Beef Stew

I love beef stew. It's the thick, "stick to yer ribs" kind of stew. The only thing that should accompany a really good beef stew is a loaf of fresh baked bread. The only thing that should garnish the stew, in my world, is a couple of really great turns of your pepper-mill.

In this recipe, I build a foundation of strong flavors that will come through in an amazing chorus once it's been presented in your bowl.

Total time from start to finish was about five hours, with some cheating on the side. 1.) I stewed the dish in a crock-pot set on low. I had three hours and the veggies were still pretty tough. 2.) I moved everything to a large Dutch oven over the cook top and cranked up the heat for about an hour and a half. The result finished just fine, but the next time, I'll just keep everything in the crock-pot, and set it on High next time and leave it for four hours...

Face it; nobody likes cleaning the Dutch oven.

Beef Stew

2 - 3 lb beef roast cap (cut in bit sized pieces)
1 1/2 C Teriyaki marinade sauce (I used Melissa's Teriyaki)
1/4 C chili sauce
1 lemon (zested and juiced)
1/2 C flour
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
3 12 oz cans Low-Sodium V-8 vegetable juice cocktail
28 oz can extra-chunky tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic finely mince
1 C heaping chopped carrot (peeled and trimmed)
3/4 C celery
1 large sweet onion (chopped in large chunks)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 C red potatoes (peeled, chunked and set aside)

Marinade:

After you've cut up the roast into bite sized pieces, assemble the marinade. Combine Teriyaki marinade, chili sauce, the lemon zest and juice and wisk it together until well blended. Add the meat pieces, cover and set aside for a minimum of 1 hour. (The longer...the better the flavor of the meat when it's served.)

Clean, rinse, chop all of the vegetables and the minced garlic after the meat has been marinating for a least an hour. In a large bowl, mixed the vegetables and the garlic well and set aside.

In a plastic zip-locked freezer bag, add the flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Heat a large sauce pan and add the canola oil. Using a spider, or a slotted spoon, pull the meat out of the marinade and add it to the freezer bag. Coat the meat with the flour mixture and add the pieces to a plate, adding more meat to the flour, etc. Once the floured meat has been done, add the pieces to the oiled skillet and sear all of the meat pieces. Flour cracklings, excess flour can be removed and thrown away.

While you're cooking the meat, add 1/3 of the raw vegetable mixture to the bottom of your crock-pot. Add some of the browned meat and then more of the vegetable mixture. Once you have three layers of both the meat and vegetable mixture, add the V-8 vegetable juice, the tomato sauce and the Worcestershire sauce.

Set the crock-pot on High and set aside.

After two and half hours, add the potatoes and stir them into the beef stew. Every half hour, stir the entire mixture deeply and smoothly and then leave it to continue to cook for another half hour. Vegetables should be firm but not raw and the meat will be tender and full of great flavor.

Garnish with freshly cracked black pepper. Serve with freshly baked loaf of garlic bread and a glass of chilled dry white wine.

Enjoy!!

Hearty Chicken and Muschroom Chow Mein

The word "chow mein" translates as "assorted bits". Which is a great opportunity to simply have fun making this dish: Just go crazy with it!

I love chow mein, and I love to push the envelope when I'm chopping and sauteing and having fun. Give it a try and experiment as you like!

Here's my version of Hearty Chicken and Mushroom Chow Mein:

3 Tbsp safflower oil (or any high heat oil like Canola)
3 ribs celery (chopped)
2 carrots (grated)
3 heads baby bok choy (or 1 "adult" heads) (rinsed and chiffonade)
1 green bell pepper (roughly chopped)
1 large sweet onion (roughly chopped)
1/2 lb mushrooms (chopped) white, shiitake or baby portabellas or mixed!
3 chicken breast (rinsed and cut up into 1 1/2 inch strips)
1/4 C Chinese-style chili garlic sauce (I love it-so I throw in a full 1/2 cup!)
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or tamari sauce)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 C low sodium chicken stock
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp water
6 oz package chow mein noodles

Mix the chili garlic sauce with the soy and the Worcestershire sauce and set aside. Work on the chicken breast and add to the sauce mixture as a marinade set aside to soak while you work on all of the vegetables. Make sure that chicken is fully coated with all of that sauce before you set it aside to rest.

The corn starch and the water mixed together to make your slurry, so that'll be the last thing you'll have to mix.

