Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

 Andouille or smoked beef sausage, sliced

2 lbs boneless chicken thighs, diced

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 large green pepper, cored and diced

4 ribs of celery, trimmed and chopped

1 small can diced tomatoes

3-5 cloves of garlic, chopped

3-4 tbsp oil

2 tsp Creole seasoning

½ tsp thyme

¾ cups flour

2 quarts water or chicken broth

1/2-1 tsp hot sauce

Cooked rice for serving.

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven, brown the sausage and then the chicken, reserving in a bowl once browned. Add more oil to the pot if needed add the flour, stirring until well browned. add and brown the onion, green pepper, garlic and celery. Stir in the broth or water and stir well. Then add the chicken and sausage and remaining ingredients. Simmer about an hour, or until all is tender and thickened.

Oven Beef Stew with a Drop Biscuit Topping

 

1 ½ – 2 lbs cubed beef (chuck or flat iron steak)

½ cup flour

cooking spray or oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

about 1 cup diced celery

about 1 cup diced carrots

8oz sliced mushrooms (optional)

baby potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered (optional)

additional oil as needed

4-5 cups of liquid-broth, water, beer, dry red wine or tomato juice

2 tbsp Worcestorshire sauce or soy sauce

salt, pepper, seasoning to taste (I like some garlic powder and my special home made seasoning)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease a large Dutch oven and place the cubed beef in it, then sprinkle the flour over the top of the meat. Spray with cooking spray or drizzle about ¼ cup oil over the top, place the meat uncovered into the oven and roast about half an hour, or until the flour is beginning to brown a bit.

While meat is browning, in a large skillet heat another couple tablespoons of oil and brown the onion, celery and carrots. About the time these are nice browned, the meat should be ready too. Add the vegetables to the meat in the Dutch oven, your seasonings and Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce and add about 4 cups of your liquid of choice. Return to the oven and cook for about 30-40 minutes and then stir well, scrapping the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes if using and then return to the oven for another 30-45 minutes and then check to see if the meat is tender. It not, return to the oven for yet another 30 minutes or so. If gravy is too thick, add more liquid until the thickness you prefer,

Serve with roasted potato wedges (if not using the potatoes in the stew), mashed potatoes, or top with drop biscuits and bake until they are done and well browned. 

 

There is no reason that you couldn't use cubed pork or boneless chicken thighs cut into cubes.   

Drop biscuits for topping stew:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda (if using buttermilk or sour cream for liquid)

½ tsp salt

½ cup melted butter

1 and ½ cup buttermilk or regular milk or sour cream mixed half and half with whole milk)

Mix the dry ingredients together, then stir in the melted butter and make sure all the flour is coated with it. Add the buttermilk and stir quickly until a very soft dough is made. With a large spoon or ice cream scoop, put the dough on top of the bubbling hot stew, then return to oven and bake until well browned and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

 If you want to vary the taste of the biscuits, you can add a couple tablespoons of your favorite herbs or some garlic powder or even add some cheese--about 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and or some sharp cheddar.   Mix the cheese in with the dry ingredients before adding the milk or buttermilk.  

 

Green Chile Chicken Stew With Green Chile Dumplings

Green Chile Chicken Stew with Green Chile and Cheese Dumplings

Heat about ½ cup oil in a large, deep Dutch oven. Add one large onion, peeled and chopped. When the onions are lightly browned, add about 3 large cloves and garlic that have been peeled and chopped, use more if you wish. Immediately after adding the garlic, add ½ cup flour and stirring constantly, cook until the flour is lightly browned. Pour in 2 quarts of chicken broth and about 1 1/2-2 cups roasted peeled and chopped green chile. Stir constantly until the gravy is thickened. Add 3-4 cups cooked chopped chicken. Reduce heat to a low simmer and stir on occasion to keep from sticking.

Now mix up the dumpling dough. Take two cups flour in a large bowl, add 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp. baking soda. Stir until all are mixed well. Melt about 2/3 cup butter and stir into the flour mixture and mix together, then stir in 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese and ½ cup grated Parmesan. Beat together 1 egg, ½ cup roasted peeled and chopped green chiles and about a cup of buttermilk. Stir this into the flour mixture until well blended. If too dry, add more buttermilk, if to wet, more flour. Then spoon the mixture on top of the simmering stew, cover and cook about 20 minutes. At that time stick a toothpick in the center of one of the dumpling, if done it will come out clean. Top each serving with some more grated cheese if you wish.

