Irish Stew

I have typically made up my own Irish stew version for St. Patrick's Day, but this year I decided to follow a recipe from my bought-in-Ireland Irish cookbook (brilliant idea, right?).  And I mostly stuck to it.  What I love about this recipe is that it is so simple and you actually end up with a stew--thick, rich gravy in the bottom of the pan that is absolutely wonderful to mop up with fresh soda bread.  YUM!

[[Funny/ironic side story about the meat used in my Irish stews.  It's venison, not lamb or beef which would be more traditional.  One year when we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our small group from church we read the St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer as a prelude to our meal together.  One story goes that the prayer was chanted for protection against druids who were laying in ambush for Patrick and his followers.  Legend has it that God answered this prayer by making Patrick and Co. appear as deer to the druids and they were able to pass by unharmed.

Yep.  Then after we read the prayer we ate Irish stew with venison.]]

Anyhow, this year I followed an actual Irish recipe (except I still used venison of course!).  You basically brown your meat in some butter or oil then layer onions and carrots on top followed by thickly-sliced potatoes.  Add turnips if you like.  Pour broth over the whole and stew for two hours on the stove or in the oven. 

Making this in my cast-iron skillet meant it was a one pot deal.  Nice!  I'll go ahead and post a recipe since I made a few (just a few!) changes.  I used less meat and added some flour when it was browned to make sure I had a nice, thick gravy in the bottom of the pan.  I also pre-sauteed the onions the second time I made this which I thought added a nice depth of flavor.

Traditional Irish Stew

(adapted from "The Irish Heritage Cookbook" by Margaret M. Johnson)

1 lb. lamb, beef or venison cut in about 1-inch chunks

2 - 4 carrots thickly sliced (I like the diagonal look)

2 onions, sliced 

2 - 3 large baking potatoes, peeled, halved, and thickly sliced

Thyme, salt, and pepper to season

1 cup water or broth

Butter (as much as you need!)

2 - 3 TBSP flour

My method:  Pre-heat oven to 300F.  If you want to caramelize (or saute until lightly golden) your onions, do this first in a few TBSP of butter.  Remove from the skillet when they are done to your likeness and add the meat into the same skillet.  Add more butter if necessary.  Sizzle and stir until browned and add the flour.  Work the flour into the meat and bit and remove from heat.  Toss in a bit of your chopped or dried thyme.  Layer on the onions and carrots (and turnips if using) and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a few tsp chopped, fresh thyme.  Spread Potatoes on top and sprinkle again with salt, pepper, and thyme.  Pour your water or broth over all.  I used some vegetable bouillon broth with a generous splash of balsamic vinegar in it for a little depth (I think a nice, dark beer would be fantastic in place of the broth!).  Cover, and return to low heat for two hours.  Or, do as I did and bake it in the oven for the same amount of time.  Check it after an hour or so to see if it needs any more liquid.  The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups, but I found just one cup to be satisfactory.  When the potatoes and carrots are cooked to your likeness and the meat is tender, uncover the stew and brown the potatoes under the broiler.  Garnish with fresh parsley or thyme.  Serve it up soon with thick slices of fresh soda bread--baked along with or right after the stew!  I also served mine with some delicious cabbage/spinach saute ("recipe" to follow in another post).  My mouth is actually watering as I write this.  And we've got more venison chunks in the freezer, so there's no reason not to make it again soon.  Wonderful recipe for the winter repertoire!

Corn Chowder

A great dish for when you might be low on supplies and low on time. Luckily, we have plenty of sweet corn in our freezer right now, but I'm sure this would taste good with canned corn too. I'll leave off the amounts as I trust you experienced cooks can figure out how much is good for you!

Simple Corn Chowder

Onion, diced + a little butter for sauteing
Potatoes, diced (I like to use redskins and leave the jackets on)
Corn
Water
Milk or half-&-half or cream
Salt/Pepper to taste

Yep, that's the whole ingredient list! I even resisted any urges to add garlic. =) Saute your onions in butter (or oil if you like) until nice and soft. Add potatoes, corn, and just enough water to cover. Cook until potatoes are done to your preferred softness. Add milk, etc. and salt/pepper to taste. How easy was that?! All of the following make excellent garnishes: shredded cheddar, chives, cilantro, or bacon.


Cook's Word: The first time I made this I had some half-&-half sitting around (not being used!). The half-&-half made the soup incredibly silky and delicious, but the flavor was still good with plain old 1% milk another time around. I think a bit of celery sauteed with the onion would be yummy too.

