity the foo (that doesn't like these meatballs)!

I always wanted to make meatballs. Before we'd always just put ground beef in the sauce and it was quite good, but I wanted something that stood out. I'd never made meatballs, but I'd had them before. Some were good, most were old "family recipies" that just fell too short in the taste area, tasting like cooked meat without spice. So I wanted to make my own, and I did last week!

I took 1 cup Bread Crumbs, 2 Eggs, 1.5 lbs ground Beef, 1 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Garlic powder, 1/2 tsp Pepper.

So after combining the ingredients, I started to work with the greatest tool ever invented for food preperation: the Hand. From there, I combined, by hand, the ingredients until they were all integrated equally. While this was a bit dry, I did add in bits of beef stock as needed, about 1/2 cup or so, it depends on how much moisture your meatballs desire. You're looking for all the bread crumbs to get worked into the meatballs. If you still have some crumbs hanging out in the bowl, use a bit more stock/water until it's worked together.

Once everything is integrated, it's time to roll by hand. I took a decent chunk, about a golfball in size or so and rolled it in my palms until it was roughly round. From there I placed the meatballs in a greased pan. You can use some olive oil, or merely nonstick spray.

I left a decent space between each meatball so they could cook on all sides. I used 2 pans here, as I ran out of room in the first.

Once each pan was lined up, I popped these babys into a preheated oven @ 350 for about 25 minutes.

They came out beautifully, nice and firm on the bottom with a slight crust, fully cooked all the way through. Don't worry, I'll show you next post what I did with them the following day (OMG Yes I waited till the next day to eat them, I still don't know how I resisted!).

1.5 lbs 85/15 Ground Beef (you can use 90/10, I chose a slightly higher fat content for moisture)

1 cup Bread Crumbs 

1/2 cup Beef Stock (varies on how much you'll need)

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Pepper

2 Eggs, beaten

The Meatballs your grandmother made were delicious because of the amount of bread crumbs she used. Meat was a scarcer resource back in the day. Breadcrumbs hold onto moisture, making Meatballs more tender, so don't skimp on the crumbs and add more meat in. 

Combine all above ingredients into a large bowl. Add Beef Stock in at bit at a time until all the bread crumbs are thoroughly mixed in with the meat. This will take about 2-3 minutes of constant kneading and adding stock. You can add more pepper/garlic as your tastes permit. Once combined, pull of about a golf ball sized bit of mix, and roll between your palms. Place in a greased pan with 1/2 inch between each Meatball. Bake in an oven @ 350 for 25 minutes. Don't stir the meatballs! They'll develop a delicious crust on the bottom of the Meatball.

From there the applications are great. Add to a tomato sauce for Meatball subs, add to pasta for mega Meatball pasta. Drizzle with an Alfredo sauce for creamy goodness. I'll show you later how I applied it to a marinara sauce I stumbled into. Enjoy!

Blackened Chicken

As I'm sure you can tell thus far, I like food. I like good tasting food, and I don't like to add a lot of unnecessary fat or calories to food if I can help it. If it tastes just as good with 1 tbsp butter vs 4, why use 4? So I started dabbling a bit in one of my favorite Cajun dishes, blackening. I will expand more as time goes on, but one dish that struck me was one I've had while in Waco Tx for a while at a restaurant called Buzzard Billy's. It was here I first discovered Blackened Chicken Fettuccine, and boy was it good! So I started trying to make Blackened Chicken. While this may not be traditional, it's quite tasty!

First, I take some olive oil (about 3 tbsp) and 1 tbsp butter and mix the two in a pan

My chicken breasts (bone in works quite well here as well) are already seasoned with Blackening seasoning, available in just about any major grocery store. What kind you use, is up to you and your personal tastes. If you're looking for a hint, try Emeril's, or Zatarans. 

Now, normally in Cajun cooking, folks like to get a thick cast iron pan red hot, slap the butter into it quickly followed by your meat or fish. I consider this to be more of an easy, or "poor-man's" way of doing it, minus the whole potential for fire and burning down your house. Once the butter and olive oil are fully integrated (takes about 3 minutes or so, you'll notice when the butter is gone and you start to get a "foam" from the butter) add the seasoned chicken.

Now, one of my friends asked me once about fried foods that she was mangling in the pan. When she thought the food was done she would try and pry it up from the pan, resulting in the food being mangled and not looking all that pretty. Here is kind of the same idea, along with grilling that I passed on. When you place something down to be grilled, fried or pan fried, let it sit for a while where it is. This helps develop crust (ohhhh so tasty!) and more flavor. If you try and pry up your item, it will come to pieces and look very amateur. You can give it a gentile push with a fork or spatula. Once it is ready, the item will fairly easily come up on it's own time.

I'm seeing double noms!

So, you've probably noticed that the chicken here, while delicious, cannot possibly have been finished after 3 minutes on each side. You would be correct! From here, I pull the chicken and place it in a 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes covered with foil. 

After it's been in the oven for 15 or so minutes, I cut the thickest part of the chicken and make sure it's done.

Now, from here you can eat it as is, add some more blackening seasoning, cut it up and add it to a salad, pasta, coffee (it's that good... well maybe not with coffee).

1 lb Chicken Breasts

Blackening seasoning (to taste)

4 tbsp Olive Oil (enough to coat the bottom of your pan)

1 tbsp Butter

Coat your chicken breasts with Blackening seasoning. Preheat oven to 425. Combine Olive Oil and Butter together in a thick pan (cast iron, calphalon or the like). Once oil/Butter mix is combined and starting to smoke, place chicken in pan. Be aware of potential splattering hazard, if you have a splatter shield, it wouldn't be a bad idea to employ it. Cook Chicken 3 minutes on each side without fussing with it. Move to another oven safe pan, cover with foil, place in 425 oven for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Cottage Pie WITH CHEESE!

