Slow-Cooker Beef And Tomato Stew With Potatoes

When I made my roasted brussels sprouts, red onion, and yam with quinoa, I knew there was no way I was going to get Jeff to eat it. I'm lucky I've gotten him to eat asparagus and green beans. Brussels sprouts and yams are a long way off, as is quinoa. So I wanted to make him something he'd enjoy that wouldn't require a ton of work on my part since I was making us two different meals.

I found a recipe for beef and tomato stew in Everyday Food, saw that it was a slow-cooker recipe (read: very hands-off), and decided to give it a whirl.

It was the simplest beef stew recipe I'd ever made. There was no searing of the beef, there was no wine, and yet the stew was still immensely flavorful and delicious. About 4 hours after I started the slow cooker, Jeff and I could pick up on scents of stew in the air. It was intoxicating. When the stew was done, the beef was fall-apart tender and richly flavored with tomato and onion.

I threw some rice in the rice cooker when the stew was almost done, and Jeff ate the stew over rice. (I may have snitched a few spoonfuls of stew straight out of the slow cooker.)

And because it was so good and so easy, I ended up making it again a couple weeks later. This time Jeff requested that I add potatoes to the stew and leave out the celery. So here's the new version with potatoes.

Slow-Cooker Beef And Tomato Stew With Potatoes (adapted from Everyday Food, January/February 2012)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced small
4 small carrots, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (optional)
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, fat trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes

Preparation

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, if using, and garlic, and sauté, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.

Transfer mixture to slow cooker.

Stir in beef, tomatoes, broth, salt, and pepper.

Cover and cook on high for 6 hours, stirring in potatoes (halved, quartered if large) after 2 1/2 hours.

Serve.

Finding such an easy and tasty slow-cooker recipe was a great way for me to be able to make something that each of us would be happy with. The first stew lasted Jeff most of the week while I ate my quinoa. Since we weren't sharing the same leftovers, our leftovers lasted much longer, and I didn't have to cook again until the end of the week. He took the second stew for lunch the week after I made it. It was easy to pack up and reheated nicely.

By the way, this is exactly how a relationship between a "foodie" and a "non-foodie" can work (...and it doesn't hurt that he does the dishes). Anyone else catch that article?

Do you cook for someone who doesn't like the same things you do? How do you deal with it?

Broiled Vegetable Soup

I had been reading and hearing about Plenty everywhere (first from my friend Molly - thanks, Molly!). And the more I read and heard, the more I wanted the cookbook, which is chock-full of interesting and innovative vegetarian recipes. During the week after Christmas, I headed to Barnes & Noble on a mission to get the book. I searched the whole cookbook section, and finally the realization set in that the one empty spot on the shelf among the featured cookbooks was the home of the book I was after. Just to make sure, I checked with a sales associate, and it was confirmed. And I learned that unless I had reserved a copy, I was not getting my hands on Plenty.

Bummed, I left. I contemplated ordering the book on Amazon, but for some reason I didn't. Maybe because there's something about wandering into a store and paging through a book before buying it.

About a week later, I was waiting to meet up with a friend in Harvard Square, so I wandered into Anthropologie to kill time. I'm probably one of the only people who was disappointed when Anthropologie moved in. I would much rather have Crate & Barrel back, but when I discovered that Anthropologie carries cookbooks and dishes, I became a little less disappointed. I headed right up to the third floor and flipped through copies of various baking books that were on display. Then I rounded the corner and my eyes landed on three copies of Plenty sitting right there on the shelf in front of me. I grabbed a copy, gawked at the beautiful cover, scanned the glossy pages, and marched straight down to the register.

When I got home that night, I paged through the entire cookbook, trying, with a lot of difficulty, to narrow down the recipes to what I should cook first. Eventually, I settled on the broiled vegetable soup, leaving things like Puy lentil galettes and crusted pumpkin wedges with sour cream for future cooking projects.

The broiled vegetable soup is basically made with eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and herbs. The eggplants and peppers are roasted and charred under the broiler, and the tomatoes are gently warmed in the oven underneath them while the onions slowly cook on the stovetop. Everything is simmered in vegetable stock and pureed until smooth. The original recipe calls for stirring in some lima beans at the end, but I'm not likely to go near lima beans with a 10-foot pole, so I stirred in some cannellini beans instead. While they make the soup more filling, the soup is so thick and substantial that you could leave them out completely if you wanted.

