Go Make This Stew Now

It has been really, really cold here the past couple of days.  I’m not complaining.  We have actually had a really mild fall and winter.  Last week we even had some days that were in the upper 50s.  However, the temperature yesterday morning when we got up was 12 degrees, I think, and the temperatures never got above freezing.  The wind has also been whipping around and we even had a brief shower of snow.  Unfortunately, there is no accumulation, so no snow day for the boys.

One good thing is that this kind of weather puts me in the mood to make some soup.  We started on Sunday with the traditional Korean rice cake soup for New Year’s Day.  Then, Tuesday, I made this scrumptious stew.

Pork and Pumpkin Stew.

Since we started buying our meat by the whole or half animal, I have been looking for new recipes featuring pork or beef.  I came across this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website and was intrigued by all the great reviews it got.  There’s nothing too surprising about the combination of pork and pumpkin, nor the addition of spices or applesauce.  It was the vinegar that got my attention.  It reminded me of my favorite ratatouille recipe, which has a splash of vinegar at the end and gives the dish a special flavor that you would not expect.  Vinegar seems to heighten the sweetness in a dish and strangely also makes the dish seem richer.

almost ready to go in the oven

It took me over an hour to prep this stew.  This is partly because my pork shoulder was bone-in and still  partly frozen.  I also had to peel and cut up two acorn squash, which is quite a chore with my small and kinda weak hands.  Plus, I doubled the recipe, which doubles the work.  If you buy your meat boneless and buy some winter squash that is already cut up, you will have just a fraction of the prep that I had.   The bonus is that once the stew is prepped and in the oven, all you have to do is pull it out and enjoy it 3 hours later.  And, since stew always tastes better the next day, we enjoyed it again the next night and there are two quarts leftover that went into the freezer for a future, busier day.  Yum!

I made a few changes to the original recipe, so I have included my revised version here.  If you want to see the original recipe, just go here.  I served the stew with noodles instead of mashed potatoes as the recipe suggested because not everyone in my family likes mashed potatoes.  However, once I tasted it, I could see how some creamy mashed potatoes would make a good contrast to the stew–plus it would be more effective at soaking up all the yummy juices.

Also, I think the sauteed kale is also a great accompaniment.  I used dinosaur aka lacinato kale.  This kale does not have to be cooked forever.  I just sliced it into half inch strips and sauteed it with some olive oil, garlic, and a little crushed red pepper.  I loved the texture of the kale next to the softly cooked squash.  It also makes the dish look pretty.

Next, I have my sites on making this seafood stew.

PORK and WINTER SQUASH STEW

• 4 lb. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 3-4 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
•  1 Tbs. tomato paste
• 1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 3 Tbs. cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes with juices
• 2 whole, small, peeled pumpkin or winter squash, such as kabocha or acorn, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 tsp. dried, rubbed sage
• 5 cups chicken stock
• Mashed potatoes or noodles for serving
• Sautéed lacinato kale for serving

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 325°F.

Season the pork with salt and black pepper. In a 3 1/2-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the olive oil. Working in batches, brown the pork on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium and warm the remaining 1 Tbs. olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, tomato paste, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the vinegar, applesauce, tomatoes with their juices, pumpkin, sage, stock and pork. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Cover and transfer the pot to the oven and cook until the pork is fork-tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

Skim the fat off the sauce. Serve the stew over mashed potatoes and pass sautéed broccoli rabe alongside.   Makes about 4 quarts of stew to feed at least 12.

Time to Slow Down

I’m going to be quick today because for some reason I have a blinding headache and I think I need to take a day to rest.  However, I wanted to catch up on my words of the day.  So, here it is, almost wordless.

Radiant

We love our Christmas pyramid.

Stollen

My shaping was a little off (I was kinda busy baking 15 dozen cookies), so they look a little funny.

Also, I apologize for the blurry pictures.  The lighting is not really great today.

Toffee

This candy is really easy to make if you have a candy thermometer and SO much better than store bought.  We will never buy store toffee again.

Recipe can be found here.  Seriously, you should go make some.  This is our second batch and it makes a great gift.  Also, if you get gluten free nuts and use all clean equipment and your ingredients are not cross contaminated–they are gluten free.

5 days ’til Christmas.  Are you ready?

It Is Always Worth It to Try Something New

There are people who love to try new things and I am one of them.  I like variety, especially in my food.  When I was younger, I even disliked leftovers because it was the same thing I already had before ( I like leftovers a little more now that I have a larger family and leftovers means I can skip cooking a meal).

Thankfully, most of my family (except one who will remain unnamed, but those who know us will know who I’m talking about) is also game to try new things.  The only complaint I ever really get is from the husband.  He loves the variety, but sometimes the variety means that he doesn’t get the same meal twice, like ever.  Well, that’s not strictly true, but it is pretty rare for me to cook the same thing more than once in a month and sometimes it takes longer than that.

I just love to try new things and learn new things.  I am always reading new cookbooks and looking for new recipes to try.   As much as possible, I like to make my own stuff, even condiments like mayonnaise.  Usually, it just tastes better and it’s cheaper to boot.  I am especially enamoured with foods from around the world.  Not only does it keep our meals more interesting, I think it gives everyone an appreciation for the other cultures and foods of the world.  I haven’t met a cuisine I don’t like, though Ethiopian is Really Spicy, even more so than Korean, if that’s possible!

Sometimes, trying new things happens sort of by accident.  Last week, when our dear GF friend was coming over, I realized I had forgotten the corn tortillas that were supposed to go with our Mexican-inspired meal.  At the time, it was raining torrentially.  It was the kind of rain that makes you wonder if the house is going to float away.  There was no way I was going to the store.   I’d always heard that tortillas were not hard to make and I just happened to have a recipe from this book.

I decided to give it a try and this is how it went down:

First, making the dough was a cinch.  It’s just this special cornmeal you buy at the store called Maseca.  I just happened to have a bag of it, only because I had intended months ago to make tamales, but never got around to it.  You may have to go to a Mexican grocery to find it, but I have seen it at well-stocked stores.   To the cornmeal you add water, salt, and oil.  Easy.  Then, I let it rest.

After about an hour, we got the kids involved.  I rolled the dough into balls and put them between two squares of parchment.  I gave the boys a small, heavy frying pan  (I know!  I was worried, too, but I kept them on opposite sides of the table).  Then, I “showed” them how to flatten each ball into a round, flat tortilla.  I put the word “showed” in quotation marks, because I had no idea what I was doing-Ha!  I made the first couple and then they did the rest, with a little help from the husband and our friend.

ANYway, the boys developed their own technique pretty quickly.  The younger had the full body technique.

Watching the boys do this is reason alone to do this again.  It was Hilarious!

The last step is to put them on a frying pan for a few minutes.  I found it a little tricky at first because they kept cracking, especially when I flipped them, but once we started making them a little thicker, all went well.

The last ones that came of the pan looked the best.

And how did they taste?

They were Amazing.  They had a nice smooth texture and when they were warm, they almost felt fluffy.  They were nothing like their grocery store counterparts.   There was no grittiness or hardness and there was a subtle corn flavor.  They stayed soft for several hours, though they did have a tendency to crack when they were cold (but so do the grocery ones).

We had kind of a lot leftover because when I measured I accidentally put in twice the amount of salt.  You know what you have to do when that happens?  That’s right, double the recipe.

I might try to make my own tortilla chips next.

The Best Ever Recipe for Brownies that Just Happen to be GF

GF means gluten free and there’s a growing number of people who are being diagnosed with gluten sensitivities.  Unfortunately for them, gluten is everywhere.   Thankfully, there is a growing awareness of their plight and lots of products to help them as well.

There are some good cake mixes and bread mixes and pastas that are GF and gluten free.

But brownies, not so much.  The brownie mixes that are out there just all fall short somehow, either in flavor, texture, or both.  I haven’t tried all of them, but the ones I have tried have been kinda sad.  In my opinion, the same can be said for most regular glutenized brownie mixes.

Then, I found this recipe by David Lebovitz on his blog.

Here’s what I like about this recipe:

1.  It’s made all in one pot.

2.  There’s no weird ingredients to buy.  Instead of flour, he uses a mixture of cocoa powder and cornstarch.

3.  The chocolate flavor really shines through.  You use 8oz of chocolate, so pick one you really like and the brownies will taste like them.

4.  A lined pan means they are easy to take out of the pan and easy to clean up after.

5.  It takes less than 10 minutes to mix up-Really!

6.  The husband, who normally hates brownies because he thinks they usually don’t taste like chocolate, loved these.  He said I could make them anytime.

7.  They keep well.  I made them on Monday and had one yesterday that was just as yummy.

8.  I usually don’t like fudgey brownies, but these are different.  They are soft, not sticky like fudge, and they melt in your mouth.

9.  My kids loved them.  They usually can tell if something is GF, but not this time!

I used toasted, sliced almonds from Trader Joe’s and I liked the extra texture it gave to the brownies, plus I saved myself two steps.  You can use any nut you like, just be sure to toast them.  When I have to toast nuts for a recipe, I’ll often toast the whole bag and save the rest for later.  That way, you only have to toast once.

I also used 56% dark chocolate from Iceland that I got at Whole Foods.  I’d show you a picture, but I threw the wrapper away.  It was a 7oz bar, so I supplemented with an ounce of GF chocolate chips.  Another GF brand of chocolate I like is Guittard.  To be sure, check of GFness, check the label.

Mr. Lebovitz stresses one thing in the recipe and I will too:  Make sure you stir the batter for a full minute.  I counted to 60 and added a few more, just to be safe.

Line the pan with foil and use a nonstick spray on the foil and they’ll come out of the pan like a dream–no trying to pry them out with a knife.  I’m all about reducing clean up.

Also, if you’re new to baking GF and you’re baking for someone who is GF, make sure everything you use is really, really, clean and if you can’t be sure that you’ve never put a floury spoon in your cocoa or cornstarch, get a new package and use that instead.  Then, when they are done, please do not put them on the same plate with other non-GF foods.  Even a crumb can make a GF sensitive person sick for days.

So, if you really want to make your GF friends happy, make these brownies for them.  And if your GF friend makes these brownies, you should have one.   Actually, anytime you feel like eating a brownie, you should make these.  They really are the best brownies ever.