Beef, Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup in (get this) my Crock Pot!!!

The other day I was going through my freezer looking for what I could pull out and use up this week. I found a round steak that was in there from last year when I had ordered a 1/4 of a cow (Happy Meat). For some reason this steak was never eaten, probably because it was just one and not enough to feed all four of us…Anyway I pulled it out and thawed it to make some Beef Barley soup. Well, we know how plans change and recipes morph into other things so here is what I came up with…

Beef, Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup in the Crock Pot

Ingredients:

2 Tbs olive oil (more if needed)
1 1/2 lbs round steak or stewing beef, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lg onion (chopped)
2 sticks of celery (chopped-I used the tops and all)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 cup dried wild mushrooms (rehydrated with boiling water and chopped)
2/3 cup red wine
10 cups of water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 cup pearled barley
1 tsp savory
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tsp beef base (I use better than bouillon)

Directions:

1. In a large pot heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the meat and brown well. Add more oil if needed. Remove the meat and place it in your Crock Pot (I used a 5 or 6 quart Crock Pot).
2. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the celery, onions and garlic and stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent and soft. Increase the heat to medium add the red wine to deglaze the pan (scrape the bottom to loosen the brown bits).
3. Add your onion mixture to the Crock Pot along with the mushrooms, water, and salt. Turn your Crock Pot on low and let cook for at least 5 hrs. About 1 hr before eating add the barley, thyme, white pepper and the savory and cook until the barley is cooked. Taste before serving and add beef base as needed.

***This was an absolutely delicious soup and it was even better the next day! Serve it with a nice slice of crusty bread and you have a fantastic week night meal!

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Whole Foods and homemade breakfast sausage!

Now "what" you may ask do the 2 things have to do with each other??? Last weekend we took a short drive (about 45 minutes) to Naples to the new Whole Foods store there. I have never been in one before and I was really curious especially about there meats. I had been warned that this would be an expensive shopping trip as the glitz and the shine will entice me to buy way more than I needed! I was prepared...but you know what? I think because we don't eat processed and prepackaged foods I really didn't see a whole lot that I would buy. They have aisles and aisles of things but I can get alot of that stuff elsewhere or can make it myself!

But the meat...OMG the meat! I have never seen so much "happy meat" in one place in my entire life!!!! We bought beef, pork, chicken...It was wonderful. But alas their is always that one sad spot. They had no pork breakfast sausage! My youngest daughter LOVES, LOVES, LOVES breakfast sausage.

I ended up buying some ground pork and trying my hand at sausage making. No way was I going to stuff any casings but she also likes patties so I was good there! After searching the internet for a sausage that wasn't too sweet, here's what I came up with...

Breakfast Sausage (Homesick Texan)

Ingredients:

2 lbs of ground pork
1 tablespoon of sage
2 teaspoons of marjoram
2 teaspoons of thyme
2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Form into patties and fry six minutes on each side.
Keeps in the refrigerator for a week.

***This made spicy sausage. Maybe a bit too spicy for the girls but play around with the pepper flakes and the cayenne until it suits your taste!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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Grass Fed Arm Roast Slow Cooked

Over the weekend I saw a post on Kelly's blog Sass & Veracity and just new I had to try it. I had planned to try it on Sunday but I ended up with a migraine and the last thing on my mind was food. I knew that the girls were home on Monday and I had planned a morning at the beach for them but I knew that I would be home early enough in the afternoon to start this baby cooking!!!

This arm roast is one that we got when we purchased the portion of our cow over the summer. We are lucky enough, through our CSA (Worden Farms), to be able to opt in on a free range, grass fed cow purchase (happy meat)...Get this...local meat!!!!! This meat is delicious. Our only problem is that we didn;t get enough!!! Oh well lesson learned.

Anyway, this roast turned out incredible. I have had major issues in the past with pot roasts so I was really afraid to try braising for the first time without a back up plan for dinner, but I jumped right in a did it. I am so glad that I did. Kelly and her helpful hints did the trick and dinner was a huge success!!!

Beef Chuck with Vegetables in Red Wine (February 08 Issue of Bon Appetit.)

1-4 lb. boneless beef chuck roast, tied
2 tsp. fresh thyme
2 tsp. sweet paprika
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. black pepper, coarsely ground
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. brown sugar
6 pieces smoked bacon, chopped
2 c. dry red wine
1/2 c. chicken broth
small pkg. pearl onions
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
1 head garlic, cloves peeled
3 bay leaves
4 lg. carrots, peeled and chunked
3 med. parsnips, peeled and chunked
1 small celery root, peeled and cut into large cubes
10-12 small red potatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix thyme, paprika, salt, pepper, mustard and brown sugar in a small bowl. Pat the roast dry with paper towels and rub the spice blend over the entire surface of the roast.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, fry the bacon pieces over medium heat until well browned. Remove from the pan, and reserve in a small container leaving the fat in the bottom to brown the meat. If you have more than a couple of tablespoons, pour it off.

Turn the heat up and brown the meat on all sides until rich in color and beginning to crust, about 10 minutes in all. Transfer the meat to a platter and pour in the red wine, scraping the browned bits from the pan as it deglazes. Continue to cook until it's reduced to about 1/2 cup then add the broth and bacon. Set the beef on top and place the garlic, onions and bay leaves all around the roast.

Cover the pan and place in the center of the oven. Cook for 1 hour.

Remove from oven, turn the roast over, and stir the onions, cover and cook for 1 hour more. Check occasionally to make sure the pan doesn't become dry by adding water 1/4 cup at a time.

Add the rest of the vegetables around the roast, stir and cook for an additional 45 minutes until all are tender.

Remove the roast and veggies from the pan and keep warm. Spoon off any fat on the surface of the sauce and correct seasonings. Serve over slices of beef and veggies.

***T. does not like carrots so I skipped them. I did take Kelly's advice and use celery root. What a surprise that was. Love it! I also had no pearl onions so I cut up cooking onions and used regular potatoes instead of tiny red skins (I had them).

This was truly an incredible experience for me. First time braising, deglazing (to this extent) and having a roast that was edible!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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What to make in a hurry and oh yeah...try to get rid of those frozen peppers!

The other night I knew I had to think quick on my feet. It was 5:00 and I had no clue as to what I was going to make for dinner. I remembered a dish that my brother-in-law used to make that was really good but could not for the life of me remember how to make so I just started winging it.

I browned up some "very happy" ground beef. I added some chopped onion, and some green pepper (down one more!!!). Added some oregano, salt and cumin (sorry, no measurements here but keep tasting it...is it good?).

At the same time that I was working on this I was making some white rice (yes I know that brown is better but it's what I had!!!).

I added a can of black beans to the meat mixture and then added a couple of spoonfuls of dijon style mustard. Mixed the cooked rice into all of this and check it out...

This is such an incredibly flavorful dish and I served it with the tomato, onion and cucumber salad from yesterday. I actually had a girlfriend of mine come over and join us and she liked it too!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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Still cleaning out the freezer and "Happy Meat"

"Happy" Rib Steaks with Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas and Parsley Potatoes!

I guess one of the reasons that I am so determined to get the freezer cleaned out and the food down to a manageable level in there is that with all of the storms lined up in the Atlantic I think that maybe we may loose electricity due to one of them. I would be so upset with myself if I let all of that wonderful food go to waste.

Crazy in the Atlantic right now!

As it is I have about a case of organic green peppers...I think I am going to stuff some of them this week, a case of organic zucchini, about $200 worth of "happy meat" from the grass fed cow (Jenn the Left Over Queen did a great post on this last week about the importance of eating grass fed beef, and said it so much better than me!) we had butchered about a month ago and a whole bunch of miscellaneous things, most of which I don't even remember! Some of which we don't even eat anymore. I know there are so pork chops in there that we won't eat because they are not grain fed, antibiotic and hormone free. What am I suppose to do with all of this stuff???

Anyway the other day I pulled out a package of the grass fed cow that was marked rib steak. Let it thaw nice and slow on the counter and the fridge. Also found some pretty dried up looking frozen sugar snap peas. I thawed those out as well and started to work on some potatoes for parsley potatoes (everyone's favorite here!).

The sugar snap peas were easy. Thaw them out and saute them in olive oil. Near the end of the cooking add some chopped garlic and when all of it is cooked up nice and heated through a few splashes of soy sauce and you have a great side dish!

The steaks were marinated (for about 30 minutes) in soy sauce, chopped garlic, pepper, dried oregano and a splash of olive oil and then grilled.

Any ideas on the zucchini and peppers???

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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