If you wish, you could do this with a beef stew or even a pork stew.   Would also be a good way to use up leftover turkey at Thanksgiving.   

Be sure to use a high quality roasted green chile, preferably Hatch.   I use the jarred 505 green chile that you can order from 505 or sometimes can be found in local grocery stores, the Topeka WalMart carries it.      

Kimchi Stew

I have found myself madly in love with Korean food.   It started with a love for kimchi especially and has just grown.   But kimchi is still my all time favorite.   I recently ate at a Korean restaurant and had kimchi stew.  It was incredible!   The recipe searches I've made online are look to be very simple, so decided to try it.  I also spoke with a Korean woman I work with and asked her about it.   She basically said you put in it what you like, as long as there is lots of kimchi, garlic and red peppers.   So came home, through caution to the winds and just made it.    It is very tasty too!

1 lb. diced pork, with a little fat in it if possible.   many recipes call for pork belly
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 pints/4 cups kimchi
1 heaping tbsp.  garlic and red chile paste (optional but tasty)
dash of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar
1/2-1 tsp. crushed red pepper, unless using the red chile paste
2 tbsp. sesame oil
8 oz. cubed tofu
1 tsp. brown sugar
4 cups water

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven then brown the diced pork, when the pork is starting to brown, add the onion and brown both together.   Next add the garlic and stir around until fragrant.   Add the kimchi and any liquid in the jar, the garlic and red chile paste or crushed red pepper, the soy, vinegar and sesame oil, then the water.   Bring to a full boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer about 30 minutes.   Ten minutes before the time is up, add the tofu, continue to simmer another 10 minutes, then remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit about 10-15 minutes.    Serve with cooked rice.

Options:  this can very easily be made vegan, just by omitting the meat.    You can add other vegetables like mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, radishes, turnips, you name it.   I have also been told you can top each serving with a fried egg.  

Mama's Chop Suey

The holidays are a time when many of us remember and try to recreate family traditions.   This is one of my family's traditions, that was much loved and looked forward to at large family gatherings.   I grew up in a small town in southeast Missouri.  When I was a kid back in the 60's any kind of foreign foods were a rare and unusual treat.  For us pizza was bread dough covered with plain tomato sauce, ground beef, onion and grated American cheese on top.  Somehow my mom was given a recipe for something called chop suey.  It was unusual, it was tasty and something easy to make for a crowd.  It may have been faux Chinese, but we didn't know any better and we all loved it.   We still do, although we hadn't eaten it since my mom died 20+ years ago. 

This weekend my older sister is passing through town on her way to my brother's in southeast Missouri.  She and her husband are stopping in Topeka to spend the night at my younger sister's.    I told my local sister that I wanted them all over my place for supper and asked what I should make.   Jokingly I said, mama's chop suey?   My brother in law immediately said YES!!!!  So that is what I am making.   My sister had the recipe so she emailed it to me.   I tweaked it a tiny bit (a lot less black pepper than mama used, fresh mushrooms instead of sliced, a can of bamboo shoots, she didn't drain the canned vegetables, I do to cut down on sodium).     But I did want to share this recipe.     "Real" Chinese it isn't, but tasty it is.   And for me and siblings, it brings back those days of innocence when we were all young and excited about mama making something exotic.   Enjoy!

Mother’s Chop Suey

1 pound cubed lean beef
1 pound cubed lean pork
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups diced celery
1 lb. sliced mushrooms
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. bead molasses
4 cups water or broth (I used unsalted vegetable stock)

In a large Dutch oven, brown the meats in a small amount of oil, then add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the meat is tender.   Then add the following:

2 cans drained bean sprouts
1 can drained sliced water chestnuts
1 can drained sliced bamboo shoots
1 small jar diced pimentos

Heat all together until boiling.   Thicken to taste with a slurry of cornstarch and water.    Serve with either rice of chow mein noodles. 

