Winter Stews

It's no secret that stews are freaking awesome.

Stews can be incredibly complex or wonderfully simple: stretching ingredients or reducing them down; layering flavors or creating single notes.

In addition, stews are generally one-pot meals and crowd-pleasers.  Approachable to all walks of life, and a member of low-brow, high-brow and everything in-between, they make your house smell good, and can bring everyone back to Earth.

So, here is a collection of some recipes that I think are wonderful for the cold winter months. December is behind us, and with it, recollections of candy-canes and pine trees, latkes and menorahs. The wreaths and trees of most peoples' festive holiday are in the street, waiting for the chipper to turn them to mulch.

But we don't have to forget that it's still freaking cold, and we can sit around watching Netflix, drinking hot chocolate and making stew to warm our souls and fill our stomachs.

I'm going to skip more traditional stews and offer only the really cool, or mind-blowingly amazing ones.

First up, a stew that most people have never had: Mafe.
A stew of African origin, it can be as simple or complex as your cupboard. A strong base of tomatoes, chilies, meat and peanuts, it makes for a wonderful meal and a great introduction to more ethnic stews.

These three recipes are essentially the same. I will point out their differences so you can more easily choose the one you like. Or read them all and decide for yourself.


Mafe - food network: This recipe is a great introduction to Mafe. It is super easy, without a ton of ingredients. It will give you a feel for the stew and has plenty of room to improvise. For instance, if you don't have carrots, use another root vegetable or squash. Often times farmers markets will have a discount section or grab-bag of roots and such that you can get cheap and are perfect for this application.

Mafe - senegal: I like this recipe because it uses a lot of winter vegetables like squash and 'roots and tubers' and cabbage. However, it is lacking in the tomato department. If you don't have lamb, lean beef will work too. if you don't have beef you can use chicken etc. etc.

Peanut stew - nytimes: Now that you're familiar with Mafe, step it up a notch and make this version which includes whole chopped tomatoes and okra (I love okra). Perfect food for a cold winter night with rice or fat, thick egg noodles. (this page also has a bonus fish stew recipe)


So you've got the African stew down, or maybe you're allergic to peanuts. Either way, here is another stew with loads of flavor that is pretty wonderful with nice Italian bread, a nice Southern Cornbread (corn and mushrooms go really well together), or simply on its own with a bowl and spoon.

Pork and Mushroom Ragout - Food and Wine: This recipe brings out some really amazing earthy flavors. Mushrooms are one of my favorite ingredients for anything, and the meaty, umami-rich flavor they impart really pairs well with slow cooked stews.

Also, really simply stewed mushrooms are one of my favorite things to make. Pretty much just butter, mushrooms, fresh herbs and a little stock go a long way in terms of flavor.

Maybe your house doesn't see enough curry. Or maybe you don't make enough fish at home.
Here is a recipe with fantastic results and minimal heavy-fish odors. Anytime you mix curry and coconut milk, you're hard-pressed not to produce a winner.

Groan Curried Fish Stew: Make this stew. It's awesome. I know you don't make a lot of fish curry. I know it. Like they say, make a lot of rice to serve this with. Or, make lots of rice noodles or glass noodles and serve piping hot.

Here are some other fantastic stews to try when you're ready for some "adventurous" eating (ie. bored of the regular stuff and want to try these other cool stews)

Kimchi Stew: This bad-boy right here includes 3lbs of skinless pork belly. If spicy amazing kimchi isn't reason enough to try it, the pork belly should put you over the edge. If you really need a starch to eat this with, do I even need to mention what? Yeah, rice. Not a fan of rice? Try it with boiled Yucca (cassava) or big red potatoes; or just eat it as is, because it's awesome.

Red Chile and Pork Stew: This Carne Adobada is crazy good. Use Guajillo chilies if you can't find the New Mexico ones, or use a mix and follow the general recipe. It will be good. I promise. This stew doesn't need rice, but serve it with corn tortillas (not flour). It makes a difference, trust me.

Like something more involved? How about making Meatballs! Yeahhh meatballs!

T'fina Pkaila - Tunisian beef rib and meatball stew: This stew right here! Yes it is more involved. Yes it has more steps. Yes it is delicious. A little bit of spinach, some white beans, meat. It's got all the stew parts you want in your life. All of them. Cilantro. Beef ribs!

So there you have it folks. Various stews from around the world to keep you busy and full in the winter months.

When your house smells this delicious, you can be sure that your neighbors will "pop-in" to borrow something, only to fawn over the wonderful smells (and would you share!)

Black Hog Barbeque - High on the Hog

Barbeque season is obviously in full effect. It has been for weeks.

Grilling food brings everyone back to caveman days and primal instincts. But actual barbeque is different than backyard grilling. For the real stuff, most people have to go to a tried and true BBQ restaurant.

I got the BBQ itch and needed a fix.

Under the assumption that everyone likes to look at pictures of slow roasted, smoked and barbequed meats, I give to you, Black Hog BBQ in Frederick MD.

First up is the Arkansas Beef BBQ sandwich. I went for lunch with friends, and this sandwich looked particularly delicious and meaty; not what I ordered, but worthy of a picture.

 

Yeah this sandwich looks good. Thick cut, tender chunks of saucy meat. (sounds kind of like a dog food commercial) 

Described as "sweet, meaty, smokey and well spiced."

Those of you reading this and looking at these pictures might be near Black Hog, and many of you may not ever be near Black Hog. That's okay. This is more like food porn than just a recommendation for a restaurant - although it is that too.

Next up is my actual platter. I got Carolina chopped BBQ with Eastern Style sauce and a side of pork and beans. Yeahhhh.

This sandwich was fantastic. Forget pulled pork sopping with sickly sweet "bbq" sauce. This tangy vinegar and tomato based sauce worked really well with the fine textured chopped pork. The bracing acidity of the sauce kept the fat in check and didn't overwhelm the taste of pork.

The beans were also really top-notch. You can really taste the bacon and the beans in this one.

I threw some pickles and extra sauce on the sandwich before snapping this next pic - great call. You may also spot the cornbread in the background; also delicious. Thick and sweet, not too wet or dry, it was fantastic with a fork full of beans on it.

Yeah boyyyy.

You can bet this is not the last BBQ post for this summer.

Farm Food: Goat Stew

On a farm in the middle of a very rural area, you eat what you grow.

Of course there are staples from town, cans of things and jars and such, but the majority of your food (hopefully) is seasonal and grown on farm.

Maybe you trade some lamb chops to a neighbor for a beef brisket or flank steak; maybe somebody down the road has veggies you don't grow, and you've got a deal worked out bartering eggs - the point is, you get what you can.
This is my reality for the next few weeks, and it feels fantastic.

(we still go to the store for groceries, about twice a month)

My hosts, Will and Kent, are great guys with a beautiful farm. Right now, I'm staying in their house; a real bucolic gem that embraces the rural feel but with refurbished modern conveniences (like a Sub-Zero fridge and Wolf range with a grill and flat top). The walls and ceilings are from the original farmhouse. Adorned with antlers, farm memorabilia, and lots of vintage chicken pictures, the house makes you feel immediately welcome, like you've lived there for years.

We take turns making meals, and my hosts are more than happy to let me take over as they kick back with a glass of wine after a busy day on the farm.

Today's menu: goat stew with sweet potatoes, chickpeas and currants.

This easy stew has layers of flavor. The simple recipe and adaptability should make it a staple for any kitchen cookbook. Whether a cool spring night, or an overcast rainy day, this stew makes a great meal with good crusty bread and fresh butter.

The sweet potatoes can be substituted with carrots, yellow potatoes, or any root vegetable you wish. The chickpeas are nice, but can be left out if other vegetables are wanted (artichokes, leftovers, seasonal veg etc...) The currants can be swapped with almost any dried fruit, but I think that dried cherries would be a nice compliment. Try to pair the fruit and veggies. Tart fruit, sweet vegetable; sweet fruit, savory vegetable; you get the idea.

The goat in this stew was none other than a Whitmore Farm Tennessee fainting goat. Raised on pasture and slaughtered at a small mom and pop butcher. It was delicious.

Also, I'll admit that the chickpeas came from a can, and the sweet potatoes, although organic, traveled a fair distance before they arrived in our shopping cart.

Goat Stew with Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas

6 cloves garlic
6 sprigs thyme (or rosemary)
2 1/2 lbs. goat stew meat (chunks!)
1 lb sweet potato or other root vegetable, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
one can chickpeas or 12 oz artichoke hearts
one lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 cup dry wine (I used what we had, but I feel that almost any would work)
1/4 currants or cherries or apricots or tart raisins
2 cups chicken stock (approx.)
2-3 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

1. Add the oil, garlic, and thyme into a large pot and then set over medium heat, letting the oil infuse with the herbs for about 4 minutes.
2. Brown the goat pieces, adding them as necessary, and piling the browned pieces in the corner of the pot while the newer pieces cook. Make sure the garlic and thyme don't burn. If you must plate the meat to ensure no burning, do so, but add all the meat before the next step.
3. After all the goat is browned, salt and pepper it to taste, then add the wine. As the wine boils, use a wooden spoon and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, and let the wine reduce by about 1/3.
4. Add the chicken stock to the pot, along with the bay leaves, and the juice from your lemon. When everything starts to simmer again, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot,  and let the goat simmer slowly for one hour.
5. Add your currants, potatoes, and about 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon zest. Continue cooking for 45 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the chickpeas. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. The goat and potatoes should be tender, and the chickpeas should be softened but still have some bite to them. Remove the bay leaves and taste for salt before serving!

Serve with crusty bread and good butter. Like all stews, it is fantastic the next day.

Korean Firsts

Sometimes I think that I post too much about Asian stuff, but quickly dismiss myself because I remember how much I am in love with all of the food (the girls are cute too!)

I went to Koreatown on W. 32nd st. because I had never been. There were several foods on the agenda, Korean Fried Chicken, for one, because I've heard a lot of people buzzing about it, and various other things, including, but not limited to: kimchi, delicious snacks, noodles, and spicy any-thing.

Let's just say, mission accomplished.

Korean Fried Chicken is delicious. Double fried for fantastic crispiness, tossed in a garlic-soy sauce, these wings are really good, and definitely worth repeating, but with plenty of beer next time.

These particular wings came from Bon Chon, but it's not the only name in the game.

There are three places for Korean fried chicken in this short stretch of streets: Kyochon, the L.A. chain and originator of Korean fried chicken; Bonchon, producer of the wings pictured and claim to five NYC locations; at last but not least, Mad for Chicken, which is supposed to be delicious but at least a 30 minute wait for wings after ordering.

The fries at Bonchon were really good too. We also ordered the kimchi coleslaw which had just enough of the characteristic tang and spice of kimchi but rounded out with mayo.  Sweet dance music was playing.

This is definitely a place I will go back to as the bar looked formidable and the chicken was damn good.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Before the fried chicken spot, I wanted to go to a food court to properly whet my appetite.

 I started off with onions and noodles in black bean sauce. This was supposed to be pork and onions in black bean sauce, but there were barely half a dozen stamp size pieces of the protein I hold so dearly. It was good though, and came with pickled daikon and kimchi. I only ate about half of this, as I knew there were many more things to come. The joy of sharing!


Next up, I had to try this "Chinese Tamale," as it was advertised, because I pretty much knew what I was getting, and I like to set my self up for success.

This was good, and had so many things in it that I love! A strip of sweet Chinese sausage, half a shittake mushroom, a shrimp, some roast pork, beans and onions all call this rice-stuffed banana leaf home. I put hot sauce on and chalked it up as a win.





Here's the 'tamale' split open, revealing it's delicious innards. It's pretty much lo mai gai, but bigger, and with beans and peas and such.

If you're going to go to Koreatown, I would definitely suggest going to H Mart, a well stocked Korean and Asian grocery store. This place has all sorts of cool stuff in it, as well as hot snacks and weird sodas!

Leftover Revamp

I cook a lot of food a lot of different ways.

I don't always share it. But there is almost always left overs (the bane of one-person cooking!)

When I make something particularly delicious, I like other people to try it so they can share my joy of wonderful flavors. This is especially true when I make a lot of something. But if you caught me making something delicious, and there is only enough for me, you will be lucky to get more than one bite. I often offer said bite, warning that it will be the only one.

Recently I made something that was entirely new for me, but delicious and well executed. It had the added bonus of using up some leftover things. It is also complete peasant food; and delicious!

First, I had lots of carrots I needed to get rid of, and earlier in the week, I made some burger patties to take for lunches and I still had two left. Leftover pinto beans had to make their way into this as well. Necessity is the mother of invention.

It reminds me of an Indian dish, although I've not really had anything like it before.

Finely shredded carrots and onions slowly stewed with ginger, applesauce and star anise. In the last leg of cooking I added some chopped cooked hamburger meat (if it was truly Indian, it would be lamb). I thought of this as a way to stretch the meat and use up the carrots.

The flavors were amazing, and I served it with meaty, soft pinto beans, and some rye bread with caraway.

This was really a warming wintertime dish. Perfect for a chilly day, and full of December ingredients: root vegetables, leftover meat and beans, rounded out with flavorful bread.

Here is the recipe for the carrot dish. It would be fine without the meat for those vegetarians out there (especially paired with the beans)

4 whole carrots (use more if no meat)
two small yellow onions (sweet onions would work well too)
2 inch ginger knob
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup applesauce
one whole star anise
teaspoon red chili flakes
tablespoon neutral oil like grapeseed or vegetable
salt to taste
about half a pound cooked meat rough chopped

Dice the onion as small as possible. Grate the carrots using a microplane or the smallest holes on a cheese grater. Grate 1/2 the ginger (don't bother to peel) using the same small holes.
Over low heat, add the grapeseed oil, and when hot, add the star anise, chili flakes, and the other half of the ginger.
Add the shredded mixture, applesauce, orange juice and water, stir. Bring to a simmer and cover. Let this simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the chopped meat and a teaspoon of salt. Let this simmer, covered, an additional 15 minutes.

The carrots should be super soft and the meat well incorporated. Serve in a bowl alongside soft pinto beans and with some slices of rye bread with caraway seeds. If you don't have rye bread, any crusty warm bread will do. Although the caraway in the bread compliment the carrots really well. The beans can be mashed or mixed in (I did both!) Use the bread to scoop up the mix, and treat yourself to a hot, warming lunch. I also added some more chili flakes because I like the heat.

The addition of a nice chutney would make this a top notch dish, but I didn't have any, so I used my hot, sweet, pepper relish which was pretty fantastic.

Enjoy!

It's Chilly!

Chilly weather means spicy pots of chili bubbling away on the stove. Chili really is a wonderful comfort food. Low in fat, high in flavor, it's one my favorites. Everybody has their own special chili recipe, an individual dish that is even better shared with friends as we all wax poetic about our best chili memory. Break open a bag of Frito's Scoops or pour it over top some rice or boiled potatoes and you've got the recipe for success.

I like to use lots of peppers, onions, kidney beans and ground beef. That's right - no tomatoes. I don't even use tomato paste.

Here are all the peppers I used for this batch:

Three red peppers diced, half a pound of jalapenos and my special ingredients; where my chili picks up a deep red color, amazing authentic flavor, and a smokey, sweet spice that is impossible to get with premixed spices: Ancho and Guajillo peppers.

Those dried chilies on the bottom left are called Guajillo's. They are the dried form of Mirasol chilies. Mirasol's are originally from Peru, but are widely used in Mexican cooking and are available at more places than you'd think. They have a fruity-hot flavor with a pleasant sharpness.


The other dried chili is an Ancho. These are probably the second most common dried chili available (after cayenne). These are the dried version of Poblano's. They smell intensely like raisins and turn brick red when soaked. They add a wonderful flavor and color to any dish they are used in.

Here are what they look like after about five minutes steeping in hot water.

See the color change? Too bad you can't smell these! (Especially as I was blending them)

I don't use "chili seasoning," rather I use the trio dried oregano, hot chili powder, and ground cumin. These are typically what chili seasoning contains, plus a little powdered garlic (fresh cloves for me baby!) I avoid this by using my own in a ratio that works best for me!


Anyway, here is the chili after all the ingredients are put together, simmered for about an hour on low; all I need now is some corn chips!

Tell me what your secret ingredient is in the comment section! Peanut butter? Chocolate? Chamomile? Lemme know!

Mecca

A bee pollinates a bean plant in my backyard in Brooklyn.


Early in the summer I came home after classes ended and took my road test to get my license. I failed. But I saw my fathers garden beginning to grow. Every year he has grown a tremendous amount of vegetables for our consumption, as well as extra for pickling, friends and what have you.

This year was no different. Spring was giving way to summer and the garden was full of garlic and onions. Tomato plants had begun to take root, but first a lot of mint needed to be used.

The winter was mild, and this meant two things: lots of ants, and lots of mint. The mint had overgrown everywhere and my parents were making salads, teas, cocktails, and everything else they could think of. Some mint was taken and dried out for use as tea, some was taken fresh as use for tea. Many plants were harvested and given to friends, and more still was eaten by everyone.

But now I have come back again (and passed my road test) and the garden is overgrown. Because of my dad's use of compost, and the buildup of dirt over the last 15 years, the yard has shrunk, and the vegetables have taken over. At the end of the middle of summer, grass is hardly visible. Squash plants dominate the open space, while beans and tomatoes grow in the back; hardly on the back burner.

"Everything is really starting to produce," my dad said as we looked under 14 inch squash leaves for the little green orbs that had begun to grow.

For dinner every night we eat beans fresh from the garden. Every night tomatoes are served in one form or another. Squash is eaten, while it is still young and tender. The fridge is full of harvested things, and the pickling hasn't begun yet. Pickled vegetables will be eaten next year, and all throughout the winter.

Grapes grow on the fence. Mustard greens are scattered about. Swiss chard grows next to a rose bush, "that's a volunteer," dad points out. Potatoes volunteer, arugula, sunflowers and more all push up through the dirt that is so rich from years of compost.

We eat well during the summer.