Beef Stew

beef stew is like stone soup - you put the stuff in the pot and cook it, minus the stone, of course. Simple. Great for these cold winter days we're having in almost the entire country.

Cube and brown the beef in a little oil and garlic. I used 2 pounds and sauteed in two batches because too much meat in the pan will not brown well. Add some salt while the meat is sauteing.

Add some red wine, a little more.

Add some sliced mushrooms

Add some onions. I used four medium sized onions.

Let everything start cooking together

Add some chopped celery.

Add some carrots - I used the ones that are ready to cook.

Add some potatoes. We're cutting down on starch and carbs, so I used less than I could have.

I decided to transfer the whole stew to a crock pot/slow cooker which is larger than the pot I had started with. But I did this mainly so I wouldn't have to check on the cooking quite as often.

Add some tomatoes - you can use stewed tomatoes or diced tomatoes in their own juice.

Add salt and pepper and several bay leaves

This stew cooked in the crock pot for about 5 hours. Add a little water as needed during cooking if stew is too dry.

I added a can of peas about a half hour before serving. You can use frozen peas which are probably better, or even some green beans if you don't have peas. Discard the bay leaves as you find them.

It was yummy!

Dinner's Ready!

Benni:

"You better not touch MY stew"

Re-run: Unstuffed Cabbage

I have posted unstuffed cabbage or lazy stuffed cabbage before, but without photos. Here are some pics.

Green Cabbage, Onion

Saute The Beef With Onion, Garlic, Salt, Pepper,
Set Aside

Shred And Saute The Cabbage in Butter And Oil,
a Bit Of Salt

Use Some Kind Of Tomato 

I Prefer Unadulterated

I Put Uncooked Rice In The Pot With Oil and/or Butter,
Toss It Around, Then Add Water or Stock, Salt and Simmer

Mix Together The Cooked Rice, Beef and Cabbage
Eat It As Is OR
Put In A Casserole and Warm In the Oven
(Helps the Tomato and Flavors Absorb In The Rice)

This dish is great for a cold winter night, for a pot-luck (double the recipe) or, if you're frugal, to stretch some ground beef.  It's a healthy "hamburger helper" without the box and chemicals (really - you can google that yourself).

Gotta go, Dinner's Ready!

Amateur Chili

I did not grow up eating chili.  I don't remember when I first had it, but it was probably at a picnic or pot luck.  And I must admit that I am not partial to those Southwest spices like cumin and cilantro and coriander. So when I make chili, it is usually very light on the pungent spice.  I'm also not very adventurous with things like coffee or chocolate.  I'll have my coffee with a chocolate biscotto.

The discount food market had London Broil for $1.99.  That's less than ground chuck, so I bought a slab and sliced and cut it into smaller than bite-size pieces.

Olive oil and garlic in the pot, added some chopped onion and the last of the hot lemon peppers from last year's garden that were in the freezer.  Some green pepper and the meat.  Let the meat saute with the veggies and some salt and pepper.  Then added a good spoon of chili powder and a couple table spoons of brown sugar.  There was a half can of tomato puree left from making pizza the other day, so that went in along with one large can of red beans.  It sat over a low flame for a about four hours.

The meat was tender and the chili seasoning was not overpowering.  It could have used a little more hotness but had a mild bite tempered by the sweetness of the brown sugar.

That Lettuce Leaf  and the Splash of Sauce
is What Ruined This Photo Op

Spooned it out with some grated cheddar on top, along with a nice salad and a Portuguese roll, it made for a good dinner on a hot day.  I was so hungry, I forgot to have a beer.

Burgers on the Grill

This is the quintessential American meal - burgers and fries with accoutrements.

Grilled Lean Beef Burgers with Cheese
(Leon's Burger has Cheese Chunks)
The Third Smaller Burger is For Benni, of Course

Shallow Fried Potatoes

Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion

Red Cabbage Slaw*

Cukes With a Pre-mix Salad Dressing

The Table is Set

And Plated Up

*Red cabbage slaw: 1/2 head of red cabbage shredded; soak in a bowl just big enough to contain the cabbage with 1/2 cup of vinegar and enough water to cover and a little salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar.  After 20 - 30 minutes, drain off the vinegar-water.  Add 1 cup chopped carrots, a half cup of raisins and/or dried cranberries, a half of chopped onion, 2 teaspoons of horseradish, 1/4 to 1/3 cup of mayonnaise and refrigerate overnight if you plan ahead.  Otherwise serve today.

