Seriously Ugly Beef and Barley Soup and all things non-Thanksgiving related

So I like to cook.... obviously, but even someone who likes to cook can have too much of a good thing, and that usually hits around the holidays.  As I searched and flipped through blogs for the past week I have gotten pumpkin and pecan and turkey and stuffing overload.  It's two days until thanksgiving y'all and if you don't have a menu set yet you're probably not reading a food blog... so here is a quick and easy and super vegetable laden dish that is incredibly filling and has nothing to do with thanksgiving at all unless you're referring to giving oneself a break in order to rest up for the big marathon of cooking.  This was very, very, very hearty and we had some overly full people.  Being that it is soup you would think you could eat a big bowl with a salad and a slice of bread and cheese and you would be okay but seriously this stuff is serious. 

I made a few adaptations.  For one the original recipe calls for 1 cup turnips.  I'm not a fan... really, really, not a fan.  I was going to swap them for carrots but completely forgot.  Two, if I'm going to spend the money for filet mignon, I'm probably going to grill it not put it in soup so I used sirloin instead.  I tend to think of soup as a cheap and easy dish... even when it ends up being ridiculous such as often happens with soups like French Onion, or other such soups that might contain expensive or millions of ingredients, the stock if made from scratch being the kicker for the French Onion, or the lobster from the time I made my husband lobster bisque from scratch and it ended up costing about $70 for one bowl of soup as I hated it.  Ridiculous.  I did however take note from other reviewers of the recipe and kept the broccoli and cauliflower in despite what my instincts told me and they were great.  I also listened and added them at the end with the beef and let the whole thing go another 45 minutes.  The problem I did have was that I did the begining of the soup and then let it set and despite being reassured it wouldn't happen the barley became morbidly obese and broth logged.  That irks me to no end.  In the future I will probably add the barley at the very end as well or maybe cook it in a net bag and then remove it or something.  And I will probably use straight beef broth, and possibly homemade.  I'm not sure why it called for chicken stock but it made for the ugliest looking soup you've ever seen.  Almost anemic looking.  In the end it didn't matter because we all ate it and everyone loved it, even the teenager that was looking in the fridge for something else to eat when she discovered what was for dinner.  Happy Thanksgiving and may you have a bit of down time to relax this holiday.

Beef and Barley Soup
adapted from Bon Appetite

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup chopped peeled yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes)
1 cup chopped peeled potatoes
1 cup chopped celery
5 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1 cup pearl barley
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 1/2 pounds filet mignon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Method

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add vegetables; sauté 10 minutes. Add both stocks; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add barley, thyme and oregano. Simmer until barley is tender, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Return to simmer before continuing.)

Add beef to soup; simmer until just cooked, about 10 minutes. Mix in parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Southwestern Brisket

Once again I have NO OVEN!  LOVE IT!  Feel free to sprinkle that sentence liberally with sarcasm.  As much as you have to be exact.  When one has no oven one will quickly run out of things to make.  Well maybe you wouldn't but I do and have.  I have begun to rely more and more on the slow cooker because I have no other options really.  I am about two seconds away from buying a toaster oven. 

So I was looking for a BBQ ribs recipe or a short rib recipe to make in the slow cooker.  I came across this recipe for a Southwestern Pulled Brisket.  I have never made a brisket and have always wanted to so I was excited that I didn't have to smoke it or roast it or braise it.  I just had to sear it and throw it into the slow cooker.  My favorite kind of slow cooker recipe.

But what does one serve with a brisket?  I was thinking maybe corn on the cob, or baked beans.  So I did a little google search... and guess what I found?  Smitten Kitchen had already made this recipe.  Not just a brisket but the SAME brisket I was planning on making.  I give up, seriously she's made everything and more than likely much better than me.  I highly suggest giving her a google.  I also jumped ship from my google search and just made what she made.  Laaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzy.  Just in case you were wondering she served a green onion slaw by Bobby Flay.  

I was up at 6:30am this morning with Mr. Man.  A little apple juice, a little Blues Clues and ta daaaa a happy occupied baby while I prepped the dinner.  It was a little odd to start dinner before sunrise (see below), but it was going to have to cook for 10 hours. 