Oven Pork and Apple Stew

Last weekend I made the most delicious pork stew. I did it in the oven and used pork shoulder cut in cubes, then added apples, onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms. I flavored it with some apple juice, a small bit of thyme and some crushed red pepper. I was wonderful. Even Aaron liked it and took all the leftovers home with him. Here's how I did it.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I took a deep roaster and layered the ingredients in it:

1-1/12 cups each, chopped carrots and celery
8 oz. pkg of sliced mushrooms, I used baby bellas as I think they have a better flavor, but use what you have
1 large onion peeled and chopped or chunked
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cubed

Over that I sprinkled: 1/4 cup quick cooking tapioca, about 1/4 tsp. dried thyme, 1 tsp. garlic powder, and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.

Then I cubed about 3 pounds of pork shoulder, trimmed of fat (you could also use cubed boneless country style ribs). Finally I poured over this a can of chicken broth and about 1 1/2 cups apple juice and quater cup of apple cider vinegar. If you happen to have some hard cider around, you could use a bottle of that in place of the apple juice and it would probably be even better.

Then I baked it about three hours, stirring it about 3 times. When the meat it tender and the gravy thickened, it is ready to eat. I served it with some crusty bread and it was a delicious meal.   Feel free to change the vegetables, any root vegetable would be good in this.   Also feel free to use whatever herb or seasoning you  like best. 

Chile Verde or Pork with Green Chiles

3 pounds of pork shoulder or boneless country style ribs
(cut meat into cubes, trimming as much fat as possible)
flour to dust the meat cubes with
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups diced mild green chiles, like Anaheim,
seeds, stems and membranes removed
2 cups/1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 cup water or chicken broth
2 tbsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt or to taste
2 tbsp. oil, enough to lightly grease a large skillet or dutch oven

Heat the oil in a large skillet or dutch oven.   Lightly flour the pork cubes and brown in the heated skillet, about 1 pound at a time.    When all the pork cubes are browned, add the onion and cook until wilted.    Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the pork is fall apart tender, 2-3 hours.   Stir on occasion to prevent sticking.   You may need to add more water or chicken broth to keep from cooking dry or sticking.     Eat as a stew with hot tortillas or add more chicken broth to make it more soup like.   If you like the taste of garlic, you can add 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic with the onion.

Oven Beef Stew

I like tough meats baked low and slow in the oven, with plenty of gravy or juices.   One of my favorite things done that way is this beef stew.   The meat gets falling apart tender and the gravy and vegetables are to die for.   This particular recipe came from a nurse I worked with years ago.    I make it all the time now.   Although the recipe calls for cubed beef, I have also made it with cubed pork shoulder or country style ribs and it is just as delicious.   Enjoy!

Oven Beef Stew:

2 pounds of chuck cut into small cubes (cubed pork shoulder works well too)
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups sliced celery
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4-5 peeled cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

Place the vegetables in a large roaster and sprinkle 1/4 cup quick cooking tapioca on top. Then top with the meat.

Stir together:

1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. dried basil or thyme
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper (optional, but I like a bit of fire)
1 cup red wine (or chicken broth or water or V8 juice or whatever you have)

Pour over the meat and vegetables. Add enough water/broth/juice to come at least half way up the side of the pan. Top with a large can of crushed or diced tomatoes...approximately 3 cups or so.

Bake at 350 degrees about 3 hours, stirring occasionally, adding more liquid if it looks dry or the gravy thickens too much. You can also cover it for the first hour or two if it looks as if the liquid is evaporating too quickly.

Serve with oven roasted potato wedges or mashed potatoes or even just a loaf of crusty bread.  

You can substitute other meats for the beef, such as cubed pork or even quartered boneless chicken thighs.     The same for the vegetables:   pearl onions, sliced leeks, carrots, peas, cubed turnips or rutabagas, anything you might like.  My favorite is carrots, peas, mushrooms and celery.    I like to omit the tomato paste and use a can of crushed tomatoes.    I also leave out the sugar and thyme.    So be creative.   You can also substitute soy sauce for the worchestershire sauce.   I also use a quart of chicken broth instead of the three cups of tomatoes.