' With fall now officially here, my thoughts are turning to comfort foods. Soups, stews and other wonderfully warm meals often fit the bill. My local grocery store (and the market in town where we buy most of our meat when it’s not on sale) now have cider, and when I found this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try. I made a few changes from the original to make it better suit the tastes of my family. It turned out very good, and has been added to the “please make this again” list.
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04Oct
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20Mar
I really enjoy cooking, but some days I just don’t have the energy, time, or even the desire to be in the kitchen. I’ve been exploring using my slow cooker more often, and trying to cook so that I can get a stash of food in the freezer. Sometimes, it’s as simple as cooking a regular dish and saving half – 4 servings is more than enough for us, so meals that serve 6 – 8 mean a second meal for us.
Something else I’ve been looking at is freezer meals – meals you assemble and put directly into the freezer to be cooked later, or are completely cooked and can be thawed and reheated at a later time. We got a gift card for a bookstore for Christmas, and we finally got around to spending it. I picked up the book Don’t Panic – Dinner’s in the Freezer. It’s been recommended by several of the sites I read.
This recipe is my version of Continental Beef – I used smoked paprika (as I wanted a smoky flavor) and reduced the amount of mushrooms (as while we like the mushroom flavor, half the family has issues with their texture).
Lisa’s Continental Beef
Makes 6-8 servings.2 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 lb white button mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 lbs boneless chuck eye roast (or any other beef suitable for stew)
8 oz plain tomato sauce
2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup sour creamMelt the butter in a large dutch oven (or other large, heavy bottomed pot) over low heat. Add onion and mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook until lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the pot and set aside. Add 2 tbsp of oil to the pan and brown beef in 2 or three batches. When all the meat is cooked, return meat and onion to the pot.
Combine tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, paprika, pepper and garlic. Pour over meat mixture and stir well. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
If you’re going to eat this all at once, add the sour cream, stir it in and let it heat through. If you’re going to freeze it, let the meat cool, then put in a freezer bag and freeze. To serve, thaw the meat completely, heat it over a low flame until hot, then add the sour cream, bring back to the temperature you want to eat it at and serve.
We tried this recipe on Wednesday, and decided it tasted far better without the sour cream, so that will be omitted in the future.
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17Feb
The kids love this recipe, from their favorite tv cooking personality’s magazine.. I stock up on gnocchi when they’re on sale, just to make sure I’ve got it to make this dish.
Double Dumpling Chicken Soup
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ribs celery from the heart, chopped
2 onions, chopped
4 carrots, shredded (1 1/2 cups)
1 fresh bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 cups chicken broth
1 pound ground chicken (or ground turkey)
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
One 1-pound package gnocchi
1 cup frozen peas
Flat-leaf parsley, finely choppedIn a soup pot, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onions, carrots and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the broth, cover the pot and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, season the chicken with salt and pepper. Stir in the egg, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic and nutmeg. Roll the mixture into walnut-sized meatballs (you’ll have about 40) and add to the soup. Simmer for about 10 minutes while you wash up. Add the gnocchi to the stoup and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the peas and parsley and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat, discard the bay leaf and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve with fresh baked rolls, if you like.
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17Nov
If we’re watching tv before supper, it’s tuned to Food Network. Paula Deen recently did an episode called Country Comfort. Ari, being the budding Cooking Queen she is, wanted to try two of the recipes. Luckily, she made her request before I made the grocery list up, so we’re trying them this week. Saturday it was Paula’s Poblano Chicken Chowder. Tonight we’re having the Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf.
The chowder turned out really well, though a bit spicier than I wanted. Surprisingly, Matt liked it. He’s not a big fan of chowders, but I suspect it was the spice combination that made the difference. The recipe makes a huge amount – 12 to 16 servings. There’s no way we could eat all of that before getting sick of it, so I froze most of the left-overs. It freezes just fine, but when it thaws, it looks like the broth has separated out from the solids and cream. Don’t worry. Heat it over medium low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, and it turns out fine. There’s no problem with texture or taste, and of deterioration of the spice.
The recipe below is based on the Poblano Chicken Chowder, but with the changes I made.
Spicy Chicken Chowder
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 large carrots, diced small
- 2 large onions, diced small
- 5 stalks celery, diced small
- 1/8 cup minced garlic
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and diced small
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
- 3 quarts unsalted chicken broth
- 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, minced
- 3 cups diced (large pieces) grilled chicken
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup heavy cream
Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, poblano peppers, salt, white pepper, cumin, and thyme. Saute for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the chicken bouillon. Add the chicken broth and cilantro, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Stir in the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until the chowder is thick and the chicken is heated through. Shortly before the chowder is done, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes to cook the flour. Do not allow the mixture to brown! Ladle 1 cup of the hot liquid from the stockpot into the skillet, whisking constantly.
When the first cup of liquid is incorporated, add another 2 cups of liquid, 1 at a time. Pour the mixture in the skillet into the stockpot, whisking to blend. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes longer, or until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the hot sauce, then the cream, and serve.
Note: It took me a lot longer to cook than the recipe called for. Supposedly, 30 minutes for prep, and 30 minutes cooking time. I don’t know if my old stovetop is that much less powerful than theirs, but it took 30 minutes to prep, but an entire hour to cook to get the carrots done. I suggest keeping that in mind if you decide to try this recipe.
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25Oct
One of the things I love about the fall is comfort foods. Big pots of soup and stew, things baked in the oven for a long, long time, spreading the warmth and wonderful smells into the rest of the house. I wanted to make beer and cheese soup for supper tonight, so I got all the ingredients together and started. Partway through, I decided I wanted to make a double batch. I had enough of everything, except the stock. Then I remembered the jug of apple cider in the fridge. This soup has become the instant favorite, and will be the preferred cheese soup with my family for years to come.
You’ll notice that this soup uses beef stock rather than chicken stock, like most other cheese soup recipes do. We’ve found we prefer the depth of flavor that comes from the beef stock, and it holds up better to the stronger flavored beers we like to cook with.
Autumn Beer & Cheese Soup
8 oz maple smoked bacon, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
4 cups beef stock
4 cups apple cider
24 oz beer, pale ale preferred
4 cups shredded sharp cheddarPut bacon into cold soup pot. Cook bacon over medium high heat until crispy. Add the butter, onions, celery and salt, and cook for five minutes, or until the onions and celery are soft. Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for three minutes.
Add beef stock, apple cider and beer to the pot. Stir well, scraping up all the bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cheese, 1 cup at a time, to the soup, stirring until melted.
Serve nice and hot. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and garlic croutons.
Makes 8 good-sized dinner servings.