I found that the tomatoes didn't really have enough time in the oven (a mere 15 minutes) to do much, so next time I would put them in earlier. This time, I simply quartered them when I removed them from the oven, allowing them to cook through while simmering in the soup. I also decided that since the eggplants and peppers were peeled, there was no reason to have tomato skins in the soup, so I fished those out with tongs while the soup simmered as well. None of this is part of the original recipe, so feel free to leave the tomato skins in and add the tomatoes to the soup whole if you like. The recipe below reflects the method and timing I used.

I also think I would roast the garlic next time I make this. There are 10 cloves of garlic in the soup, but they're simply simmered with everything else. I think roasting or even just sautéing the cloves with the onions would impart better flavor.

As a final touch, I decided to serve the soup in bread bowls, which I made from scratch. If you're cutting carbs or don't want the extra work (the soup is already fairly time-consuming), the soup is delightful on its own. As suggested in the recipe, I served this with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top, and I urge you not to leave this component out as the tangy yogurt provides a welcome contrast to the mildly sweet soup.

Broiled Vegetable Soup (adapted from Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi)

Ingredients

3 medium eggplants
1 red bell pepper, stem removed with seeds
1 orange bell pepper, stem removed with seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 red onions, finely chopped
4 small to medium vine-ripened tomatoes, cores scooped out
1/2 cup basil leaves, most torn, some reserved for garnish
4 oregano sprigs, leaves picked
10 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
4 cups vegetable stock
Kosher salt and pepper
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Bread bowls, for serving (optional)
Greek yogurt, for serving

Preparation

Preheat broiler to high. Line a sheet pan with foil. Prick the eggplants in a few places with a small knife and place on one side of pan. Broil for 30 minutes.

Turn eggplants with tongs, and place peppers on opposite side of pan.

Broil vegetables for 15 minutes, turning peppers after 7 or 8 minutes.

Once peppers go in the oven, heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions, and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 20 to 30 minutes, or until onions become soft and sort of golden.

Once peppers have broiled for the 15 minutes above, arrange the tomatoes on another foil-lined pan, and place the pan on the rack below the other vegetables.

Continue broiling all vegetables for another 15 minutes, again turning peppers after 7 or 8 minutes.

Transfer pans to cooling racks.

Using tongs, place eggplants on cutting board. Fold foil where eggplants were over the peppers and leave them to cool.

Cut a long slit in each eggplant, and scoop out the flesh into a small bowl. Discard skin.

Transfer tomatoes to cutting board, and cut in quarters.

Pull skins off peppers and roughly chop the flesh.

Add eggplant flesh, peppers, tomatoes, torn basil, oregano leaves, garlic, stock, and some salt and pepper to pot with onions.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Use tongs to pull off and discard tomato skins while soup simmers, if desired.

Process soup in batches in food processor until smooth.

Return soup to pot, stir in beans, and reheat soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle soup into bread bowls, if using, or soup bowls, top with a dollop of greek yogurt, garnish with basil, and serve.

One last note: The book says this serves 4. I'm going to say it serves 8 to 10, even as a full meal, even without a bread bowl. It makes a lot of soup. I ended up freezing some.

What cookbooks are you loving lately?

Homemade Turkey Soup (And Stock)

I'll bet a lot of you are going to have a turkey carcass hanging around on Thursday. But don't throw it away without a second thought. After the bird gets picked over, it still has something more to offer -- deeply flavored stock that can be turned into a warm, comforting turkey soup.

After I roasted a turkey and had Jeff carve it this past weekend, I took the carcass, neck, and thighs (for extra meat for the soup) and used them to make turkey stock. It doesn't take much time at all to get the stock going, and once it's going, all it needs is time and some occasional skimming. I prepped all the ingredients I'd need for the stock while the turkey roasted, so once the turkey was carved I could just throw everything in the pot.

After the stock had simmered for 4 hours, I strained it and then picked through the bones, salvaging any of the moist flavorful dark meat for the soup. I also picked over the wings, which I hadn't put in the stock, and added their meat to the pile. I had prepped all the ingredients for my soup at the same time that I had prepped the stock ingredients, so it was super easy to throw the soup together too.

If you'll have a free burner after Thanksgiving dinner has been made, you can start your stock simmering as soon as you've carved the turkey (as long as you prep the other ingredients in advance too). Before you head to bed on Thanksgiving night, your soup will be done, and you can eat it all week long in addition to your Thanksgiving dinner leftovers, or divide it among freezer bags and save it for when the next turkey craving strikes.

