recipe – Page 11 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Beast Stew & Dumplings

Cold weather, wet weather, snowy weather all bring out the hibernation instincts. Cup of cocoa, hot toddy, fireplace, a good book. Comfort food, too, which for a lot of us is in the form of stews with dumplings, or hearty soups with crusty bread. My little brother asked for a stew recipe . . . he’s in Wisconsin, watching the Packer’s game on a dark and gloomy day. Here, in California, we have had rain and it is chilly in the mid-50s. So, here is what my brother will be cooking up – and what I decided to do after talking to him!

Sauteeing Onions and Herbs in Dutch Oven

Beast Stew with Dumplings

1 1/2 – 2 pounds cubed meat (I use chuck roast, but regular beef stew meat, pork, or lamb work very well)
1 pint black beer
1 pint water
4-6 onions
potatoes
carrots
garlic ground up with different herbs. I used coriander, ancho powder, sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, marjoram, peppercorns
2-3 T tomato paste

Preheat oven to 325 F if you want a long, slow cook. Or, plan on cooking time of about 2-3 hours if done stove top. You might also try this in a crock pot, but before you start, be sure to brown the onions and meat for best flavor.

Brown meat in heavy dutch oven with lid in olive oil. Remove from pan. Brown onions – a bit of caramelization is nice. Grind up herbs and garlic, add to pan, sauté a bit. Return meat to pan. Add beer and water, cover, bring to simmer. Add tomato paste, stir in to dissolve. Continue to cook on stove or place in oven. Check liquid status periodically to keep from scorching. Be sure to put the lid on the pot!

On stove top, after about 2 hours – when meat is tender and begins to fall apart – add potatoes and carrots; continue to cook until vegetables reach desired stage of done-ness. Allow about 20 minutes for dumplings before serving.

After about 4 hours in the oven, add quartered russet potatoes. 30 minutes after that, add coarsely cut carrots. Continue to cook about another hour in the oven, then remove and place on stove top to finish with the dumplings. Bring to simmer on stove.

Dumplings

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 T butter
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2/3 c. milk, cream, or kefir

Mix together flour, powder and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture. Stir in liquid just enough to mix ingredients together. Drop by tablespoon onto simmering stew. Cook 10 minutes with the pot lid off, then 10 minutes more with the lid on. Note: I find that a thinner liquid stirs in better than the thickness of cream or kefir (or sour cream), so it is not a bad idea to thin any of them with a bit of water.

Apricot Tart

With summer, the stone fruits beg to be eaten, made into jam, baked in pies and tarts, added to fruit salad! The beauty of this recipe is that you can use any summer fruit, adapting the recipe as necessary for whatever fruit you choose. I hope you enjoy my recipe!

Apricot Tart
You will need about 12-18 apricots for the tart, depending on size.

The puree should be made ahead of time and cooled – if it is not cooled, the buttery dough will melt and the tart will not be as pretty as it could be – but it will still taste good!

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place rack for tart pan in lower 1/3 of oven.

Apricot Puree
12-15 ripe apricots

Make this before you begin the dough – you can make it the day before you plan on serving the tart.

Cut 10-12 apricots in half, removing seeds and any spoiled areas. Add more apricots if necessary. Put into heavy pan with 2-3 T. water; cook apricots in water until tender, stirring so as to make sure apricots do not burn. Cover apricots between stirring to reduce water evaporation. This will take about 10 minutes. Once apricots are soft, add 3 T. white sugar and any spices you may wish to use as flavoring, such as mace or cardamom. Cook in open pan until thickened – another 10 minutes or so. If it does not get too thick, don’t worry about it. Cool thoroughly before placing in tart.

Crust
2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
12 T (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter
4 egg yolks

Cut butter into small dice; work into flour until resembles coarse meal. Knead into ball in bowl. If dough is crumbly, add a little bit of water (1/4 t. at a time) until you can create a smooth dough. Do not overwork. Cut off about 1/4 to 1/3 of ball. Reshape both into balls; wrap in plastic and let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Apricot Slices
4-6 ripe apricots

Cut apricots in half, then cut the halves into quarters. These will be used to top the apricot puree.

Assembling the Tart
Take larger of the two balls of dough, flatten a bit, then mush into a 9-10 inch tart pan (one with a removable rim), covering the bottom and up the sides.

Use about 1/3 to 1/2 c. apricot preserves (I microwave mine a bit to make it easier to spread) and spread in a thin layer on top of dough.

