Angry Orchard Beef, Pumpkin & Apple Stew

Giant orange orbs are appearing everywhere these crisp, chilly and windy days, whether they're scattered across the hills and fields of our beloved local farms or piled high in grocery store bins. Pumpkins are everywhere! Even in my CSA box.

That big ol' sugar pumpkin presented a few possibilities. Should I just plunk it out on the porch with my other warty pumpkins, gourds and rusty mums? That would be the easy way out. I did briefly consider roasting pumpkin chunks and making a roasted pumpkin and cinnamon syrup for fall cocktails, but decided on a hearty and warming stew instead.

I just happened to have a nice chuck roast in the freezer, so I pulled that out and after it was thawed, cut it into nice sized cubes, browned them and started building the base for the stew. The hardest part of the stew? Cutting and peeling the pumpkin! Ugh. Maybe the porch sitting pumpkin idea was better after all. But no, I soldiered on and peeled that sucker! 

After browning the beef in batches and then putting just a little caramelization on the pumpkin pieces, I simply added peeled potatoes (also from my Dillner Farms CSA box), lots of onion, a nice big peeled and cubed apple (yep, CSA, too!), poured a bottle of Angry Orchard hard cider over all, put on the lid and simmered the mixture away for a few hours. Oh, it smelled wonderful all throughout the house!

Best of all, the pumpkin-y, apple-y, onion-y and richly beefy conglomeration of flavor was worth every bit of the pumpkin peeling process. Here's a little hint...don't feel like peeling a pumpkin? Try subbing in peeled butternut squash in those plastic containers from the grocery store instead. It works!

Angry Orchard Beef, Pumpkin & Apple Stew 

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 pounds chuck roast, cut into stew-sized cubes
• Salt and pepper to taste - use to season the meat liberally before browning
• 4 C fresh pumpkin, cut open, seeds removed, cut into strips and the rind peeled, cut into cubes (or buy pre-peeled butternut squash at the grocery store - perfectly acceptable substitution!)
• 2 large onions, approx 2 C,cubed 
• 1 1/2 t fresh garlic, minced finely or pressed
• 4 C peeled and cubed red or Yukon Gold potatoes - don't use Russet potatoes as they have a tendency to fall apart
• 1 bottle (12 oz.) Angry Orchard Cinful Apple hard cider - or another variety, but I like the subtle cinnamon hint it infuses the stew with
• 1 1/2 C apple - peeled, cored, cut into cubes
• 2 t Beef soup base - I like Better Than Bullion, it's gluten free!

In a heavy bottomed enameled cast iron Dutch oven, melt the butter and oil together and bring it to high temp. Add the salt and peppered beef chunks - in 3 batches - and brown well on all sides. Remove each batch to a bowl as each is done.

When all the beef is browned, add the pumpkin pieces to the oil and brown, giving a nice caramelization to the edges. Then add the onions and garlic and stir well until the onions and garlic are softened. 

Add the beef back into the pot along with the potatoes, pour the bottle of Angry Orchard over all, stir everything up from the bottom, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let it go for about an hour, then add the apple and the soup base. Stir well again, cover and let it simmer for another 2 hours or so until the beef is tender.

Delicious!

Adaptable Turkey - Or Chicken - Pot Pie Soup

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes." "You can't change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails." The end of 2013 brought changes. Whether or not they were positive or negative depends on your half full/half empty outlook on life. As always, I chose half full. I can't say every day maintained such optimism. You see, Mark is awaiting a heart transplant.

The fact that he's here and we're waiting is a great BIG positive! We've had our ups, we've had our downs. We've learned not to take anything for granted when all you hold dear seems so transient. And so we learn to bend with the breeze and enjoy whatever fleeting moments of sunshine we encounter.

What does this all have to do with cooking, eating and recipes? Adjusting sails and bending are a major part of cooking, you know. Not literally of course, because I do as little bending as possible when cooking! (Okay...any other time, too.) Substitutions and adjustments in recipes are a day-to-day occurrence. With all that's been going on around the Dinner Plan-it house, planned meals were few and far between, we learned to catch as catch can when it came to cooking. Experience in flexibility certainly has come in handy recently!

Home...and Thanksgiving dinner...is where the heart is.

