Beef Stew

How is it almost October? As much as I despise the end of summer, I do enjoy the cooler temperatures that the fall season brings. In the back of my mind though, I can't help but think that fall means winter is right around the corner. As I walked out of work today, the air was cool and crisp, and there was a man playing a saxophone on the street. It made me want to put on my fleece and walk up and down Michigan Avenue, just taking time to enjoy the evening. I stopped by Whole Foods on the way home from work and got a bowl of soup for dinner. The pre-game for the Chicago Bears game is playing in the background on my tv. I'm contemplating putting the electric blanket on the bed for the season. It feels like fall. And it actually feels ok.

This past weekend, Andy and I took a trip to Ohio for a friend's wedding......

It is 5 1/2 hours in the car to Ohio, in case anyone was wondering. Did you know that West Chester, Ohio doesn't have a food or beverage tax? Starbucks is $0.61 cheaper. Chicago - are you listening? No tax on Starbucks. I had my priorities straight and was able to find a Starbucks within a half mile of the hotel.....

This isn't the beef stew recipe I grew up on. I've come to learn that I can't make the beef stew like my Mom and Dad used to. It's not in my genes to do so. No matter how hard I try, and no matter how closely I follow the exact recipe, it just doesn't taste like I remember it. The same goes with our family chili recipe. I might as well walk down the street, to the local restaurant and order chili there instead of trying to make it on my own.

We usually made beef stew on Sundays during the fall months. Beef stew in July just doesn't seem to sound right. The Bears game would be on, we would have sometimes already been to church or it might have been a year when we weren't so good with getting to church on Sundays - and we were cutting straight to the chase. Either way, fall Sundays make me think of chili and beef stew. Mom would stand over the yellow cast iron pot, cutting the stew meat into smaller pieces with the kitchen shears. Our stew never had big chunks of meat - always small bite sized pieces. And to this day, I believe I will always make the stew that same way. The beef would simmer on the stove for what would seem like hours. Every so often I would walk into the kitchen, lift the lid to the yellow pot, and take a taste of the beef to see how it was coming along. The longer I waited in between taste tests, the more tender the beef got.

I didn't spend too much time looking at recipes for beef stew this time around. We were walking out the door, heading to the Jewel, and I needed to make a list pretty quickly. There wasn't time to read reviews, compare ingredients amongst recipes, or make any lifelong beef stew decisions - I need to pick one and go with it - which isn't easy for me. I went traditional - nothing fancy - Food Network kitchens. Beef, beef broth, carrots, onions, and celery - pretty simple. I didn't want one with mushrooms, red wine or tons and tons of oil. A simple, straight to the point recipe. And this one is exactly that. It comes together pretty quickly as far as a stew goes. The beef simmers on the stove for a couple of hours with the broth and onions. When the beef is tender, you can add the carrots, potatoes and celery. In another hour or so, whamo, you have an amazing beef stew. And when I saw amazing, I do mean amazing. It is the perfect meal to have on a Sunday evening, while sitting on the couch, watching tv. I made our family favorite drop biscuits and dunked each piece of biscuit into the stew as I went through my bowl. Stay tuned as I attempt to re-create chili Sundays in addition to beef stew Sundays in the near future.

Beef Stew

adapted from Food Network Kitchens

Vegetable oil, for searing

2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 medium onions, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/3 cup flour

10 cups beef broth

1 beef bouillon cube

6 sprigs thyme

2 sprigs rosemary, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 1/4 pounds red potatoes, quartered

5 carrots, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

Slurry:

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup water

Heat a large Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Pour in enough oil to fill the pan about 1/4-inch deep. Season the beef generously with salt and pepper, and add to the pan. Saute half the meat, uncovered, stirring only occasionally, until well-browned, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a plate. Repeat with the remaining beef. Discard the oil and wipe out the pan.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Return the pot to the stove and melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 1 minute more. Add the reserved beef and scatter the flour over the vegetable and beef mixture (enough to lightly coat) and cook stirring until lightly toasted. Add the water or broth, and bring to a simmer. Tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaves together with a piece of kitchen twine and add the bundle to the pot. Season with 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook the meat until just tender, about 1 1/2 hours. (This can also be done on the stove at a low simmer.)