Well the recipe said 8, but Deb from SK said 10 and I trust her (or her mother-in-law I think she said) and once again she was right.  I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe.  I used Sorhgum instead of molasses because my husband got very excited when he saw it so we bought that instead... whatever, I have no idea why I've never seen the stuff before.  Secondly, I used 28 oz of whole tomatoes instead of 14oz, because  all I had was a large can and I mean to only use half but I completely forgot.  I told you it was first thing in the morning, pre-coffee and all.

In Loving Memory of my grandfather, Paul Brown Sr. (1927-2010).  A man who loved good food and instilled in me a love of cooking.  I will miss you dearly.


Southwestern Pulled Brisket
adapted (accidentally) from Food Network

Ingredients

3 1/2 pounds beef brisket
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 Spanish onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juices
2 chipotle chiles from the the can with adobo sauce.  I chopped mine roughly
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons sorhgum
soft tortillas
Pickled jalapenos

Method

Season the beef generously with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat just until beginning to smoke. Add the meat and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker; leave the skillet on the heat.

Add garlic, onion, chili powder, coriander, and cumin to drippings in the skillet and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add vinegar and boil until it's almost gone, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in water and pour the mixture over the brisket. Crush the tomatoes through your fingers into the slow cooker; add the tomato juices, chipotles, bay leaves, and molasses. Cover the cooker, set it on LOW, and cook the brisket until it pulls apart easily with a fork, about 10 hours.

I pulled the brisket out of the slow cooker.  Drained the liquid of the slow cooker through a strainer (per suggestions from blogger extrodinaire) and reduced it a bit.  I didn't bother to cool it and skim the fat, I just blotted the top with paper towels, because it as getting late and I have a little munckin to feed that is not patient.

I then shredded the meat with two forks.  Dunked it into the souce and put in the tortilla.  Topped with quick pickled onions (smitten kitchen) and jalapenos.  If you like brisket you must try this.

Beef Tenderloin with Shallot, Port, and Bacon

It is the last week of classes and we had house guests so since I took time to actually cook a meal (only one though we ate out the rest of the time...oops) I do not have time to write.  However, this is a fantastic dish for Fall/Winter and falls under the request for me to make something "easy that my family will eat."  Even my super picky teenager asked if we could have this more often.  If you have young picky eaters serve the sauce on the side to dip the meat in, cut it up small and tell them it's steak, and you're not really even lying.  See you after finals.

Beef Tenderloin with Bacon, Shallots, and Port


adapted from Bon Appétit December 1997

Ingredients

6 large shallots , halved lengthwise, peeled
¾ tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups canned beef broth
¼ cup and 2 tablespoons cups tawny Port
¼ tablespoon tomato paste
1 ½ pound beef tenderloins (large ends), trimmed
½ teaspoons dried thyme
2 bacon slices, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons butter
¼ cup and 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Method

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. In 9-inch-diameter pie pan, toss shallots with oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until shallots are deep brown and very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Boil broth and Port in large saucepan until reduced by half. Whisk in tomato paste. (Shallots and broth mixture can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately; chill.)

Pat beef dry; sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. In large roasting pan set over medium heat, sauté bacon until golden, about 4 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels. Add beef to pan; brown on all sides over medium-high heat, about 7 minutes. Transfer pan to oven; roast beef until meat thermometer inserted into center registers 125°F for medium-rare, about 45 minutes. Transfer beef to platter. Tent loosely with foil.

Spoon fat off top of pan drippings in roasting pan. Place roasting pan over high heat. Add broth mixture and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Transfer to medium saucepan; bring to simmer. Mix 3/4 tablespoons butter and flour in small bowl to form smooth paste; whisk into broth mixture and simmer until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Whisk in 3/4 tablespoons butter. Stir in roasted shallots and reserved bacon. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Cut beef into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Spoon some sauce over. Pass remaining sauce.

Empanadas Done Two Ways (or if you're under 10... hot pockets)

The problem with always making new recipes is that very few get remade often. It’s not that we don’t like those recipes because we do, we really do. It’s just that there are so many new ones I want to try when I have free time (which is very little these days) and the recipes that make it into frequent dinner rotation tend to be easy, quick, or low labor intensive and not ridiculously expensive, this is one of those recipes.

I have about 30 minutes to get dinner on the table before the baby has a hunger melt down or snacks on baby puffs to the point where he has no intention of eating what we just put in front of him so I like things that can be pre-prepped or half cooked the night before I intend on serving them, so that I can do the work after the baby goes to bed, so I can cook without a little monkey hanging on my leg chanting up, up, up, up, up.

