Beef Bourguinon

Is this not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen??? My lovely cousin gave me this gorgeous Le Creuset pot for my 30th birthday last month (she knows me well). I have been so taken with it that it has been sitting unused in the dining room for the last 4 weeks. I would stare at it every day and marvel at its finish, colour and size, all the while being terrified of actually putting it to use.

I felt that it's maiden voyage needed to produce something special...something worthy of the gourmet cookware it was being prepared in.

So, Beef Bourguinon it was! A relatively simple dish, with minimal ingredients but anything that calls for a full bottle of red wine is DEFINITELY special.

INGREDIENTS

2-3 tbsp olive oil
50g butter
2 tbsp seasoned flour
1.2 kg chuck or shin steak, cut into large chunks (about 5cm)
18 small shallots or button onions
18 button mushrooms
1 large onion, sliced
100g bacon or pancetta, cubed
4 cloves garlic, crushed but left whole
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
750ml red burgundy wine

DIRECTIONS
Heat olive oil and butter in casserole, toss beef in seasoned flour then brown in batches over medium-high heat.

Remove and set aside. Add shallots and caramelise, set aside on separate plate, repeat with button mushrooms and add to shallots.

Add little more oil if necessary and fry sliced onion and bacon until onions softened and bacond browned.

Add garlic, bay and thyme then return beef and any juices to casserole and stir together.

Pour in the wine, season, bring to a simmer then lower heat and simmer gently on the stove, partly covered, for two hours (or cover and transfer to oven at 140C). 

Add the shallots and mushrooms and simmer for a further half an hour. Check for seasoning and serve. This gets better and better as leftovers also!!

Sadly, the picture of the finished product does not look as spectacular as it tasted. I guess I had tired myself out from playing badminton and volleyball all afternoon while it simmered.

 

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
An indulgence...just leave it at that.

Chunky Pork and Bean Stew

Hmm...is this a stew or a Chili?? Who knows, but I can confirm one thing for you, It is definitely yummy!!!

Stew (Wikipedia) - A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy.

Chili (Wikipedia) - is a spicy stew containing chili peppers, meat (usually beef), tomatoes and often beans. 

This recipe is a variation on a Weight Watchers Recipe (they call it Chili) but I made several changes to suit my own tastes. One thing to note is that it makes A LOT...like at least 10 servings, so its a perfect recipe to make ahead of time and freeze or portion out for weekday meals (like I did). 


INGREDIENTS

1 medium-large spanish onion, chopped   
4 garlic cloves (medium), chopped 
1 cup baby carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn   
2 jalapeño peppers, I left the seeds and things in because I like the heat but feel free to scrape them out if you aren’t interested in it being spicy
1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder   
1/2 tsp table salt   
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground   
1 pound uncooked lean pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch chunks   
19 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed   
19 oz canned kidney beans (I used red), drained and rinsed   
1 cup canned tomato sauce
29 oz canned diced tomatoes, undrained   
6 oz canned tomato paste   

Here's a pic of just the veggies and seasonings

DIRECTIONS

Throw everything in the crockpot (no smaller than 5 qt or it will overflow), give it a stir and cook it on high for 6-8 hours, or until the pork is at your desired doneness.  

I was out all day so I cooked it on low for about 7 hours and then on high for about an hour and a half. It was done enough that the meat was tender but still chunky, which is exactly what I was aiming for. 

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size - 1 cup

WW points - 6

Calories - 294

Fat - 4g
Carbohydrates - 34g
Protein - 33g
Fibre - 10g

Chili, Again

I made Chili last night. It was really yummy. I just threw whatever I could think of into it. I browned everything in the same pot first and then added everything back in to take advantage of all the flavour living on the bottom of the pan. YUM!

I used turkey, beans and bacon as the proteins and even threw in some zucchini (my new favourite veggie). I NEVER use bacon in anything, we never buy it and when we do it almost always goes bad because we can't eat it quickly enough . I just happen to browse the meat counter while shopping for this dish and they had some smoked bacon there, so I decided to grab a little bit. It was the perfect amount for the Chili and I didn't have to feel bad about any leftover. Plus it made Clutterbuck a very happy camper while it was cooking.

I didn't take a picture because it just looked like regular old Chili. We're eating it for dinner tonight, perhaps a photo op will present itself.

Beef Stew with Rosemary Dumplings

Mmmmm! This is definitely not a dish in regular rotation at our house but I can imagine it would be at other households. As, I've mentioned many times we aren't big beef eaters. However, I've been wanting to make a beef stew for a while now and finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

It was a Sunday project and I simmered it ALL day (from about 11am to about 7pm). The beef was tender and falling apart and the broth was so flavourful and yummy. The Rosemary dumplings were a nice addition but certainly not a necessity. This stew was a huge meal on its own.

