Guinness Beef Stew

 Today is the first day in a long time where the temperature won't climb above the 50's for the high and the low will be in the 40's. Naturally my thoughts turn to cool weather food. Beef stew was what we decided on. 
Beef and Guinness Stew
1 1/2 lb. beef, cut into bite size pieces (I had London Broil that I cut up, but you can use stew meat from grocery store)
2 tsp canola oil
1 bottle Guinness beer
enough beef broth to make 4 1/2 cups of liquid when combined with beer
2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in beef broth and beer
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 large potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
3 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into small pieces
4 oz mushrooms, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp cold water

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil. Add the meat and cook until browned. Add the rosemary and pepper. Then add the beef broth/bouillon/beer mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let it simmer for 1 hour.

Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion and bring back to boil. While waiting for it to boil mix cornstarch with cold water. When stew starts to boil add cornstarch mixture and let it boil for 1 minute, while stirring. Turn back down to simmer. Let simmer for at least 1 more hour. The longer it cooks the better it is. This is one of those meals where it is even better if you reheat it and eat it the next day.

Lobster Boil

Last week I posted a recipe for Father's Day, an alternative to my usual Father's Day meal. You may have thought that was weird posting a Father's Day recipe so early. Honestly my calendar at work says that Father's Day is Sunday June 10th and that is why I posted it so early. Here is my traditional Father's Day meal. You can add additional things like sausage, crabs, mussels, etc. if you like. I often substitute some of the water with a bottle or 3 of beer. Happy Father's Day to my fellow fathers. By the way Cook's Illustrated ran on on-line contest for best Clam bake and this recipe won it for me. Chris Kimble sent me an autographed copy of season 10 of their TV show. He signs his autographs with his name and then draws a bow tie under it.

Lobster Boil

4 lobster tails, I used 4 oz tails for this

24 shrimp

4 ears corn on the cob

4 potatoes or 8 small red ones

1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning

Fill a large stock pot with water, turned to high so water will boil. Add the red potatoes or if using larger potatoes cut them into smaller pieces and add them. Let them boil 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes start to get soft. Add the Old Bay and the lobsters. After 5 minutes add corn and shrimp and let boil 3 or 4 minutes longer until shrimp are cooked. Drain off water and put the food in a big bowl. Enjoy and put out lots of napkins. You may want to put out butter, salt, pepper for corn and potatoes, cocktail sauce for shrimp and melted butter for lobster. Oh yea, don't forget an ice cold beer.

Memorial Day Side Dishes

I am just returning from a week of vacation. We went to Michigan saw my brother, went to Michigan State (the university I graduated from), attended a nephews wedding and then went to Maryland to pick up my dog. My daughter was home last week for my sons Air Force induction ceremony so she took the dog back to Maryland with her so we could go to Michigan. That means no kitchen time for me for the last week or so. I thought I would repeat a few of my favorite side dishes, so a few of you may recognize these recipes.

Barbecue Backed Beans
This is my favorite bean recipe. Once you see how easy and tasty these are you will never buy beans again. Click here for the Barbecue Baked Bean recipe.

Baked Potato Salad
This is another family favorite. Instead of boiling the potatoes bake them and then mix in baked potato toppings like sour cream, chives, bacon and cheese. Click here for the Baked Potato Salad.

Baked Penne and Cheese
This is an Eating Well recipe that uses cottage cheese to lower the calories and fat in traditional macaroni and cheese. Click here for the Baked Penne and Cheese recipe.

Andouille Sausage Hash

Sometimes you just have to have breakfast for dinner.

Andouille Sausage Hash
2 Andouille Sausages, cut into coins Chorizo would work as well
2 potatoes, about 1 pound, cut into small cubes
1/2 pound of veggies cut into bite sized pieces, (Asparagus, mushrooms, roasted peppers, spinach, beans, etc.)
3 tbs onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbs canola oil
2 eggs, fried with runny yolks

Heat 1 tbs of oil in a pan, do not use a non-stick pan if you can help it.

Add thicker veggies, thick asparagus, mushrooms, etc. and cook until soft. Remove from pan and set aside. While thick veggies are cooking spread potatoes in a single layer and microwave until softened 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the andouille, cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the remaining oil and heat it. When hot add the potatoes, onion and any remaining vegetables. Sprinkle smoked paprika over the mixture. Cook until potatoes and vegetables are cooked. Plate the hash and top with fried egg.