Christmas Feast

I know. I know. It was the same thing last year. Tamales and pozole for Christmas. But this year the pozole was a miracle and it rocked! What happened was we were at least an hour into our 5-hour trip for Christmas when I realized that in the whole igloo full of food, I hadn't put in pozole from the freezer. Luckily, I had just been looking up ideas for pozole toppings the day before and had read a blurb about making pozole, so it was pretty fresh in my mind. I had also happened to bring along some pork tenderloin I thought we might use in tamales. When we stopped for breakfast we made a quick trip to Food Lion for hominy and oregano. I called my mother in law (who was still at home) and asked her to bring chili powder, garlic, and bouillon.

And it turned out great! What makes the soup scrumptious is all the fresh toppings (which I DID remember to pack) that you add to your bowl when you eat it.

Anita's Throw-it-Together Pozole

1 lb. (more or less) pork tenderloin, cubed
1 29-oz. can white hominiy
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 chicken (or veg) bouillon cubes
water
oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In your soup pot, fry the cubed pork until browned (add a little water if it sticks). Add the garlic and saute a bit. Toss a bit of oregano and chili powder (one tsp. each?) and saute some more. Add hominy, bouillon, and enough water to cover plus some. Stew until ready to eat (and meat is cooked through)--for me, this was pretty much all day. Add more water as needed for the consistency you like. Correct seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. It will taste bland, but serve with the following garnishes for the pizzaz: chopped cilantro; fresh lime; avocado wedges; chopped green onion; sliced radishes; and extra oregano. Get creative with other veggies/herbs you like!

St. Pat

A nod to our St. Patrick's Day feast this year. I did make a lovely Irish venison stew (with carrots, turnips, and potatoes) which stewed all day, cooled, and stewed again the next day. Loved the fresh rosemary! Served it up with some hot Irish soda bread and shamrock butter cookies (many of which I burnt--*sad face*).

Fish Soup

I found a recipe in a Mediterranean cookbook I have for fish baked in a tomato-olive sauce that looked really good. Great way to finish off those two last fillets in the freezer. Um. Make that one fillet in the freezer. No problem. I turned the "sauce" into broth and when the fish was cooked, I flaked it into pieces for a fish soup! I loved the combination of flavors! The broth consisted of sauteed onions, tomato paste, pepper paste, and water. After the fish was cooked, I added chopped black olives, fresh cilantro, and salt & pepper to taste. Just writing about it is making me hungry! And now that I've bought more fish . . . could be anytime!

Broccoli Soup

Don't think I haven't been cooking just because I've been lax about posting here. I have so many little pieces of paper with scribbled notes and lots of photos floating around. Making time to grab hold of the right notes and the right pictures together just hasn't been at the top of my "To Do" list recently. My list from this morning--for example--included: calling a massage studio, cleaning my bathroom, putting canning jars away, and collecting money from a few people. But it said nothing about blogging (or laundry, which desperately needed putting away--see how that was past tense? I actually did that even though it hadn't made the list!).

Well, this isn't a blog about my life. It's about cooking. And I was able to find the scrap of paper that goes along with these pictures, so here you have it . . .

Creamy Curry Broccoli Soup

3 cloves garlic, smashed open
1/2 onion, chopped
glug of olive oil for sauteeing
1 TBSP butter (or just use more olive oil if you want vegan)
2 chicken and one vegetable bouillion cube (or all veg again)
4 cups water
5 cups broccoli pieces (I use stems too, since it will get pureed)
1/2 tsp. green curry paste

Method: Saute onions and garlic in olive oil/butter until soft. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until broccoli is tender. Process in blender or food processor until smooth. YUM!

Here's a picture of the curry paste I used. I suppose you could use red or yellow paste too with similar results. Sorry it's a bit blurry.

Cook's Word: I love pureed soups! So easy to throw everything in a pot and not worry about chopping just so since it'll all get whizzed to oblivion anyway--and I love the way the flavors meld when you blend a soup! I definitely like adding curry paste to this to make it a bit more interesting than a classic broccoli cream soup, and I'm thinking of doing this with pumpkin too. Beware, it gets hotter each day!

Special thanks to Mr. Froggy for helping to stir the soup!

Sweethearts Meal

First of all, thanks for visiting the blog!! Since its inception last May, you've been coming and checking in on the idiosyncrasies of my kitchen life--hopefully finding some inspiration and camaraderie along the way. This evening I noticed that you've tipped the scales to over a thousand site visits! Keep coming back--it feels good to know that I'm not posting to an empty void. =)


So, "Sweethearts Meal". In lieu of Valentine's Day, since we were celebrating sister-in-law's wedding in PA that weekend. I did give my love a bar of chili chocolate on the day of, and he gave me a great back massage, but I didn't get to cook anything for him. And that's one of my primary love languages (if you couldn't tell). When we came home and I heard about some of your great Valentine's celebrations, I was inspired to do something more for my sweet.

