Winter Stew

I was craving a good, hearty stew, and found a package of brisket in my freezer. It was quite a fatty piece of brisket (is that always the case? I'm not sure), which I opted to cook with all the fat intact and keep in the stew. It was my first time using my wood stove as a cook top (other than for heating water or to melt butter or toast seeds) - why have I not done this before?? It was so perfect! I set my dutch oven on top and it simmered away all day as if it were a crock pot.

I followed this recipe for root veggie stew, with barely a tweak. I added rosemary because I have an enormous pot of it next to the counter, which means I put rosemary in just about everything right now. I also served it with sauerkraut, adding it just when I am ready to eat to try and preserve some of the ferment benefits. This stew, particularly, is delicious with the kraut. Maybe it's all the root veggies, or the extra fat, I don't know. But the tangy kraut with the soft veggies and hunks of beef is perfect.

Winter Stew (makes 6-8 servings)
2+ lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-2″ pieces
2 rutabagas, chopped
4 turnips, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
3 small potatoes, chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
Olive Oil or butter
1+ cup red wine
2 cups beef bone broth
sea salt
crushed pepper to taste
sprig of rosemary
*sauerkraut to serve (opt)

1. In a cast iron skillet or pan, heat 2-3 tbs olive oil or butter.  Add the onion, celery and carrots.  Saute until the onions are translucent and the celery has cooked through.  Set Aside.
2. In a heavy bottomed dutch oven, heat 2 tbls olive oil (unless your meat is extra fatty like mine, in which case just use the fat on the beef). Brown the stew meat.
3. Add the onion, celery, carrot mixture and tomatoes to the beef stew meat and saute for an additional 3-5 minutes.
4. Incorporate the beef stock, red wine, turnips and rutabagas.
5. Season with sea salt and crushed pepper. Throw in a rosemary twig or two.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 2-3 hours. (I actually simmered mine for about 5 hours until the beef was really tender.)
7. 20 minutes before serving, add the potatoes and simmer until they are soft.
8. Serve with sauerkraut on top.

Resplendent Rosemary plant!

Samosa filling (Keema) and Tikel Gomen

This is the 2nd time I've made Nom Nom Paleo's beef samosa filling, Indian Spiced Keema, along with Ethiopian cabbage and carrots, or Tikel Gomen. They are delicious together.

If you want to get especially fancy, you could also make Besan Chilla, a north Indian flatbread made out of chickpea flour, that when eaten with the Keema is very samosa like. I did not make them this time around, but the combo of the three was a total trifecta. Yum.

Follow everything with a cup of turmeric-ginger tea with coconut milk, and really, it's a pretty perfect meal. (A meal in which I apparently care much more about eating than photographing. These photos are pretty atrocious!)

*My dinner companion was not eating dairy, so I used coconut oil in the keema. It was still good, just a bit less depth (in my opinion). I also didn't have cilantro. The cilantro kicks things up a notch, but perhaps like me, your cilantro is buried under some snow in the front garden!

Keema
2 tablespoons butter, ghee or coconut oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 jalapeno peppers, finely diced
2 pounds ground beef (or lamb/goat/combo)
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 ½ teaspoons salt
½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon garam masala
Juice from half a lemon
¼ cup minced cilantro

1) Melt butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute onions for about 10 minutes, until translucent and beginning to brown.
2) Add garlic, ginger, and jalapeno and saute until softened. Then add ground beef. Cook until cooked through, breaking up meat with your spoon.
3) Add turmeric, salt, and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, and cover the pan and reduce to medium low heat. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4) After 20 minutes, remove lid and check that the liquid is gone. If not, continue cooking uncovered another few minutes until it evaporates. Add garam masala, lemon juice, and cilantro. Serve!

Tikel Goman

1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
4 carrots, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 head cabbage, sliced

3 red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces (opt)

1) Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat.
2) Toss in the carrots and onion and saute them in the oil for about 5 minutes.
3) Stir in the seasonings (salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, ginger) and toast for a minute.
4) Add in the cabbage and potatoes. Stir to combine. Cover the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
*Mine got a little dry in cooking, so I added in a splash of coconut milk. 

