Beef Stew

Back in July, I bought a whole bottom round for a mere $1.49/lb.  I cut it all up, broke out the Food Saver, and into the freezer it went.  I cut up the odds and ends for stew meat - and tonight was the stew.

I've never followed a recipe for stew.  You put stuff in a pot and then you eat it.  And, somehow, it always tastes good.   I can never make a small batch of stew - or soup, for that matter.  The pot just seems to keep getting fuller and fuller.  Tonight was no exception.

My mom wrote out a recipe in her cookbook years ago.  She really didn't follow a recipe, either, but that was a close approximation to what she usually did.  Definitely the coffee. Anything stewed or braised had coffee in it.  It's one of natures little miracles.  It really enhances the flavor.

So tonight's stew started out with browing the beef cubes in bacon grease.  Yes - I save my bacon grease just like my mother and her mother before her - and most likely her mother, too...  It added a really nice, rich flavor.  Then went in some onions and garlic.  When they were fairly well cooked, I added a couple of cups of red wine and let it cook down.

I added beef broth and a cup of coffee and then let it simmer a couple of hours.

Next was carrots, celery, potatoes, and peas.  I cut the potatoes large, figuring they would break down, but they fooled me - they almost disappeared.  So, I cooked up some egg noodles and tossed them in.

Oh... and I thickened it with a Beurre Manié - equal parts of butter and flour, kneaded into a paste and stirred into the liquid.  It's one of my favorite thickening tricks.

Into bowls it went along with thick slabs of bread and lots of butter.

Dayum, it was good!  And there's enough left for another dinner and a big container for Victor's mom.

Life is good.

by Tim Dineen

Stuffed Pork Roast

A while back I picked up a pork roast with the thought of cutting it into chops.  It's really a lot less expensive to buy larger pieces of meat and cut them yourself.  Besides, I then get to decide exactly how thick I want my chops...  Thin for cutlets, thick for stuffing... But I never did cut it up.  After three days of sitting in the 'fridge, it went - whole - into the freezer.

And it was fortuitous that it did, because there it was, ready for me to come up with a simple stuffing.

I browned 2 links of hot Italian sausage, a couple of ribs of celery, half an onion, a splash of broth, bread crumbs and an egg...

Next, I sliced oped the roast, laid it out flat, spead on the stuffing, rolled it up, and tied it together with kitchen twine.

Into a 350° oven about an hour, and it was ready.  I whipped up some polenta - added some corn to it for texture - and cooked up some peas.

It was yummy.  And easy.  I thought of making a quick pan gravy and then decided heck with it.  It would have been good, but I was ready to sit down and eat.

by Tim Dineen

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Victor and I have breakfast together every Sunday.  It's one of those fun traditions.  Of course, anything that involves food is a fun tradition, as far as I'm concerned... But that leisurely Sunday Morning Breakfast is definitely something special.

Either of us cooks.  It pretty much depends on who gets into the kitchen first, which of us has a plan, an idea, or a yearning for something in particular.  And trust me... if someone else is cooking, I'm eating.  I'm not fussy -and neither is Victor.

So... it was Victor's turn today to say he was making breakfast.  I'm working on my Relay For Life website (I'm the Online Chair for the Relay!)  and I have a few updates to do on a couple of others, so it was nice to sit back and have breakfast cooked for me today!

Victor came up with a clean-out-the-refrigerator-fritatta.  It had bacon, sausage, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and mozzarella balls, along with some garlic, S&P...  The basics.

Whilst it was baking away in the oven, he decided a hollandaise sauce would go good with it.  Out came the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

I came into the kitchen and Victor was just about ready to throw away a bowl of strangely coagulated egg yolk and butter-stuff.  I quizically looked and he pointed to the recipe. What was strange about this recipe, "Classic Hollandaise"  was it called for mixing egg yolks and unmelted butter over simmering water until the butter melted, and adding more unmelted butter, stirring it in...  As I said...  I've made lots of hollandaise.  Melted butter is how it's done!  This just wasn't right - and the end result proved it.  I shudder to think of how many disappointed people tried to follow this recipe.

I've made many a hollandaise in my time - and broken more than two.  They are almost always fixable. So...  Tim to the rescue.

A couple tablespoons of BOILING water and a lot of whisking action brought the sauce back to where it should have been in the first place.

And breakfast was served.

by Tim Dineen

Raspberry Cheesecake

Coming home to a fresh-baked cheesecake is always a treat.  Coming home to a raspberry cheesecake with a chocolate walnut crust is nothing short of spectacular!

And boy, does it taste good!

