Beef Stew with Bacon & Vegetables

I’ve known for a few days that it was going to be cold today. And by cold, I don’t mean “Waaahhh, a coat ruins this outfit,” I mean “I am legitimately concerned for my extremities.”

As much as I complain about the cold, I can’t help but love the excuse to spend a day next to the stove. Yesterday, when the weather wasn’t so frostbitey, I planned in advance and bought the ingredients I needed to make a lovely slow-cooked beef stew.

This recipe makes a lot—and by “a lot,” I mean “Hey, East Coast, I’ve got enough for all of you!” Nah, just kidding—but this recipe definitely yields enough for 8-10 cold, hungry people! And it has plenty of healthy vegetables, which I think makes up for the fact that bacon fat is the key to the best flavor.


Beef Stew with Bacon & Vegetables

4-5 slices of thick-cut streaky bacon, sliced into ½” pieces
1.5 lbs. chuck steak, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large onion, diced
3 leafy stalks celery, diced, leaves set aside
3-4 carrots, diced
3 juicy tomatoes, diced
2-3 c. dry red wine
1 32-oz. box organic low-sodium beef broth*
1-2 turnips, diced
3-4 red potatoes, diced
1 large bunch kale, ribs removed, leaves torn into pieces
1 t. dried thyme (or half the amount fresh)
1 t. crumbled dried sage leaves (or 3 fresh leaves, minced)
½ t. ground ginger
½ t. garlic powder
1 lb. green beans, sliced into 1-inch lengths
Smoked sea salt, to taste
Cracked black pepper, to taste


Before you even start chopping, make sure you have a huge pot (I used my 6.75 quart Le Creuset risotto pot). Otherwise, you’re screwed.

Just before adding the liquid

Once your pot is ready, add the bacon over medium heat and cook it until the fat is melted away and the meaty bits are cooked but not burnt. Then, add the beef chunks and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes until the beef chunks are mostly browned. Then, add the onion, carrots, and celery stalk (make sure to keep the leaves separate and set them aside—they will be added later). Cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened a bit.

Next, add the tomatoes (I added a few yellow cherry tomatoes, as you can see in the photo) and 1 cup of the wine. Turn the heat to high, and cook until the wine has reduced and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Now, add one more cup of wine and the beef broth, the turnips, potatoes, and kale, and the thyme, sage, ginger, and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the kale is completely wilted, add the green beans. If it seems dry, add the remaining wine (if you don’t need to add it, you should probably drink it). Cook for about 5 minutes until the green beans are cooked, then add the smoked sea salt and the cracked pepper. Give it a few good stirs until it is well-blended, then serve piping hot. This dish will stick to your bones!


* If you use pre-made beef broth, make sure to use low-sodium, and preferably organic. Of course, if you have your own beef broth, even better!

Not the prettiest, but it's wicked good!

Orechiette with Fennel, Sausage, and Gorgonzola Wine Sauce

One Saturday evening, I was strolling through Boston’s Haymarket on my way to the train, checking out what was left after the day. I spotted some nice-looking fennel bulbs and asked the price; the merchant offered them to me for free since they were closing up shop for the night. Free fennel bulbs? Sure! I didn’t want to be greedy, so I took three. Thanks, merchant!

I wanted to do something different from my typical fennel/orange/arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette. But what? Maybe some sausage, some autumn vegetables…spice it up with some citrus and cinnamon? Worth a try.

I picked up a bottle Orvieto wine, a dry but fruity white from Central Italy, to use in the recipe and drink with the finished dish. I decided to add some color to the dish using lacinato kale, also known as Tuscan Kale or dinosaur kale. If you can chop, you can make this recipe—it’s very easy, and the flavors are incredibly unique! Try this in place of a more traditional autumn vegetable dish; you won’t regret it!


Orechiette with Fennel, Sausage, and Gorgonzola Wine Sauce

16 oz. orechiette
Splash olive oil
12 oz. hot Italian sausage, removed from casing
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large shallots, minced
1 orange, rind grated, segments sliced into bite-sized pieces
10 oz. Orvieto wine
3 small turnips, diced
3 large fennel bulbs, diced
1 bunch lacinato kale, ribs removed, leaves shredded
1 T. pink peppercorns
1 t. dried chile flakes
1 t. dried rosemary
1 t. dried oregano
¼ t. cinnamon
1t. cracked black pepper
4 oz. gorgonzola, diced or crumbled

Cook the orechiette in salted water. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently and breaking apart large chunks. Add the garlic and shallot and cook for 3-4 more minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the wine, orange segments and rind, turnip, fennel, kale, pink peppercorns, chile flakes, rosemary, oregano, and cinnamon. Stir to combine, then lower heat to simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the mixture seems too dry, add a splash of wine or a splash of the pasta cooking water.