And here's a picture of Sanchez doing some acrobatics while I was cooking...honestly, I don't know what goes through his head sometimes.

Pasta Fagioli

This was TO DIE FOR!!!! I'm not quite sure why I haven't made it before. I think its largely because I still forget that I actually like beans (which is the fagioli part for those who don't know). Yet another ingredient I would have turned my nose up at until recently.

It was love at first bite for Clutterbuck....the boy loves beans...perhaps a little too much. I used two cans of beans in this recipe. One I pureed to thicken the broth (why didn't I think of that sooner??) and the other I added whole. The rest of the ingredients were:

• Onions and garlic, finely chopped (actually pre-chopped...what a lifesaver!)
• Celery and carrot, finely chopped
• 2 cans of white kidney beans
• 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• Chicken stock (or veggie if you want a completely veggie friendly meal)
• A cup or so of water
• A parmesan cheese rind....we eat enough of this that I have them on hand anytime I make a stock
• Bay leaf
• Tbsp fresh chopped basil
• Tbsp oregano
• Some parsley if you want....I rarely use parsley...it has little to no taste and does nothing other than make a garnish....in my opinion
  
• Short pasta. I used Canneroni but you could use anything
  

I pretty much just followed the regular soup process after that. I sweated the veggies in a soup pot, added the liquids, pureed beans, spices, parmesan rind, let it all simmer for a few hours. A while before it was time to eat I added the pasta and the second can of white kidney beans, let them cook in the stock and served it hot with some grated cheese on top.

This will definitely make it into regular rotation at the Smart-Clutterbuck household.

Veggie-Friendly Dinner

Creamless Cream of Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Cauliflower Fritters



This was a completely unintentional veggie meal. I haven't made this soup in a few years and I finally had a bunch of broccoli to use up. I saw the fritters recipe a while ago and have wanted to make them. I happened to have a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower in the fridge...it was fate. They were a perfect match.

The broccoli soup is so easy. Just simmer the stems of the broccoli in some stalk (I used Chicken) with some onions, garlic and a few grated potatoes. Once everything has softened add any desired seasonings (I use nutmeg, cayenne, salt and pepper) and puree with an immersion blender. When its time to eat just heat it up and add some sharp cheddar cheese and the reserved broccoli florets. The potatoes give it a really creamy texture without the added fat of milk or cream.

The cauliflower fritters were awesome but ALOT heavier than we were expecting. I served up 3 each but we could only eat 2. I had a bunch of batter left over and made a few more for lunch.

All in all this was a totally successful meal, which is good because we have lots leftover.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

I was about to make yet another batch of my vegetable soup to live off of for the week but at the last minute I decided to switch it up a bit. Instead of pasta I decided to add chicken.
So I threw in 2 bone in skinless breasts and let the whole thing simmer away for a few hours. The chicken was falling apart (just the way I like it) and the cayenne pepper was the perfect amount of heat. We ate it over a handful of fresh spinach that wilted beautifully under the hot soup.
I'm having it for lunch for the second time today and can't wait.
Another favourite of mine for soups is to throw in any leftover parmesan cheese rinds. I only buy fresh parmesan and it really grinds my gears (pun intended)when you are left with this big chunk of useless hardened cheese. Throw it into soups. It softens and adds a fantastic flavour!!
Definitely a success and just enough to get us through to the 3 days of Christmas craziness...where, luckily, I don't have to cook at all. I do plan to bake though and I'll be sure to document those adventures over the next few days (since I haven't made any of the recipes before).

Veggie Soup and other healthful things

Eating the last batch of veggie soup for lunch at work today. I'm eating it as I type. I think the secret weapon here was water chestnuts. I've been putting them in everything lately. I don't even know what they are but I love 'em!

I made another great dish last night, but forgot to take picture. It was a sort of asian peanut noodle stir fry dish. It was really good. More on that later (when I photograph the leftovers in the fridge).

In other news, a month ago, Clutterbuck and I decided to invest in some good bicycles. We shopped around and test drove them all over the city and finally decided on the perfect ones. Now we're riding in to work whenever we can (22k round trip), biking all over the city on weekends and absolutely loving it. We even invested in a basket so Phoebe can come along on some rides.

Great times!!! I so enjoy the summers in Toronto!!!

Homemade Veggie Soup

As it sounds. All the veggies you can find, some veggie broth,herbs and spices to season (I used hot pepper flakes, thyme, salt, pepper and chives) a tiny bit of pasta, and garnish with parmesan cheese.
We'll be living of this for the next week. We're trying to whip our bodies back into shape after a vacation in Chicago that involved a lot of eating and drinking.