 

We believed from the beginning of this journey that Mark would be home for Thanksgiving and that holiday came and went. Thanksgiving dinner? We packed it up and took it to the hospital, put out a nice tablecloth on top of a few bedside tables strung end-to-end and had a lovely traditional family dinner together complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and lots of laughs and love. We shared our meal with nurses, doctors and staff - whomever was working the holiday and was hungry (and didn't think hospital cafeteria food cut it on Thanksgiving!). It was good. (Christmas dinner with Mark is waiting until he can actually enjoy it...we're adaptable. Christmas dinner doesn't have to be on December 25th!) 

 

One of the things I always do with turkey leftovers is to make a gigunda pot of soup...that was the plan this year, too. Plans change. I at least made the stock and had the foresight to freeze it! A couple of weeks went by and time to make soup opened up...but there was no leftover turkey in the house. Sail adjustment! I bought a rotisserie chicken and used the meat from that...and had a convenient take-home dinner while I was at it.  

Thus our Turkey Pot Pie Soup was adaptable...turkey stock, chicken meat. No biggie...these are the small things in life. Our soup was just as good as what was planned from the start, just a little different than our first thoughts. And so is life. Plans are just that...blueprints. Blueprints and plans change, adapt to new thoughts, ideas and needs. And we make them work!

Here's to a New Year of beautiful plans and even more wonderful realities. I can hardly wait for new changes and adventures...sweet new moments of joy. May there be many of them. Welcome 2014!

Turkey - Or Chicken - Pot Pie Soup 

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots, large ones, peeled, fine dice
• 3 stalks celery, ends cut off, cut across into 1" pieces
• 3 large carrots, peeled, cut across into 1/2" pieces - I used 2 bright orange and 1 pretty yellow one
• 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, small ones, cut in half
• 1/4 pound green beans, fresh, cut into 1 1/2" pieces - I like the small ones the French call haricots verte...mmmmm
• 1 zucchini, about an 8" one, ends cut off, cut in half lengthwise, then cut across into 1/2" slices
• 2 cups turkey, leftover, in big pieces
• 1/4 cup flour, I used Jules gluten-free all-purpose flour to make this GF
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules, I use Better Than Boullion brand chicken base - SO much better than boullion...the name doesn't lie!
• 1 gallon chicken stock, homemade or bought - use a GOOD low salt version if you buy it

• 1 cup frozen peas

• 1 pie crust  (9 inch), Roll it out onto a Silpat, bake as directed, remove from oven and cool. Break or cut into 8 pieces to top each bowl of soup with. OR bake your own favorite crust and bake on a Silpat. I made a GF crust using the classic Crisco recipe using GF flour.

In a large stockpot, melt the butter and add all the veggies. Stir and cook until they start to get tender. Add the turkey (or chicken!) and stir. Sprinkle the flour (GF to make this GF!) and poultry seasoning over the top and stir into the veggie/turkey mixture well. 

Add stock slowly, stirring until well incorporated; add the chicken base, stir well again. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, stir up from the bottom making sure the bottom isn't sticking, then cover and let cook until the veggies are completely tender. Remove from heat.
 
While the soup is cooking, make the crust. I use the classic Crisco recipe using Jules GF flour. Here's the recipe, use regular flour if you don't have the gluten issue to deal with!
  
(SINGLE CRUST

• 1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour blend OR regular flour if gluten isn't an issue
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 stick well-chilled Crisco
• 1/4 cup well-chilled unsalted butter
• 3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Pulse flour and salt in the bowl of your food processor.

Add Crisco and butter to processor bowl and pulse until there are pea-sized pieces in the bowl.

Sprinkle half the water into the bowl and pulse. If it starts to come together into a ball, sprinkle another tablespoon over the top and continue until the ball forms - DON'T over process! If you still need more water, add just enough until the ball forms.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove dough from the fridge, center it onto a Silpat or parchment paper covered baking sheet and roll it out thinly into a circle - use flour (GF if you're making a gluten-free crust) on the rolling pin to help keep the dough from sticking. Prick the dough all over with a fork and bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. (The gluten-free crust may not brown well, so you may want to make an egg wash and brush it on the crust ti help brown it.) Remove from oven, let cool and break or cut into large pieces to garnish the soup and make it pot pie-ish!)
 
