Beef Stew

There are many things to enjoy about fall weather. My personal favorite is the return to comfort food. You know what I'm talking about. No one makes a steaming bowl of soup when it's 95 degrees, and no one cranks up the oven to make mac and cheese or lasagna. But when the weather changes, my stomach starts growling and I start craving me some stick to your ribs kind of food. This past weekend, we had our first "Fall Weather Weekend." I dug around in my freezer and found a top round roast from Gartners. Perfect for making stew. Add in some of Jenny's scratch made Spatzle, and BAM! We're kicking of the fall food season with a bang.

Inspiration: Pacific NW Fall Weather
Time: 75 Minutes
Difficulty: Fairly Easy
Special equipment: Heavy duty cast iron pot
Servings: 6 Servings

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flour
Top Round Roast, cut up into bit sized pieces (can use Venison, buffalo or elk too)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
olive oil
1 onion, diced small
3 medium carrots, cut into bit sized pieces
1 red or orange pepper, cut into bit sized pieces
5 cloves of garlic, rough chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried mustard powder
12 oz. Stout (beer)
16 oz diced tomatoes (preferably fresh)
2 ears of corn, steamed and cut from the cobb
1-2 cups beef broth
1/2 pound dried egg noodles - cooked (or make your own Spaetzle)

1. In a dry pan cook flour over medium heat until brown (stirring with a whisk very frequently). Remove flour from the pot.

2. Toss meat with salt and pepper. Coat bottom of pot with oil and saute meat until browned. Remove from pot.

3. Coat bottom of pot with oil again and saute onion, carrots, bell pepper, garlic and herbs until onions are translucent. Add mustard and flour and stir until well coated. Some will stick to bottom of pan...that's okay.

4. Add 4 oz of stoud and stir so that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add another 4 oz and stir until foaming subsides. Add remaining stout along with tomatoes, corn and 1 cup of broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add in remaining broth when stew starts to get too thick for your taste.

5. Serve over cooked egg noodles (or again, make your own Spaetzle)

Jambalaya

I really like having a food moment where I see something and think, "I can make that...no problem." The most recent occurance of this happened upon a post vacation trip to Freddy's. Jenny and I had eaten our cubboard and fridge bare in preparation for a week on Vancouver Island, and we were wandering the store to be able to eat for the week. As I walked down an aisle, I saw a box mix for making Jambalya. "No way," I thought, " could it be THAT difficult" I had in my cart brown rice, stir-fry veggies, some chicken breasts, chicken apple sausage. CHECK MATE!

Inspiration: Post Vacation Pick Me Up
Time: 60 Minutes
Difficulty: Fairly Easy
Special equipment: Rice Cooker, Heavy duty cast iron dutch oven
Servings: 6 Servings

• 1 chicken breast, diced
• 1 tablespoon Tony's Creole seasoning (There is no other brand)
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 onion chopped
  
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  
• 2 Carrots, chopped
• 3 heads of garlic, chopped
• 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes (I used 2 cups roasted tomatoes I froze last summer)
  
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce (Wooster)
• 1 teaspoon Tobasco sauce
• 3/4 cup rice
  
• 3 cups chicken stock
  
• 2 chicken apple sausages, sliced
• Salt and pepper

1. Toss chicken with Creole seasoning and set aside.

2. Heat cast iron dutch oven over medium heat. Saute raw veggies in oil until onions are translucent. Add Tomatoes, Wooster, Tabasco and stock. Bring to a simmer.

3. Add your rice and simmer in your Jambalaya sauce until rice is mostly done. Depending on the variety rice, this could take from 15-45 minutes.

4. Add chicken and chicken apple sausage. Cook until chicken is done - another 10 minutes or so.Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.

Note: I used my rice cooker to make the rice and then spooned the sauce over my rice. This is cheating and the rice isn't as flavorful as if it were cooked in the suace...but I can never cook rice correctly, so I did what I needed to do.

Another Note: You could add shrimp if you wanted when 5 minutes from serving. Shrimp cooks much faster than chicken, and is easy to over cook to a rubber like state. Be careful.

One last note: My Apologies to Ash for a nearly 7 month wait between posts.

Opa's Booze...err...Eggnog

Opa, my great grandfather, was well known during the holiday season for his eggnog. And deservedly so. It's very tasty. Honestly, it is no different that other home-made eggnogs: Separate eggs, beat cream and sugar with yolks. Add cream milk and alcohol. Fold in whipped whites, top with nutmeg etc. Where most recipes would have you add whisky, or brandy, Opa's has you add both, and rum for good measure. That's why I call it boozenog.

For perspective Alton Brown has you add 3oz of bourbon to his recipe. Emeril suggests 2 cups bourbon and a cup of brandy. Opa? A fifth of bourbon, a pint of rum and a half pint of brandy does just dandy.

If he were here today, and we were drinking nog together, I would undoubtedly stumble over to him, throw an arm around his shoulders and begin singing loudly. I hope he would take it as a compliment.

Inspiration:
Time: 10 minutes prep
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: A large bowl with air tight lid
Servings: depends how large the mug is

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
10 eggs (separated)
2.5 quarts milk (whole preferably)
3/4 quart of cream
1 fifth bourbon
1 pint rum
1/2 pint brandy

Beat egg yolks and sugar until it is thick and pale yellow. Add milk and cream and beat until smooth. Add liquor slowly and continuously while beating. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into the egg/cream/booze mixture.

Rest in a coll place at least 4 days to blend.