Labneh, Beet Hummus, and Chrispy Chickpeas

Seasonal Middle Eastern Appetizers! That is what I decided to make when I hosted my aunties for a family sing. My talented friend teaches rounds and 3 and 4 part harmonies like nobody's business, and has a vast repertoire of traditional songs from all over the world. So. Many. Songs. It does my heart good to have a person like this in my life. Lately I want to host continual and non-stop sings. ha!

So. Singing to feed the heart and soul, and Labneh with cranberries, Beet Hummus, and Chrispy Chickpeas to feed the belly. I was in Iowa City two weeks ago and basically swooned from the Labneh at Oasis Falafel. OMG. I really had not thought much of labneh before. I'd had it, but it seemed nothing to fuss about. Now, there is life with labneh. And it is really easy. Like, so easy you are not doing anything but waiting.

Labneh
32 oz plain full fat yogurt

Labneh with Za'ater

3/4 tsp salt
cheesecloth

Mix salt into yogurt. Spread out cheesecloth over a plate or colander. Pour/spoon yogurt into center of cheesecloth. Tie ends onto your faucet over the sink (or hang somewhere else, or put cheesecloth in a colander over another bowl) and let drip for 24-36 hours. Eat! Keep in a covered container in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Top with cranberry sauce (follows) or dukkah, or olive oil and za'ater. Eat with veggies, crackers, pita, falafel, kubideh, salad, etc.
*Some people put lemon juice in with yogurt too, I will try that next time. I left mine for about 28 hours and had pretty thick yogurt to start out with. Your labneh texture can be softer or more firm depending on how long you let the whey drip off.

Cranberries to go atop Labneh (title links to original recipe)

Overly thick cranberries!

2 c fresh cranberries
1/2 c sugar
1 T lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 jalapeno, minced (opt)

Put all ingredients into heavy pot over medium-high heat. Once it is boiling, lower heat and cook until cranberries pop. (I left mine too long and it got pretty thick - but still tasty!)

Crispy Chickpeas (suggested amount - make however much you want)
1 1/2 c cooked or 1 can chickpeas
1 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp herbs/spices

These do not keep long - they get chewy as they sit out, and are best right out of the oven. The main thing to know is to dry your chickpeas well, which I have done using a dish towel. This time I made my own chickpeas for the first time in a long while (think my vegetarian days in the early 2000s), cheaper and tasty. Heat oven to 400. Stir dry chickpeas on a sheet pan with the olive oil and salt so that all of them are coated. Bake for 20-25 minutes until crispy on the outside, shaking or stirring the pan once or twice as they cook. Sprinkle spices over the top (I made za'atar and it was delicious). 

Roasted Garlic Beet Hummus

1 large beet
head of garlic
2 c (or 1 can) chickpeas
2 T tahini
1-2 T olive oil
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1-2 tsp sea salt

1) Wrap beet in foil. Roast it and head of garlic (I removed the outer paper only) in a 350 degree oven for about an hour until beet is tender. Remove and let cool. Peel skin off of beet and unpeal garlic cloves. I used about 7 cloves in the hummus, and mixed the rest in eggs the next morning.
2) Mix ingredients in a food processor until smooth. *For a super smooth, creamy hummus you need to have one of those vita-mix type mixers. Maybe an immersion blender would do it too?

Andouille Sausage and Cornbread Stuffing (GF)

I have never really liked stuffing, even when I ate gluten. I don't even remember the last time I tried it - something like 20 years ago. But my aunt went up and changed things around this year and assigned us all new dishes to bring to Thanksgiving to get out of whatever old ruts and recipes we've been making for too long. I was assigned GF stuffing, and decided to attempt to find my own love of the stuff. This recipe mostly succeeded - it was delicious and spicy and chewy and crunchy. And still, I think stuffing is kinda weird. Like, it seems better to have for breakfast with eggs?!

I don't generally like most GF breads - or I do, but all that rice flour and stuff makes me feel wilty in my soul. I like some grainy heft. So I went with a cornmeal-only cornbread recipe - with sausage, cranberries, and apples. The original recipe is from Food 52, which I followed and is what is listed below. (I didn't have apple cider so used ginger brew, which I did have, instead. It seemed to work out just fine! In typing this out, I also realized I forgot the egg?! Oops. Still good!)

