Carbonnades à la flamande

Seeing as it's still winter, I really wanted to make a big, hearty beef stew that would make the house smell good and warm us up. This is an adaptation of a few different recipes (unfortunately, the page including Carbonnades a la flamande from my Joy of Cooking is missing, along with the surrounding 40 pages!) It's a Belgian beef stew with beer, and it turned out pretty well--possibly the first time I've ever cooked beef in this kitchen, other than brisket.
Camera batteries are still out. It looks like stew.

Carbonnades à la flamande

3 lb beef chuck, cubed (cut out any huge tendons)
4 large onions, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
1 tbsp cider vinegar
about 4 tbsp olive oil, or more if necessary
2 bottles brown ale (I used Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale)
2 cups hot water
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp brown sugar (or omit; I used it, and it was too sweet for my tastes)
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
small pinch ground cloves
salt, pepper to taste
2 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread, each spread with 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

In a heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tbsp olive oil. Brown the beef cubes in batches until well-browned on all sides (about 3-4 min per side if the oil is hot enough). Meanwhile, saute the onions and garlic in a large frying pan over medium heat until you are done browning the beef; stir frequently to make sure they get only a little color, adding the vinegar about three minutes before the end of cooking.

Return the beef to the pan, and add the flour, salt, and pepper, stirring to coat. Add onions. Deglaze the pot by adding one cup of hot water and scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the beer and the remaining water. Bring to a boil; turn down the heat to a low simmer. Add the sugar (if using), thyme, bay leaves, and cloves. Cook 2 1/2 hours over low heat, stirring occationally. One hour into the cooking, float the slices of bread at the top of the pot. Stir them in as they absorb liquid (the crusts may require some vigorous stirring).

After 2 1/2 hours, turn the heat to medium (NOT high, or you will burn the bottom of the pot, as I did) and reduce about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened enough that it coats the spoon and clings to the meat.

Serve with brown rice or potatoes.

Serves 5-6.

Lemon Cake with Raspberry-Apricot Sauce

Once again no picture; camera's out of batteries. This is a very moist, flavorful cake adapted from the plain Yogurt Cake in Clotilde Dusoulier's Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook. It is just as good on its own as with the sauce (my own invention), but the sauce makes it a little fancier.

Lemon Cake with Raspberry Apricot Sauce

Cake:
1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus more to grease pan
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp pear brandy
Zest of 2-3 lemons (depending on how lemony you like your cake)
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
small pinch salt

Sauce:
15 oz frozen raspberries
About 15 dried apricots
1/4 to 1 cup sugar, depending on taste (1 cup was way too sweet for me)
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp pear brandy



Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 inch round cake pan or a large loaf pan; line bottom with parchment paper or aluminum foil if not springform. (My loaf pan is silicone--this is the first time I've used it, and it was the best $4 I've ever spent--so easy to release the cake.)
In a large mixing bowl, beat together yogurt and sugar. Add the eggs one by one and beat after each addition. Add oil, brandy, and lemon zest, and beat again. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix very well (until very few lumps).
Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden and a knife comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes; run a knife around the edges to loosen, then flip onto a plate. Serve warm or room temperature. Gets better the next day.

Sauce: Pour about 2 cups boiling water over apricots in a medium bowl. Let sit 15 minutes. Combine apricots, raspberries, apricot soaking water, sugar, ginger, and brandy in a saucepan and cook over high heat until boiling; turn the heat down and simmer about half an hour, until the raspberries are broken down and sauce is starting to thicken. Let cool, then puree in the blender or food processor--once the apricots are pureed it will be much thicker. Serve with cake.

Serves 10 or more, depending on how large the cake slices are.

Chicken in Green Sauce

No picture, because the oven's pilot light went out (again) just as I was about to put the chicken into the oven. Despite having watched someone light the oven's pilot light before, my roommate and I couldn't find it to light it on our own--it's not in the same place as the one for the stove. So we had to call the management company, and wait for them to come light it for us, as gas seeped into the apartment. But the management people are good folks and came in only 20 minutes--enough time to get the chicken into the oven about five minutes before the guests showed up. However, it wasn't done until an hour later, so that is the long explanation of why no picture.
The sauce is adapted from Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories, my newest free-with-Lexis-points cookbook. It is extremely delicious--I cannot stop eating it (alone, on bread, on couscous, on anything). It will, however, give you terrible breath.

Chicken in Green Sauce

14 chicken parts (thighs and drumsticks), skin on or off
5 garlic cloves, chopped
olive oil, salt, pepper

Sauce:
2 large bunches cilantro, minus the stems
8 cloves garlic, chopped
juice of 4 limes
2/3 cup coconut milk
2 serrano chile peppers or more to taste
1 tsp salt
some fresh mint leaves, fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried basil

Put all the sauce ingredients in a food processor or heavy-duty blender and blend until a thick paste. If using a blender, you will need to stir a few times.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the chicken pieces in roasting pans. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped garlic. Spread about 1 tbsp green sauce over each piece of chicken. Bake for 1 hour.

