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.

Rhubarb and Apricots and a Rustic Tart

I still had one batch of rhubarb left yet from when my friend Tetiana gave me that huge bag. I have made all kinds of rhubarb things, and all have been really good. Growing up, the only way I ever had rhubarb was in Rhubarb Pineapple Pie. We had a huge stand of rhubarb in the back yard, but I cannot recall ever having eaten it in anything but this pie. And now that I mention this Rhubarb Pineapple Pie, I urge you to try it, because it is fantastic!

Apricots

Back to the point. I had some of that rhubarb, already cut up, in a bag, so I absolutely had to do something with it. We still had some of the Rhubarb Raspberry Cheesecake Bars in the fridge until just two days ago, so I surely did not need another dessert around. Yesterday, finally, came the day to do something. I had been planning for more than a week, and while wandering the produce section in the local grocery, I saw apricots. In general, I have nothing strictly against apricots. I am not completely wild about them, but I will eat them. But, because I am not crazy for them, other fruits always get in the way. Still, the idea stayed in my mind, and I was thinking about making something like a pie, or tart, or rustic tart, i.e. galette. This may have been the second time in my entire life that I bought apricots. I have had some apricots in past that were quite tiny, maybe ping-pong ball sized, at most. The ones at the grocery yesterday were quite large in comparison, more like a very small peach.

My Apricot Rhubarb Rustic Tart, with pretty sparkling sugar on the crust

Before anything else though, I had to cook the rhubarb. I don't think it had many more days of useful life, so it was imperative. I figured I would cook it into a compote and that way it could last another day or two, if I did not get around to making this proposed tart right away. As it happens I did make the tart, after all, but this compote would be wonderful over pancakes, or ice cream, or cheesecake, or anything that might be enhanced with a delicious compote. And this one was really delicious, I can tell you! I used 1 tablespoon of orange juice concentrate and ¼ cup of water in here, but substituting 5 tablespoons (¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) of orange juice would be fine. I got a little exotic with the flavors, adding both Gran Marnier liqueur and orange flower water. Either or both of these can be omitted and instead just use some vanilla extract and/or almond extract.

Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb Compote

Makes about 3 cups

3½ cups rhubarb, cut in small chunks
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons Gran Marnier liqueur, optional
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch (or tapioca starch)
½ teaspoon orange flower water, optional

In a medium saucepan combine the first 6 ingredients and stir together. In a small bow, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch (this will help the cornstarch not to clump when adding to the moist ingredients). Stir the sugar mixture into the pan ingredients and set over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Once the mixture comes to a boil, continue to cook and stir for at least 5 or up to 8 minutes. Once cooked through it will be thickened and semi-transparent. Allow this mixture to cool completely before using.

Once I got the apricots, having selected ones that were very ripe, I went straight to washing and cutting. I wanted to use entire halves in this tart, so once cut in half from stem end, down through the natural crease to the bottom and then removing the pits, I tossed the fruit with some sugar and more Gran Marnier to marinate a bit while I prepared the crust.

I have made a pastry with some cornmeal added for my Taco Pizzas, and the crust is delicious with just that tiny bit of crunch the cornmeal gives. I knew that this crust would also be good for a tart, but had not tried it out yet. The recipe for my Taco Pizza makes a very large crust, to fit a 15-inch pizza pan. I knew I would not need a crust that large for my rustic tart, so I clipped back the ingredients a bit. I had absolutely no intention to add sugar to the crust, but somehow, the sugar was out, and open, and I misread something and ended up adding sugar. Sheesh. I leave it up to you to choose whether to use sugar in the crust or not. It is not necessary, but it sure is good!

Prepping Dough for the pan

Tart Crust with Cornmeal

Makes one 10-inch rustic tart

1¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup fine cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
5 to 7 tablespoons ice water

In a large bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients. With a large holed grater (such as a box grater on largest holes), grate the cold butter into the flour mixture and toss to coat the butter. (Alternatively, cut the butter into tiny chunks and add in.) Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or just use fingers to quickly rub together until the mixture makes pea-sized crumbs. Add in about 5 tablespoons of the ice water and toss quickly with a fork, until it starts to come together. If the mixture will not come together into one mass, use an additional 1 or 2 tablespoons of the water until it will come together in one mass. Do not overwork the dough. Flour a surface and roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut it into approximately 14 or 15 inch diameter. There will be leftovers, unfortunately.  

Sparkling Sugar

Place a sheet of parchment onto a rimmed baking sheet. Roll the pastry onto the rolling pin, then unroll it centered on the parchment lined baking sheet.

When assembling this tart, I wanted the crust to look really pretty once baked, so I brushed the crust with cream and sprinkled on some "sparkling sugar", This is a coarser type of sugar used to make baked goods look pretty and appetizing, as the sugar does not melt while baking. It is not completely necessary, and on the outside of a pie crust, regular sugar will also work, but this fits with the more rustic look I was going for. I have some white sparkling sugar from the King Arthur Flour site, but it is available from many venues. Wilton and India Tree have 8-ounce jars for a price, and Bob's Red Mill has a much larger bag of sparkling sugar for a much more reasonable price. The decision is in how much you might realistically use, though it does not go bad.

        Rhubarb Compote                |        Compote on the prepared crust           |        compote spread to 10-inches

Apricot Rhubarb Rustic Tart

Makes one 10-inch tart

- Rhubarb Compote, recipe above
- Tart Crust with Cornmeal, recipe above
1 pound fresh apricots, halved, pitted
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Gran Marnier, optional
½ cup sliced almonds
1 - 2 tablespoons cream or milk
1 - 2 tablespoons sparkling
sugar, or regular sugar

Have the rhubarb compote already made and cooled. Have the pie crust rolled and set on the parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet. Set the apricot halves in a bowl and sprinkle them with the 3 tablespoons of sugar and the Gran Marnier, if using. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pour the prepared compote in the center of the crust. Spread it to about 9 inches, as shown in the series of photos above. The tart will be 10-inches in diameter, but the compote will spread once the apricots are in place. Set the reserved apricot halves onto the compote, cut sides upwards, as shown in the first photo below. Drizzle some of the remaining sugar mixture over the apricots, but if there is too much juice, it will tend to leak out during baking. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over all the fruit. Now, begin to flip up the edges of the crust, to only partially cover the fruit. Pleat the dough as needed to make an artfully free-formed look, as in photo 2 below. Using a pastry brush, brush the milk or cream all over the outside of the crust. Sprinkle the milk coated crust with the sparkling sugar.

Apricots and almonds in place          |       edges of pastry flipped up    |    pastry brushed with milk; sugar in place

Bake the tart for about 50 to 55 minutes, or until the crust is nicely golden and the fruit is bubbling merrily. Allow the tart to cool completely before slicing.

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.