Once everything is prepped, heat up your wok until it's piping hot. A drop of water should sizzle and dance on the wok's floor. Drain the chicken pieces in a colander and push out a little bit of the liquids that have collected. Add the oil to the wok and with a pair of tongs, carefully add the chicken pieces to avoid the splatter.

Let the chicken cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 12 minutes. Once the chicken has cooked, remove all of it with a slotted spoon leaving the liquid in the wok. Set the chicken aside for now and add all of your vegetables. The bok choy and all of the vegetables will cook down and the mushrooms will soak up the chili garlic and chicken juices. It will take approximately 8 to 10 minutes for the vegetables to thoroughly cook. Once they're done, return the chicken to the wok and pour in the chicken stock. Once everything's bubbling, mix the corn starch and water for your slurry and drizzle it into the wok by going around the whole circumference. Give a few good stirs, let it sit for a minute or two. When you come back to it, that liquid will have become a beautiful sauce that'll be just delicious!

Serve over chow mein noodles along with a pile of hot white rice.

Easily serves 3 people.

Enjoy!

Orange Salad with Mint and Cream Cheese Dressing

I, quite literally, bumped into this website talking about a fruit salad. After I read through it, I decided to simply re-engineer the entire dish. The original recipe not only reads terribly, but even a mere amateur like me could make a far better improvement than what they've put up.

My result was outstanding. And I think you'll agree when you construct your own.

A point to note: One of my favorite places to shop is at Trader Joe's. The reason? They carry a line of these 2 lb bags of wild blueberries at around $2.90 per each. It's not only a great deal, the wild blueberries are far more flavorful than the "tame" berries. When using them in this recipe, add the blueberries when you serve up the dish. If you add them while constructing the salad, the blueberries will stain the entire dish and you'll send up serving a bowlful of "blue fruit"!

The Salad
3 oranges, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 pt strawberries, hulled and thoroughly rinsed
1 can pineapple, drained
1 bunch, green (seedless) grapes, thoroughly rinse
1/2 lb wild blueberries - set a side for serving

The Dressing

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
Grated zest of one orange
2 Tbsp orange liqueur
1 tsp sugar

The Garnish
1 bunch mint - roughly julienne

Assemble the salad, keeping the blueberries set aside. In a bowl using a hand-mixer, combine the cream cheese, the zest, the liqueur and the sugar. The dressing will turn into a thin creamy liquid (especially if you add more liqueur!).

Serve the salad in martini glasses with the added blueberries and the mint. Drizzle the sauce on top and enjoy.

It's guaranteed: You'll love this recipe.

Orange Potatoes

Well, at least they looked orange!

8 to 10 B-sized red potatoes (roughly peeled)
1/4 cup low-fat Philadelphia-style cream cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup low-fat (1%) milk
1/2 Tbsp sweet paprika
1/2 Tbsp black pepper

Boil the potatoes until they'll freely fall off the fork when they've been jabbed. Add the remaining ingredients and blend well with the potatoes using an electric blender.

So easy - and so delicious.

Enjoy!

Skirt Steak Fajitas

I was watching the Food Network this morning and somebody was making Fajitas out of a skirt steak. I was really disappointed on how she put everything together. So, I hopped into the car, drove to the butcher and bought a nice skirt steak for myself. I put this together and I think it'll be awesome.

Marinade:

1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 C Red wine vinegar
4 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (tamari)
4 cloves garlic
1 tomatillo
2 chipotle peppers
1/2 medium white onion
1 lime - zested and juiced
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 Tbsp common taco seasoning
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp mace
1 Tbsp cumin
black pepper

Pull the steak out flat on a cutting board and put it in the freezer while you're assembling the remaining ingredients. Everything into the food processor and blend extremely well. Once the steak has been in the freezer for about 15 minutes, take it out and cut it into strips at a bias against the grain. Put each strip into a bowl and once it's been completely cut up, pour the marinade over on top. With your hands, mix the meat extremely well to make sure it's very well coated. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the marinade at room temperature for one day.

Grill the strips and serve with your favorite toppings.

Enjoy!

Spareribs Asian Style

I bought this book called Fresh Chinese by Winnie Chan and I just love it. All of the recipes are easy and the dish turns out wonderful, guaranteed. She always has a few words of introduction to the recipe and offers some great ideas as to the history of the food or tips on making the dish.

(Click on the picture to go to Amazon to purchase your own copy!)

However, there's one recipe that I just could not figure out. She calls for the spareribs to cook at 475F for an hour and then an additional 45 minutes at 375F. I've ruined pans, scorched the meat and I finally gave up and took my own detour. I decided that she had an editing dilemma and it was too late when it was discovered.

I'll type the original recipe in italics, and my own variations in bold normal font. We don't disagree on too much, except for the cooking.

Note: Szechwan peppercorns are extremely difficult to find here in the United States. I recommend a organic grocery store, you might get lucky at an Asian grocery store. But if all else fails, you're welcome to use my secret weapon on Hard-to-Find Spices and Herbs:

Penzey's Spices

Here's my own take on Spareribs:

2 lbs, country-cut boneless pork spareribs
2 1/2 pints stock (pork or chicken)

1 tsp five-spice powder 2 star anise (I don't bother)
1 Tbsp Szechwan peppercorns (coarsely ground)
1 Tbsp black peppercorns (coarsely ground)
2 large shallots, minced
1/4 C orange juice
1/4 C bourbon
1 heaped Tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp shoyu or tamari sauce
6 slices fresh ginger (peeled and grated)
6 scallions (chopped)
2 Bay leaves (coarsely chopped)
1 orange (cut into wedges) (I use two oranges)

4 tsp cornstarch 4 Tbsp water

2 C rice (Cooked)

Setting the meat and the stock aside, mix all of the rest of the ingredients together. This should have the consistency of a thick cake batter. Place the meat in a Pyrex baking dish and pour the marinade over it. I have been known to make a double batch of the marinade just because I know how good it's going to taste when it's all be said and done.

Now the cookbook authors want you to put this on a cookie sheet and bake it for two hours: 1 hour @ 475F and forty-five minutes @ 375F. The remaining fifteen minutes is guaranteed to be spent scrapping all of that delicious marinade off your very expensive pork chops!

I'll guarantee it!

Here's my detour:

After twelve hours in the marinade, place them in a slow cooker or a crock-pot, marinade and all. Add the stock, cover and set the crock-pot on high for three hours. Turn the pot down to Low and add an additional two hours.

Once the meat has finished, take them out of the crock-pot and cover with a blanket of foil to rest for fifteen minutes. Take everything in the crock-pot and pour it in a saucepan. Remove the orange wedges and set them aside. Heat it until you get a rolling boil, turn the heat down for a nice simmer. Mix the cornstarch with the water to make your slurry, and slowly add to the marinade. Stir until it thickens.

Serve the meat over a bed of white rice and pour the marinade over the meat and use those orange wedges as your garnish. It's a beautiful dish.

Enjoy!

Drunk and Naked Pork Chops

This is one recipe that's been in my brain for a long time now. When I was released from the hospital from my heart attack three years ago, I wanted to find a better way to handle my proteins. Most meats, as they're prepared in restaurants and grocery stores are loaded with salts. I was in a tiny rat-hole of a Asian grocery store and was introduced to Tamari Sauce, which is a very low sodium soy sauce. As the weeks past after the hospital, I found an organic grocery store that carried a low sodium Tamari sauce.

I like it better than the regular Tamari and I like it a lot better than the soy. It seems that the lower the sodium, the richer and nuttier the sauce tastes and the body of the flavor is so much beter.

One day, I came across the paper for an orange glazed pork chop and I've since just made my own version of a:

Drunk and Naked Pork Chop

2 to 4 pork chops thawed and trimmed
1 C orange juice
6 oz can pineapple juice
1/4 C low-sodium Tamari sauce (or soy sauce)
1/4 C orange liqueur
4 Tbsp taquila
4 Tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/4 inch ginger root (minced) or 2 tsp ginger powder
1 large shallot (minced)
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp water

Mix the orange and pineapple juices along with the Tamari, the two liquors and the honey. Blend it together until the honey has dissolved. Add the garlic, ginger and the shallot and drop in the pork chops.

Marinate the meat for no less than four hours - preferably over night.

Preheat the oven at 400F
On a Silpat or a foil lined cookie sheet, place the chops and season with fresh cracked pepper and reserve the marinade. Bake the chops for 30 minutes or use an instant meat thermometer.

In the last ten minutes of baking, pour the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once setting in a nice rolling boil, mix the cornstarch with the water to make the slurry. Turn the heat down to a medium and drizzle the slurry into the marinade.

Caution: There's a lot of alcohol in the marinade, so if you're cooking on a gas stove or near an open flame, be aware: You're working with something extremely flammable!

Remember - you're supposed to cook the chops...not your arm!

Once the marinade has thickened nicely, remove the pork chops and plate them by liberally pouring the marinade over them. They got drunk, they were baked naked and now you get to enjoy them with a nice sweet glaze.

Enjoy!