Just before serving, stir the frozen peas into the soup just to warm them through. That way you have fresh tasting, bright green peas that pop instead of being mushy.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with pieces of pie crust and serve!


Happy New Year to one and all! May 2014 be our BEST year ever!!!!!!

Autumn Pot Roasted Lemon, Fennel and Garlic Chicken

Sometimes a simple pot roast or roasted chicken is just what the doctor ordered for a relaxing Sunday. Something easy to throw in the oven while you're busy around the house or the yard can't be beat. A one pot wonder!

I got to thinking, why not "pot roast" a chicken? No reason why not to at all, so that's exactly what went on the menu. I still had a fennel bulb and one lone leek in the veggie drawer...sounded like a good start to me. Sliced leeks, fennel and whole garlic cloves went into my enameled cast iron Dutch oven before anything else. 

Then I created a mixture of softened butter, more garlic, lemon zest, finely chopped fennel fronds and my secret ingredient, fennel pollen. (You remember fennel pollen, don't you? Here's the link again!) Rubbed and massaged between the skin and breast of the chicken to intensify the flavor (and to keep the bird nice and moist), the flavored butter became the next layer of flavor.

Why stop there, though? Those long celery-like stalks of fennel - you know, the ones that stick out from the bulb - went into the cavity of the chicken along with a well-pierced whole lemon to further infuse the chicken with flavor...this time from the inside out. 

Once in the oven, the fennel-y, lemon-y, garlic-y, chicken-y aroma emanating from the oven repeatedly led us into the kitchen by our noses! 

Part way through the roasting, tiny potatoes were added to make it almost a complete meal. Beets - roasted separately but in the same oven at the same time was the only other thing that was added to the meal. Okay...and a green salad. 

Don't you just love a simple, yet very special Sunday dinner? Me, too. Especially when that one-pot-wonder Sunday dinner was simply delicious! 

Autumn Pot Roasted Lemon, Fennel and 

Garlic Chicken

• 5-6 pound roasting chicken

• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1/4 cup fennel, fronds only, chopped
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon fennel pollen - see below for link to buy this magical stuff!
• zest of one lemon - then juice and reserve the naked lemon - set the juice aside

• 1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise, washed thoroughly and sliced across into 1/2" pieces
• 1 fennel bulb, stalks cut off and reserved, stem end cut off, bulb cut in half lengthwise and sliced across
• 1 garlic bulb, Separated into cloves, peeled and smashed, make 2 piles of the smashed garlic
• 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, small ones - cut in half if larger

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
 
Remove the guts from a whole roasting chicken - rinse in cold water and dry well with paper towels. Set aside.
 
Fennel garlic butter: Put the softened butter, fennel, lemon zest, garlic, kosher salt & pepper and fennel pollen into the bowl of a food processor. Process until well combined, stopping and pushing the contents down as necessary. Set butter aside.
 
Pile the leeks, half the garlic cloves and sliced fennel bulb into the bottom of a covered roaster or enameled cast iron Dutch oven. (I use a deep oval one that holds the chicken perfectly.)
 
Loosen the skin on the breast of the chicken by gently running your fingers between the flesh and the skin to loosen - be gentle so the skin doesn't tear. Rub about 2-3 T. of the fennel butter under the skin on one side of the breast and do the same with another 2-3 T. of the butter (more or less) on the other side. Rub what's left of the butter over the outside of the bird all over the breast and legs. Squeeze the lemon you used for the lemon zest over top of all.
 
Roast the chicken UNcovered at 450 for 30 minutes. Add the potatoes all around the chicken, put the lid on, lower the temperature to 350 degrees and roast another hour. Remove lid and continue roasting until the chicken is lightly browned. 

Let rest. Remove chicken from pot onto a large serving platter, lift the veggies out with a slotted spoon and arrange them around the chicken. Carve and serve!


NOTE: Want more veggies? Feel free to add carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, onions...whatever strikes your fancy. It's a pot roast! There aren't many rules where pot roasts are concerned now, are there? 

One Skillet Garlic Spinach and Shrimp Quickie

I promised you a couple of new twists on old favorites for Lent. This one is quick, easy and low-cal to boot!

Honestly, it took less than ten minutes to put together in ONE pan. Okay, I may have cheated just a teensy bit with frozen brown rice from Trader Joe's. Come on...that's being smart and efficient, not cheating!

With no further intro, here's a dish that's sure to become one of your own go-to dinners. Short on time but don't want to skimp on flavor or nutrition? This is it. (I called it a quickie because it's fast, but seriously....who doesn't love a good quickie now and then?)

One Skillet Garlic Spinach and Shrimp Quickie

Serves 2

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups fresh spinach, use baby spinach and you don't even have to chop it!
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
• pinch oregano, or even TWO pinches...live large!
• pinch red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 12 shrimp, raw, peeled - tails on if you wish
• 1/2 lemon, squeezed over the finished dish

• brown rice, prepared - check the freezer aisle at Trader Joe's for their cooked brown rice - super simple in a flash!

In a large skillet, heat the oil, add the garlic and spinach together. Stir until the garlic begins to soften. Add the tomato halves and the seasonings. Stir. Add shrimp and cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque.
 
Pile rice onto 2 plates and divide the shrimp and spinach mixture over top. Give each plate a healthy squeeze of lemon. Serve!



NOTE: You do know this is naturally gluten-free, don't you? Now THAT'S good news!

Spicy Shrimp & Andouille Jambalaya with Beet Greens

 
On opening the fridge, I realized I had some serious cleaning out to do in there. Where did all those fridge-real-estate-hogging bits and pieces come from? Oh everything was good, but wouldn't be for long if I didn't get crackin'. I needed more space!

There was a big bag of beautiful yellow peppers I'd picked up on my last walk through the Strip District.  $2 for a big basket? You know they came home with me. I'd roasted beets last week and saved the tops - you don't throw out beet tops do you? You won't after this recipe.

There was a nice piece of andouille in the meat drawer, 3 jalapenos that were ready to give up the ship, half a bag of shrimp in the freezer, the last few stalks of celery in a bag and a couple of slices of ham left from last Sunday's dinner. With those ingredients on hand and rice in the pantry, dinner was decided. Hello Jambalaya!

There's a lot to be said about a one pot dinner that can clean out your refrigerator and be an authentic Cajun treat. And it feeds (not literally) an army. Leftovers for the week, YES!

Spicy Shrimp & Andouille Jambalaya 

with Beet Greens

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3/4 pound ANDOUILLE, or other smoked sausage, sliced in half lengthwise then across to make half-rounds about 1/4" thick
• 1/2 pound ham, diced small

 

• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeds removed, diced
• 2 medium yellow bell peppers (or use red or orange...whatever you have), seeds removed, diced
• 2 large jalapeno peppers, seeds removed, finely minced
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced

 

• 1 can diced tomatoes, fire roasted is my favorite, add all the juices, too
• 3 fresh thyme, sprigs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 Tablespoons cajun seasoning, I used Slap Ya Mama - nice and spicy!!!! (if you don't like big heat, use less)
• freshly ground black pepper, LOTS - to taste

 

• 4 cups chicken stock, I used a box from the store shelf, feel free to use your own homemade if you have some!
• 2 cups long-grain white rice
• beet greens, the tops from 1 bunch, washed and sliced across into about 1/2" ribbons (if you don't have beet green around, kale works beautifully!)

 

• 12 large shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined, tails left on
• 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or other stove to table cookware.  Once the oil is HOT, but not smoking, add andouille and ham and saute until WELL browned. Remove meats with slotted spoon and set aside.
 
Add to the remaining oil in the pot, onion, celery, green and yellow peppers and jalapeno.  Once the veggies are about halfway to translucent, add the minced garlic and continue cooking until the onions are translucent and the rest of the veggies are soft.
 
Next add the diced tomatoes and seasonings and continue cooking for a few minutes until everything is nicely melded.
 
Now add the chicken stock, rice and greens, stirring until the rice is evenly distributed throughout the veggies.  Bring to a boil.
 
Add the meats and stir well again and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 25 minutes. 
 
Toss the shrimp with the teaspoon of cajun seasoning. Uncover the pot and place the shrimp on top of the rice, cover and continue cooking until the shrimp are pink.  Do NOT overcook the shrimp. 
 
