The Chef's Beef Stew

I love Beef Stew. I don't know any other way of putting it that even comes close to my obsession with this delectable dish. Everyone should make their own version of it. I have several versions of it, and so far this is my favorite version. It is subject to review and change, so suggestions are welcome. I'm sorry it took so long to get on here in it's truest form.

Ingredients:
1 lb Beef Stew Meat
1 cup Pearl Barley
6 stalks Celery, sliced
Carrots, diced
Russet Potatoes, diced
1 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
1 qt Beef Stock
Garlic Salt
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Smoked Sweet Paprika
Sea Salt
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Ground Turmeric
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Aleppo Pepper
Dill

I began by gathering the main ingredients. I diced the Potatoes, Carrots, and Celery up. You can decide how much you want to use, although the rough ratio seen here is what I find to be a good mix.

I plug in my slow cooker and set the heat to HIGH. I dust the bottom with Lawry's Seasoned Salt first followed by the Garlic Salt.

In goes the Beef Stew Meat.

On top of the meat I added some spices because I like the meat part of this dish to be extra seasoned. It's optional since you can just add spices to the top of everything and it will still be pretty good. I just go the extra mile. I used the Smoked Sweet Paprika, Fennel Powder, Fenugreek Powder, and Ground Aleppo Peppers.

On top of that went the diced Carrots. They tend to take longer to cook so in the middle I think is a good place for them to absorb the liquid and heat involved here.

On top of that the diced Potatoes. Pay no attention to the Brandy in the corner of the picture, it was out for something that did not make the Blog. Maybe once I perfect that recipe, you all will get to see what it is!

Then the sliced Celery.

On top of the Celery I added about 2 pinches of Dill. Then the Pearl Barley went into the slow cooker. I listed it as 1 cup, however it is probably closer to 1.5 cups. I love barley.

Now that I have everything in the slow cooker, it's the main serving of spices. Ground Turmeric, Garlic Salt, Smoked Sweet Paprika, Fennel Powder, Ground Black Pepper, Sea Salt, and Ground Aleppo Peppers rounded this mix out.

Now locate your wine. Spare no expense...I spared $3.00 USD. I know, I have expensive tastes in wine.

I put in the entire bottle. I noticed it wasn't high enough, so I added in about half of the Beef Stock container I had. It was one of those pre-made containers that has about 2 quarts in it. There was some left over, so I rounded my usage to 1 quart.

When pouring in the Cabernet Sauvignon, make sure to pour it directly onto the spices you have on top of everything. If you don't, you run the risk of the spices cooking directly into just a portion of your dish. This causes some parts to be really spicy and flavorful while the rest tastes like nothing at all/red wine.

I left the heat on HIGH for the duration of this recipe since I am very impatient. If you have the time, like 10 hours, then bring it to a boil, stir, and put on LOW for the duration. It will cause the meat to be more tender, oh well. This picture is about 1 hour in.

2 hours later the color drastically changes to a muddy brown. It smells amazing and permeates everything in it's vicinity.

About 2 hours after that making it a total of around 5 hours, this is what it should look like.

Make sure to taste test each part to make sure everything is cooked properly. I checked everything about 4 times each. Yes, I'm a little piggy but I had to make sure.

If it isn't done, then just let it cook longer until it is. Mine was done so I plated it quite readily. Enjoy!

Potato Soup

The past week or two we've been having very drastic temperature swings here in Texas. For instance, yesterday it was around 88 degrees F and today it's like 55 degrees F. That's crazy! So since it is fall, I figured that means it's Soup Season. Who doesn't love a good soup?

Ingredients:
2 oz or half stick Butter
2 White Onions
1.5 lb Potatoes
3 pints Chicken Stock
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Chives for garnish

I began by gathering my ingredients.

First step, finely chopping up the 2 White Onions. I chopped them up in large chunks and then used my food processor to finely chop them. Was a lot easier and less risk to my cutting off a finger. I also chopped the Potatoes up by hand as well, no picture since I totally forgot!

At this point I also got the Chicken Stock ready. I used a bullion cube since I did not have any stock ready. I usually buy the pre-made stock since I have not made my own before, seems like I'll have to get on that soon.

Now, start melting the Butter in a deep saucepan or sauce pot.

Once it begins to melt, add in your White Onions. About 2 minutes later, or when the Onions begin to caramelize, add in the diced Potatoes.