Irish Dinner Party

Over the holidays I invited a few friends over that went to Ireland with us. I served food that we had eaten  while we were in Ireland or at least my version of the food. We started by serving mead, a fermented honey drink that is served at room temperature or in cool weather you can heated it and add cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Along with the mead we had various Irish cheeses.

For the first course I served a salad with pears, goat cheese and pecans. Mixed greens with pears, goat cheese and pecans is no big deal and I was trying to think of a way to jazz it up. I realized that with the appetizers we served the mead, the main course was Guinness Stew and the dessert course had Jameson's Irish Whiskey. Could I add an Irish alcohol to the salad? Of course I can. The women with us frequently drank Bulmers Irish Cider at the pubs. Bulmers is a sweet tasting hard cider made from apples. I opted to replace the acid in dressing with Bulmers. By adding honey and Dijon mustard I had created an amazing dressing and added an Irish alcohol to each course. Seriously this salad dressing was one of the best things  I made that night. Bulmers is available in the US as Magners Irish Cider.

Magners Salad Dressing
1/4 cup honey
1/4 Dijon Mustard
1 Magners Irish Cider, you will only use a little bit so you will have to drink most of a bottle :-)

In a small bowl mix the honey and Dijon mustard. Slowly drizzle the Magners Irish Cider into the bowl until the dressing is the consistency you want. Taste it and adjust as needed.

Along with the Guinness Stew I made Potato Cakes. One of the people on the trip with us tries to eat a vegetarian diet and she liked the Potato Cakes we frequently found in the pubs. This is an estimate as I totally winged this recipe. There is no milk in the mashed potatoes as you want to keep them dry when you fry them.

Potato Cake
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
2 tbs butter
1/2 cup spinach, cut into fine ribbons
4 green onions, chopped finely
1/2 cup flour
2 tbs olive oil

Peel and cut potatoes into small pieces. Add to pot and bring to boil. Cook until potatoes are soft, but do not over cook. Drain the potatoes. Add butter, spinach and onions to potatoes in pan. Mash the potatoes. Take the potatoes and form into a flat round shape. These can be thin like a cookie or thick like a hockey puck. Sprinkle flour on each side. In a frying pan heat heat Olive oil. Add potato cakes but do not overcrowd in the pan. Cook until potato cakes are browned and then flip over and brown the other side. Remove and sit them on paper towel until all of the cakes are cooked. Serve immediately.

Beef and Guinness Stew

 This has been a bad week for me health wise. I caught a cold in my chest and head. Then my knee, which has been bothering me for a couple of weeks, really started bothering me. I finally went to the doctors for the knee and he thinks I tore the meniscus. I have to go for a MRI later this week to confirm the diagnosis.
My wife, Annette, loves it though she can come up to me kick me in the knee and run. I can't yell at her or chase her. She really hasn't done that, but I think she has thought about it a few times.

Annette has been craving winter comfort food. Of course she is constantly cold and starts craving winter comfort food in August, if the temperature drops below 85 degrees. This weeks craving was beef stew. Here is the recipe I made.

Beef and Guinness Stew
1 1/2 lb. beef, cut into bite size pieces (I had London Broil that I cut up, but you can use stew meat from grocery store)
2 tsp canola oil
1 bottle Guinness beer
enough beef broth to make 4 1/2 cups of liquid when combined with beer
2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in beef broth and beer
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 large potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
3 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into small pieces
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp cold water

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil. Add the meat and cook until browned. Add the rosemary and pepper. Then add the beef broth/bouillon/beer mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let it simmer for 1 hour.

Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion and bring back to boil. While waiting for it to boil mix cornstarch with cold water. When stew starts to boil add cornstarch mixture and let it boil for 1 minute, while stirring. Turn back down to simmer. Let simmer for at least 1 more hour. The longer it cooks the better it is. This is one of those meals where it is even better if you reheat it and eat it the next day.

Lobster Boil

This is one of my favorite meals. For the last few years this has been my Father's Day meal. You can add additional things like sausage or shellfish if you like. Happy Father's Day to my fellow fathers.

