Even though we’re having beautiful Spring temperatures today and I’m getting ready to uncover the grill for the first time this season, it was just this past Tuesday that Denver saw a frigid storm blow through and leave an icy beginning to a six inch blanket of snow that covered everything in sight. Folks…it was cold. On April 23rd I was wearing my full length black wool coat with a heavy scarf around my neck and we found ourselves slurping this wonderful and warming Mexican shrimp soup.
Wonton Soup made for a delicious light meal last weekend. This classic recipe is really very simple to make in your own kitchen.
Especially when wonton wraps are so readily available. Except they were almost Impossible to find in our store. The Safeway store manager finally assisted Bob to end the treasure hunt and led him to a refrigerated end cap. When he handed them to Bob, he asked us to report back about the quality. It seems they’re a new brand for the store and he thought they were better quality than brands previous offered. They worked great, but it seems to me most wonton wraps are pretty trouble free. Anyone have any thoughts about one brand being better than another?
The latest issue of Food and Wine Magazine arrived on my coffee table last Saturday and the meal on the front cover, Jacques Pepin’s Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce was on our dinner table the next night.
This meal brings a whole new meaning to the clever quote “I love cooking with wine and sometimes I even put it in the food“. One full 750ml bottle of a full-bodied red wine is the only liquid used to slow braise the beef for this stew.
The recipe calls for two pounds of flatiron or chuck roast. I used this round roast that was on sale. Jaques instructs to cut the meat into eight pieces.
The meat is browned, then dusted with flour and seasoned simply with sauteed chopped onion, garlic, fresh thyme and salt and pepper. Add the bottle of red wine and it’s ready for a braise in the oven. We used Henry’s Drive 2009 Pillar Box Red, an Australian Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot blend.
Incredible dish. The end result is tender fall apart chunks of beef and a wine reduction sauce that is a thick, opulent and rich treat.
Wisely cooking the vegetables separately with some pancetta, and adding them at the end, keeps the carrots sweet, the mushrooms earthy and the pearl onions crunchy.
The lead in paragraph to this recipe reads:
This is the quintessential beef stew. Jacques Pépin’s mother served it at her restaurant, Le Pélican, where she made it with tougher cuts of meat. Jacques likes the flatiron—a long, narrow cut that’s extremely lean but becomes tender and stays moist. He doesn’t use stock, demiglace or even water in his stew, relying on robust red wine for the deep-flavored sauce.
Jacques Pepin’s Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce…It’s What’s for Dinner.
Chicken and Cheese Soup with Poblano Peppers
While most of you have been in the deep freeze this week, here in Colorado we’ve been enjoying mild temperatures. Mild enough that flip-flops have appeared, hikes have been taken, windows opened, decks occupied for sun starved bodies to soak up the warm rays and paths packed with dog walkers and bike riders.
Busy with work and play, aside from the soup pictured above, I didn’t cook much this week. One evening I made salmon burgers from the freezer department and micro’d frozen broccoli. The meal was so horrid that Bob demanded I get the camera and photograph and blog about it. We giggled ourselves out of that idea.
Ancho chile powder turns my Simple Posole recipe into an earthy flavored, red brick colored bowl of savory bliss. Pork roast, smoky ham hock, chewy white hominy and Mexican seasonings make this one of our favorite soups. And with the Superbowl approaching, offering lots of little bowls with a selection of toppings, this is a great party food.
Kale and White Bean Soup was an easy dinner during this past week of hectic Christmas planning, shopping, parties, gift wrapping, decorating…such a busy time of year. This soup was also a welcome healthy, brothy and savory break from some of the rich sinful things we’ve been feasting on lately.
Creamy sauerkraut and sausage soup with potatoes. A jar of sauerkraut in the pantry, a few potatoes on the counter and some sour cream in the fridge turned into a creamy comforting soup for dinner.
We’ve only been dabbling with Winter temperatures this season. Our lingering sunshiny Fall has barely given us a gray sky, snow flurries or overnight temperatures in the teens. This weekend Jack Frost has finally arrived, we have a couple of inches of snow on the ground and numbing cold temps. It’s officially stew weather.
This is a nice version of a crockpot beef stew recipe. Butternut squash, beef, and Marsala wine seem to blend wonderfully and produce a sultry combination of flavors. A grand version of an old favorite, this recipe comes from Chef Mick over at Tony’s Market. Chef Mick instructed us to cook this stove top, but I’ve altered it for a crockpot version. I normally like to use the old fashioned thick chewy noodles that you can buy from the freezer section or easily make yourself. As you can see in the photo, these big boys are unruly and don’t blend. They are hiding a wonderful bowl of delicious brothy goodness. I’d suggest using the thinner egg noodles from the pasta aisle.
Crockpot Beef Stew with Butternut Squash and Marsala…It’s What’s for Dinner.
From The Kitchen of Lea Ann Brown
Using a purchased rotisserie chicken made this chicken soup such an easy and tasty weeknight dinner.
I’d like to personally thank the following people or groups of people:
Rotisserie Chicken Soup with Lime and Hominy…It’s What’s for Dinner.
From the kitchen of Lea Ann Brown
Boy, this was a tough assignment for me. Normally when browsing my assigned blog for The Secret Recipe Club, my problem would be the hard task of deciding on just one recipe to prepare. This month, while scrolling through The Novice Housewife’s site, I was truly afraid I didn’t have the culinary ability to prepare some of her beautiful Indian recipes. I have to admit my fearless kitchen attitude had suddenly turned into a fraidy cat. Even with two Madhur Jaffray cookbooks in my possession, I just don’t prepare Indian food.