Turkey Stock (adapted from Cook's Illustrated, November 2000)

Ingredients

Carcass, neck, and thighs from 12- to 14-pound turkey
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 carrot, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed
2 cups dry white wine
1 bay leaf
5 sprigs fresh parsley
3 sprigs fresh thyme

Preparation

Bring turkey carcass, neck, thighs, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, wine, bay leaf, and 4 1/2 quarts water to a boil in a large stockpot set over medium-high heat. Skim any fat or foam that comes to the surface of the stock.

Reduce heat to low and simmer stock, uncovered, for 2 hours, skimming when needed.

Add parsley and thyme, and simmer stock for another 2 hours.

Pour stock through strainer set over large bowl.

Pick through solids, and reserve any meat.

Cool stock for about 20 minutes, and skim any fat from its surface.

Use entire batch of stock in soup recipe below.

Turkey Noodle Soup (adapted from Cook's Illustrated, November 2000)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon reserved fat from turkey drippings or butter
1 onion, chopped fine
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
1 celery rib, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Turkey stock (from above)
Reserved turkey meat (from above, plus additional from turkey leftovers if desired)
Egg noodles, prepared according to package directions

Preparation

In a large stockpot set over medium-high heat, melt reserved fat from turkey drippings (or butter).

Add onions, carrots, celery, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt to the pot and sauté until vegetables are just softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in turkey stock, and cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in reserved turkey meat, and simmer 5 minutes to warm.

Serve soup spooned over prepared egg noodles and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I truly enjoyed this soup and am so excited that I have three bags of it in the freezer for future dinners.

I never listen to recipes when they say to cook the noodles in the soup because the noodles are apt to get soggy. Instead, I always make a batch of noodles on the side and simply spoon the soup over the noodles (something I learned from my mom). This way you're sure to have tender, but not mushy, noodles in every bowl. I didn't specify an amount of pasta above, so you can just make however much you'll need for however many people you're feeding.

I doubled the amount of carrots the recipe called for, and I still don't think there were enough, so next time I would probably use 6 carrots, and I'd amp up the amount of celery too. While the recipe doesn't say to sauté the vegetables first, my dad told me my soup would have more flavor if I sautéed them in some of the fat I had scooped off the turkey drippings before I made my turkey gravy, so I tried that. I can't exactly compare my soup to the original since I didn't make the original, but I know I ended up with a really delicious, flavorful soup, so I think it was a good move.

Do you ever make your own turkey stock or soup?

Easy No-Bean Chili

Looking for a quick, easy chili recipe to make this weekend? Well, this is it. After you do a tiny bit of prep work and wait out a little more than an hour of simmering, you'll be serving up steaming bowls of hearty chili. This chili has no beans and is mildly spiced -- if you like heat, I recommend adding some hot chile peppers. I served it over rice and melted Monterey Jack on top.

Easy No-Bean Chili (adapted from Bon Appetit)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 Anaheim chile pepper, chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
3 pounds ground chuck
5 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
Kosher salt and pepper
Cooked white rice (optional)
Shredded Monterey Jack (optional)

Preparation

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, Anaheim pepper, and garlic.

Sauté until onions are translucent, about 8 minutes. 

Add chuck and sauté until brown, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, mix chili powder, cumin, basil, oregano, and thyme together in small bowl.

Stir spices into meat mixture and cook 2 minutes.

Stir in crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, and tomato paste. Reduce heat to a simmer.

Simmer until thickened to desired consistency, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over white rice, top with Monterey Jack, and melt cheese under the broiler, if desired (make sure to use broiler-safe bowls).

And if you have leftover chili, I've got a great leftover idea for you, inspired by Kerstin's loaded sweet potato skins: chili-loaded potato skins! (This is just a basic guideline... I made two potatoes since there are only two of us, but you can easily make more.)

Poke holes in potatoes, and bake potatoes for 1 hour at 400 degrees.

When cool enough to handle, halve potatoes lengthwise and scoop out the middles.

Mix some olive oil and salt and pepper in a small bowl, and brush potatoes with the oil on all sides.

Return skins to oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Fill skins with warm chili, top with cheese, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until heated through. If cheese isn't melty enough, heat skins under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes.

Top with sliced scallions.

How do you like your chili?