Serve, passing remaining green sauce for guests to spoon onto their own chicken (and rice, bread, potatoes, straight into their mouths, etc).

Serves at least 8, with lots of extra sauce.

Sauteed Butternut Squash with Polenta

I was thinking today about the great squash and goat cheese pizza they have at Veggie Planet, and what I could make that would be similar with the squash I had on hand. This smells great and is full of flavor. It would be slightly prettier to serve the cheese sprinkled on top of the squash instead of mixed in, but believe me, it tastes better mixed in and melted.

Sauteed Butternut Squash with Polenta

Squash:
20 oz. cubed butternut squash or pumpkin (about 5-6 cups)
1 large shallot, sliced thinly
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water plus more as necessary
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
2 oz. goat cheese or feta cheese, crumbled

Polenta:
1 cup cornmeal
4 cups water
Salt to taste

Saute the squash, shallot, and garlic in the oil over medium-high about 6 minutes, until the shallot is translucent. Mix together the water and soy sauce (or instead, use half a cup of broth). Add this mixture to the squash, along with thyme, salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, until the squash is tender, about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the water boils off before the squash is cooked through, add a little more water. Meanwhile, boil 3 of the 4 cups of water. When boiling, mix together the cornmeal and 1 cup of cold water. Add slowly to the boiling water. Stir over low heat until thickened, about 1 minute. Cover (VERY important, because it will splatter) and cook over the lowest heat you can about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
When the polenta is done, mix the cheese into the squash over low heat just until it begins to melt. Serve alongside or on top of polenta.

Serves 3.

Onion-Poppyseed Muffins

During finals, the onion-poppyseed combination just wouldn't leave my mind. I had been thinking an onion-poppyseed quick bread, but today I needed something to bring along for a long car ride, so it's in the form of muffins instead.

Onion-Poppyseed Muffins

3/4 cup diced onion
3 tbsp olive oil plus a little more to cook the onion
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cornmeal
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese (or substitute Cheddar)
1 egg plus 1 egg white
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp poppyseeds
1 tsp dried rosemary

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper cups.

Saute the onion in a little oil about 10 minutes, until lightly colored. Take off heat and reserve. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and cornmeal. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and stir to combine. Stir in the feta, poppy seeds, rosemary, and pepper. In a separate container, beat together the egg, egg white, and milk. Mix the egg/milk mixture gently into the dry ingredients. Gently mix in the onions and stir just until combined. Spoon mixture into muffin tins and bake 20-25 minutes. Let cool at least slightly before attempting to remove from muffin papers.

Make 12 muffins.

Pumpkin Curry Stew with Tofu

What to do with leftover pumpkin, when you have about four minutes to eat and you're starving? (This helpfully also uses up your leftover tofu.) The sunflower seed butter gives the sauce some body.

This is another dish that just doesn't photograph well.

Pumpkin Curry Stew with Tofu

1 medium onion, diced
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
2 tbsp sunflower seed butter
1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 tsp vegetable oil
1+ tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp black pepper
dash salt
2 shakes hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup water

Steam or boil the broccoli and reserve.
Saute the tofu and onions in oil over medium-high heat until the tofu is lightly browned (you might need to start the tofu before the onions to avoid burned onions). When lightly browned, add the spices and saute for another minute. Add the pumkpin, water, and sunflower seed butter, and turn the heat to low. Stir well to combine. Add the broccoli and stir to coat. Cook another minute or so, until all ingredients are coated in sauce and everything is hot. Serve with rice.

Serves 2.

Variations: Chicken would be good, instead of tofu. Alternately you could add some crushed tomatoes and remove the sunflower seed butter.

Chicken Soup

Very simple, filling, and warming--just right for a day like yesterday, the first real snowfall of the winter.

You know, soup just doesn't photograph that well. But you don't really need one, because it looks like... chicken soup.

Chicken Soup

10 chicken drumsticks, bone-in (or the equivalent in other chicken parts, whatever you have, so long as they are fairly meaty)
2 medium onions, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup brown rice
2/3 cup red lentils
3/4 tsp powdered allspice
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
1/2 tsp powdered turmeric
salt to taste
10-12 cups water

If you have time, soak the rice in water for about 2 hours before cooking (it makes the soup creamier, but you can skip this step and it'll still turn out fine).

In the bottom of a large pot, saute the onions until translucent in the olive oil. Add the spices and cook a few minutes longer, until fragrant. Add the rice, lentils, chicken, and 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours--until the soup has become creamy, the rice and lentils are softened almost beyond recognition, and the meat is falling off the bones, adding more water if the soup gets thicker than you would like it to be. Skim off any foam that rises. After around 2 hours, remove the chicken from the pot; shred the meat off the bones and return the meat to the pot. Taste and add salt as necessary. Serve hot.

Serves about 5 as a main course.

Variation: for even creamier soup, you can use white rice.