Winter Vegetable Stew and Peasant Bread

Well, it looks like we're in for another dreary, rainy weekend in the state that doesn't understand seasons (with one exception for blisteringly hot, ever-enduring summer months). I think I might have psychic, weather-controlling powers because every time I wear shorts, a skirt or even I dare say a tank top, the weather takes a turn for the cold, windy and rainy. But, no bother, because I have the perfect stew and spirits to lift your spirits.

I made this stew about a month ago - the first of many times I've had to toss a lovely spring menu plan in exchange for something that will warm us in a heat-free home. I've never been more glad about chilly rainy weather than that day.

I don't know about you but I'm always looking for a good thick stew that's as easy as it is flavorful. This winter stew delivers on all accounts, and it can be made with meat or without. Even better, I imagine any root vegetables you have lying around will suit the flavors just fine. I had my eye on parsnips, but with none available, turnips and a rutabaga were lovely.

Winter Vegetable Stew 

1 rutabega, chopped to 1/2 inch dice (or bigger if that's how you like your stew)
2 red potatoes, chopped to 1/2 inch dice
1 turnip, chopped to 1/2 inch dice
1 medium leek, julienned
2-3 carrots, chopped to thin rounds
3 celery stalks, thinly chopped
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup flour
2 ears of corn
5 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 cup (+) Guinness Stout or other stout beer, divided
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
small pinch nutmeg
2 bay leaf
pinch of sage, rosemary and thyme (fresh if you have it)
1 cup milk (optional - tasted good before and after this addition) 
Precooked rotisserie chicken, shredded (optional)

Instructions

1. Boil the rutabega, potato and turnip (or any root veggies you're using) in a mixture of water, soy sauce, onion powder, 1/2 cup beer and Worchestershire sauce until vegetables are barely tender. Time will depend on the size of your dice. Don't drain, and set aside.

2. Melt butter in a large pot and add onion, carrot, celery and leek. Saute until tender. Add flour, yeast, salt, black pepper, ground mustard, nutmeg, and herbs. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Gradually add 1/2 cup of remaining beer as needed.

3. Increase heat to medium high and gradually stir in boiled root vegetables plus cooking liquid. Simmer, stirring frequently for 15 to 20 minutes. If you choose to, add chicken after about 10 minutes.

4. Add corn and milk and continue simmering for 5 minutes. 
5. Remove and discard bay leaf. Enjoy!

Of course, any decent stew deserves good bread and good beer to go with it. I recommend Guinness Extra Stout as you already have to purchase the beer to make the stew. But if you want to step it up a notch, we made Irish Car Bombs. All you need a bottle of Guinness, a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream and a shot of Jameson's Whiskey. Pour the beer into a pint glass and serve with the two shots in individual shot glasses. When it's time to drink, pour the two shots into the beer and drink as quickly as you can! I'd always been turned off by the curdling of the Irish Cream in this drink, but it actually tastes really good, and it's a fun take on shots with friends.

As for bread, any hardy wheat or rye will do. I had just gotten some rye flour from Sylvan Falls Mill at Athens Locally Grown, so I wanted to make a loaf to incorporate this. I ended up making the following peasant bread.

 

Peasant Bread

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1⁄2 Tbsp. dry active yeast
1 1⁄2 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1⁄2 cup rye flour
1⁄2 cup whole wheat flour
5 1⁄2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
Cornmeal for dusting the peel

Instructions

1.Mix yeast and salt with water in a large bowl. Let proof for about 10 minutes. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients without kneading. You may have to use your hands to get the last bit of flour mixed in. Cover and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises, about 2 hours. Can be stored up to 14 days in the refrigerator.

2. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a piece about the size of a grapefruit. Dust with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered surface for 40 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 450°F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray or a baking tray if it's all you have on the shelf below.

4. After 40 minutes, sprinkle the loaf liberally with flour and slash a cross on the top. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top crust is deeply browned and very firm. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.

White Christmas

Hello everyone!

I've sorry to have abandoned you for so long. But now I'm back and I've got so many recipes and photos of my efforts to share.

For today though, it's Christmas and the very first White Christmas of my life as well as the first in Atlanta in over 100 years!! I woke to the dreary morning we have all become accustomed to in Georgia as our sorry excuse for winter. But just like a Christmas miracle, we began opening our presents in our sunroom as usual and suddenly the snow began to fall. And it got bigger and fluffier and started sticking...and now I only fear I won't make it to see True Grit because there's actually snow on the roads.

My white house and white car seem so at home. 

This playground was my first Christmas miracle. I was probably about 5 years old, and my grandparents had come to visit from Pennsylvania. On Christmas Eve my Grandma took me out for adventures all day long until it was dark, and I eagerly awaiting sleep so that Santa wouldn't pass by my house. When morning came, we sang "Silent Night" as we walked down the stairs, carefully preparing to deliver Baby Jesus to the manager as always. But the second I rounded the corner, I could see straight down the hall to the sunroom where in my backyard, Santa had magically delivered a fully assembled, perfect playground just for me.