Remove pot from the oven. Skim the fat from the cooking liquid with a spoon or ladle. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery, and the tomatoes, and bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens and the vegetables are tender, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the herb bundle. Stir in the vinegar and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Divide among bowls and serve immediately.

Drop Biscuits

adapted from The American Heart Association Cookbook

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter, cubed

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450. Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the butter with a pastry blender or your fingers. Stir in the milk. Drop the batter onto a baking sheet, placing biscuits 1 inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Roasted Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Last weekend was a whirlwind. I don't even know where to begin. We hosted our "I'm going to punch cancer in the face" team fundraiser. We made almost $1000 in one night - bringing our team total to over $7,000. It might have been smarter to not host the team fundraiser the night before my swim, but it seemed to be the only day that work. I walked around the bar drinking Smart Water and Gatorade. I carbo loaded and ate pasta on both Thursday and Friday night - which is a feat in itself because I don't love pasta nor do I usually eat the same thing for dinner 2 nights in a row. Here is a picture of the "I'm going to punch cancer in the face" team....

Sarah, the me in NY for DetermiNation, completely floored me and flew in for the weekend to see me race.....

I tried to stay ahead of the game all summer on my electrolyte intake on days when I was swimming. Between the Gatorade, the disgusting coconut water which I don't think I'll ever purchase again, the protein shakes, and the electrolyte enhanced water - I think I succeeded in staying ahead of my leg cramps. Throughout the race, I had pep talks with my legs - telling them not to cramp. The more I thought about it, the more they started to cramp. So my goal was to secretly think about it, without truly thinking about it.

I kept busy trying not to swim into the big barge that was in between buoy 2 and 3. I kept busy thinking about all the people that had donated to me throughout the summer - bringing my total to just under $3,000. I kept busy thinking about those that were along the beach cheering me on. I kept busy thinking about putting that medal around my neck after crossing the finish line. I kept busy looking for green caps, wondering if I would be the last green cap to finish the race. I kept busy thinking about an Italian beef sandwich and cheese fries from Portillos. There is a lot to think about when you are swimming for 2 hours - but I think that is why I love swimming - it gives you plenty of time to think and relax.

Before the start of the race, they towed the buoys out to their appropriate locations. There were 3 of them. Looking at the first buoy in the distance, I thought to myself, surely they are only going to have me do this triangle once and not twice. That is a LONG way in between those buoys. Oh lordy, what am I going to do.

Swimming 3 miles is something I never thought I would be able to do. I'm amazed at all the people that donated to me, all the people that talked about my race throughout the summer, and all the people that came out to see me on race day. I want to do it all over again.

Here are a few pictures from race day......

The ice cream maker has been going all summer. Andy got me an ice cream maker attachment to my mixmaster so I really have the ability to make ice cream as often as I want. I think he secretly got me an ice cream maker so that I wouldn't store his ice cream maker at my apartment anymore. Either way - I'm more than fine with whatever the reason was. In the end, I get to make ice cream on a regular basis and haven't even bought ice cream from the store this summer. Between homemade ice cream and walks to Annette's for my banana ice cream as a special treat, I've really been set.

Roasted banana ice cream happens to be in my freezer right now, but not too long ago, it was filled with roasted cherry vanilla ice cream. Cherries have been in season all summer - and have actually been pretty reasonable in price as well. It was actually Andy's suggestion to make the cherry ice cream - I don't even know if I have ever had cherry ice cream before. I still can't figure out why I haven't invested in a cherry pitter, so I still needed resort to pitting the cherries manually. It would be an understatement to say that it made a mess - but it was well worth it. The recipe calls for you to roast and pit the cherries so that they don't freezer too hard when you churn the ice cream.

I threw chocolate chips into the mini prep and finely chopped the chocolate so that it wouldn't get rock hard in the freezer. The chocolate pieces really add something to the ice cream. It's awesome and it didn't last too long around here.

Roasted Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

adapted from David Lebovitz

print this recipe

30-40 fresh cherries, whole and de-stemmed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

1 cup milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean
6 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces semisweet (60%) dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 450° F. Place whole, de-stemmed cherries in an oven safe roasting pan or dish. Sprinkle with sugar and bourbon. Toss to coat. Roast at 450° for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping a close eye to make sure the sugar doesn’t burn. Once fruit is soft, remove from oven and cool. Pit the cherries and slice into quarters. Refrigerate in juices overnight.

In a medium saucepan, heat milk, sugar, 1 cup of cream and salt over medium heat. Split vanilla bean in half, scrape seeds into the warm milk mixture and add used bean too. When milk is warm, remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a large bowl. Set a fine mesh strainer on top and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks. Slowly add about 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs. Pour the warmed egg mixture into the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan and whisk to combine. Return the saucepan to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and pour through the mesh strainer into remaining cream. Add vanilla extract and stir over a bowl of ice water until cooled to room temperature. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Churn according to ice cream maker instructions.

Banana Cake Bread

I've been to St. Louis more times in the past couple of months than I have in all my previous years combined. I rolled into town blaring "Go Cubs Go" on the radio with the windows down. I mean, come on, Cubs/Cardinals series? There's no other way to drive into town as a Cubs fan. There have always been a few key items on our to-do list while we are in St. Louis: Cardinals game, up in the arch, pork steaks, Ted Drewe's, dinner at the Hill, St. Louis style pizza etc. This past trip we crossed off a few of these things:

Somehow - whether it's on the list or not - we seem to get to a Cardinals game. At least this time around, they were playing the Cubs. And to be honest, I don't mind watching baseball games live, no matter who is playing. It was nearing the mid-90's, so we were all glad to be seeing a night game instead of a day game.

Custard at Ted Drewe's - the line was insane.

St. Louis style pizza is thin, with a cracker like crust - just the way I like it.

Apparently pork steaks are pretty common way down south here in St. Louis. I've never actually heard of them and really had no idea what to expect. I still get confused with the term chicken fried steak. I know it is steak but everytime I hear the phrase, for a quick second, I always think we are talking about chicken. Pork steaks should just be called thin pork chops if you ask me, but I'll go along with it.

Andy's friends Chris and Nikki had us over for a bbq and were making authentic pork steaks. I hesitated about documenting the whole process, as I'm sure a few heads turned when the new girl pulls out her camera and starts taking pictures of the food. Luckily, no one seemed to mind. The pork steaks were really really good - but what made them even better was the homemade bbq rub and the homemade bbq sauce. A perfect picnic meal if you ask me.

Would you believe that I've already made this banana cake recipe twice now since intially deciding to blog about it? This means, I've either gone too long in between blog posts or it just happens to be a really great recipe. Both options are true, but in fact, I think it happens to be that August brought about 2 events for me, and oodles of leftover bananas. I seem to come home with at least 2 bunches after each race day and am always waiting for them to get that perfect shade of splotchy brown before putting them to work.

This time around it was banana cake and roasted banana ice cream - the latter recipe to follow in a different post. It's a recipe from David Lebovitz. He questions whether or not to call it banana bread or banana cake. I'm not sure which option I agree with, so I played it safe and called it banana cake bread. He calls for it to be made in a 9-inch round cake pan, but I had a loaf pan on hand instead and went with that.

The bread comes together without needing a mixer - which is always a plus. You make a quick puree with bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir that in with the dry ingredients - add a few chocolate chips - and whamo - you've got yourself a great banana cake bread. I've had it wrapped up in foil for a couple of days now and it is just as fresh as when it first came out of the oven - which is a huge plus.

Side note: I can't believe I took a picture of this cake bread on a pink polka dotted plate - that is so unlike me!

Banana Cake Bread

adapted from David Lebovitz

print this recipe

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 large egg white

1 large egg

1 cup banana puree (from about 2 bananas, mashed)

1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Butter a 9 inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, egg white, egg, banana puree, sour cream and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scrape the mixture into the baking dish. Bake until just set - about 40 minutes. Cool on a baking rack.