Lobster Boil

4 lobster tails, I used 4 oz tails for this

24 shrimp

4 ears corn on the cob

4 potatoes or 8 small red ones

1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning

Fill a large stock pot with water, turned to high so water will boil. Add the red potatoes or if using larger potatoes cut them into smaller pieces and add them. Let them boil 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes start to get soft. Add the Old Bay and the lobsters. After 5 minutes add corn and shrimp and let boil 3 or 4 minutes longer until shrimp are cooked. Drain off water and put the food in a big bowl. Enjoy and put out lots of napkins. You may want to put out butter, salt, pepper for corn and potatoes, cocktail sauce for shrimp and melted butter for lobster. Oh yea, don't forget an ice cold beer.

Running and Wedgies

Well this weekend I ran my first 10K race, in fact this was my first attempt at any organized sport. I never participated in sports when I was in school. The 10K was the Ukrop's Monument Ave. 10K run in Richmond VA. My oldest daughter, Lynn, originally decided to run the race and invited me to join her. I accepted and my youngest daughter, Ashlyn, decided she wanted to run as well. Ashlyn and Lynn finished in the times they expected, but I beat my personal best time by eight minutes. Lynn was the backbone of our team. She made hotel arrangements for us, made T-shirts for us, made sure we got the race packages and feed us after the race. Richmond is the home of VCU, who was in the NCAA Final Four, so after the race she went home and cooked for not just our family but several friends as well as we cheered VCU on. Unfortunately VCU didn't fair as well as we did in the race. Thanks Lynn for making this weekend such a fun time and for making me challenge myself by running farther and faster than I have before. I appreciate all of your efforts.

The wedgies have nothing to do with the running, but pertain to potatoes cut into 8 wedges. This recipe was inspired from a Spanish Tapas recipe. There is also a dipping sauce for them.

Potato Wedgies with Dip
Potatoes:
3 pounds Potatoes, cut into 8 wedges (the long way, if you have larger potatoes you can cut into more than 8 pieces)
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Dip:
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
pinch of salt
1/4 cup mayo, I used low fat
1/4 cup sour cream, I used low fat
Smoked paprika to taste

Potatoes:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While oven is preheating cut potatoes into wedges and place in a bowl. Add olive oil and salt and pepper and stir to evenly coat the potatoes. Spread the potatoes out evenly on a cookie sheet and cook for about 25 minutes. They should be soft and brown spots will begin to appear. Remove when done and let cool.

Dip:
While the potatoes are cooking you can make the dip. Mince the garlic and add salt to it. Mash the salt into the garlic until it forms a paste. Place mayo and sour cream in a bowl, then add the garlic paste to it. Mix in the smoked paprika, until you get the desired taste. Since smoked paprika seems to come in different strengths I suggest adding a teaspoon at a time and tasting until you get a flavor you like.

I sprinkled a little parsley on the potatoes so they looked good on the platter.

Breakfast for Dinner

During the remodel we never knew if we were going to get into the kitchen to cook at 5:00, 8:00 or even if we were going to be able to cook anything at all. As result we never had meals planned and usually a meal was whatever we could throw together quickly. Breakfast became a popular choice as frittatas, pancakes, etc were quick and easy. For Christmas Annette bought me a ton of cookbooks, one of which was the Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. Ree dedicates a whole chapter to breakfast. When I saw the hash browns, I knew I had to have some. While I did not use her recipe, I was inspired by her photography. Fellow bloggers I recommend this book for the photography as much as the recipes. I wasn't going to publish this a just made hash browns and topped with a slice of ham and a fried egg and anybody can make that, but I liked my photograph of the results.

Hash Browns with Ham and a Fried Egg
2 baked potatoes, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 red pepper, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 onion, cut into a small dice
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil to medium in a heavy pan, cast iron is good if you have one. Add the onion and peppers and cook until translucent. Add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Let the potatoes sit until they start to brown and then flip them. Don't stir them a lot or they won't brown up and they will fall apart. When they are golden brown they are done.
While the potatoes are finishing warm up a few slices of ham and fry the eggs.

Baked Potato Salad

With warm weather and picnic season upon us it is time for my favorite potato salad recipe. This is different than other potato salads because the potatoes are baked and the ingredients are typical baked potato toppings. Things like chives, bacon, sour cream and cheddar cheese. This is another recipe where I measure with my eyes and not with cups and tablespoons, so taste and adjust as you see fit. Most of the time I use low fat mayo, sour cream and cheese for this and garnish with real cheese. If you like a creamy potato salad let the potatoes cool before adding the mayo sour cream mixture. If you add the mayo sour cream mixture while the potatoes are hot they will absorb more of the mixture making a dryer version.

Baked Potato Salad
2-3 lbs cooked potatoes, cut into bite size pieces I usually use Yukon Gold, but used Red Bliss in the batch pictured
1/2 cup sour cream, I use low fat
1 tbs mayo, I use low fat
4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled into small pieces. Reserve 1 tbs for garnish. I usually use center cut bacon
1/4 cup chives or green onions, cut into small rings, reserve 2-3 tsp for garnish
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese, reserve 1 tbs for garnish

Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and fold together until everything is coated with the sour cream mayo mixture. After it is all mixed together top with the reserved garnishes.

Grilled London Broil and Vegetables

As I was grilling the London Broil, I could look down and see the daffodils and crocuses in bloom. I am hoping winter has made its final appearance.

Grilled London Broil and Vegetables

London Broil:
1 lb London Broil
1 tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano. dried
1 tsp Basil, dried
1 tsp Marjoram, dried
2 cloves garlic, minced

Vegetables:
1 pound mixed veggies cut into bite size pieces. I used a potato, mushrooms, a zucchini, red onion and cherry tomatoes.
2 tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano. dried
1 tsp Basil, dried
1 tsp Marjoram, dried

Preheat the grill to medium high.

Place the London Broil in a resealable plastic bag and add the oil, garlic and dried herbs. Set this in refrigerator for a couple of hours so flavors can be absorbed by the meat.

For the vegetables, after they are chopped add them to a bowl. Toss with olive oil and herbs. You may not need all of the oil, only enough to coat the veggies and make the herbs stick.

About 1/2 hour before you are ready to start grilling remove the meat from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Place on grill and cook until the meat has reached desired doneness. I cooked mine for about 12 minutes for rare. London Broil is a meat that can be tough so don't over cook this. Let meat rest for a few minutes and then slice into thins slices. Serve 3 or 4 slices per person.

The veggies can be cooked on a piece of foil or in a grill basket so they don't fall through the grill grates. Cooking time will vary by the size and type of veggies you cook. Potatoes take longer then a zucchini or a tomato. I cooked the potatoes for about as long as the steak and the other veggies about 7 or 8 minutes.

Sausage and Potato Soup

Do you want a nice hearty soup to keep you warm on these cold winter days? This is a soup I put together because I wanted something a little more filling but still on the healthy side.

Sausage and Potato Soup

3 Italian Chicken or Turkey Sausages, casing removed and formed into bite sized meatballs
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 potatoes, diced
3 cups broth, chicken or vegetable, low sodium and low fat
3 cups water
1/4 tsp each fresh rosemary and fennel
1/2 tsp each marjoram and thyme
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped frozen spinach
Salt and Pepper

Brown the meatballs, you may have to add a teaspoon of the oil. Remove meatballs after they brown and set aside. Add the rest of the oil, onions, celery and the carrots. Cook until onions are transparent, then add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute. Add the herbs, potatoes, broth and water. Cook until potatoes are soft, then add the meatballs and spinach. Cook this until meatballs are heated through and potatoes are cooked.

Lobster Boil

Ok, this one isn't Italian, but it is an American holiday weekend and this is a good easy recipe that can be changed to feed a crowd. You can add additional things like sausage to stretch it out to feed more people. This is one of my favorite meals.

Lobster Boil

4 lobster tails, I used 4 oz tails for this

24 shrimp

4 ears corn on the cob

4 potatoes or 8 small red ones

1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning

Fill a large stock pot with water, turned to high so water will boil. Add the red potatoes or if using larger potatoes cut them into smaller pieces and add them. Let them boil 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes start to get soft. Add the Old Bay and the lobsters. After 5 minutes add corn and shrimp and let boil 3 or 4 minutes longer until shrimp are cooked. Drain off water and put the food in a big bowl. Enjoy and put out lots of napkins. You may want to put out butter, salt, pepper for corn and potatoes, cocktail sauce for shrimp and melted butter for lobster. Oh yea, don't forget an ice cold beer.