I pre-made the dough for these and froze it until the night before I planned on cooking them. Took it out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. When we got hom from work I stuffed the little disks and cooked them right before dinner and had food on the table in 40 minutes.... and they reheat well in a microwave... ahhhhhh..... lunch for the next day.

Note if you are not familiar with dough. This is not cookie dough. If you roll it out and it’s not quite perfect make due, it will get more elastic after the first roll and not want to stay rolled out in order to be filled. When I removed the dough from the fridge I cut it into equal portions, balled it up in my hands then flattened briefly before rolling into a slightly oblong shape to be filled, it worked perfectly.

PS. if you tell your kid they are hot pockets instead of empanadas they will eat them right up.

Chicken Empanada with Chorizo and Olives

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Gourmet, January 2005

Makes 24 small or 12 large empanadas

Ingredients

Dough: (I used this dough with both fillings because it was sooooo good and buttery)

4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 large eggs

2/3 cup ice water

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

Filling:

3 whole chicken legs, including thighs (2 to 2 1/4 lb total)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 large onions, halved lengthwise, then cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California

1/3 cup finely diced Spanish chorizo (cured spiced pork sausage; 1 1/2 oz; casings discarded if desired)

1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (not hot)

1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

Egg Wash:1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Make Dough: Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.

Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. (Mixture will look shaggy.) Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Separate into two flat disk and chill them, each wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour. Dough can be chilled up to 8 hours total.

Make Filling: Pat chicken dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken, turning over once, about 6 minutes total, and transfer to a plate. Sauté onions, garlic, and bay leaves in fat remaining in skillet, stirring frequently, until onions are softened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add chorizo and paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add olives, wine, and broth and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits. Return chicken to skillet along with any juices accumulated on plate, then reduce heat to moderately low and simmer chicken, covered, turning over once, until tender, 25 to 30 minutes total.

Transfer chicken to a clean plate. (Sauce in skillet should be the consistency of heavy cream; if it’s not, briskly simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.) When chicken is cool enough to handle, discard skin and bones and coarsely chop meat. Stir chicken into sauce and discard bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, then cool filling, uncovered, about 30 minutes (or refridgerate overnight).

Form Empanadas: Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Divide first dough and half of second dough into 18 equal pieces and form each into a disk. (The remaining dough can be stored in the freezer for future use.) Keeping remaining pieces covered, roll out 1 piece on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 5-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick).

Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling (for large 2 teaspoons for small) onto center and fold dough in half, enclosing filling. Press edges together to seal, then crimp decoratively with your fingers or tines of a fork. Transfer empanada to a baking sheet. Make 17 more empanadas in same manner, arranging on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets.

Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Beef Filling

Adapted again from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Gourmet September 2007.... must branch out more so that I am not always remaking her recipes... but they are so good!

Makes 24 small empanadas or 12 large

Ingredients

2 hard-boiled farm fresh eggs, or whatever kind you have, chopped into bits

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 pound ground sirloin

2 tablespoons raisins

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped pimiento-stuffed olives (I finely chopped these but I think a bigger chop next time will produce more flavor)

1 (14-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving 2 tablespoons juice

1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water (for egg wash)

Method

Cook onion in olive oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened. Add garlic, cumin, and oregano and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef and cook, breaking up lumps with a fork, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.

Add raisins, olives, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and tomatoes with reserved juice, then cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced but mixture is still moist, about 5 minutes. Stir in hardboiled egg and spread on a plate to cool.

Lower your racks to the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees to cook right away or place in container in fridge overnight if you are cooking them the next day like I did.
Flour work area. Pull out your dough, cut into equal pieces. I used 1.5 oz. pieces for my small empanadas. Roll into a ball in your hand like you used to when you were a kid with play dough. Or like you do now when playing with your kids ;) Flatten ball by smushing onto counter with the palm of your hand. Flour your rolling pin and gently roll out into an oblong shape. Eyeball the half way point in your oblong and fill with 2 teaspoons of filling for small disk and 2-3 tablespoons for large. Fold disk in half (SK recommends using water to help seal edges, didn’t see that until just now so I don’t think it’s necessary but can’t hurt). Moisten edges of disk with water and fold over to form a semicircle, then crimp with a fork, or fold over with fingers like you’re tucking in the edged on top of the half moon, stuffed, disk. Make more empanadas in same manner.

Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in lower third of oven, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes.