beef stew over mashed potatoes-- a staple

as it happens, it can be 55 degrees and raining well into may here in seattle. thus, beef stew season lingers. i make this all the time (really-- all.the.time.), but i'm just now getting around to posting about it.

i first tried this recipe in 2002 when i was taking an evening course in landscape design at the local college. i came into class one day and a friendly classmate asked, "hey, how are you?" i responded, like a complete dork, "I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH I LIKE THE STEW I MADE TONIGHT!" she smiled and shifted away from the crazy stew lady and i spent the rest of class daydreaming about my new creation.

i've tried several other beef stew recipes, but i keep coming back to this one. the original came from epicurious.com. 

by the way, this takes 3+ hours, so start early!

beef stew with mashed potatoes
from hearty beef stew with green peas and carrots, epicurious 2001 
serves 4

1 lb organic, grass-fed stew beef
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbps flour
1 cup red wine
2 cups homemade chicken stock
1  bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme (more if using fresh)
2 large carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3/4 cup frozen peas

in large, heavy-bottomed stock pot, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. sprinkle beef with salt and freshly cracked pepper. add beef, in batches if necessary, to the pot and brown on all sides, adding more oil if need be. (color equals flavor, so resist the urge to stir the meat. let the sides get a good sear on them before you turn them over.) remove meat from pot and set aside.

reduce heat to medium. add chopped onion to pot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. add garlic and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and the liquid has been reduced. (mushrooms let off a ton of liquid when they hit heat, so cook until that has been reduced. if using dried, reconstitute by soaking in hot water for about 20 minutes and add to the stew when you add the beef.) stir in flour and cook, stirring, about one minute. add wine and deglaze pan, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom. add broth, bay leaves, thyme, and beef. bring to a simmer, cover, and reduce heat to low. cook at a low simmer for about 2 1/2 hours until beef is tender. (ideally it will be very soft and pull apart easily.)

add carrots and peas to pot and cook another 30 minutes until carrots are cooked through. (carrots can also go in earlier.) taste and season with salt and pepper. 

serve over mashed potatoes. (my "recipe" below.)

mashed potatoes

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes

2 and/or 3 of the following:
milk
butter
sour cream
buttermilk 
salt and pepper

peel potatoes and chop into large chunks. add to a pot and cover with cold water. (cold water important for even cooking.) add about a 1/2 tsp or so salt to cooking water. bring to a boil and cook until you can get a fork through them easily. 

drain and return to pot with some of the cook water still on them. mash. stir in milk, butter, buttermilk, sour cream (some combination, depending on what you have on hand) and salt and pepper until they taste the way you want. i like to overseason slightly just to make sure they stand up under the stew.

sources: 

grass-fed beef and cal white potatoes from olsen farms 
mushrooms, dried porcinis, from foraged and found edibles 
chicken stock made from stokesberry sustainable farm chicken
frozen peas from our freezer, last fall's preservation

risotto with mushrooms and leeks

it's been a while since i cooked risotto. i used to make it all the time, but i never really could get the texture exactly right, and eventually i moved the dish out of the rotation in favor of other techniques that weren't so tricky. but when i finally got my hands on some leeks at the farmers market recently (they're almost always sold out by the time i arrive), i couldn't shake the idea of a leek risotto. epicurious featured a recipe from le pigeon, a celebrated portland restaurant that i sadly never made it to when we were living there... the recipe for risotto with leeks, shiitake mushrooms, and truffles sounded too good not to try. 

the recipe begins with halved and thinly-sliced leeks. click here for a handy guide on prepping and cleaning leeks.

the leeks are cooked in heavy whipping cream until the mixture is nice and thick, and the leeks are tender.

le pigeon's recipe calls for shiitake mushrooms and truffles. i, having neither on hand, substituted dried porcinis that were reconstituted by soaking in boiling water for 20 minutes, drained, and added to the roasting onions for the last 15 minutes of their 45 minute cooking time. (if i make this again, i'll try it with fresh shiitakes or creminis. the porcinis didn't quite match the dish.)

