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Carbonnades à la Flamandes

Tonight we are attending a Olympics party. The hook to the whole event is that everyone is supposed to bring food and drink representing a particular country. I decided Belgium would be an interesting choice. So, we shall bring some Belgian beer along with this delicious recipe I’ve cooked twice this week.

Carbonnades à la  Flamandes – Flemish Beer Stew

3 tbsp unsalter butter
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
3 ½ pounds boneless beef chuck
3 medium yellow onions
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 750ml bottle Chimay Grande Réserve
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp fresh thyme
½ tsp of allspice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1) Cube the beef (trim excess fat)
2) Sauté beef in butter until nicely browned
3) Transfer meat to slow-cooker
4) Slice onions and garlic
5) Sauté onions/garlic in butter until nicely browned
6) Transfer onions/garlic to slow-cooker
7) Bring beer to a boil, simmer 5 minutes
8) Scrape pan and transfer beer into slow cooker
9) Add thyme, bay leaf, allspice, salt and brown sugar to slow cooker
10) Cook on low for 8 hours or until tender
11) Discard the bay leaf and add vinegar before serving

I suppose I should give credit to one of the websites that was an inspiration for this dish.

Updated Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf

This week I wanted some comfort food and lately meatloaf  has been my comfort food of choice. In fact, I made two seperate batches of it this week. That’s how much I like it.

Not really related to the core of this story, I made some new kitchen purchases as well. I got 4 Pyrex mixing bowls, an oven thermometer, a proper knife sharpener (my knives are so sharp again!!!), a cutting board, a 9″x5″ metal loaf pan and a glass-top scale (for measuring small quantities of ingredients in my beer brewing). I felt very please with my new kitches gadgets.

I think I’ve pretty much tweaked my buffalo meatloaf recipe. It does not actually contain buffalo/bison but rather refers to the spicy/hot connotation. Previously, I used turkey as my meat of choice. Ground chicken was on sale at Acme this week (99% fat free for $3 a pound) so I decided to try something different. It has a pretty terrible consistency but makes a darn good base for a meatloaf.

2 lbs 99% fat-free ground chicken
1 medium yellow onion
1 stalk celery
1 tsp rosemary
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
4 oz bleu cheese
7 tsp sriracha sauce (“rooster sauce”)
5 tsp ”Louisiana” hot sauce (generic brand)
3 tsp black pepper (fresh ground)
2 medium eggs
10 cloves garlic

Chop the choppable things to your desired thickness. Combined it all in a large mixing bowl ensuring that it is really mixed together well. Bake at 375°F for 90 minutes. Serve with chicken gravy and extra hot sauce. Bamo!

Best Tacos Ever

This is a post merely to provide content until I write about one of the many topics that has been on my mind recently. Just for the record, these are the topics: going back to a gym, 2010 Vegas marathon, 2009 Beer Olympics, meeting the extended family, my cat is a parrot, creating a fast food premium menu, corkscrews in hotels, the new roommate, my Belgian IPA, Croft Ale and things I might buy myself for Christmas just to name a few.

I was hungry for Tacos when I landed in Philly last night. The previous night my older brother had made a comment about how easy tacos are to make and I think that imbedded itself in my hunger gland. I headed right for the grocery store to get some ingredients. I think this recipe was the best tacos recipe I’ve ever put together and better than any commercially or restaurant produced taco I’ve ever had.

2 lb ground beed (90/10, though you could use turkey too)
5 tbs Goya Cilantro goop from a jar
1 Ortega soft taco kit
1 package of reduced fat bleu cheese (4oz or so)
1 onion (doesn’t matter what kind)
1 green pepper
2-3 tablespoons of Tabasco (preferrably the chipotle variety becaues of the smokiness)
2 tbs chopped pickled jalepenos

Cook the beef and drain the fat. Chop the onions and pepper pretty finely and add. Add everything else. Take the seasoning and taco sauce from the kit and throw that in there too. Mix it all up and get it hot. It will be sort of gooey and delicious looking. Slap a couple tablespoons of it on a soft taco shell and enjoy. Makes a wonderful breakfast snack as well.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

Yesterday I was watching the Food Network and Bobby Flay mentioned an Italian sauce that is made by roasting red peppers and garlic as the base. That sounded like an interesting idea to me so I decided to make my own sauce with the same basic concept. I’ve made many variations on ragù in the past and while this is similar is is much more sauce like (though still quite chunky). The most interesting characteristic of this recipe is the spiciness. It really has a nice kick that hides the fact that I hardly added any salt to it.

Ingredients
1 package hot sausage
3/4 cup basil leaves
1 medium white onion
1 large green pepper
2 large red peppers
1/2 cup red wine (Shiraz)
1/8 cup red pepper flakes
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup Italian hard cheese
12 medium stem tomatoes
8 ounces sliced white mushrooms

Directions
Slice the red peppers and place them on a baking pan. Peal the garlic and place that on the pan. Liberally coat everything in olive oil and bake at 350° for 25 minutes. In the meantime, saute the sausage. Drain the meat once cooked thoroughly. Slice the green pepper and onions. Add them to the meat over medium-low heat. Add the wine. Blend 10 of the tomatoes with 1/2 cup of basil, 1/8 cup of olive oil and the cheese until liquefied. Add this to the pan. When the red peppers and garlic are done throw them in the blender and liquefy. Add this to the pan. Slice the remaining 2 tomatoes into petite chunks and add. Add the red pepper flakes. Simmer the whole thing for about an hour. Towards the end of the simmer add the other 1/4 cup of basil. Serve over pasta and season with salt/grated cheese to taste.

Buffalo Meatloaf

Last night I came up with a very exciting and tasty recipe. I was in the mood for meatloaf. As I was thinking about the ingredients it occurred to me that bleu cheese would be a nice addition. Then it hit me that some hot sauce and fresh peppers would also be quite desirable. Before I knew it I was crafting buffalo meatloaf. Maybe I need a better name because it is made with turkey and not buffalo meat.

After baking it for about 1.5 hours it was good to go. First taste was better than expected. I’d describe it as both spicy and savory without having any flavors that overwhelm. It is recipe I plan on repeating.

3lb ground turkey (93/7 – lean/fat)
1 medium vadalia onion finely chopped
5 cayenne peppers finely chopped
10 garlic cloves loosely chopped
1/4 cup of Frank’s Red Hot sauce
5 oz crumbled bleu cheese
1/2 seasoned bread crumbs

Mix it up. Throw it into a pan. Cook at 350F for 1.5 hours. Put some foil over the pan for the first hour to it doesn’t char too much. Serve with some brown gravy.