I chose to add the Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper at this point as well. Choose however much you want as per your preference. I used about 2 pinches of Sea Salt. As for the Ground Black Pepper, I used a grinder which means my guess is only an estimate and I say about 4 pinches worth.

Mix it together, cover, reduce heat to a good simmer, and let them cook for about 10 minutes or until the Potatoes are soft.

Now, add in your Chicken Stock. This should be turned off once it starts to boil and the Bullion Cube melts away. I added it in about half at a time while mixing the pot.

Now bring it to a boil and let simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Taste to see how awesome it is.

Ok, it's done. Turn off the heat. I let it cook for about 5 minutes though that is not necessary.

You can use a food processor for this part but I chose to use my blender since it is such a large amount. This part is where you puree everything that you were cooking.

Then it goes back into the pot you were using, or a new one if you want, and let cook at medium low for about 5 minutes. This last step is voluntary, I did it because this is the part where you taste and adjust the Salt/Pepper. I added some more Sea Salt and felt that cooking it a little more would help even it out.

Once done, plate and serve. I chose to add some diced Chives as a garnish. And what is Potato Soup without some bread to dip!?

Chunky Taste O' Autumn

Today I decided that I wanted to make tomato sauce. Well, I got everything out and did not feel like getting the food processor out to puree everything into a nice chunk-free sauce. Then I thought, why not make tomato sauce in a different way. So I did, by leaving it extremely chunky which oddly enough now tastes like autumn instead of strictly being tomato sauce.








Ingredients:
2 Large Tomatoes
1 Large White Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
1/2 stick Butter
1.5 cups of Red Wine
dash of Teriyaki Sauce
Dash of Lime Juice
Paprika
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix
Fennel Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Turmeric
Cumin/Coriander Mix
Dill

So I began this whole recipe by putting a pot on the stove and cutting up the 1/2 stick of Butter and putting that in. I turned the heat to medium. I then turned back to the Tomatoes. These I cut up into chunks and dumped them into the pot 1 Tomato at a time. To this, I diced the Green Bell Pepper and added it. Finishing this part I diced the Large White Onion and dumped it in as well. Then I stirred it all together.

After a minute or so, I added the spices. They went in as follows:
-dash of Paprika
-dash of Turmeric
-dash of Dill
-dash of Onion Powder
-coating of Garlic Powder
-heavy dash of Ground Black Pepper
-1/2 cup Italian Herb Mix
-heavy dash of Fennel Powder
-2 spoons of Cumin/Coriander Mix

After this stage, I added a 1/4 cup of Lime Juice, 1 1/2 cups of Red Wine, and a dash of Teriyaki Sauce. Then mix. Mix regularly so as to not let anything cook itself into being a new part of your pot and to make sure all of it is cooking properly.

Taste test to see that it is done to your specifications. I chose to leave it at this stage as it is delicious.

If you choose to make it into a sauce, let it cool a bit and pour into a blender to puree. Boom, instant sauce!

A Taste of Autumn

Today I had several cooking ingredients to use and NO IDEA what to do with them. So, I chose to throw a dish together that ended up creating a sense of Autumn. I was quite surprised since I did not follow any sort of plan with the dish, and just created it as I went along.





Ingredients:
6 sm White Sweet Onions
1 cup diced Chives
Herbed Butter
Tomato Sauce (mentioned earlier in blog)
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Italian Herb Mix
2/3 cup of Port Vino

I began by eyeing the White Sweet Onions I had on hand, and decided to cut them in sections. I want to say 3 or 4 sections per onion. I also had my Chives on hand, and decided to dice those up like nobody's business.

Once those were ready, I put in about 1/2 a stick of the Herbed Butter I had into my large saucepan. I believe it was Tuscan Herbed Butter offhand. I set the heat to medium and let the butter melt...mostly at least. In went the Sweet Onions and I stirred them around to coat them with the delicious butter. After about 30 seconds, in went the diced Chives. Stirred again to mix it all together properly. At this point I added in the Ground Black Pepper and Garlic Salt. Both of these were a medium to light dusting over everything. Then the Italian Herb Mix, which was a healthy dosing around 1/3 of a cup. Mix everything together then add the 2/3 cup of Port Vino. Stir everything together again. I then put in about 3/4 to 1 cup of Tomato Sauce and stirred everything together again.

About a minute or so after this, the Onions appear to have caramelized and I deduced that everything was cooked properly so I dished it all out. I used a small bowl to serve it just as is and a small dish for having it over Couscous. Either way, was amazingly delicious! Enjoy!