Beef Stew

There are infinite recipes for beef stew. If you just did a Google search, it would come back with over half a million hits! This is one that I really like to make. I use some red wine for depth of flavor and homemade chicken or turkey stock. Sometimes making a beef stew with wine and beef stock makes it almost too rich. Using a lighter stock is a good compromise.

To learn more about stewing, check out my How To Make A Great Stew Recipe. It gives you cooking techniques, tips and ideas for stewing beef, chicken, fish and vegetables.

Ingredients

2 pounds beef suitable for stewing - chuck is nice for this - cut up into 2” cubes
5 pieces of bacon, cut into pieces
About 1 cup of all purpose flour, well seasoned with salt and pepper.
2 tablespoons canola oil (or other neutral oil)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 oz. fresh sliced mushrooms, try crimini or button
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon red pepper flake (more or less, to taste)
1 shallot, minced (you could use garlic, if you prefer)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, or herb blend of your choice
½ bottle dry red wine
Enough chicken stock or turkey stock to just cover the meat
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed, (peel them if you want to) cut into large chunks
4 medium carrots, scrubbed, (peel them if you want to) cut into 1 ½” chunks
1 can of pearl onions, drained (or, about 2 cups fresh pearl onions, skins removed)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (optional)

How to Make Beef Stew at Home

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, F.

Dredge the beef chunks in the well-seasoned flour. Knock off the excess.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat for 3 - 4 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the canola oil and heat the oil until the oil shimmers in the pan. Brown the meat in batches but don’t crowd the pan. Sear on all sides until a deep brown.

In the same pan, fry the bacon for a couple of minutes. You don’t have to get it crispy, you just want to render out some of the fat. Pour off some of the fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the pan.

Sauté the onions, mushrooms, carrots and celery in the same pan along with the bacon and a heavy pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the tomato paste and dried herbs. Saute for another minute or two. Watch your heat and turn it up or down, as needed to keep a good “sizzle” going without any smoking. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Reduce the wine by half.

Add the meat back into the pan, and add the chicken or turkey stock to barely cover the meat. Heat on the stovetop until simmering. Cover the Dutch oven tightly, and put it on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Stew for about 2 ½ hours.

Take the stew out of the oven. Working quickly, carefully remove the meat to a platter and cover tightly with foil. Strain the cooking liquid and skim off the fat. Pour the strained and de-fatted cooking liquid back in the Dutch oven. Add back about half of the spent vegetables, leaving the bacon. With a stick blender, puree the liquid.

Put the meat and the liquid in a large container. Cool it down quickly. I put float ice packs in gallon-sized zipper bags in the stew to chill it quickly. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, pull off any additional solidified fat from the top of the stew. Put the stew back into a Dutch oven and add the cut up potatoes, carrots and the pearl onions. Bring up to a simmer and simmer on low heat, covered, until the vegetables are tender.

Stir in the olive oil—I always do as a nod to my heart, but you are welcome to leave it out. Serve in bowls with some hearty bread and a salad.

This might be a two-day project, but it is worth it. Enjoy!

Danish Pancakes - Ebelskiver (Aebleskiver)

I have been telling my kids for years about my mom making Ebelskiver (Danish round pancakes) when I was growing up. I remember visiting my grandmother (mormor) in Denmark as a kid and having Ebelskiver in Tivoli Gardens. So when I opened one of my Christmas gifts this year and found an Ebelskiver pan, I instantly went back to my childhood and couldn’t wait to have my kids experience these delightful round pancakes filled with jam and fresh fruit.

My wife whipped up the following recipe that came with the pan and they were delicious. The recipe is for making 40 round pancakes and we decided to cut the recipe in half but what a mistake. They went so fast we regretted not making the whole batch.

The Ebelskiver Pan

The pan from Williams Sonoma is made of heavy cast-aluminum, has a stay cool cast stainless steel handle and seven deep wells for the pancake batter. The Nordic Ware company started making Ebelskiver Pans back in 1950. This family owned business from Minnesota joined up with Williams-Sonoma to make this updated version with a nonstick coating to help release the pancakes from the pan.

I read on the Solvang Restaurant web site (see below) a little history of the pan. They say the Aebleskiver pan comes from the Viking days when after a long day of battle, the warriors were hungry and would go back to their viking ships and make a type of pancake using their shields in lieu of pans. I’m guessing the design of the shields included wells for the batter. This may just be a good story but I like it.

Danish Pancakes In Solvang, CA

I just happen to be in Solvang, California, a small Central Coast community in the San Ynez Valley that was originally founded by a group of Danish educators back in 1911. The town’s architecture has been modeled in a Danish style and you can find restaurants, bakeries and stores selling Scandinavian goods although I was told by one local that there aren’t many Danes left in town.

One morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Solvang Restaurant - home of Arne’s famous “Aebleskiver” on Copenhagen Drive. The restaurant was bright and decorated for Christmas and the servers were friendly. We could tell the locals were in there early like we were because when the tourists arrived in town around 10 am, you couldn’t get near the place.

We all ordered three of Arne’s Aebleskiver served with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. I was thinking they wouldn’t be enough after watching my kids devour 20 Ebelskivers at home on Christmas morning but these were much bigger and in my opinion a little too “doughy”. My wife’s Ebelskiver following the recipe below were much better. They were moister and had a richer flavor perhaps because of the fillings but maybe from the higher egg to flour ratio.

If there are any Danes out there reading this blog, please post your recipe for homemade Ebelskiver in the comments below.

Danish Filled Pancakes

adapted from the recipe that came with the Williams Sonoma pan

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 eggs, separated (yolks and whites)
• 2 cuups milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for cooking
• Fillings for the pancakes - jams, fresh fruit, chocolate

How to Make Danish Ebleskiver (Aebleskiver)

In a bowl big enough to hold all the above ingredients with room to whisk, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the milk and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. Add this mixture into the flour mixture until blended together. Don’t worry if the batter looks lumpy.

Using a hand held electric mixer, beat the egg whites on the highest speed until they become stiff but you do not want dry peaks to form. This should take about 3 minutes. Then fold the egg whites back into the flour mixture.

Getting the Pan Ready for cooking

Put the pan over medium heat, add 1/4 teaspoon of butter to each well in the pan and heat until the butter begines to bubble. Add 1 tablespoon of batter to each well of the pan, then 1 teaspoon of filling and top with 1 tablespoon more of batter.

You cook untle the bottoms of the round pancakes are golden brown and a little crispy. This should take about 4 minutes. Using a coupe of wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until the other side is golden brown.

Remove the 7 ebelskiver and repeat with the remaining batter until all the batter is cooked. Serve with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

If you don’t want to add filling, that’s fine. Just serve them with jam or syrup on the side.

Yorkshire Pudding -memories from my childhood

Yesterday I posted a recipe for a Standing Rib Roast. Yorkshire Pudding is the perfect partner for it. I remember as a kid, my mom made it often with Sunday roasts. I never knew how she got that delicious beef flavor into the puffy cake. Whenever we make this now, it takes me back to my childhood.

You can put this batter together before the roast comes out of the oven and let it stand at room temperature until you are ready to make the puddings.

Yorkshire Pudding
Serves 4 but can be doubled or tripled, if necessary

2 tablespoons beef drippings or 2 tablespoons oil or clarified butter
5 oz. whole milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 large eggs

While the meat is resting, make Yorkshire pudding. Turn the oven up to 450° degrees F.

Whisk together the flour, salt and black pepper in a bowl.

Put about 1 1/2 teaspoons of drippings, oil or clarified butter into each hole in a nonstick Yorkshire pudding tin or in a large nonstick muffin tin. Put the tin in the oven to get the fat very hot.

Whisk the eggs a bit to break them up, then stir them into the flour mixture. Still whisking, slowly add the milk until you have a smooth batter.

Transfer this batter to a liquid measuring cup with a spout.

Open the oven door. The fat in the muffin tin should be almost smoking. Quickly pour the batter into each hole, filling no more than 3/4 of the way. The fat should sizzle when you pour the batter. Work quickly, so you don’t lose all the oven heat.

Bake, without opening the oven door, for 15-20 minutes, until the puddings are a deep golden brown and very well risen and crisp. Serve hot alongside the roast.