Beef Bourguignon

I got a new pot! After recently cooking Poule au Pot in a poor substitute for a something that works in stove-to-oven recipes, I have been keeping an eye out for an enameled cast iron pot at TJ Maxx, and pleased to see some options from Le Creuset, Chantal, Cuisinart and others. Then came the question on size. I really didn't want to own/store two of these, especially since I've survived this long without even one, so it made sense to get a big pot that would hold a whole chicken or cook a large pot of stew. I did my research on whether it is worth it to spring the hundreds of dollars for Le Creuset (it's not) and then pulled the trigger on a beautiful green 7 1/2 qt. Chantal from their Talavera collection.

So, the night I brought this home I decided to try it out right away with a beef bourguignon. Yes, I read Julie & Julia (and no, I'm not planning to read Julie Powell's new book) and was excited to try this classic recipe for the first time.

I was surprised to discover that it isn't truly a one pot meal, as the mushrooms and onions are cooked separately and then added in at the end. Or, in the case of our family, the onions are added in and the mushrooms are served to those who like them. And, I confess I was planning to take a shortcut and purchase frozen pearl onions, but when I couldn't find any at the grocery store, I ended up buying fresh ones instead. I'm not sure how the others would have compared, but these fresh ones tasted fantastic!

And, one more snag to best laid plans... our oven died! Instead of preheating, the oven just spun the fan for a little bit and then displayed an error code. Argh! But, I felt confident in the quality of this new pot purchase and was pleased to be able to finish cooking this for the remaining few hours on the stove without any issues. Results? I thought it was fantastic. Though, the kids weren't enamored. Perhaps, Jim suggested, the full bottle of wine was a bit much for their tastes. Ah well.

Beef Bourguignon
Inspired by Julia Child

1/4 pound bacon

1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 1/2 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 (750mL) bottle full-bodied, young red wine , such as a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3-4 parsley stems
4" section of celery stalk
1 pound small white (boiler) onions
1 pound whole or halved fresh mushrooms

Directions:
 Cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long) and simmer for 5 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large Dutch oven, sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Remove and put aside with the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced carrots and sliced onion. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Allow flour to cook through.


Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon. Make a bouquet garni by nesting thyme sprigs, parsley stems and bay leaf in celery stalk and tie with kitchen twine. Add to the pot, and bring everything to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
 While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Fill a medium pot with water an bring to boil. Saute mushrooms in wide skillet with butter and allow each side to cook undistrubed for several minutes to brown nicely. Set them aside until needed. Add the boiler onions to the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove from water and remove outer skins. After mushrooms have sauteed, place peeled boiler onions in the skillet with butter and sautee on all sides to carmelize.

When the meat is tender, remove the bouquet garni from the pot. Add sauteed mushrooms and pearl onions and stir gently to combine. Serve over egg noddles or potato.

Frikadellen (German Meat Balls)

OK, I confess I didn't stumble across this on my own. With Jim still in Germany, I turned to help from German friends for suggestions on traditional dinners. All of the ideas had the same theme - cooked meats & potatoes. One interesting option jumped out at me was "frikadellen" though I had absolutely no idea what "frikadellen" are until I looked it up for myself. It seemed to be somewhere between a meatball, hamburger and a meatloaf. And, they are small, and small food is just cute. Especially when you are serving small children, which was my audience for the entire week.


My favorite trick that I've recently embraced for making any type of meatball/meatloaf/etc. is to be sure it includes a panade, which is a fancy word describing a mixture of bread and milk. From the science editor at America's Test Kitchen we learn that:

"Starches from the bread absorb liquid from the milk to form a gel that coats and lubricates the protein molecules in the meat, much in the same way as fat, keeping them moist and preventing them from linking together to form a tough matrix. Mixing the beef and panade in a food processor helps to ensure that the starch is well dispersed so that all the meat reaps its benefits."

This step ensure that the meat does not become tough when it is fully cooked through - important as no one likes rare meatball, especially ones that include pork. Unsafe, to say the least.


Frikadellen (or Frikadeller or Frickadelle)
Inspired by Nicolé and adapted from Live Like a German


1 pound of mixed ground meat (3/4 beef, 1/4 pork)
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
pepper and salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1 slice of bread
1-2 Tablespoons milk


Use a food processor to finely mince onion and garlic. Set aside. Add torn up bread to food processor and pulse a few times to make crumbs. Add milk and pulse a few more times to form the panade. Add meat, paprika, egg, salt & pepper and pulse a few times to incorporate. Do not over process. If necessary, remove from processor and finish mixing by hand.


Form into large golfball-size balls and flatten. Place on heated griddle. Cook for a few minutes on each side until cooked through. Serve with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy.

Wiener Schnitzel

Though our "German week" is officially done now that Jim has returned home (yay!) I'm finally getting some time back to write about what we ate while he was in country. One food that we both ate last week was wiener schnitzel. Just saying these two words is fun. The kids were rolling with laughter when I told them what we would be eating for dinner that night. Plus, we had two additional kids joining us that night as well. The gang repeated the words over and over, with escalated giggling each time.

Yes, if you show up for dinner during a theme week, you get the theme food. In my world, this IS kid food. It was served with spaetzle made the day before, and green beans just to add some color to the meal. Guess what? Not only did all four kids love saying the words, they all cleaned their plates and asked for more. Seriously.

While I've never served wiener schnitzel before, I've made Italian style piccata dishes plenty of times. So this really wasn't very different. In poking around for recipes to try and ensure authenticity, I stumbled upon one, authored by a German, which instructed to let the meat sit in some fresh lemon juice before proceeding with applying the coating. This was sooo excellent! Due in no small part to the fresh lemons that Katie gave to us from the lemon tree in her yard. I am definitely applying this technique for all future piccata recipes. Yum!

Wiener Schnitzel
Adapted from Hans Rockenwagner

3/4 pound veal cutlets, pounded thin
juice from 1 lemon
salt & pepper
1 Cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten with 1 1/2 Tablespoons water
1 pkg seasoned croutons, food processed into fine crumbs
3 Tablespoons butter
1 lemon, cut in wedges (optional)

Places pounded veal cutlets in lemon juice and set aside, at room temperature, for 30 minutes. Prepare stations for coating: flour, eggs wash, bread crumbs, and clean plates at the end of the line. One cutlet at a time, season with salt & pepper then dredge in flour and shake off excess. Place floured cutlet in egg wash, turning over carefully with a fork. After allowing excess egg to drain off, dredge in bread crumbs to cover both sides. Transfer to a clean plate and repeat process with remaining cutlets. Allow them to rest (on separate plates, do not stack) for additional 20 minutes to help the coating adhere to the meat.

Heat butter on medium heat in a large, flat skillet or griddle. When foaming has stopped, place cutlets in pan and cook for 4-6 minutes until golden brown. Flip to the other side, using spatula or something else that will not tear the coating, and cook for additional 4-6 minutes. Serve warm, with additional lemon wedges if desired.

Chili Con Carne

I have to confess, I think I'm a bit of a chili snob. I know that sounds dopey, as chili is pretty far from ever being considered snobby food. But, what I mean is, I only like MY chili. Sure, others are fine, but it seems that I always end up comparing them to the recipe I make at home. On the rare occasions I find myself eating another chili, my mind starts thinking "it should have more tomato," or "this spice combination isn't quite right," or "that flavor should not be in chili." Though, last year a friend's mom made a white chili with turkey and lime juice that was fantastic. I need to dig out that recipe and make it at home.


Since the cold weather, er, cool weather, season is so short here in Texas, I find myself making chili as soon as long sleeves might be appropriate. Which is still far warmer than I would have ever worn them up north. Nonetheless, we finally crossed that threshold here at the end of October. Yes, I know it is a week later that this recipe is finally being blogged.

A couple of thoughts about this chili recipe. Looking at the ingredients, there is a lot from the pantry. Some may eschew this, but I promise this combination works. And it works really, really well. It does not look like chili when everything first gets added to the pot, but time and temperature work their magic and everything blends together for the final product. Along those lines, I think canned tomatoes are superior than fresh for this dish because I love the tomato-y flavor, and more importantly, being able to bite into a piece of tomato. When you cook with fresh tomatoes, they completely break down and disappear. But canned tomatoes are packed with calcium chloride which preserves the cell walls so they retain structure during cooking. I think I have to give props to an episode of Good Eats for that nugget of trivia which stuck in my brain.


Final thought - growing up we only ate this as beef chili, but these days I make it with ground turkey about 80% of the time. After watching Food, Inc. I decided to try to avoid buying meats that were raised/processed at traditional compact animal farming operations. Our awesome grocery store carries organic ground beef but I hadn't seen any organic ground turkey before. After a quick question to the guy behind the meat counter, I was redirected to the meat freezer case where they stock organic ground turkey. Score.

Chili Con Carne
Adapted from my mom's recipe, origin unknown

1 Tablespoon oil (canola)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, mashed or pressed
1 lb lean ground beef (round) or ground turkey
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes (I know the picture of ingredients only shows 1 can)
1 10.5 oz can tomato soup
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon chili powder (if your haven't used yours in a long time, buy a fresh jar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can light red kidney beans (I know the pic shows a mix of beans, but after using this discovery a few times, I think I'm reverting back to standard recipe with kidney beans.)

Heat oil in a wide skillet (at least 12") over medium-high heat and add meat, green pepper, onion and garlic. When meat has browned, add all remaining ingredients, except kidney beans, and stir to combine. Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour, stirring occassionally. Add kidney beans, with liquid, and heat thoroughly. Sometimes I add in the beans at the same time as everything else which is perfectly fine too. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce

I like Martha Stewart. I really do. I was a fan before she built her massive empire and her face appeared on every media venue. Though, about a decade ago, I decided that her "Living" magazine wasn't really for me, because many of the recipes required two days! Little did I know at the time that was EXACTLY what I should have been doing, because working on a meal for that length of time with two small kids is a bit ridiculous. When "Every Day Food" appeared on the scene a couple of years ago, I knew this was for me. Plus, its own show on PBS - fantastic!

We never ate ribs growing up, so I was a bit at a loss as to how to prepare them. When in doubt, Martha has the answers. Not only did her guidance produce perfectly cooked ribs, the homemade BBQ is amazing. Seriously. I served a platter of these ribs to guests this summer and they kept coming back for more helpings.

Homemade BBQ sauce is awesome. You get to decide what goes in and (more importantly) what doesn't. This recipe makes four cups, which is more than enough and means you'll be able to store additional sauce in the fridge for next time.

Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce

Adapted from Every Day Food

2 slabs of baby back or pork spare ribs
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons mustard powder
3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
2 cups ketchup
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Season ribs all over with salt and pepper. Stack slabs on a large piece of heavy-duty foil; seal tightly, and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook until meat is fork-tender, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Make barbecue sauce by heating oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in remaining ingredients - mustard powder, sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire, vinegar, molasses, and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.

Open foil carefully and brush cooked ribs with barbecue sauce. Set oven to broil and return for 3-5 minutes so the sauce get thickened and sticky. (Or, finish ribs on the grill instead.) Remove ribs from foil, and slice using a sharp chef's knife. Serve with more sauce.