Victor followed our totally tried-and-true cheesecake recipe and it didn't fail.  The filling recipe is great in that it can be  tweaked in any number of ways to make totally different variations - as he did by swirling in some raspberry sauce he made...  The chocolate and the walnut of the crust just made everything fit together perfectly.

We had mini-burgers for dinner tonight.  Tiny cheeseburgers on little petite rolls.  I had bleu cheese on mine.  Victor opted for monterey jack.  And we both liberally slathered Happy Hal's Jalapeno Relish on the buns!

Some french fries and dinner was done.  Yumlicious!

by Tim Dineen

Flank Steak and Cheesy Potatoes

I had a flank steak I wanted to cook up and no idea what I wanted to do with it.  There were lots of potatoes in the basket, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with them.  And several different veggies - with no idea...

I've been a little brain-dead since Wednesday.  What can I say?!?

I ended up grilling the flank steak with just a simple salt, pepper, and garlic.  I broke out my trusty mandoline and thinly-sliced potatoes, and fried them on one side and then put them into the oven.  When they were 99.999% done, I emptied a (drained) container of fresh mozzarella balls on top and set it back into the oven until it melted.

Green beans with almonds rounded out the meal.

The steak was fork-tender, the potatoes properly gooey, and the green beans crisp.  And then there were brownies for dessert.

by Tim Dineen

Comfort Food

Yep.  I definitely needed some comfort food tonight.  To have our right to marry stripped away from us has been extremely disappointing.

The number of phone cals we received, though, from family and friends has been heartwarming.

The important thing is that our families both love and support us.  And a Black Family is moving into the White House.

One step at a time.....

by Tim Dineen

When the going gets tough...

Make Brownies.

I'm not a TV watcher.  Listening to the pundits drives me crazy.  So into the kitchen I went to bake brownies.  Gooey dark chocolate with a chocolate ganache and walnuts.

I tried taking them out of the pan waaaaay too soon and they crumbled and made a huge mess.  But they tasted really good.

I'm not always the most patient of persons.  My great-great aunt Katherine would tell me as a young child "When a string is in a knot, patience will untie it."

What the heck.  They were good tonight and will be stellar tomorrow.....

by Tim Dineen

Election Night Jitters

Yep.  Election Night Jitters.  Not because of the Presidential race.  I have full faith that Barack Obama is our next President.  No... my jitters are for California's Proposition 8.  Victor and I are supposed to get married on November 23rd - our 14th Anniversary.  I'm going to be really bummed if we're shot down.

So... easy dinner tonoght.  easy to cook, easy to eat, and easy to clean up.

Mandarin Orange Chicken, with pineapple and bell peppers.  I added peach jam, soy sauce, and chili paste to the sauce packet, and served it all over rice.

It's dark outside...  I could just go to bed.

by Tim Dineen

Perfect Fall Dinner

It's getting a bit chilly outside - again.  After a few days of wonderfully warm weather, Fall is roaring its ugly head.  A precursor to the frigid winter months ahead.

Well...  I can't change the weather, but i can turn on the oven, and that's just what I did with tonight's Bourbon-Glazed Sweet Potatoes.

Dinner started out with a  Niman Ranch ham steak.  I like Niman Ranch and their quality products and humane treatment of their animals.  A nice 1-inch thick slab of ham is definitely my idea of good eating.

Ham and sweet potatoes are a natural combination, and Paula Deen's Bourbon-Glazed Sweets are great:

Sweet Potatoes

• 1 strip orange peel
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp gincer
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 sweet potatoes

Bake potatoes until they are soft to the touch - about an hour at 400°.  Cool slightly and peel. Reduce oven temperature to 350°.  While the potatoes are baking, bring remaining ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened.  Slice the potatoes 1/2-inch thick into a small casserole dish.  Pour syrup over them and bake about 30 minutes.

And them we had to have a fun vegetable - and vegetable pancakes fitted that bill!

Vegetable Pancakes

• 1/2  cup  flour
• 1/2  tsp  baking powder
• 1/2  tsp  salt
• 1/4  tsp  pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/4  cup  milk
• 1  cup  carrots, grated
• 1  cup  zucchini, grated
• 1 sm onion, diced

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. In another bowl, grate carrots, zucchini, and onions, and mix. Beat together the egg and milk, toss into the grated vegetables, and stir.  Add to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Heat small amount of oil over medium heat. Drop the batter by tablespoons into the pan. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden.

Everything came out great!

The vegetable patties were like veggie latke's - same type of texture and consistency.  Quite good.  i can see many different variations on this theme!

And the potatoes were just plain good.  I used some of the sauce to douse over the ham.  Most excellent, indeed.

by Tim Dineen