Spoon into bowls and serve with good crusty bread!


NOTE: Be sure not to overcook your rice OR your shrimp.  Nobody likes mushy rice or rubbery shrimp.
 
   

Applejack Braised Shortribs with Butternut & Brussels Sprouts

 

 
What is it about cool, crisp weather and slow braising?  They're positively made for each other!  There just isn't anything better than having a pot of goodness simmering on the stovetop on a lazy, chilly Sunday afternoon just filling the house with a most delicious aroma...nothing better at all.

In my opinion, the bubbling liquid and resultant steam are good for your sinuses and your lungs...I bet that's part of the magic of chicken soup, too. As the steam naturally humidifies dry winter air, it help your feel all better.  It's just supposition, but one never knows...remember you heard it here first.

  
A pot of Applejack Braised Shortribs with Butternut and Brussels Sprouts uses lovely fall vegetables, plus apples and apple cider to accent the flavors - and colors - of the season.  Colors of orange butternut and bright green Brussels sprouts nestled next to the deep, rich brown of beautifully caramelized shortribs look just like a pot full of fall.
  
If only the colors of the braise would stay, but just as bright fall leaves become muted as the season comes to a close, the color of the dish fades during cooking, too. While I miss some of that lovely color when the dish is done, the flavor that remains behind is beefy and rich, sweet with apple, butternut, cider and red wine, earthy sprouts and amazing flavor!  What would you rather have...vibrant color or deep, lush flavor...mmmhhmm...that's what I thought.
 
The combination of butternut and Brussels sprouts in a stew or other slow-cooked dish has been working in my mind for a while now.  I was considering what to use to accent those fall flavors...pork?  Maybe chicken or turkey? Hmmmm. (I'm still working on a similar pork dish...maybe pork shanks....)
 
Then inspiration in the form of Cousin George struck. George mentioned on Facebook that he made Red Wine Braised Shortribs to help ride out Hurricane Sandy there in Maryland.  (He also made a pot of Dark Pot Roast Chili....quite the Renaissance man, eh?!)

I had shortribs in the freezer.  I had red wine.  He sent me the recipe, but naturally I veered off course. Somehow this seemed the appropriate time to set the squash and sprouts to work!
 
Thus today's recipe was born. Here it is:  

Applejack Braised Shortribs with Butternut & Brussels Sprouts

• 2 1/2 pounds short ribs, boneless - 6 large, lean pieces (they were actually labeled as chuck shortribs)
• 2 slices bacon, thick sliced, cut across into 1/2" pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• 1 large red onion, sliced thin
• 2 large garlic cloves, slivered

• 1 large sprig of thyme, separated into smaller pieces
• 1/2 cup Laird's Applejack
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider, you know I use the farm fresh kind from the farm market
• 1 cup red wine

• 1 pound butternut squash, pre-cut, pre-packaged cubes - LOVE the convenience!
• 18 Brussels sprouts, stem ends cut off, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and diced large

Season the ribs with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper on all sides.  Set aside.
 

In large enameled cast iron Dutch oven (with a lid), saute bacon until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and reserve.  Add butter to the bacon fat in the pot and melt. 
 

Raise the heat to high, add half the ribs to the pot and brown well on all sides. Remove to plate and add the rest of the meat - again brown well on all sides.  Remove to plate.
 

Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook for a few minutes until just beginning to soften a little bit.  Add the Applejack and stir well, getting all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.  Stir the apple cider and red wine into the liquid.

Add the meat back into the pot, nestle the thyme between the ribs and down into the liquid.  Bring to a boil, cover and immediately lower heat to simmer.  Cook for 1 1/2-2 hours until the meat is tender. 

Veggies in the pot all ready for the final simmer...and still pretty.

Add butternut squash, Brussels sprouts and apple.  Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil again and immediately lower heat to simmer.  Cover pot and continue to cook until the squash and sprouts are tender.
 

Serve over buttered poppyseed noodles (gluten-free to keep this GF - I really like Scharr tagliatelle) & garnish with reserved crisp bacon.

NOTE:  Poppyseed noodles: cook noodles, butter them and add a tablespoon or so of poppyseeds, salt & freshly ground pepper.  Not much of a recipe...I like those easy ones!