now the real work begins. arborio rice is sauted in butter, then white wine, then 4-5 cups of simmering chicken or vegetable stock are added, one ladle-full at a time. most recipes call for constant stirring during this step, but i do cover the pan and step away to do something else occasionally. don't go far, though-- the rice absorbs the stock in about 2-4 minutes, and then it's time for more. 

the rice is done when it is tender, but still a little al dente, and creamy, but not gummy. it should be a bit loose, not clumpy. 

now, the leeks and cream are stirred into the rice, along with 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and a pat of butter. season with salt and pepper. top with mushroom and onion mixture, or stir it all together. 

as i said, i will save the porcinis for another dish next time. fresh shiitakes or creminis would be better in this one. between the creamy rice, and the creamy leeks, the dish was creamy creaminess, and the porcinis were too pungent and out of place. their aroma reminds me of a cross between a super sharp pecorino cheese and the ocean-- just too much for the other flavors.

it is entirely too easy to overcook risotto, and even if you yank it off the heat at just the right time, it's only a matter of minutes before the rice has continued to cook and taken your dish from "yay!" to "damn, i overcooked it again." that's why i think everyone who makes risotto at home should be willing to adjust their standards for the dish-- it still tastes good, even if tom and padma would complain. give it a try!

recipe: le pigeon's risotto with leeks, shiitake mushrooms, and truffles, bon appetit september 2007

leeks: full circle farm 

onions: willie greens organics 

dried porcinis: foraged and found edibles 

beef burgundy and three root-vegetable mash-- amongst the top 10 things i've ever cooked. maybe top 5...

me: i need to come up with an angle for my beefy post.
rob: what kind of angle?
me: you know, an intro or an anecdote-- something besides 'i made this and it was good.'
rob: 'i made this and it was REALLY good?'

that's as good a place to start as any. i made this. and it was really. REALLY. good. it was so delicious and satisfying, in fact, that when rob forgot to take the leftovers for his lunch the next day, he came home to retrieve them. unprecedented! if i had nothing to do but cook and eat and get really fat, this would be my daily meal.

we are big fans of slow-braised meats of all kinds-- wild boar ragout, lamb bolognese, elk with pappardelle-- big fans. my list of "things to learn to cook" has included a rich braised meat since the fall, and i finally took the plunge last week. i didn't suspect it would be a difficult preparation, but was concerned that there may be a trick to getting really great flavors. if there is a trick, gourmet's boeuf bourguignon from march 2001 has it.

i followed the recipe almost to the letter, even the first step of boiling the bacon. i'm still not sure what this step accomplishes, but it did appear to boil out some of the fat, which is just fine with me. the boiled bacon goes into the stew as whole strips, which i found unusual, but worry not-- the strips melt away into pure flavoring during the 4 hour cook time.

recipe link again: boeuf bourguignon, gourmet march 2001

(forgive me for not typing it out? it's kinda long, and i've got to wrap this up so i can prep the pork chops and watch michael pollan on oprah... you understand, yes?)

a few notes:

• don't skip the deglaze with brandy-- it makes the house smell of a bacon and waffle breakfast for a few minutes.
• i didn't have celery or parsley, so simply left them out.
• i used baby shallots instead of pearl onions and didn't bother to blanch or boil first-- just gave them 30 minutes to an hour to cook in the stew.
• i used dried porcinis instead of fresh mushrooms, and since i didn't reconstitute them first, i ended up having to add about 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup homemade beef stock towards the end of the cooking time. watch it, and if it starts to get dry, add a little water or stock.
• one more thing, and this may be a controversial thing to say. i may need to eat my words one day, but... i've decided the missive "don't cook with what you wouldn't drink" is horse pucky. without hesitation i poured a $7 bottle of wine that had been open since mid-december into the pot (and not open with a wine-saver top, either!), and came back to one of the best meals i've ever made. (that said, before the bottle sat open for a month, it was something i would drink! there's still plenty of stuff i wouldn't even allow into my home, for cooking or otherwise.)

super-rich beef not your thing? maybe you'll like what i served it with, a mash of 3 winter root vegetables-- potato, carrot, and nutty sunchokes.

sunchokes, also called jerusalem artichokes , are nothing like globe artichokes that top your pizza and go into cheesy spinach dip at the bar n' grill. they look like ginger root, or extraterrestrial larvae, and are the tuber of a kind of sunflower. their texture is much like a water chestnut or crisp apple, and they have a fresh, earthy, and incredibly nutty flavor. i've read several accounts of them causing intestinal distress for certain people, but so far i've not noticed any side effects, though we are eating them in small quantities, and almost always mixed with other roots.

this mash was a flavorful alternative to pure mashed potatoes, and probably a little healthier, too.

puree of three root vegetables

from gourmet, december 1993
(serves 2)

1 carrot, peeled
1 russet potato, peeled
1/2 lb sunchokes, scrubbed clean and peeled (peeling optional-- but if you try it, just scrape off as much as you can. no need to be thorough.)
butter
salt and pepper

chop vegetables into uniform chunks. cover with cold water and cook 20-30 minutes over medium heat, covered, until they are all tender. drain, reserving some of the cooking liquid.

transfer to bowl and mash together, or use mixer or food processor and mix to desired smoothness. add reserved cooking water to thin, if it's too thick. season to taste with butter, salt, and pepper.


sources:
stew beef and potatoes from olsen farms
most delicious bacon ever from skagit river ranch
onions from willie green's organic farm
dried porcinis from foraged and found edibles
carrots from nash's organic produce
sunchokes from stoney plains organic farm
baby shallots from pipitone farm

beef stroganoff, hold the beef

the motivation behind our move from portland to seattle was simple-- rob's job was here, and i no longer had a job anywhere. since i was unemployed and therefore home all day, i got to be the one who essentially unpacked and put the house together.

it was during one day of unpacking that i turned on the food network, which i'd never really watched before, to see if there was anything worth having on in the background while i looked for the right place to display comic book action figures. that's when i discovered tyler florence and his show tyler's ultimate. i got hooked pretty fast, primarily because tyler's recipes are all based on fresh ingredients and taste. he's not offering you a lightened up version of mac and cheese substituting craisins for the mac and chickpea puree for the cheese-- oh no. tyler is afraid of neither fats nor calories, so long as the end experience is, according to his shtick, "the ultimate." (he is from texas, after all.)

one saturday morning i got rob to watch an episode with me. tyler was making beef stroganoff using slow braised short ribs and it looked SO GOOD to us that we bought the ingredients and spent the afternoon making it. while it did taste amazing, there was something about the short ribs that didn't quite fit with the rest of the dish. we had our leftover sauce with the addition of peas the next night and realized our folly-- the dish needs no meat! especially not pricey meat cooked separately and served on top of everything else.

we recreated the (now) mushroom stroganoff a couple of nights ago with great success. i still used tyler's sauce recipe as a base, but made a few modifications including adding some mushroom stock to cut through the cream.

mushroom stroganoff

modified from tyler's ultimate beef stroganoff

1 1/2 lb mushrooms (i used cremini and chanterelles)

1 shallot, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup brandy

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 - 1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup chicken broth (or veggie broth for a vegetarian dish)

small sprig fresh thyme

salt and pepper

pasta

wash, trim and slice mushrooms, reserving trimmings.

in small saucepan, add chicken or veggie broth, mushroom trimmings, and small sprig of thyme, and simmer over low heat while working on the rest of the sauce. taste and add salt if necessary.

heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add mushrooms. saute until they begin to cook down. add shallots and garlic and cook until the liquid lost from the mushrooms is reduced. add brandy and cook until reduced.

add mushroom stock to pan, pouring through strainer to catch the solids.

remove pan from heat and allow to cool slightly, then slowly add cream and stir. return pan to heat, add peas, and cook until sauce begins to thicken and reduce. it should be thick enough to stick well to pasta.

stir in mustard and sour cream and warm though. season to taste with salt and pepper.

serve over pasta of your choice. we had it with fettuccine which worked out quite well.

chanterelle mushroom feast!

i've learned over the last couple of years that when fall comes to the pacific northwest, saying you're going for a hike might be met with, "are you going mushroom hunting?" there are quite a few forageables in this part of the country, and a fair-sized population of people interested in finding them.

i've been intrigued by the idea of a mushroom-gathering expedition for a while now, but lacked two pieces of critical information: 1) where to go, and 2) what to look for. you have to go with someone experienced, and as i understand it, mushroom hunters who have their own trusty spot are reluctant to share such treasure with others. thankfully, i have a couple of friends who are clever enough to have recently gotten themselves invited on a hunt for chanterelles, and who also happen to be spectacular cooks.

