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.)

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.

The flavors of this crockpot dish were excellent but it turned out a bit dry. Watch your liquids when you make it. Next time, I will double the sauce.



CrockPot Indian Curry (crockpot365.blogspot.com)

- 1 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
- 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 4-6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 1 T tomato paste
- 2 T curry powder
- 1 t ground coriander
- 1 t ground cumin
- 1 inch peeled and grated ginger
- few dashes of hot sauce (skipped)
- 1 yellow onion. chopped
- 2 or 3 cloves of smashed and chopped garlic
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 of an eggplant, chopped skipped because I hate it and added butternut squash instead)
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

The Directions.

Assemble all of your spices, coconut milk, tobasco sauce, and tomato paste. Combine the sauce ingredients in the bottom of your crockpot. The sauce will be a lovely yellow.

Add the chicken, flipping it over a few times to coat it nicely. Pour in the garbanzo beans.

Wash and chop all of the vegetables, and then add to the Crock-Pot. Don't worry about stirring them in the sauce. Let them sit on top of the chicken and steam away.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. I cooked our dinner on high for almost 6 hours. The chicken was fully cooked, but still had shape, and the vegetables were soft and quite nice.

Stir carefully to mix flavors. If you stir too rough, the sweet potato will fall apart.

Serve over rice;

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Sorry no pictures of this pot roast, but it tasted great!


Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast (Adapted from AllRecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water
5 1/2 pounds pot roast
1/2 medium onion
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
1 cup carrots

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture. Add in veggies.

2. Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.


I found that it turned more into a soup because of how thin the liquid was. If this happens to you, just remove the meat and veggies and turn the liquid into a gravy.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork

This was excellent! Serve on a bun and with a side salad.



Slow Cooker Pulled Pork (AllRecipes.com)

"Using root beer to season slow cooked pork tenderloin makes a novel, yet tasty preparation method guaranteed to win applause."

INGREDIENTS:
1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin ( I used a 4 lb)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle (used 2 cans)
root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your (used 2.. or maybe less. I just did it by taste)
favorite barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns, split and
lightly toasted

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. (mine was on low for 8 hours) Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.