Ginger and Licorice

Ginger and Licorice
Our cats and Labrador
Showing posts with label noodles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label noodles. Show all posts

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Mushroom and Burgundy Stew - Hearty and Tasty

Another tasty meal from Rachael Ray's "Week in a Day" show.  I bookmarked this a WHILE ago and just got around to making it.  It was cold this week, so I decided to give it a shot.  The original recipe
Mushroom and Burgundy Stew, didn't have any protein in it, so I decided to try it with beef tenderloin tips - they were on sale this week - YEAH!  Don't get me wrong, the ratio of mushrooms to beef cubes was 2 mushroom : 1 beef cube, plus I used baby bellas (aka cremini), so the mushroom mouth-feel was a bit meatier.

My start time: 4pm; My end time 7:30pm

Rachael Ray's Prep Time: 20-30 mins; Cook time: 45 mins

1.  I started by cutting 4 oz pancetta slices into pieces appx 3/4 inch squares - hrmmm wonder where I can get the pancetta in chunks like I see on Giada's show - it was a little difficult to separate the pieces after I had stacked and sliced them.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil to your dutch oven and warm to medium-high heat and add the pancetta pieces.
2.  After the pancetta was browned and had rendered some fat into my Lodge Color 3-Quart Dutch Oven, I added appx 8 oz beef tips and browned them on all sides.
3.  While the beef tips were browning, I wiped 16 oz baby bellas, and then halved them. Some of the beef tips were a little larger than "bite size", so I pulled them out after they were par-cooked and cut them into 2-3 pieces.
Switch cutting boards.
4.  Add the mushrooms to the pot and let cook until until brown and tender - about 15 minutes or so.
5.  Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper, marjoram, and thyme.
The mushroom-beef stew players
6. Cover and cook/simmer until vegetables are tender - about 10 minutes
7. Stir in 3 tbsp flour for 1 minute to incorporate.
8.  Add 2 tbsp tomato paste and 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
9.  Add 2 1/2 cups dry red wine (always use wine you would drink - none of that "cooking wine" you buy in the grocery store) and reduce by half - this took me maybe 20 minutes
10.  Add 4 cups beef stock.  BGS purchased Mushroom Base for me to use with this recipe, so I added 4 tsp of the base to the beef stock and dissolved it the best I could before adding it to the pot.  Simmer to thicken.
11.  Cool completely on the stove and then store in the fridge for your make ahead-meal.

As you can see by my start and end times, I was in the kitchen longer than my tv counterpart.  I chock that up to me not chopping often and not having a great deal of counter space.  *shakes fist at the horrible kitchen arrangement*

12.  On the day you want to serve your stew, take it out of the fridge and bring it to a simmer in the dutch oven while you boil water for your noodles.  I chose whole wheat egg noodles.  Cook your chosen noodles according to the directions on the package and then drain.  Put the noodles back in the pot; add 2 tbsp butter and a handful of fresh parsley, chopped.

To serve, dish noodles into a soup plate or shallow dish and then ladle stew over the noodles.

All in all I LOVE this meal!  BGS said it was too rich, so he only ate it twice.  That's fine.  More for me :)
We got four servings from this meal - so he ate it once and I ate it 3 times.  YUM!!  BGS also said it was "ruined" by the whole wheat noodles hehe - I wasn't phased by them.

Monday, March 21, 2011

At Home Chinese Dinner Revisited - Chinese Braised Shrimp, Broccoli and Noodles

My husband like the braised beef so much I thought I would try it with another protein - shrimp, but I wanted a veggie this time also, so I added broccoli.  For this giant dish I used my wok :)

Today's Players: - same as last time except for the shrimp
1 lb  raw 35-40 ct frozen shrimp - defrosted
1 -  Manischewitz Egg Noodles Fine (12 oz pkg)
1 10-oz bag steam-ready broccoli
1 clove garlic - crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
2 1/2 tablespoons oil - I used sesame
1/2 cup soy sauce - I used low sodium
1/2 cup chicken broth - again, low sodium
2 tsp cornstarch
4 tsp water

1.Defrost the shrimp according to packaging - then peel


2. Steam the shrimp according to packaging - make sure to drain the excess water from the broccoli before adding to the dish


3. Cook the noodles in salted boiling water until just tender, then drain and rinse under cold water - to stop the cooking

4. Mix together the garlic, salt, ginger, five-spice powder and add to the thawed shrimp - I used my hands to make sure the shrimp get the spices all over

5.  Heat the oil and saute the shrimp over high heat for until pink - abt 4-5 minutes


6. Mix the soy sauce and chicken broth together and add to the shrimp


7. Mix together the cornstarch and water - stir thoroughly - and stir into the shrimp.  Stir and cook beef until the sauce is smooth and thick.

8.  Gently fold (so as to avoid a massive mess) the noodles, mix well and heat through


9.  Gently fold the broccoli into the dish.


10. Serve immediately



This time the majority of my prep time went to peeling the shrimp.  After that it was a piece of cake and it turned out ok.  The shrimp absorbed a lot of the salt from the soy sauce, so I think when I make this again I might cook the shrimp separately and add them with the broccoli at the end.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

At Home Chinese Dinner - Chinese Braised Beef and Noodles

Recently my friend CRS asked me to take on the challenge of making Chinese take-out at home.  I finally have been able to obtain the ingredients and am happy to say that my husband was very happy with the results!

This is the recipe I used:Chinese Braised Beef and Noodles

The Players
Today's players:
1 lb  Angus Beef Steak Sirloin Top Fillet
1 -  Manischewitz Egg Noodles Fine (12 oz pkg)
1 clove garlic - crushed
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
2 1/2 tablespoons oil - I used sesame
1/2 cup soy sauce - I used low sodium
1/2 cup chicken broth - again, low sodium
2 tsp cornstarch
4 tsp water
6 green onions, sliced

1. Cook the noodles in salted boiling water until just tender, then drain and rinse under cold water - to stop the cooking

2. Cut the beef into very thin slices - to make this easier I took the advice from my friend WL to put the beef in the freezer for a few minutes before slicing

The spices - ginger, garlic, 5-spice, and salt
3. Mix together the garlic, salt, ginger, five-spice powder (my husband noted there were actually 7 spices listed on the bottle he bought even though it was labeled five spice powder), and add to the sliced beef.

4.  Heat the oil and saute the beef over high heat for 2 minutes

5. Mix together the cornstarch and water - stir thoroughly - and stir into the beef.  Stir and cook beef until the sauce is smooth and thick.

6.  Gently fold (so as to avoid a massive mess) the noodles, mix well and heat through

7.  Add the green onions and stir - again avoiding mess - and stir another minute
Our final product

8. Serve immediately

The prep time on the recipe said 10 minutes.  The person who wrote this recipe must be a whiz with a knife.  It took me 15-20 mins just to chop the beef (thank you Kelsey Nixon's show on knives).  The measuring of the spices and chopping/measuring of everything else took little time which I love.    I think it took me 30 minutes total to make a wonderful meal that my husband loved and we have enough for another meal, since the original recipe is for 4-6 ppl and there are only 2 of us.

For me, the only thing missing is a veggie from this dish but you can easily steam some broccoli which would be a great addition...not sure there is enough room in the pot for anything else.

Edit: leftovers - specifically the noodles - are salty.  probably because they soaked up more salt overnight.  When I make this again I will most likely reduce the salt from 1 tsp to 1/2 or 1/4 tsp.