Guinness Beef Stew

Yes, I'm a slacker. It was my intent to blog all of the scrumptious, sumptuous meals The Roommate and I made; but I've failed until tonight.

The Roommate made following recipe last week. It was amazing! Best stew I ever had. Seriously. I was going to go get some of the leftovers from her about 2 days later, but she sheepishly admitted to having eaten it all (but a little). I can't blame her. It was that good!

The stew was accompanied by salad and some excellent sourdough bread I bought from Martin's.

Irish Beef Stew Recipe

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 1/4 pounds stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 6 large garlic cloves, minced
* 6 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
* 1 cup of Guinness beer
* 1 cup of fine red wine
* 2 tablespoons tomato paste
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 tablespoon dried thyme
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 2 bay leaves
* 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
* 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
* Salt and Pepper
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Method

1 Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add beef and sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add beef stock, Guinness, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2 While the meat and stock is simmering, melt butter in another large pot over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and carrots. Sauté vegetables until golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside until the beef stew in step one has simmered for one hour.

3 Add vegetables to beef stew. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Tilt pan and spoon off fat. Transfer stew to serving bowl. Sprinkle with parsley and serve. (Can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Salt and pepper to taste. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before serving.)

Serves 4 to 6.

Sunday Brunch Conversations 1

"The Children of Mary concession stand went really well...Fr. Gallager came out and blessed the stand...he used the old book of blessings...so it went: 'Bless, Oh Lord, this Thy creature bratwurst...'"

photo cred: Myself, Oct 06 - The OBC Concession Stand '06 which also featured in the brunch conversation as both stands had the Bond Hall location.

St. Lucy's Day

Last night, the Children of Mary group on campus hosted a St. Lucy's Day party. Since I've recently been on something of a baking kick, I decided to back some Santa Lucia Bread. I took the recipe posted over at Catholic Cuisine.

I got a late start, so the bread never actually made an appearance at the party, but it did come to the Post-Trid-Mass brunch in South Dining Hall.

Turned out to be quite lovely, if I may say so - especially with a little literal "sprucing" up.

photo: me 12/14/08

SAINT LUCY, Whose beautiful name Signifies light, By the light of Faith Which God bestowed upon you, Increase and preserve His light in my soul, so that I may avoid evil, Be zealous in the performance of good works, and abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and sin.

Obtain for me, by your intercession with God, perfect vision for my bodily eyes and the grace to use them for God’s greater honor and glory and the salvation of souls.

St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear my prayers and obtain my petitions.

Amen.

Apple Pork & French Onion Soup

This semester The Roommate (who is, most sadly, technically no longer my roommate; but, like myself chose to stay in South Bend after graduation to, unlike myself, work on a Master's) I have been taking turns cooking on most Monday nights. Since this week is Notre Dame's fall break, our schedule was thrown off some and tonight is our shared meal night. We both decided to cook. I made "Apple Braised Pork." She made French Onion Soup.

The recipe I found here online is really terrible. It calls for stuff that it then doesn't actually use, and simply doesn't make much sense at all. So below is my tweaked version:

Apple Braised Pork

Prep time: 1/2 hour, Cook Time 1 hour
Ingredients:
3 Pounds Lean Tender Pork Loin
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Ground Sage
1 Teaspoon Ground Thyme
1 Cup Fresh Diced Onion
3 Minced Garlic Cloves
1 Large Peeled Diced Green Apple
2/3 Cup Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
2 Teaspoon Table Salt


Cooking Directions:
Mix together 1T salt, 1T pepper, 1T thyme, 1T sage and spread all over the pork loin. Pan fry meat in a skillet until thoroughly browned. Set meat aside. Using the same pan, fry the minced garlic and onion. Pour the thawed apple juice concentrate and 1T salt into the pan with the garlic and onion, and heat until it boils. (This was pretty quick for me). Now place the pork in the skillet with the juice mixture. Cover meat with thin apple slices. Put a lid on it and simmer for 1 hour.
Use the juices and apples in the skillet as a sauce. I didn't even have to thicken mine and it was quite excellent.

The recipe said make sure the meat hits 155 degrees - but I didn't have a meat thermometer so I just eyeballed it.

The meat was very tender and a little spicy...I really enjoyed it and it seemed that everyone else did too. Added bonus: It wasn't very hard to make at all.


The Roommate used this recipe for the French Onion Soup.

She had a little difficulty getting the cheese to brown, mostly because she chose the casserole dish option and she ran out of time to let it brown. She said that if you really want good soup you should do it in individual stonewear bowls - but alas, they are very expensive and we don't own them. A friend of her mom's who cooked for years in a restaurant also said that most restaurants bake the individual bowls, but this recipe and every other that the Roommate found said to broil them.

French Onion Soup Recipe

Preparation time: About 1 hour.
Ingredients

6 large red onions, peeled and thinly sliced.
Olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups of beef stock or chicken stock
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of dry thyme
Salt and pepper
8 slices of toasted French bread
1 1/2 cups of grated Swiss Gruyere with a little grated Parmesan cheese
Method

1 In a large saucepan, sauté the onions in the olive oil on medium high heat until well browned, but not burned, about 30 minutes. Add the sugar about 10 minutes into the process to help with the carmelization.

2 Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the stock, wine, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover partially and simmer until the flavors are well blended, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf.

3 To serve you can either use individual oven-proof soup bowls or one large casserole dish. Ladle the soup into the bowls or casserole dish. Cover with the toast and sprinkle with cheese. Put into the broiler for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the cheese bubbles and is slightly browned. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.