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!

Ingredient Spotlight – Tripe; Recipe – Tripe and Red Bean Stew

The other day, I had a craving for tripe…I am well aware that that’s a very odd thing for an American to say, but I love tripe. Its flavor is great, similar to a mild chicken liver, and it readily absorbs flavors of accompanying ingredients and sauces. Tripe’s texture is what makes it amazing. If you like the texture of barely-cooked sautéed calamari, you’ll love the texture of tripe! Thinly sliced in Vietnamese Pho, it blends in with the noodles and gives you a lovely, chewy surprise when you sink your teeth into it. In Spanish Callos, it adds a soft and silky counter to chorizo and morcilla, two dense, spicy sausages. In my recipe below, it simply satisfied my craving.

If you are unfamiliar with tripe, it is the lining of a cow’s stomach. If you’re put off by this, don’t be—if you’ve eaten sausage, you’ve eaten tripe. In fact, Wikipedia gives a list of global dishes containing tripe, and this list includes American breakfast sausage, which typically uses tripe as a filler. Most tripe sold in American markets is sold prepared, which means that it has already been dressed and pre-boiled. Even if it has been boiled, tripe benefits from slow cooking, so I boiled mine for an hour before adding it to the stew.

It may be hard to find tripe at your run-of-the-mill supermarket, but if you know of a good Italian or Latino market or butcher shop, you should be able to find good tripe.



Tripe and Red Bean Stew

For the Tripe:
1 lb. / 455 g honeycomb tripe
6 peppercorns
1-2 dried red chiles
Pinch salt
Water to cover

Place all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about an hour. Drain, set aside until tripe is cool to the touch, then slice into thin strips.

 
For the Stew:
4 strips streaky bacon, chopped
1 small carrot, minced
1 large brown onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 serrano chiles, minced
2 green peppers, chopped, divided
1 lb. / 455 g. fresh roma tomatoes, chopped
1 28 oz. / 822g can red beans (do not drain)
Tripe, cooked as prepared above
Generous pinch dried chipotle pepper
2 t. / 5 g. dried oregano
1 packet La Flor brand sazon (or another brand without MSG)
Splash water or chicken broth
Drizzle olive oil
Handful chopped cilantro

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed pot over a medium flame and add the bacon. Cook until the bacon begins to crisp, then add the carrot, onion, garlic, Serrano chiles, and one of the chopped green peppers. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the onion has softened.

Now, add the tomatoes, red beans, tripe, chipotle pepper, oregano, sazon, and water or chicken broth. Stir, then cover and reduce heat. Cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the remaining green pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring regularly. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and chopped cilantro. This dish is delicious on its own, but is also wonderful served over seasoned rice.

* To purchase ingredients used in this recipe, click the link(s) below:

Frontier Herb 61965 Organic Chipotle Chili Peppers (Google Affiliate Ad)

Nutritional information (without rice): serves six. 230 calories, 6g fat, 28g carbohydrates, 19g protein

Around the World in Eighty Bites - Uganda

As my loyal readers know, I keep track of the countries around the world that read this blog. While it’s fun to watch my numbers increase, the main reason I track my international readership is because I want to try as many different cuisines as possible, and knowing that I’m reaching real people across the globe keeps me inspired to create many new variations of traditional ethnic and national recipes. I also like being able to share the recipes with people who, like me, travel vicariously through their taste buds.
 

from nationsonline.org

The 97th country to hop on the www.baconbutterbooze.com bandwagon was Uganda. Like many countries that have been prone to invasion, Ugandan food features mainly native ingredients while reflecting the influences of invading countries’ cuisines. European, Arab, and Indian traders and explorers brought with them ingredients that have been incorporated into traditional Ugandan cuisine, but traditional dishes rely on native staples such as bananas, yams, and smoked or dried fish.

Cooking Ugandan food was a bit intimidating to me, because with the exceptions of Morocco and Ethiopia, most African nations’ cuisines haven’t become trendy yet, and I feared that finding enough information about the cuisine and its ingredients and cooking techniques would be difficult. However, when I’m intimidated by a kitchen project, I always accept the challenge and step up to the plate, so with a little bit of web research and a basket of fresh ingredients, I was ready to cook. After browsing through about a dozen Ugandan recipes, I selected Oluwombo. Oluwombo is a traditional Ugandan dish featuring meat and smoked fish cooked with tomatoes, peanuts, and mushrooms. I chose this dish because it was so different from the dishes I’ve cooked in the past.

While researching, I found several variations of the meat used in the dish - some used beef, some used chicken, and pork and goat were also featured in a few recipes. The other ingredients had no significant variation from recipe to recipe. Oluwombo is traditionally steamed in banana leaves for almost two hours, but to save time, I’ve varied the cooking method to create a stew that captures the flavors, but requires less preparation and cooking time. My first reaction? “How did I live without this for 30 years?”

Try this when you’re seeking something different from your typical beef stew!


Oluwombo-Inspired Stew

1 T. coconut oil
12 oz. sirloin, cut into ½” cubes
1 small onion, minced
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 c. peanuts, crushed
3 oz. Tomato paste
1 cup beef stock or bouillon
4 oz. Fresh button mushrooms, finely chopped
2 chipotles in adobo, minced, plus 2 T. adobo sauce
½ t. toasted cumin seeds, ground
¼ t. ginger
¼ t. turmeric
6 oz. Smoked whitefish, skin and bones removed and flaked

4 baked plantains (instructions below), sliced
Crushed peanuts, to garnish

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 1 T. of the coconut oil over medium-high heat until it has melted. Add the sirloin and cook for several minutes until the meat has browned. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside, and if a lot of liquid and fat has been released from the meat, drain it. Add more coconut oil if necessary, then add the onion and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the onion has softened.

Add all the remaining ingredients and the browned sirloin. Stir, reduce the heat to low, and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once cooked, serve over slices of baked plantain and garnish with crushed peanuts.

Serves four.  Nutrition facts per serving: 790 calories, 68g carbohydrates, 35g fat, 56 g protein


Baked Plantains

4 plantains

Start with plantains that are in their medium stage of ripeness - beginning to blacken, but with a fair amount of yellow still showing. Preheat the oven to 425, and in the meantime, slice the ends off of each plantain, then halve lengthwise. Place the plantains skin side down on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and once the plantain halves are cool enough to touch, peel the skins off and slice the plantain halves into half-inch chunks.

Serves four.  Nutrition facts per serving: 180 calories, 48g carbohydrates, 0.3g fat, 1.2g protein

Around the World in Eighty Bites - Belgium

Before I get to the recipes, I have to let myself get a little emotional here. Up until a few days ago, I’ve been going through the shop, cook, write, post cycle without really knowing who was reading these stories and recipes. Sure, I could see my Facebook and Twitter followers, but I thought those two links were the extent of my reader base. I recently learned that Blogspot, my hosting site, tracks certain statistics. Maybe this is something I should have known, but my technical knowledge doesn’t reach beyond the kitchen - I’m no techie by any means; I don’t even own an iPod! Imagine my surprise when I found out I had readers in Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, and about 20 additional countries! I felt joy, I felt happiness, but most of all, I felt relief. It was the same feeling you get when you’re driving around, unsure where you’re going, and then you see a familiar street or landmark and know that you’re moving in the right direction, and you sigh with relief, knowing that you aren’t a million miles away from your destination.

Over the last few days, I’ve been pretty overwhelmed, and excited, about the fact that people around the world are reading Bacon, Butter & Booze! But I’m not a trophy collector, I’m a writer, and I’m a cook. As such, it is in my soul to use each one of those stats not as validation, but as inspiration. To pay tribute to my international audience, I am going to attempt to cook a dish from, or inspired by, each country that shows up on my stat tracker, and I‘m calling my project “Around the World in Eighty Bites.” Tonight, I begin with Belgium.


Belgium, a small European country bordering France, Germany, and the Netherlands, is known in culinary circles mainly for its beer, chocolate, and, of course, waffles. Tonight, I made a light one-pot meal based on chicken, potatoes, Belgian Endive, and Duvel, a pale ale rumored to be one of Belgium’s best!


Beer-Braised Chicken and Endive

1 T. butter
6-8 chicken thighs, with skin and bones
1 onion, minced
1 ½ lbs. red potatoes, diced
3 bay leaves
Several sprigs fresh thyme
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle Duvel ale
1 pound Belgian endive, cut crosswise into inch-wide strips
Salt to taste

Melt the butter over high heat in a heavy-bottomed pot large enough to fit all the chicken comfortably. When butter starts to bubble, add the chicken on the thigh side. Cook for a minute or two, then turn the chicken pieces over, skin side down.

After the chicken has cooked for about two minutes, add the onion, potatoes, bay leaves, thyme, Duvel ale, and pepper. Do not stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Simmer for 20 minutes, shaking the pot occasionally without removing the lid.

Once the chicken and potatoes have simmered, remove the cover and add the endive and salt. Stir once, then cover and simmer for 2-3 more minutes.

Now, remove the cover and stir again once or twice. Take the chicken pieces out of the pot, remove skin, and portion into individual bowls. Spoon an equal amount of the endive and potato mixture into each bowl, including the broth. Serve, and be sure to drink some Duvel with this dish!

Callaloo Recipe

I promised you my Callaloo recipe, so here it is for those of you interested.  This recipe was adapted from the Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary edition - I used their ingredients but did not follow the proportions (all the measurements given below are estimates).  It is very simple - if you can chop and stir, you can make this recipe.  It goes together rather quickly, but the prep work is time consuming, so this isn't a stew to make if you're looking for something quick.  Save this for a rainy weekend and freeze the leftovers.

Callaloo:
5 strips bacon, sliced into 1/2" pieces
1/2 red onion, minced
1 small bunch green onions, sliced
1/4lb. ham, diced

1 large bunch callaloo, leaves only, cut into bite-sized pieces*
4 cups chicken or seafood stock (seafood stock recipe follows)
1t. fresh thyme
1/2t. chile flakes
1 can coconut milk
1 cup fresh or frozen okra**
1 fillet tilapia, sliced into bite-sized chunks
1/4lb. crab or shrimp
salt and pepper
boiled rice, to serve


* If you cannot find fresh callaloo, canned callaloo can be purchased online.

The first thing I did was prepare the ingredients.  This took about half a decade, but I am admittedly very slow at doing prep work.  That's what happens when you get a neurotic cook who needs to have every slice of onion the exact same size...

First step to the cooking is to fry the bacon in the bottom of a large stock pot until it crisps up.  Then, add the red and green onion and the ham, stirring regularly, until the onion turns translucent. 

Next, add the callaloo, seafood stock, and thyme.  *If you are using fresh okra, add it during this step.  You probably won't be able to see any of the liquid, but this is OK - the leaves cook down quickly. Think of them as edible shrinky-dinks. Place cover on your stockpot, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook gently until the callaloo leaves have wilted down.

Once the leaves are cooked down, stir several times, then add the coconut milk, tilapia, crab or shrimp, chile flakes, and salt & pepper to taste.  **If you are using frozen okra, add it during this step.  Cook for 5 - 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the fish is translucent and flaky. 



Serve over hot boiled rice.

There you have it - a yummy stew.  Although this was good, I felt like it needed something else, but I couldn't place my finger on what.  Next time I make this, I'm going to try adding a little lime juice - I think something acidic could give it a little punch.  Don't get me wrong, the stuff is rather delicious.  Thank God, because I have enough to feed me for the rest of the week! 

Here is how to make a basic seafood stock:  Anytime you eat fish, shrimp, lobster, etc., save the shells, bones, and trimmings.  Also, some markets sell fish heads, which are perfect for making stock.  You can make as much or as little as you'd like - whatever the measurement of seafood bits you use, use 1.5 times as much water (i.e. if you use 1 cup of shrimp shells, use 1.5 cups water).  Boil it with a little salt & pepper and a squirt of lemon juice, reduce to a simmer, and taste throughout - simmer less time for a milder stock, and simmer longer for a stronger flavor.  It freezes well. 

Vamos comer!