The cornbread in this recipe is amazing: a not sweet, buttery, grainy, crusty cornbread. I will make it again. I made the cornbread one day, cutting it into cubes to dry out overnight, and made the stuffing the next. You could, as the recipe originator notes in the comments, make the whole thing in advance and store in the fridge til you are ready to bake and serve.

Stuffing:

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided, plus more for baking dish
• 2 large onions, diced
• 3 large celery stalks, diced
• 2 apples, cored and diced
• 1 pound Andouille sausage, removed from casing
• ¹/₂ cup apple cider (or ginger brew)
• 1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• 1 recipe Cast-Iron Skillet Cornbread (below), or 1 10-inch cornbread, cut in 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large egg, beaten
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock

Cast-Iron Skillet Cornbread

• 1 ¹/₂ cups coarse yellow cornmeal
• ³/₄ teaspoon baking soda
• ¹/₂ teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ¹/₂ cups plain drinkable yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk
• 1 ¹/₂ tablespoons maple syrup or honey
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Stuffing Instructions:

1. Place corn bread cubes on a baking sheet and leave out over night to dry. Or, toast the cubes in a 350 F degree oven for 10 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Butter a 9X13-inch baking dish. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and apples and sauté until softened, about 7-9 minutes. Add the sausage, crumbling it into small bits, and sauté, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, until cooked and browned. Add the cider, cranberries, rosemary, and sage and cook until the cranberries soften, about 5 minutes. Scrape up the brown bits with a wooden spoon.

 

3. Place mixture in a large bowl and add the corn bread, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and enough chicken stock just to moisten the mixture. Stir well. Pour stuffing into prepared dish. Dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Bake until stuffing is heated through and top is golden, 35 to 45 minutes.

Cornbread Instructions:

1. Preheat an oven to 425 F degrees. Heat a 10-inch seasoned cast-iron skillet in the oven for 10 minutes, until it's very hot.
2. Combine the cornmeal, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Whisk together the eggs, yogurt and maple syrup in a large bowl.
3. Remove the hot skillet from the oven and add the butter, swirling it until it's melted (it's OK if it slightly browns). Working quickly, pour the hot, melted butter into the egg and yogurt mixture, and whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and and bake until golden, about 20-25 minutes. Allow cornbread to slightly cool before cutting.

Pork & Cranberry meatballs

I make meatballs pretty regularly, often from Mel Joulwan's Well Fed site which has a whole meatball madness link page (I think I've made her Czech meatballs, Cuban meatballs, Merguez meatballs, and maybe the Moroccan ones, though if I remember right I did not like them.) I've been on a pork meatball fest lately, and recently made a Bon Appetit Vietnamese inspired meatball, where I learned that I can cook meatballs entirely in the broiler, which makes them really crispy and delicious.

This recipe is based on what was originally ground turkey to make a Thanksgiving inspired meatball. It was delicious with pork and easy ingredients I had at home (lemons yes, oranges no; baking soda yes, cream of tartar no). I ended up reheating a bunch of left-overs to go along with these, and this meal was a total star this weekend: roasted squash, pickled beats, the last greens of my wilted garden, and a bunch of saurkraut. I ate about 3x the amount of kraut pictured in the photo because it was so good with every other thing on the plate. 

Pork & Cranberry Meatballs (makes 12)
1 pound ground pork
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 c dried cranberries
2 cloves garlic, minced
*1/4 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 T warm water (opt)
(Mel uses baking soda and cream of tarter to tenderize meatballs sans breadcrumbs. I never do and find them to still be delicious. This time I did do the baking soda, for whatever reason!)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep a cake pan with foil or parchment if you like - these do get a little broiled on, but it scrubs off with a scouring pad.
2) Mix all ingredients except baking soda/water in a bowl by hand. Add baking soda/water mixture and combine.  Form meatballs. (Mel has us chill the meatballs prior to baking. Is it necessary? I don't think so.)
3) Bake for 20 minutes. I then put mine under the broiler for a few to get them nice and caramel-y. The exposed cranberries do burn a bit (the sugars!) so keep an eye on them if you do that.