Pour apricot puree over the jam, spreading evenly. Place sliced apricots on top of puree in a pretty pattern, or randomly. Just try to cover the top of the tart evenly so it will look nice.

Take smaller ball of dough and break off small pieces and place them evenly over the top of the tart.

Bake at 350 F for about 60-75 minutes. At 60 minutes, check it. If you use a convection oven, check it at 45-50 mins.

Very good served warm, at room temperature, with a bit of cream or marscapone or ice cream, or all alone!

Saturday Morning Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

While the rest of the country is sweltering, here along the south central coast of California it is dripping, damp and foggy. Perfect morning for warm, fresh berry muffins!

Muffin Recipe
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line or grease muffin cups – this recipe yielded 9 cups filled to top before addition of streusel topping.

Muffin Batter
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 c. milk or yogurt (thinned with water) or kefir
1 c. picked over fresh blueberries

Mix together all dry indredients and walnuts. Beat together oil, egg, and milk. Pour liquid into dry ingredients, stir until lightly mixed. Fold in blueberries. Batter is a bit thick. Spoon batter into muffin cups, patting down to make flat.

Streusel Topping
1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. butter
1 1/2 t. cinnamon

Work together all streusel ingredients until they resemble coarse meal – use your fingers, pastry blender, or two knives. Sprinkle over tops of muffins, gathering topping into tidy mound over muffins – if you don’t do this, the topping will melt onto the metal of the muffin tin.

Bake 25 minutes; check with toothpick to make sure center muffins are done.

Cool. Devour.

Blueberry-Blackberry Cornmeal Scones with Lemon

Scones before topping with kefir and sugar

Sunday morning breakfast – what to make? Blueberry pancakes? Muffins? Go to ‘fridge, no eggs. No one wants to go to the store so . . . scones! And scones it is, as there is butter and everything else you need in the house to make scones. But, I have only 1/2 c. blueberries and about 1/2 c. of blackberries, so this is what we’ll use. The result: A made-up recipe filled with juicy, fresh berries and a slightly crunchy texture. Enjoy!

The Recipe

2 c. flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
1 T. baking powder
pinch salt
3/4 c. chilled butter (1.5 sticks)
1/2 c. white sugar
grated zest of one lemon
1 c. 1% kefir
1/2 c. blueberries
1/2 c. blackberries

Scone before baking, with kefir and sugar topping

Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray cookie sheet with oil or use parchment paper. Cut butter into chunks. Combine flour, meal, powder, sugar, salt, and lemon peel into mixing bowl. Add butter. Cut butter into flour mixture, or work by rubbing through fingers, until blended and crumbling. Mix berries into flour mixture to coat. Dump kefir into flour-butter-berry mixture and stir up quickly with a fork. Dough will be soft in texture. Flour cutting board very generously. Put dough onto board and work into ball. You may need to add more flour as the dough is wet. Continue until dough will hold a light amount of flour. Cut ball in half. Shape each half into a ball, adding a touch of flour if you need it. Flatten into circle 1″ thick. Cut each into 6 wedges. Place on cookie sheet. Using paper towel tip or pastry brush, coat the top of each scone with extra kefir and then sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in top 1/3 of oven for 20 minutes. If you wish to brown the scones a bit, broil them briefly. Yield: 1 dozen scones.

Quesadillas!

I don’t like the standard quesadilla I’ve experienced – cheese and meat mushed together in a flour tortilla. Definitely unappetizing. However, not too long ago, we had dinner at the in-laws, and as always, we were well fed. We met up prior to seeing Itzhak Perlman at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, so dinner was light. And that is when I fell in love with quesadillas a la Drew. And this afternoon, we had some.

These quesadillas are not slap-dash, but require a bit of time. For your pleasure, here is how they are made.

Ingredients

Large flour tortillas
Large peppers – red bell, pasilla, and / or other tasty peppers
Grilled chicken breasts
Sauteed onions mixed with chipotle and ancho powder
Grated jack cheese

Roast peppers over open flame until skin is charred. Steam in bag or closed container to cool. Peel and seed. Grate cheese, slice chicken. Sautee onions until slightly caramelized; add seasoning if desired.

On tortilla, layer cheese evenly over the entire surface. One one half of tortilla, spread out pieces of chicken, peppers, onions, and then place in hot cast iron skillet which has been sprayed with oil. Turn up heat, and cook open-faced until the cheese has melted. Once melted, fold tortilla in half, squish a bit, and let cook a bit more. Remove from skillet, slice and serve with sour cream and salsa.

Serve with Margaritas!