Next, add the black pepper, gorgonzola, and cooked pasta. Stir to combine and serve piping hot.


Nutritional info: serves 6-8. 568 calories, 15 g fat, 80 g carbohydrates, 23 g protein.

 

 

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Shiitake Mushrooms with Miso Sauce over Millet

Recently, during a trip to Central Square in Cambridge, I passed what I thought was a café called Life Alive. I didn’t stop in, but I looked it up on my train ride back to the city and discovered that Life Alive is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. I checked out the menu and a few Yelp reviews, and I wished I’d stopped in! Instead, I did what I thought was the next best thing—I cooked a vegetarian dish full of nutrient-rich vegetables and whole grains, seasoning it with a sauce made from soy sauce, sake, miso, and pungent ginger & garlic paste, a condiment that can be purchased at Indian markets or grocery stores with a good selection of ethnic foods.

Next time you feel the need to clean up your diet, give this recipe a try!


Sweet Potato, Kale, and Shiitake Mushrooms with Miso Sauce over Millet

For the millet:
2 ½ c. / 550 mL water
1 t. / 15 g salt
1 c. / 230 g millet

For the vegetables:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
12 shiitake mushrooms, halved
1 bunch kale, mid-ribs removed, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. / 15 g salt
2/3 c. / 150 mL water

For the sauce:
½ c. / 115 mL sake
¼ c. / 60 mL low-sodium soy sauce
¼ c. / 60 g miso
2 T. / 30 g ginger & garlic paste

1-2 sliced green onions, to garnish
Butter or vegan butter substitute

First, cook the millet by bringing the water to a boil. Add the millet, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes, covered. Let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

In the meantime, add the sweet potatoes, kale, garlic, salt and water to a large stockpot with a lid. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the kale has wilted and the sweet potatoes are fork-tender.

While the vegetables and millet are cooking, make the sauce by combining the sake, soy sauce, miso, and ginger & garlic paste in a small saucepan over high heat. Whisk until the miso and the garlic & ginger paste have dissolved completely.

Once all the components are cooked, serve in individual bowls by adding the millet, then the vegetables, then the sauce, and finally, finish with a few sprinkled green onions and a pat of butter or vegan butter substitute.

Nutritional information: serves four. 340 calories, 2.2 g fat, 65.8 g carbohydrates, and 11 g protein per serving.

Around the World in Eighty Bites - Ireland

Playing off a popular stereotype about the Irish, a popular (and somewhat offensive) joke goes, “What do you call a six-pack and a boiled potato?  An Irish seven-course meal.”  Yeah, yeah, the Irish are known for their love for potatoes, but the sadly ironic fact is that potatoes became a staple in Irish cooking mainly because Catholics who were denied property rights needed to be able to feed their families cheaply and without grazing land for livestock.  Ladies and gentlemen, meet the nutritionally-dense potato, which was introduced to the Emerald Isle by traders and explorers and which originated in South America (specifically Peru, as my Peruvian friend informed me last night). 

Trust me, friends – there’s more to Irish cuisine than potatoes.  With its extensive seashore, fish and shellfish are very popular in Irish cooking, and a St. Patty’s Day feast would be incomplete without a loaf of crusty soda bread (with or without currants).  Kale and cabbage are turned into beautiful dishes, and the superb quality of Irish dairy and beef is appreciated worldwide.  Accents notwithstanding, my favorite thing to come out of Ireland is its delicious whiskey!

For my latest installment of “Around the World in Eighty Bites,” I decided to use traditional Irish ingredients – salmon, potatoes, and kale – cooked individually, but brought together with a delicious, decadently rich sauce based on Irish Whiskey and butter.  I picked up a pound of salmon and some oysters from Mercato del Mare last night, along with some curly kale at Alba’s Produce.  Sure, both of these spots are a little out of my way on a work night, but when you’re cooking with very few ingredients, each needs to stand out and not get lost on the plate.  This is especially true when you are entertaining – don’t subject your guests to garbage! 

To time this meal correctly, put the potatoes in the oven first, then put the salmon in the oven about 15 minutes later, and start the kale right after you close the oven door on the salmon.  Make the whiskey butter while the potatoes are broiling.  And - last but not least - go ahead and sip a little whiskey while you're cooking.  It builds character. 

Baked Salmon with Whiskey and Thyme

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1 pound salmon fillet, cut into 4 oz. strips

About ¼ cup Irish whiskey, such as Jameson

5 pats butter

Preheat the oven to 375.  Place the thyme sprigs crosswise in a rectangular baking dish, spaced about an inch apart.  Then, place the salmon strips, skin side up, across the thyme lengthwise, so the salmon and thyme are criss-crossed.  Splash the whiskey in the baking dish so that it evenly coats the bottom of the dish, and then place a pat of butter between each salmon strip (including between the end pieces and the walls of the dish). 

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 13-15 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through.  Serve with Whiskey Butter Sauce.

Whiskey-Braised Kale

1 pound kale, ribs removed

Splash Irish whiskey

¼ c. chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs fresh thyme

4 pats butter

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan with a lid.  Cook over low heat until the kale is wilted.

Whiskey Butter Sauce

½ stick butter

Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme

¼ cup Irish Whiskey

Pinch finely ground black pepper

Melt the butter and let it begin to brown slightly.  Now, add the thyme, whiskey, and pepper.  The butter will froth when the whiskey is added.  Cook over high heat until you can no longer detect a strong alcohol scent and the sauce has reduced slightly.  Whisk a few times with a fork or small whisk, and spoon over your salmon, potatoes, and kale. 

Red Potatoes with Whiskey and Thyme

1 pound red potatoes, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/3” slices

Splash whiskey

Leaves from 4 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt & pepper to taste

4 pats butter

Preheat the oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients except the butter in a baking dish, toss to coat the potatoes with the whiskey and spice mixture, then add the butter. 

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. 

Now, once the potatoes have cooked and the salmon is done, place the dish under the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes, or until the edges of the potatoes begin to turn golden.  Remove from the oven and serve with Whiskey Butter Sauce.

Battle of the Butchers

How many of you purchase your meat from butcher shops? I’m guessing not many. Old-school butchers seem to have gone the way of the dinosaurs and the Zack Morris cell phone, but I stumbled across two butcher shops in Boston’s North End - DiPaolo & Rossi and Sulmona‘s. I had to stop into both and decide once and for all who gave me the best steak.

I’ve shopped at a real butcher’s before - Hill’s Meat Market in the Wesleyville neighborhood of Erie, PA, my hometown - and I consider myself lucky to have grown up with the experience of walking into a small, family-run store and hearing my mom ask, “What’s fresh today?” and planning a meal around Donny’s recommendation. Sure, my mom and I also shopped at supermarkets and other specialty retailers, but as a kid, I remember our meat wrapped in thick paper the color of Crayola’s Burnt Orange crayons; no Styrofoam tray, no moisture-absorbing paper, no plastic wrap.

My Godfather Joe owned Joe Zak’s Market, a neighborhood grocery store in Pittsburgh with an on-site butcher (read more here). Although I was only three when Uncle Joe retired and closed the store, the article from the Pittsburgh Press style section reporting on the closing hangs in my kitchen, and I get to look at Uncle Joe and Aunt Eleanor while I prep. The article talks about the history of the store and the neighborhood’s reaction to the closing, and talks about how pro baseball players used to help Uncle Joe prep the turkeys for delivery. You’d never see an article like this about the local Stop & Shop going out of business.

 How did I evaluate DiPaolo & Rossi vs. Sulmona’s? At each store, I bought a 6 oz. Sirloin steak approximately ¾" thick. I cooked them at the same time, in the same pan, for the same amount of time per side, and with the same seasoning and sauce (recipe below). I allowed the flavors to speak for themselves, and I found that DiPaolo & Rossi’s sirloin was more tender, while Sulmona’s was tougher but more flavorful.

So who won? I’ve got to give them a tie - the only logical way to solve this dilemma would be a dance-off. In the big picture, the winner is the customer - buying meat from a local proprietor who cares about his/her product really does make a difference. Small, independent shops may not have the selection that big-box chains offer, but at the same time, you know the product hasn’t been sitting in a freezer case for months hoping to be thawed, and you won‘t smell more plastic wrap than meat when you open your package. The butcher will cut the meat as small or as large as you’d like, and you’re not going to be stuck cutting away ginormous chunks of fat. When you buy from a butcher, you get meat your way and you’re not at the mercy of some corporate store manager more concerned with administrative BS than what’s in your shopping bag. The best part of neighborhood shops is that while they don’t always have what you’re looking for, you know that if you ask for it, they will get it for you, or you could challenge yourself, walk in and ask, “What’s good?” and then base a meal around what they offer you - not so unlike a Top Chef challenge!

Obviously, steaks were on the menu, and I decided to base the meal on seasonal ingredients, using pumpkin, porcini mushrooms, kale, and a touch of bacon, butter, and booze. Serve these steaks with broiled polenta squares over braised kale. Complete the prep work ahead of time, and you can fix this meal in about ten minutes.

Sirloin Steaks with Whiskey Cream Sauce

2 oz. pancetta or uncured bacon
2 6 oz. sirloin steaks, approx. 3/4" thick, rubbed with salt and pepper
1 T. butter
1 shallot, finely minced
1 1/2 oz. whiskey
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 T. reconstituted porcini mushrooms, finely minced (see below)*
1 t. fresh thyme leaves

Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet (cast iron is preferable) over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the pancetta or bacon and fry until crisp. Remove from the pan and place on paper towels to absorb grease; pour grease off pan (I save bacon grease, it makes a great soup base!) When the pancetta or bacon has cooled, crumble it into small bits and set aside.

Turn the heat up to high. Add the steaks and cook for approximately three minutes per side for medium rare. Once the steaks are cooked, remove them and set aside on a plate. They will continue to cook and distribute their juices, do not disturb the steaks while they rest.

Now it is time to make the sauce. Remove the pan from the burner for a minute or so to reduce the heat so that the sauce ingredients do not cook too quickly and burn. Next, place the pan over low heat, and add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the shallots and saute them for a minute or so, stirring constantly. Now, add the whiskey, cream, mushrooms, and crumbled pancetta or bacon, stirring constantly until all the ingredients are blended. Remove from heat, pour sauce into a small bowl, and add the thyme, stirring until blended. Spoon a small amount over your cooked steak and serve.


Broiled Polenta with Pumpkin and Pecorino

several pieces dried porcini mushrooms*
water
1 cup polenta
salt and pepper
2 T. butter
1 cup shredded raw pumpkin
1/2 cup shredded pecorino romano
2 T. crumbled pancetta or bacon

In a small bowl, add 1 cup of boiling water to the porcini mushrooms. Soak for 10 minutes, then remove the mushrooms, chop finely, and set aside. Pour the mushroom soaking liquid into a large saucepan with 3.5 additional cups of water and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

When water has reached a rolling boil, slowly pour the polenta into the water, stirring quickly and constantly. When all the polenta has been added, continue to stir. Do not stop stirring, or the polenta could come out lumpy. The polenta will begin to thicken; keep stirring for about 5 minutes, until the polenta becomes very thick. Add the butter and stir until it is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, then pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish, spreading with a spatula so that the polenta forms an even layer approximately 1/2" thick. Set the polenta aside to cool, once it has cooled to room temperature, place it in the refrigerator to set for at least an hour. This step can be done the night before.

Once the polenta has set, cut it into 12 squares (for a nicer presentation, use a cookie cutter and cut them into rounds, saving the leftover polenta for a random snack). Place these on a baking tray, and preheat the broiler on high. Next, sprinkle the shredded pumpkin on top of each polenta round, making sure all the pumpkin is used. Repeat this step with the pecorino romano cheese, with the crumbled pancetta or bacon, and with the minced porcini mushrooms.

Place under the broiler for 5-8 minutes, or until the cheese has completely melted. Serve on top of a bed of braised kale.

* If you cannot find dried porcini mushrooms, they can be purchased online.


Braised Kale

Lacinato kale is also called Tuscan kale, dinosaur cale, or cavolo nero. Curly kale can be substituted if lacinato kale is not available.

1 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed, chopped into 1" thick strips
4 sprigs fresh thyme
pinch salt and pepper

Rinse the kale in water; do not dry. Add the wet kale to a large pot with a lid with the thyme, salt, pepper, and approximately 1/4 cup water. Cook over medium low heat, until the kale begins to wilt. Serve, season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.