Let cool a minute or two and serve! These were delicious with saurkraut and squash.

Blog return: GF Sunchoke latkes

I have made all kinds of interesting things lately, and decided to return to blog posting in order to have a recipe compilation location. And because it is fun!!

I harvested my sunchokes in May I think, and still have a drawer-full in my fridge that I am finally turning back to. There were so many other veggies there for awhile! Now, I am lamenting the end of my greens. I made these latkes this morning that were delicious: nutty from the sunchokes, with carrot and potato mixed in. I free-formed the recipe a bit, modeled after this one from an internet search. I am listing the amounts, but obviously vegetable sizes differ. It seems forgiving.

The addition of rosemary and onion are thanks to my friend, self-dubbed the "resident jew," who was here for breakfasting.

Sunchoke-Carrot Latkes - made 15

4 sunchokes
2 golden potatoes
3 carrots
1/3 c oat flour (ground oats)
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2 eggs
Black pepper
1/2 small red onion, minced
1 T fresh rosemary* chopped
*or try tarragon or thyme
4-6 T Coconut oil for frying


1) Grate or shred carrots, sunchokes, and potatoes. Use a medium sized box grater, or if you have a special grater, use that. I have an old 1970s one like this in the middle right/lower left:

2) Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand.

3) Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium-high, and add some coconut oil. When pan is hot, form thin palm-sized pancakes. Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until crispy. Keep warm in oven until all are made.

We had these with fried eggs and salad. I neglected to consider sriracha at the time, but that would be delicious (as noted in aforementioned recipe source, with poached eggs).

Roasted Goat Leg

This year's Christmas feasting was all about goat. I basically watched and wrote things down while my friend did the work, and of course rather than get exact measurements, just estimated. It's all forgiving. It turned out delicious, and my friend seemed satisfied that the kitchen smelled "like an Ethiopian home." The day was a culinary fusion of wild rice, gravlox, fruit (including the best papaya I have ever had), date balls and baclava, and a dinner of goat leg, Ethiopian style rice, tomato-avocado salad, and creamed spinach. Yum.

The goat leg was fresh and beautiful - picked up from Holy Land. My friend talked with the butcher there and had them clean the leg and trim off some of the excess fat, but not all of it. The leg we got included an upper flap that had some rib bones in it as well. My friend says this is not common, usually you just get the leg and not that extra bit. But that extra bit was some of my favorite part. Our leg in total was about 5 pounds. She also got a LOT of spice mixes from Holy Land (which smell amazing) - and she got me gluten free injera because they sell it there. We had way too much food, and the injera is still in my fridge. But, if you are gluten free and wanting teff-only-injera, go to Holy Land (HL)! You can procure some!

Goat Leg Marinade

Mild Currey Powder spice mix (from HL) x 3 parts

Beryani Spice mix (from HL) x 2 parts
Baraka brand "Grill Spices" x 2 parts
Samna Spice x 1 part
Roasted Garlic and Herb mix x 2 parts
Monterey steak spice mix x 2 parts
Black Pepper x 3 parts
Garlic Salt x 4 parts
All Greek Seasoning x 3-4 parts
Olive oil
One bunch fresh rosemary (to add later)

Mix the spices (sans rosemary) together in a bowl, then add olive oil to create a paste. You want enough spice rub to smear over every surface of the goat leg.

Set oven at 250 degrees (yes, that low). Wrap goat leg in tin foil and set on a large roasting pan or tray. Bake for 3 hours, flipping leg one time in the middle.

After 3 hours, puncture the thicker parts of the meat with a sharp paring knife. Spread the rosemary leaves over the meat on all sides. Set the leg in the top rack and cook another hour. Move to the lower rack and cook for a (now 5th) hour.

You know the meat is down when it is separating from the bone and basically splits open when you cut it with a knife. It will be smelling really good, and be tender.

We ate ours with creamed spinach (a la Brasa, which turned out great), rice (made with onions, garlic, tomatos, olive oil, and the curry spice mix/Beryani spice mix), and a tomato/avocado/onion salad. It was amazing - the left overs too.

Here's a photo of the gravlox, brie, and homemade crackers too: