Bourbon Beef Stew (NYTimes) by Barbara

 

Deep, Rich Flavors from the Bourbon and the Tomato Paste

Made this comforting stew yesterday.  And will have it for leftovers today.  Perfect for a cold, snowy day while we watch March Madness basketball.

---Barbara

Bourbon Beef Stew

(adapted from a NYTimes recipe by Vallery Lomas)

Serves  6 to 8

For the marinade and browning the beef:

3 lbs. chuck steak, cut into 8 pieces 

1 T. sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice (1 large lemon)

1/3 cup olive oil

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

salt & pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

For the stew:

2 -3 T. oil for browning the beef 

3 carrots, scraped and cut into large chunks

2 onions, cut into quarters

5-6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 T. dried French thyme

2 T. tomato paste

salt and pepper

1 quart beef stock (4 cups), unsalted

1/3 cup Bourbon

The day before or in the early moring, remove the chuck steak from its wrapper, pat dry and sprinkle both side with sugar.  Place on a plate, uncovered, and refrigerate to air dry, until time to marinate it.  

Four  to five hours in advance of starting the stew, make the marinade.

Combine lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce in a plastic bag. Add the lemon halves, too. Cut the chuck steak into 8 pieces, pierce them with a fork, and add to the plastic bag, Massage the marinade into the meat, so that all the pieces are well coated.  Place in the refrigerator on a plate for 4 to 5 hours, turning the bag over whenever you remember to do it.  

Time to make the stew:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Remove the top rack, if needed, to allow room for the stockpot.

Prepare the onions, carrots, and garlic.  Measure out the bourbon, tomato paste and beef stock so you will be ready.  

Remove the chuck steak pieces and pat them dry.  (Discard the marinade. I used it for companion roasted potatoes.  But it doesn't get used in the stew.)

Sprinkle the chuck beef pieces with salt and pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

In a heavy stock pot with a cover, large enough to brown the beef and hold all the ingredients and the stock, heat up the oil on medium-high until shimmering.  

Place the beef carefully in the hot oil, turn up the heat to high, and brown until crusty on all sides.  You may have to do it in batches to have enough room to properly brown the beef.  Remove from the pan, and turn down the heat to medium.

Deglaze the pan with bourbon.  If there isn't enough liquid, then add some of the beef stock.  Use a wooden spoon or spatula and scrape all of the brown bits off the bottom and sides of the pot.

Add the tomato paste, and coat all the vegetables and cook until the lumps are gone, stirring. 

Add the maple syrup and stir in well.

Add the onions, carrots and garlic and coat all them in the hot oil.  Turn up the heat to medium high

Then add the bay leafs and thyme.  Add a little salt and pepper.

Add the stock.

Return the beef to the pot, submerging each piece into the broth.  

Bring to a simmer.

Cover and place in the oven at 300 degrees for 2.5 hours.  

Remove from the oven.  

Using tongs, remove 2 pieces of beef per person and place in a deep plate.  Scoop out a few carrots and onions for each plate.  If desired, pour some sauce over each piece of beef.

You could place the beef over a bed of mashed potoates or rice, and then you might want more sauce.

I served our beef with roasted potates and a creamy arugula salad.

I stored the beef and the broth separately so I can remove the fat to make onion soup for later in the week.  We'll have the meat, and potato leftovers with a salad again tonight.  

B

Petite Palmiers ( Mini Puff Pastries) by Barbara

Made these to take to a friend this morning.  Originally posted the recipe in 2015.  It's an old Ina Garten recipe that I've made many, many times over the years. It's from her Barefoot in Paris cookbook.

Very simple ingredients--- just puff pastry, salt and sugar.  

Click to see the recipe here.

Follow the steps and photos for how to roll out the dough and fold them into palmiers.  Then, bake for 12 minutes, flipping once to brown and carmelize on both sides.

B

Caraway Pumpkin Soup by Barbara

Welcome Home Soup

Weary from our overnight flight from Hawaii and long layover in Detroit, we had no desire to go to the grocery store.  So, this caraway soup from the freezer saved the day.   It was one of my experiments from last year.  I combined pumpkin, cabbage and caraway seeds with shallots into a surprisingly good soup. 

Caraway has a background anise flavor yet it's not sweet. It's peppery with a citrus note. It is best known for its use in rye bread baking.  

I came up with the idea when I was trying to figure out what to do with a small head of cabbage that was a little past its prime. I also had a small pumpkin I wanted to roast. What if I used pumpkin instead of beets like in a borscht? It worked. This soup is much better than borscht. My caraway soup is creamy, fragrant and filling.

Tom's only complaint was the texture of the pumpkin, so next time, I will puree the soup completely.  

---Barbara

Caraway Soup

1 small to medium Cinderella-type pumpkin (3 lbs.) (or 3 15-ounce cans of pureed pumpkin)
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 large shallots, sliced into crescents
3 T. butter, unsalted
1 small cabbage, outer leaves removed, sliced crosswise 

1/4 cup caraway seeds
4-5 cups chicken stock (4 t. Roasted Chicken Better than Bouillon in water)

To roast the pumpkin:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully, remove the stem and interior seeds and pulp. Cut the pumpkin into quarters.

Oil the pumpkin segments well with salt and pepper, on all sides. Place them in a roasting pan or casserole.

Roast for an hour, check to see if the flesh is fully cooked by testing with a knife. It should go in and come out with no resistence. If needed, roast for another half hour. Mine took 1.5 hours.

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Scoop out the cooked pumpkin, and discard the skin. But save any juices from the bottom of the roasting pan.

This can be done ahead of time.

In a large stock pot with lid --- I used an 8 quart ---saute the shallots in the 3 T. of butter with a pinch of salt. The butter will flavor the soup and the sauteed shallots will smell heavenly.

Add any pumpkin juices from the roasting pan, and deglaze the pan.

Add the sliced cabbage to the pot. Add the caraway seeds.

Saute, turning the cabbage over and over, until well coated and it begins to soften. Scrape up any brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Don't let the caraway seeds burn.

Add the pumpkin puree.

Add the chicken stock.

Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring until the pumpkin puree spreads out evenly. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Remove from the heat.

Have a serving while it's still hot. Store the rest in the fridge overnight. Portion it out into containers to freeze.

Then, defrost and gently reheat as needed. 

B