dinner monday night with b and v was an incredible chanterelle feast. first up, the mushrooms were sauteed in sherry and mixed with a little creme fraiche, served on crostini. unreasonably delicious. next, we had them roasted with asparagus, cooked with bacon and tossed with boiled new potatoes, and made into a stroganoff-style sauce which was served on rare beef. there was so much amazingness on that table it was overwhelming. at the end of the night they sent us home with a couple of pounds of our very own chanterelles. awesome!

chanterelles are one of about 30 edible, forageable varieties in this part of the world. they are difficult to cultivate since their growth depends on a symbiotic relationship that takes place at the root level of certain trees. they are, as are all mushrooms i've learned from the most recent issue of edible seattle, actually the fruit of a larger organism called the mycelium that makes it's home in the soil. because they have to be hand picked from the forest floor, chanterelles are quite expensive. but if you know where and how to find them, you've got a goldmine on your hands.

so, what to do with my paper bag o' delicacies? i decided to stretch them as far as i could, and make several different dishes. first was homemade pappardelle with chanterelles in a creamy tomato sauce. i essentially followed a recipe for pappardelle with wild mushrooms, rosemary, and light tomato sauce from the summertime anytime cookbook by dana slatkin.

recipe here: pappardelle with wild mushrooms, rosemary, and light tomato sauce

it was... good, but not amazing. the pasta was good, the sauce was good, the mushrooms were good, but at the end of the day, it was pasta with mushrooms in a tomato sauce-- not the most exciting way to show off the flavor of such a coveted ingredient. the next night i changed direction.

on a back episode of top chef i was re-watching for the 3rd time tuesday morning, a chef made a gnocchi dish with lobster, bacon, corn, and chanterelle mushrooms. heck yeah! i'll just leave off the lobster, make up a sauce, and it'll be great! i had made a couple of pounds of gnocchi earlier in the month and frozen it for just such an occasion, so this would even be a relatively quick meal. it was uncomplicated and delicious! if it had been served to me at a restaurant, i'd have only been disappointed that there wasn't twice as much of it on the plate.

gnocchi with chanterelle mushrooms, corn, and bacon

(serves 2)

1 lb prepared gnocchi

2 slices bacon

1 ear fresh corn, kernels removed with a sharp knife

1/2 - 3/4 lb chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, small ones left whole

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup white wine

pat of butter

olive oil

salt and pepper

cook bacon over medium heat and remove to drain on paper towels. crumble or cut into bits. drain off most of bacon grease and return pan to heat.

add mushrooms to pan. when they hit the heat, they will lose a lot of their liquid pretty quickly and cook down a bit in their own juices. when they are softened and golden, remove from pan and reserve, reserving also the mushroom liquid in a separate bowl to be used in the sauce later.

saute the onions and garlic in the same pan with some olive oil or butter. cook until onions are transluscent, or caramelize if you want. (i usually add the garlic at the last minute to sweat it but not risk burning). add corn to pan. cook a few minutes more until corn cooks through and the mixture begins to marry. it smells really good at this stage...

add white wine to pan and deglaze, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom. cook 2 minutes or so until the wine reduces and the mixture thickens. add chicken stock and cook a few minutes more, again, reducing and thickening. repeat with reserved mushroom liquid. stir in a pat of butter for added richness.

add mushrooms and crumbled bacon to the sauce and warm through. season to taste with salt and pepper.

serve on gnocchi. i boiled and pan fried mine in butter to give it a little texture. note: if using frozen gnocchi, do not thaw before cooking.

it's just dirt, it won't hurt anybody, but i don't like gritty meals and chanterelle mushrooms are filthy! to clean, remove the part of the stem that was underground and brush or scrape off as much of the rest of the dirt as possible. they're pretty robust, they can take it. wash under running water, paying attention to any trapped dirt in the gills. clean only just before use, though-- don't clean and store wet or they will, um, i don't know what they will do, but it might not be pretty. they will last several days in a paper bag in the fridge.

just a handful left! what to do tonight?