Now think of the most romantic food you can imagine . . .



C'mon, try harder.



Got it in mind?

I'd be willing to bet money what you're thinking of isn't this:

Turnip soup.

Yeah.

Maybe not what most foodies would fix for their Valentine, but it was good. A little sweet, a little spicy, just like any good romance. See? You know you want to make it for your sweetheart next year. So, I'm adding this link to the recipe. Just because I'm that kind of person. I probably didn't follow the recipe exactly (I added frozen basil cubes, cayenne pepper, and freshly ground black pepper, for instance), but it was pretty close. And I wasn't kidding when I said it was good. We had it for a first and a last course!

When he came home, the table was set, love songs were playing, and the house was lit with candles. I served dinner course by course, all dolled up in my Hanover Beans apron (turned inside out--it's red) and silver flip-flops.

Creamy Turnip Soup

Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese and Almonds
& Baked Mushrooms

Baked Potato
& Lemon-Rosemary Baked Fish

Creamy Turnip Soup

He had to go to choir practice at 7:30, so we had our grand finale dessert when he got home:

Awwwwww. My own "Perfect" Carrot Cake (a half recipe with 2 cups mashed, cooked carrots) with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon-dust heart stencil. Just because I love him.

Tired Woman Soup

Ever worked an eight-hour day on your feet and not been too eager to cook up dinner when you got home?

Yep. Me.

Result:

The recipe for this soup is more like a treasure hunt, really. Between my fridge, freezer, and cupboards I scrounged up these items: oil, onion (saute together); cooked broccoli stems in their cooking water, carrots (chop), half-bag of frozen green beans, small container of frozen ham cubes (dump all this in and bring to a simmer); Oh! and add a quart of home-canned roma tomatoes and a handful or so of lentils. Cook until everything is tender. Salt and pepper.



Cook's Word: the soup turned out much tastier than I expected. I decided not to use any other seasonings besides what already existed in the ingredients and salt & pepper. I ended up making a huge pot of soup which yielded about four meals, plus a quart still in the freezer. For another one of those evenings I come home too tired to cook. =)

All in a Day's Cooking

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cooking up a storm. I only wished I could've cooked up some rain to go with it!

It started with a 50 cent pack of frozen okra at the discount grocers. Okra. I think "gumbo." Oh, and I have those two potlucks this weekend to contribute something to. Whey from making (failed) yogurt last week. Potato flakes we've had in the cupboard for far too long. Potato bread. And while the oven is hot, I might as well whip up a batch of scones . . . Do I really wonder WHY I'm tired after a meal?!

The potato bread turned out lovely, moist and delicious with a little butter on it. I made two plain round loaves, and two garlic-rosemary free-form "baguettes" for the two potlucks. I also had to do a miniature of each variety for us to try while it was hot and fresh. I didn't use enough garlic powder or rosemary. I'll have to play with it some more before posting a recipe.

The okra gumbo came from allrecipes.com. I basically followed this recipe minus the file powder since I didn't have any, and plus a dash of ginger. I also only used half the amount of mushrooms it called for since I might want some of them for pizza later. I found it a bit on the salty side, and I don't mean expensive! The okra only cost 25 cents, after all, and the canned tomatoes were a gift from the new neighbors. =) We ate it over brown rice.

Then there were the Chocolate & Fig Scones. All I can say is, "yummy, yummy!" I meant to take a picture of them after they were baked, but I didn't have the memory card in. By the time I realized my mistake, the last one was in my tummy. Deliciously buttery and dark-chocolate-y. I may have to post the recipe . . .

Bon Apetit!

In-Between

There's a lot that's in-between about this food. In-between other "real" meals. Not pretty or ugly, just in-between. Eaten in-between other more important activities. Etc., etc.

But it seemed like a good idea. In fact, I was day-dreaming about this combination as I hungrily made my way home from a late shopping excursion yesterday: cold leftover chili, a dollop of homemade yogurt, and the last of the slaw. It was actually quite good! I don't have any recipes, but I'm thinking of calling it Chili Frio. Or Chilly Chili. How about Frijol Chili Frio? Anyhow, whether pretty, ugly, or in-between this worked for one ravenous girl on a rainy late-spring day.