Any Night Dinners

While I absolutely thrive on trying new recipes, new taste sensations, new angles on how a recipe can be made, when it comes down to it, I do fall back on the old, tried and true. A lot.

That said, I wanted to share some of these oldies of recipes, because, well, they are just plain good. 

One of these is my Mom's beef stew. However, Mom never, ever, used garlic. Once in a great while, she might, maybe, use a slight dash of garlic powder, though you couldn't prove that by me. I never really saw fresh garlic until I started cooking in Guatemala at age 21. And I promptly fell in love with all that garlic can do for a dish. These days, it is nearly essential for me to use at least 4, if not 6 or 8 cloves in a dish. Including Mom's Beef Stew. I don't think I made any other significant changes to her recipe, but it now includes garlic, you can bet on that!

Mom's Beef Stew, Enhanced

Serves about 6

Mom's Beef Stew Enhanced

2 thick slices bacon, or 4 thin slices cut in ¼-inch slices
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed or through a garlic press
1 green bell pepper, in small cubes
1 pound stew meat in 1 inch cubes
¼ cup all purpose flour
3 cups water
½ cup ketchup
3 - 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
3 - 4 carrots, sliced
4 - 6 potatoes, depending on size, in 1 inch cubes
Vegetable of Choice: 1 can corn, drained, OR 1½ cups either frozen peas or fresh green beans cut in very small chunks

In an oven safe stew pot or braising pan, brown bacon, then remove and set aside. Brown the meat on all sides, using the bacon grease in the pan. Return the bacon to the pan, along with the onions, garlic and bell pepper and toss to combine. Sprinkle the flour over all and stir to moisten the flour, as when gravy, until no white remains. Add the water and stir well. Add in the ketchup, Worcestershire, bay leaves and Kitchen Bouquet (to enhance the color - Mom always used this). Add in the carrots and potatoes and other vegetable of choice. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

Heat oven to 275, or whatever temperature will maintain a simmer. Cover the stew and place in oven to cook slowly for 2 to 2½ hours, or until meat is very tender. 

NOTES: When I was growing up, Mom always, always made this stew in an electric frying pan. A one-pot meal at its best. 

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Another meal, one I created myself about 8 years ago, has become a particular favorite. Who doesn't love tacos? I decided to make a taco pizza, going on the idea of things in a taco, but done as a pizza. It goes together quite easily, with ingredients often on hand. Something like shredded cheese I buy in two or three (8-ounce) bags and freeze them. Simple to thaw one and use that way, without worrying it will go bad. I generally keep a can or two of re-fried beans as a matter of course. However, as I have been making pureed black beans for our weekend breakfasts, something my husband now adores and can't live without, well, I generally have those on hand as well. Either work great here. Salsa is another thing I always have on hand, as my husband always has salsa on his eggs for breakfast (with the black beans!). 

The crust for this pizza is one I created with some cornmeal added, and this makes the crust have a lovely bit of crunch. It is not a yeast dough as with other pizzas, so there is no waiting around for dough to rise or being afraid to attempt it because it has yeast in it. It is a simple crust, put together similarly to a pie dough. And, as a bonus, if you add in a tablespoon of sugar when making this crust, it is a wonderful crust for free-form fruit galettes as well.

Taco Pizza

Taco Pizza

One 13 - 15-inch pizza

One cornmeal crust (below)

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
¼teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder (or ½ packet taco seasoning)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies
1 (8½ ounce) can re-fried beans
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely
8 ounces "Mexican Blend" shredded cheese, or use a combination of shredded Monterrey jack and cheddar 

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Tomato Salsa of your choice, for serving
Sour cream, for serving
Guacamole, for serving if desired

Prepare the Cornmeal Crust (below). Roll out to fit a 15 inch round pizza pan. Form a small edge to hold in ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a skillet, fry the ground beef in the olive oil until it begins to lose its color, then add in the onion and garlic and cook until the onions are becoming translucent. Add in the salt, cumin, chili powder and chopped green chilies. Stir well to combine. Allow to cool slightly.

Spread the re-fried beans over the cornmeal crust. This may require heating the beans and possibly adding some water to soften. Spread the meat mixture over top of the beans. Scatter the tomatoes and bell pepper over the meat. Strew the shredded cheese over all and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden. Serve with the tomato salsa, sour cream and guacamole on the side.

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Cornmeal Crust

Cornmeal Crust

Makes one 13 - 15 inch taco pizza crust

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter or shortening
½ cup milk or ice water

In a large bowl, mix together the first 4 ingredients. Cut in the butter or shortening as for a pie, until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Sprinkle on the cold milk or water and toss with a fork until the mixture comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and lightly knead (flatten, fold over, make a ¼ turn, flatten, fold, and repeat about 5 times). Roll out the dough to whatever size is needed. Roll up over rolling pin and unroll over the pizza pan. Trim and crimp edges up slightly to hold fillings.

NOTES: This would be great for a rustic blueberry pie, where the edges are folded up over the filling rather than placed in a pie plate. Add 1 tablespoon sugar to the dry ingredients for a sweet application.

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Another go-to recipe I use is one that came about completely by accident. Every so often an accidental addition turns out well. Anecdotally, one of these accidents happened to my Mom while making her spaghetti sauce. I was a teenager at the time. And Dad, a great lover of black pepper, was always a bit more willing to try new things, go for flavors previously unknown. Mom, while making her sauce, was sprinkling in some black pepper from her pepper shaker, when . . . . .the lid fell off and the contents of the pepper shaker all fell into the pot! Mom was mortified! She fished out the lid of the shaker and proceeded to scoop out pepper. However, enough remained to give the sauce particular piquancy previously unknown in our household. And we all loved it. Except for Mom, who felt we were all just humoring her, but this was truly not the case. We really loved the flavor. She refused to repeat this addition of more pepper than usual, but Dad would just add his own. And thus began my love of things spicy!

But back to my own accident.

Texicali Meat Sauce for Pasta

I was also making spaghetti one evening. I had a jar of spaghetti sauce opened in the fridge. I went to get the opened jar. Poured it into the pot with the meat, thinking it looked a bit different than usual, but going ahead anyway. And then, setting the bottle onto the counter I realized it was tomato salsa and not the spaghetti sauce at all. Horrors!

I presented my supper t my husband with apologies for my mistake. We sat to eat - and both of us decided that this had also been a happy accident, because, while it didn't taste like spaghetti sauce, it was amazingly good! And thus was born Texicali Meat Sauce for Pasta!

Texicali Meat Sauce for Pasta

Texicali Meat Sauce for Pasta

Serves 6 to 8

1 pound hamburger meat, fried in a large pan
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups your favorite tomato salsa
1 can tomato paste, 6 ounces
1 cup water
1 small can chopped green chilies
Herbs of choice: chopped fresh basil, rosemary or thyme, use any or a combination (or use some of your favorite pesto sauce instead)
5 – 10 green olives, chopped finely 

Brown the meat in a large skillet, breaking up well. As the meat is nearly done, add in the onions and green pepper and toss, cooking for about 5 minutes. Add in all the rest of the ingredients, mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for at least half an hour, until everything is cooked through.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Sonoran Style of Beef Stew

The Sonoran desert region, encompassing the state of Sonora in Mexico, Baja California, much of southern Arizona and some of lower California, is a sizeable area, and with a lot of the Southwestern flavors to the foods involved. When thinking of southwestern food, it is not all the Tex-Mex stuff that has gotten so common (Hot dogs??? Really???). There are foods and flavors that come of long standing in those desert regions. 

Sonoran Style Beef Stew

Pumpkins and squash, beans of many types, peppers of all description, corn, tomatoes, tomatillos sweet potato, nopal cactus; these are commonly known in Sonora, Mexico, and have been used to comprise much of the traditional cuisine. Spices and herbs are also quite specific, things like Mexican oregano, thyme, cilantro, epazote, annatto seed, chili powders, cloves, coriander, cumin, and "Mexican cinnamon" (or true cinnamon), cacao, vanilla and other more exotic spices. 

My Pueblo Pumpkin Stew

Some years ago, my sister sent me a recipe from Eating Well (no longer available on their site) called Pueblo Pumpkin Stew. The flavors are just absolutely amazing, and I have made that stew many times. It is really pretty as a picture and hearty, despite being meatless. Today, thinking about what to make for dinner, I just went to look at what I had in the freezer for meat, and came up with stew meat. My husband loves stew and so do I. I got the meat out thinking to use it in one of my common stews, but on the way up the stairs, the recipe for Pueblo Pumpkin Stew popped into my head, and my mind took off, thinking of how to incorporate those flavors into a beef stew. 

First off, I felt that pumpkin or squash (in this case I used both) should be in the stew. Beans of some kind, tomatoes. Peppers. I used both the mild chopped green chilies along with a bell pepper instead of the Anaheim chilies called for in the Pueblo Pumpkin Stew. I wanted corn to be represented also, but not sweet corn. Instead I used a couple of tablespoons of Maseca, the dry mix that is used to make corn tamales, mixed into some water and added in. What an amazing boost to the flavor!  

As for spices, I wanted to run with a mixture that was truer to the Mexican desert than using Garam Masala as was called for in the Pueblo Pumpkin Stew. Granted, most of the spices in Garam Masala are also common to those used in Sonora, but not necessarily all, and there are some not at all common in the Indian spice panoply, such as annatto or cocoa. I decided to concoct a spice mixture that would encompass those flavors I was looking for in a spice mixture and came up with this:

Sonoran Spice Mix

Annatto Seeds

Makes almost ½ cup

2 tablespoons ground cumin seed
2 tablespoons ground coriander seed
2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground Mexican cinnamon
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground annatto powder
2 teaspoons ground ancho powder

Stir together well and store in a glass jar in a cool dark place. Use 1 to 3 teaspoons as needed for flavor.

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I thawed my stew meat and got started making the stew, which simmered at very low heat (220 degree oven) for a few hours. I may not have needed that many hours, but I had a doctor appointment and needed something I could leave in the oven without worry. There is not a lot of hot spiciness to this dish. Should that type of heat define "Mexican cooking" then by all means add in hot chilies to your heart's content. This is the recipe for what I created:

Sonoran Style Beef Stew

Sonoran Style Beef Stew

Serves about 6

1 large or 2 medium onions
1 tablespoon olive oil for frying, more if needed
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound beef stew meat, in 1-inch cubes
2 cups pureed cooked pumpkin or squash (or use ½ to 1 can pumpkin puree)
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
3 small (4.5 ounce) cans chopped green chilies
1½ cups fresh peeled squash (butternut, buttercup, kabocha) in ½-inch dice
1 green bell pepper in 1-inch squares, about 1½ cup
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons Sonoran Spice Mix) see above
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Maseca, dissolved into 1 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, well drained and rinsed

Have ready a large, oven safe, heavy stew pot with lid. Preheat oven to 220 degrees, or adjust to whatever will keep a very low simmer.

Heat a large skillet and add in the oil. Halve the onions, then slice across about ¼-inch thick, then cut across the half-rounds once. Sauté the onions in the hot skillet, tossing occasionally, until they start to brown. Add the garlic and sauté a few minutes more.

While the onions are sautéing, add to the stew pot the pureed pumpkin/squash, the fresh squash chunks, tomatoes, chopped green chilies, bell pepper, thyme leaves, Sonoran Spice Mix and salt. When the onions and garlic are done, add them to the pot. 

Add half the meat to the hot skillet and brown on all sides quickly, then add to the pot, and repeat with the remaining meat. Stir together, cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 2 hours, checking for liquid levels. Add water only if needed.

Remove the pot from the oven and set the lid aside. Stir in the Maseca and water mixture and the drained and rinsed beans. Stir well, cover and bake for another hour at least. 

As with most stews, this is great served immediately, but will also benefit from reheating.




My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.