I'm sure we've all heard of Shepherds Pie. This is the beef version of it. Shepherds pie requires lamb meat, and since we're in the US, and more specifically, I'm in Texas, the beef version will suffice.

First, the topping. What better for a topping than mashed potatoes! Peel, chop and boil your potatoes until fork tender. If you like a chunkier topping, boil until slightly tougher, about 10 minutes or so.

While the potatoes are boiling away, chop 1 large onion and 2 carrots. In this case, I didn't have a carrot, so I used an orange bell pepper. I figured, what the heck, they're both orange right?

Once the potatoes are to your tenderness liking, add some milk and some butter, about 1 tbsp of butter along with a pinch of salt. Mash until your desired smoothness.

Sautee the onions, bell pepper and about 2-3 cloves of garlic together. We are aiming for a sauté on the mix, so stir frequently, and watch closely for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat. When the mix is sautee'd, add 1-1.5 lbs of lean beef to the mix and brown. Once browned, add some thyme, Worcestershire sauce, salt 1/4 cup of wine and cook for 1 minute. 

Once the sauté is done, prep 2 eggs with about 1/4 cup of milk. 

WHY ARE YOU STARING AT ME?

Drop the mix into a 9X13 pan. Here I've added some frozen mixed veggies, some Worcestershire sauce and red wine, and diced tomato right before I dropped the mix into the pan. 

Once in the pan, mix the egg and potato mixture together. With the potato incorporation, spread on top of the dish. 

Top with cheese and....

Extra sharp cheddar is recommended

Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes, and:

Very tasty I must say! You can add or mingle other ingredients to incorporate leftovers to make a larger dish. Experiment and have fun!

4-6 medium Potatoes peeled, and boiled to fork tender
1/4 cup Milk or Cream
1 Tbsp Butter

Boil the Potatoes till fork tender and mash. If you prefer Garlic, Onion, Cheese ect with your Potatoes, go ahead!

1.5 lbs Ground Beef, browned
1/4 cup Red Wine (optional)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 Carrot (or orange Bell Pepper)
1 medium Onion
1 cup mixed Veggies
1 medium Tomato diced (optional)
3/4 cup shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar

Sweat diced Carrot and Onion, add to Beef. Brown. In a 9X13 pan combine the beef mix, mixed veggies, and tomato. Add Potato to top of dish and smooth over. Top entire dish with shredded Cheddar Cheese. Bake @ 400F for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Shrimp.... PERFECTION!

Well, while the "perfection" portion of the title may be a bit.... over zealous.... I think it's pretty darned tasty. Since this is a 2 parter, this will be a longer blog post as I made 2 dishes out of shrimp.

First! I made a Tempura batter. This is the same type of batter that Long John Silver's uses (not EXACTLY, but the type of batter is the same). Flour, an egg, and some milk. I put the flour, egg, and milk into a zip top bag and mix it with a fork. I highly love the idea of single dish, and low maintenance dishes, so less cleanup = greatness!

Here is our victim: the versatile, and delicate shrimp! Now, the ones I got were raw (ewwww) and with the shell on. It's incredibly easy to shell the shrimp. Just lift the carapace on one side over to the other, and work your way down the body. Easy peasy!

Deliciousness, in a small package!

Now, you may have a hard time seeing the peeled shrimp in the batter, but I assure you, inside of this baggy is some cajun seasoning, and the tempura batter. This batter is versitle in many ways. You can put chicken, fish, and just about anything in it and let it sit (1 hour minimum recommended) and it's ready to go! The egg helps the batter bind to the shrimp/chicken/fish ect. I leave my batter to work for about 4 hours usually unless I'm in a hurry. If you just make the batter and dunk it in, usually the batter will separate and not be good Noms.

Once the time has expired, place the shrimp in a pan of shallow oil. I prefer to use a mix of veggie oil, and olive oil. The olive oil helps keep the dish a bit on the healthier side, while the veggie oil helps keep the smoke point higher so the oil doesn't turn your shrimp into nasty blackened tastelessness. 

COOK YOU SHRIMPS!

Ohhhhh yeah, Noms bubbling away!

The finished product should be GBD (golden brown and delicious)! Shrimp cook really fast so prolonged exposure to high heat makes them chewy. As soon as the batter starts to turn golden, flip, wait 2 minutes, and remove. 

Ta DAAAAAH!

Now, the remaining shrimp!

The remaining shrimp, I decided to put in a pan with some Cajun seasoning, garlic, and about 1tbsp of olive oil.

SIZZLE MY PRETTIES!

The shrimp will be a gray color (if raw) before cooking. Once it starts to cook, it will rapidly turn to a reddish-orange color in about 90 seconds. Once this happens, flip to the other side, cook for another 90 seconds, and done! Here's the shrimp dishes side by side:

Sautee'd on left, pan fried on right.

Shrimp isn't hard to cook, it's just the timing that is hard. Shrimp cooks fast, if you're adding it into a dish, add it last. In soups, 2 minutes tops usually. Once the whole Shrimp goes orange, it's done. 

Tempura:

1/3 Lb of shelled and de-veined Shrimp

1 cup Flour

1 Egg

3/4 cup Milk

1 tbsp Cajun Seasoning

Mix in a zip top bag. The consistency should be like pancake batter. 

Sauté:

1/3 lb shelled and de-veined Shrimp

2 minced cloves of Garlic

1 tsp Cajun Seasoning