Not Italian Meatballs in Gravy

Ground beef, a finely chopped onion, parsley, garlic powder, dash of nutmeg, plain bread crumbs, salt, pepper, an egg and a dollop of sour cream. Mushroom gravy made with fresh sautéed mushrooms and onion. Served with bread and veggies.  Dinner's ready.  Tasty.

All American

They had a nice little sirloin steak on sale at the market today.  I had to shovel two feet of snow off the grill so Leon could go out and cook it while I made some oven fried potatoes (just coat the cut potatoes with oil and place on cookie sheet at 450 degrees for 40 minutes or until they start to brown - just as good as deep fried).  Also made grilled green squash (OK, zucchini - it's American, you know).

And a half glass of Merlot from the box.

The (box mix) brownies are just coming out of the oven for dessert.  Hit the [button on the] coffee pot, Leon.  Gotta go.

Snow - Comfort Food - Shepherd's Pie

No barbecue tonight...

If shepherds made their pie with lamb, it would make sense, unless they were so fond of their sheep that they went for beef.  Shepherd's pie is a good comfort food.  Can anything with melted cheese  be bad?

This is one of Leon's favorites, and as such it has NO tomato sauce.  Saute ground beef with onion, season to taste.  Layer the Dutch oven with the meat, veggies (using frozen veggies here), mashed potatoes (not from a box - you all know how to make mashed potatoes) and cheese (cheddar, jack, whatever).  Pop it in the oven until the cheese melts and browns.

Photos here:

Dinner's Ready!
Plenty of leftovers.

You Say Rissolli - They Say Rissole

Russ,
I found several rissolli recipes - only they spell it rissole.  Does this count?  A rose is a rose is a meatball.  So I don't need to invent a new dish.

Wouldn't you know, I've been making them for years - it's my family's basic meatball recipe, (which I've already done with turkey).  In some of the versions, they include various minced veggies like carrots in addition to the onion and herbs we use.  Here's one recipe, gleaned from the net, that's most like my meatballs or meatloaf, just make into patties and cook up in a skillet.  In summer, we put them on the grill and serve them on buns.

• 2 lbs mincemeat (ground beef)
• 2 eggs
• 1 medium onion (chopped finely)
• 1 cup breadcrumbs (you may need more)  (I use dried bread, moistened)
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce (ketchup) (No, I don't think so)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (No, I don't think so)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried herbs (or fresh mixed herbs such as sage, parsley, thyme or what ever you have in the garden) (Definitely fresh or frozen parsley and fresh or frozen basil)
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder  (No, I don't think so)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour, for dusting the rissoles (Who needs it?)
• 2 tablespoons oil for frying, you may need more oil.

Unstuffed Cabbage

I grew up in a very ethnic town.  Polish and eastern European friends and families introduced us "Italians" to the golumpki or golabki, along with pierogi and garagekis.  Never heard of garagekis?  That's what you used to use to open the garage door - before they invented remote controlkis.  Groan.

Well,  this cabbage dish is for lazy cooks.  It has all the right elements for golumpki but is a lot less work.  I made it for New Year's Eve.  Serves eight.  You'll need a pound and a half of ground beef; one small head of green cabbage, an onion, one and a half cups of (raw) rice, two small cans of Hunt's tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce unless thats all you have), some seasonings.

Chop the onion and saute it in a little oil and butter in a large cast iron skillet.
Add the ground beef, salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste and cook, breaking up the meat until the meat is cooked through.  Remove the meat from the pan.

Prepare the rice by melting a tablespoon of butter or oil in a sauce pan.  Add the rice and stir to coat the rice in butter/oil.  Add three cups of water and some salt.  Bring the rice to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed (about 12-15 minutes).  Remove from heat and fluff the rice.

Core and shred the cabbage like you were making cole slaw.  Add a little oil to the skillet along with any juices from the beef.  Braise the cabbage, stirring it until it is well wilted and softened.  Return the ground beef to the skillet, add the tomato sauce and cook the cabbage, sauce and beef together for 5 or 10 minutes.

Transfer the meat mixture to a large roasting pan or casserole, add the cooked rice, mix it all together evenly and place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Serve Hot. Yum.
Photo not available just yet - the guys ate it (the Unstuffed Cabbage, not the photo) before I even thought to take a picture!