Flemish Stew

I've just returned from vacation in Belgium, France and The Netherlands, and have come to this conclusion: The Flemish are my culinary kindred spirits. Their cuisine is based on meat, potatoes (mostly french fries), cheeses, waffles, seafood and beer - and it hasn't changed much in centuries. And BOY is their beer tasty. Like ALL of it. I wanted to learn to make some of the foods I'd enjoyed, so I purchased a lovely book called "Everybody Eats Well in Belgium" by Ruth Van Waerebeek with Maria Robbins. One of my favorite dishes was the traditional Flemish Stew (over french fries of course), and here is the version from that book, which came out really well when I tried it on Friday night.

-2 pounds beef stew meat (I bought a roast and cut it into chunks myself - I sometimes find the pre-cut meat too tough after stewing)
-1.5 large onions, thinly sliced or rough-chopped
-2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
-1/2 stick of butter
-1/2 cup flour
-2 bay leaves
-1.5 Tbsp brown sugar
-1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (red wine vinegar would also work)
-Salt & pepper
-12 oz of Belgian beer: I used Allagash Belgian-style stout for strong flavor - a Dubbel (brown/bruin) would do as well...for lighter beer flavor try a Tripel-style (blond). A good American substitute would be either New Belgium's 1554, Sweetwater's Georgia Brown, or a Sam Adams Black Lager.

Start by seasoning the flour with about a tsp each of salt and pepper, while about half of the butter melts in a large saute pan.

Dredge the meat lightly in the flour, shake off excess, and brown on all sides in the butter. Do this in batches (don't overcrowd the pan) - too many in the pan at once changes how they cook. Replenish butter as necessary - it will turn brown as it absorbs meat bits - this is good. Place finished meat into a stew pot or dutch oven.

Once meat is finished, brown the onions in the same butter - you want them soft and translucent, but not burned. Once complete, place these in the pot with the meat.

Add all of the beer to the saute pan, bring to a boil. Scrape all of the buttery/meaty bits from the pan into the liquid and add the bay leaves and thyme, then pour all of this over the meat/onions. Cover the pot, bring the mix to a simmer, and leave it for 1.5 to 2 hours, until meat is tender and stew has thickened.

Just before serving, add the brown sugar and vinegar, simmering for another 5 minutes. Also taste it at this point, and add any salt/pepper as necessary. I did find it needed extra salt, but then it was perfect.

The stew is served in Belgium over a serving of french fries (I used store-brand frozen steak fries, crisped in the oven for 20 minutes), with salad on the side. With a cold beer to drink, this meal is just about perfect.

I expected to love the scenery, culture and beer in Belgium, but falling in love with their food was a surprise - I just didn't know much about it, honestly. Discovering the world through food and connecting with people over shared tastes and meals is one of my favorite parts of traveling. I am so thankful to have had these experiences, and to be able to recreate that feeling at home through food whenever I want.

What are some of your favorite food/travel memories? It's never to early to start planning the next trip...

Homemade Marshmallows - Totally Worth It

Went to the mountains this weekend with the husby, sister and brother-in-law to celebrate birthdays and Lindsay's grad school graduation. The cabin we stayed in had a nice fire pit. Naturally, that means a giant pile of graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows made the trip with us. As I wanted to make a special trip out of this, I decided it was time to try making homemade marshmallows.

Since I'm not usually a baker, I clearly did not make up a recipe for this, but borrowed Alton Brown's from the Food Network site. The only thing I did differently was to use 1 oz of Bailey's instead of 1 oz of vanilla at the end. It was so easy it was almost silly. The only bad part was cutting them up the next day - you really do have to roll your pizza cutter through the powdered sugar after almost every pass, and coat every surface of every square with the sugar or they'll stick to everything. But honestly, they melt in your mouth immediately, and I've never tasted a better marshmallow. It was completely worth the minor effort.

Be warned though: they don't blaze up in the fire like other marshmallows do, so you don't really get that charred effect if you like that. And watch the angle you're holding your stick at - we lost a few to the fire pit gods when they slipped off the end. Rest in peace, little yummies.

KILLER Shepherd's Pie

After a lovely peek at spring last weekend, today was colder, wet and nasty again. So what's for dinner? Shepherd's pie of course. It's warm and comfy, and very easy. Today I used a mixture of ground beef and ground pork since that's what I had. I've also used lamb (traditional). Notes: fattier meats will need to be drained, less flavorful meats (like the lamb) work better if you increase the garlic or black pepper. My Shepherd's Pie is full of awesomeness because I know a secret. (psst - here's the secret: you make the gravy with beer instead of water. you're welcome.) You will need:

ground meat - about a pound
onion - about half of a large one, chopped
garlic - about 4 cloves, chopped
mushrooms - about half a pound
brown gravy mix packets - 2 of the 0.87 oz size
beer - 2 bottles (an ale or dark lager works best)
frozen peas and/or carrots
salt and freshly ground pepper
shredded cheddar cheese (if you want) - about 2 handfuls
chopped fresh parsley if you happen to have some
instant mashed potatoes

Here's how easy this is: open one of the beers, and drink it while you're cooking. Preheat oven to 375. Brown the ground meat with the garlic, onions and mushrooms in the pan. While this is cooking, make the instant mashed potatoes and set aside. Once the meat is done, add the gravy packets and the other beer (1.5 cups, or a full 12-oz bottle), then the frozen peas/carrots. Simmer for a few minutes until the gravy is thickened and well mixed. Add salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste, then the few handfuls of cheese if you want (no need to melt, they'll do that in the oven). Pour the mixture into a baking dish - I find an 8x8 works fine. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top, then sprinkle on the parsley if you have it. Bake for 15 minutes. And THAT IS IT.

Apple-Butternut Ravioli with Sage & Whiskey Cream Sauce

I've been working a lot again lately, so I decided to take a nice break this afternoon and make some ravioli. I use the standard "well" technique I learned from Mario Batali for making fresh pasta, rolled out using my Kitchenaid stand mixer pasta attachment that my lovely husband gave me for Christmas in 2009. Thanks baby!

During the 30 minutes the pasta rested before rolling, I made the filling. I cut up some butternut squash and apple in small chunks (about a heaping half-cup of each), and put them in a covered bowl in the microwave for 5 minutes with 1 Tbsp of butter. Then I just mashed it all up with a potato masher and added some salt, pepper and fresh-grated nutmeg.

For the sauce, I sauteed about half of a sweet onion and two garlic cloves in olive oil, then added about 1/4 cup Irish whiskey (Jameson was on hand) and about the same amount of light cream, then seasoned it with salt, pepper and about a tsp of sage. I'd intended to put some crumbled bacon on top with the shredded parmesan I added, but when I looked in the fridge, there was a lamentable lack of bacon. I consulted the freezer - no Italian sausage either. I think having the bacon or sausage would have been the perfect compliment to the very-slightly-sweet pasta, but it was great anyway. Next time, I'll be sure to have some sort of pig meat available to crumble on top, and maybe some gorgonzola instead of the parmesan to offset the pasta filling just a teeny bit more. I really liked the apple and squash though.

Dinner was quite lovely overall I think, and frankly it just felt good to get back in the kitchen for a while. I've been a little rusty since the holidays ended, and I need to get warmed up again before the Super Bowl party next week...