That year Grandpa and my Dad were Santa. And what a magical thing it was.

 

 Now here's a recipe to keep you warm on these (finally) cold winter nights. It's simple and delicious. And perhaps I'll whip some up with my brand new food processor (Hallelujah!)

Carrot and Fennel Soup
 

2 medium fennel bulbs with fronds (Trader Joe's sells great big ones!)
1 lb carrots, quartered lengthwise
1 medium onion, quartered
 2 garlic cloves, halved
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground finely in a coffee grinder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in lowest position.

2. Chop enough fennel fronds to measure 1 tablespoon and reserve. Discard stalks and remaining fronds. 

3. Slice bulbs 1/4 inch thick and toss with carrots, onion, garlic, 3 tablespoons oil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. 

4. Spread in a 4-sided sheet pan and roast, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

5. Blend half of vegetables in a blender with broth until very smooth (or still with a little chunk in its step as I like it). 

6. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Repeat with remaining vegetables and water. Thin with extra water if you want it really soupy and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Meanwhile, finely grind fennel seeds in grinder and stir into remaining 2 tablespoons oil.

8. Serve soup drizzled with fennel oil and sprinkled with reserved fronds.

I, Killer of Blenders

A few months back, I discovered the amazing food that is fall squashes. I can attribute this new love to the Athens Farmers Market and the Pumpkin Nook, a great online collection of pumpkin related recipes. So, one Saturday morning, after selecting my perfect locally-grown pumpkin I found this delightful recipe for Curried Pumpkin Soup. I roasted the pumpkin, which is actually incredibly simple and well worth the absence of canned pumpkin puree in your life, and I prepared all my ingredients.

Now, I don't know about you, but for me there is near nothing more agonizing than placing a mixture into the blender only to hear the hum of the motor, the smell of burning plastic and to watch ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPEN. Well, my roommates and I were having a similar crisis at this moment, the smell of pumpkin delighting our noses and singing to us the temptation to use a utensil to hurry along the process. Now my roommate Emily sticks a knife into the blender mashes everything around and it seems to help. I think, good, it's working. So then I try.

Suddenly, the knife has shot through the plastic blender to remain jammed half in and half out the container and a hunk of plastic has launched over to just about strike my roommate Molly. All in all, a disaster worthy of any mother's worst nightmare, a mistake akin to running with scissors or gluing your fingers together with super glue.

Luckily, the Curried Pumpkin Soup was absolutely incredible.

Fast forward two months and here I stand facing our new blender equipped with a food processor ready to attempt my first pesto. I got the recipe from my new seasonal and local cooking book "Harvest Eating" by Keith Snow. In this neat cookbook for the sustainably minded, each recipe is marked with a symbol to indicate the proper season for the ingredients. This winter delight is a Kale Almond Pesto, challenging the misconception that pesto can only be basil and pine nuts.

Kale Almond Pesto

1 1/2 lbs kale This may be deceptive...I bought about this amount in poundage, but the recipe qualifies that this should amount to about 2 cups cooked which my cooked kale did not cook down that much
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
2 tbsp chopped shallots
1 garlic clove, chopped I used two because I loooove garlic
4 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese I used a different variation of parmesan but it seemed to work fine
Salt
Ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Toast raw almonds in the oven at 350 degrees on a baking sheet for about 10-15 minutes
2. Bring a couple cups of water to a boil in the bottom of a stove top steamer. Place the kale in the steamer, cover, and steam for about 10 minutes. Then, run the kale under cold water to stop the cooking process. Let it drain and set aside.
3. Place the cooked kale, almonds, shallots, garlic, cheese, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. As guided by other online recipes, you might add a bit of lemon juice and crushed red pepper, which I found to improve the slightly bitter taste.
4. Pulse several times to combine then drizzle in the olive oil Again with the making this seem so much easier than it ever is...I need a professional blender!
5. Adjust seasoning to taste

I enjoyed my pesto on spaghetti but it would also be good on grilled meat or pizza. I also found that this recipe improves with a night in the fridge.


Now back to my blender story. So I'm processing my pesto, a piece of kale at a time and it's taking far longer than the anticipated 10 minute time to complete the recipe. I am much wiser this time around and I unplug the blender before I venture to mash around the mixture with a wooden spoon. However, I manage to destroy another blender anyhow. Well I guess destroy is overstating, but it can be said truthfully, that in the final stretches - the last pieces of kale and the drizzling of olive oil - that my processor simply quits. The burning smell and the whirring, but no evident movement of the blades can be seen. I try many times and all I get is a few globs of pesto on my floor, not the most appetizing globular form, and various parts of processor strewn about. Eventually I simply gave up, removed the remaining unchopped kale and stirred in the olive oil by hand. Although this worked fairly okay, I still am eternally at war with the so-called "labor saving tool" that is the blender.