Irish Stout Stew

I'm posting this a bit late, but to celebrate St. Patricks Day, I made an Irish Stout Stew and Soda bread. Both turned out pretty good, but were not that authentic in my opinion (having had lots of stew in Ireland).



Irish Beef Stew (elise.com)

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 pounds well-marbled chuck beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces (NOT extra-lean)
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
I 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

You can follow the directions below if you want, but I just threw everything in a crockpot and cooked it on low for 8 hours. I added mushrooms at the end for about 15 minutes.

Directions:
1 Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Lightly salt the beef pieces. Working in batches if necessary, add the beef (do not crowd the pan, or the meat will steam and not brown) and cook, without stirring, until nicely browned on one side, then use tongs to turn the pieces over. Continue to cook in this manner until all sides are browned, 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. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve. (Can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before serving.)

Corn and Pepper Bisque

This soup is on the spicy side, but its filling and delicious.



Corn and Pepper Bisque (http://ellysaysopa.com/)

Ingredients:
1.5 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
3 large anaheim peppers (poblanos or other green chilies would work). diced
1 jalapeno (remove the seeds and ribs if you don’t want it to be too spicy)
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 12 oz. can tomatillos, cored and coarsely chopped (of course you can use fresh but my store rarely carries decent garlic, let alone tomatillos)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. chili powder
salt and pepper
2 cups corn (bought from trader joes!)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup masa harina (corn flour) (skipped because I could not find it)
3/4 cup half and half or cream

Directions:
In a stockpot or dutch oven, melt the butter. Cook the onions and all the peppers over medium-low heat until they become tender. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the tomatillos, cumin, oregano, chili powder and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes, to combine the flavors and cook the tomatillos.

Put the pepper/onion/tomato mixture and 1 cup of the roasted corn in a food processor. Process the mixture into a puree (there will still be pieces of the veggies since there is not much liquid at this point).

Put the pureed mixture back into the dutch oven and turn the heat to medium-high. Mix the masa harina with the chicken broth until it’s dissolved. Add the broth/masa mixture to the dutch oven, as well as the rest of the corn. Simmer for a few minutes and season to taste, if necessary. Add the half and half or cream, and heat through.

Taco Soup

Excellent and easy soup to make.



Taco Soup (allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)


DIRECTIONS
Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

This soup is so good. You can control how spicy you like it by adjusting the amount of pepper you add. We love it spicy, so I added more than the recipe called for.

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup (from Rachel Ray)

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cups canned or packaged vegetable stock, found on soup aisle
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained
2 cans (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (found often on the baking aisle)
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon curry powder, 1 palm full
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1/2 palm full
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, eyeball it in the palm of your hand
Coarse salt
20 blades fresh chives, chopped or snipped, for garnish

Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Add oil. When oil is hot, add onion. Saute onions 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, black beans and pumpkin puree. Stir to combine ingredients and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in cream, curry, cumin, cayenne and

Split Pea Soup

I haven't been baking or cooking much because one of my dogs (Kaylee) had double patella surgery on March 4th. She requires constant monitoring for the next 8 weeks (til April 30th), so anything I make in the kitchen has to be done pretty fast. I did manage to make this soup a couple weeks ago while I got a break from watching her.



Split Pea Soup (From smellslikehome blog and Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped yellow onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups medium-diced carrots (3 to 4 carrots)
1 cup medium-diced red boiling potatoes, unpeeled (3 small)
1 pound dried split green peas
8 cups chicken stock or water

Directions:
In a 4-quart stockpot on medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with the olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes, 1/2 pound of split peas, and chicken stock.
Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Skim off the foam while cooking. Add the remaining split peas and continue to simmer for another 40 minutes, or until all the peas are soft. Stir frequently to keep the solids from burning on the bottom. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve hot.

I found this to be extremely thick especially after refrigerating it. I ended up thinning it out with water when I would reheat it. Otherwise it tasted very good and was pretty simple to make.