Recipes for 40 degrees F and raining

[spittin_in_the_wind]

OK, here's mine:

Beef and Kale stew

1 lb ground beef
3 cups chicken stock
bunch of Kale, remove stems
small can diced tomatos
some frozen blackeyed peas (can't get fresh around here!)
chopped onion
celery seed
ground thyme
salt
chopped white potatoes, skin on

Brown the ground beef, stir in the onions and let cook a minute or so
Add chicken stock, diced tomatos, blackeyed peas, seasonings, potatoes
Bring to boil
Add kale, cook down with cover on, stir, put the lid back on, simmer for a while (1 hour or so)

Serve with cornbread (homemade please, in a cast irion skillet) or garlic toast if necessary.

This will warm you up before you go fight the flood!

Robin

[Nanohedron]

Beer.

I ran out of ham soup.

[I.D.10-t]

Bread
In the morning,
Take a cup of liquid (water, milk*, egg, etc) and add a spoonful of yeast if you don’t have a starter. You can add sweetener (sugar molasses, syrup, honey) at this point, but too much will slow down the yeast.
Add a pinch of salt if you want and two cups of bread flour** and mix. I am lazy and just stir the stuff together and let it sit till I get back from work.
Hopefully you made the mixture in a big enough bowl so that when you come home it hasn’t bubbled all over the counter.

I now throw about a half cup of flour on the table and kneed the bread for about 10 minutes until it wants to stick to itself more than my hands. When kneading think of pushing parallel to the table rather than trying to pound the dough through the table. At this point you can mix in herbs, nuts, or other things for flavor. Some people like to heat up tiles and other things to cook their bread on, but usually I either make a French type loaf or place the dough into a bread pan. A good skillet or flour pot*** also can make a good form. Either way grease the form sprinkle with flour and let the dough rise in it until double in size. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until done (when taken out of the pan or whatever it should make a hollow sound when thumped. By mow your house should smell like a bakery and have warmed up a degree or two.

Serve with chowder.

Feel free to modify the recipe.


*Milk has enzymes that can cause slower yeast productivity so it is best to scald the milk first if used.
**You can substitute up to 3/4 cup of this flour with whole wheat, rhy, buckwheat flour, oat meal or other grain filler if you want.
***One of the terracotta kind, not the plastic kind.

[Congratulations]

I suggest oatmeal.

[DavidT]

That's chili weather here.

[izzarina]

That's chili weather here.

I would tend to think that 40 degrees is chilly weather anywhere

[chrisoff]

40 degrees means it's spring! Time for barbeque!

Or more seriously try some pea and ham soup or if you prefer something solid then stovies are great in cold weather:
http://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/stovies.htm

[Bloomfield]

That's chili weather here.

I would tend to think that 40 degrees is chilly weather anywhere

Not in Novosibirsk, I was to... um, I mean, I read somewhere.

[harpmaker]

more beer...

[Walden]

some frozen blackeyed peas (can't get fresh around here!)

You could buy some dried ones and plant them.

[Innocent Bystander]

Apologies to those who have seen this posted elsewhere.

When I left Belfast in 1973, my Mum gave me her recipe for Irish Stew.
I have since seen a number of Irish Stew recipes, some of them in magazines. There seems to be a general thought that Irish Stew is fair game: anybody can create an Irish Stew recipe, even if they were brought up in Beverly Hills and never lifted so much as a wooden spoon in their lives. Or even tasted Irish stew. Or even seen a picture of it.
One recipe which struck me as particularly pretentious used mutton chops for the meat – presumably the author wasn’t aware there were other cuts of mutton – and used Guinness as stock. Perhaps it would have been more Irish if they had added green vegetable dye. Or a lock of Michael Flatley’s hair. Others seem to have heard Tom Lehrer’s recipe for Hungarian Goulash, and think it applies equally well to Irish Stew. It does not.

Ingredients

8 ounces of Stewing Meat – Shin of Mutton or Hough
1 ounce of butter
1 ½ lb of carrots
1 ½ lb of onions
3 lbs of potatoes
1 pint of water or stock
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon of grated nutmeg

Method

Cut the meat into half-inch cubes.
In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter and braise the meat. Reduce the heat as low as it will go. Peel and chop the onions into half-inch cubes. Add them to the saucepan. Peel and chop the carrots. Add them to the saucepan. Peel and chop the potatoes into half-inch cubes or smaller. Add them to the saucepan. You may stir the mixture at this point or you may leave it alone if the heat is low enough. Add the stock, and add water until it is not quite covering the vegetables and potatoes. Add the salt. Simmer on a very low heat for as long as possible. Irish stew was traditionally prepared in the morning and left unattended on a turf fire. Modern cooking ranges produce a more intense heat, even at the lowest settings. If your range is too hot, simmer it for an hour, and then take it off the heat for an hour. Stir it well. Then simmer it for another hour. When the potatoes mush and lose their individuality, it can be served. Add the Pepper and the nutmeg, stir and serve.

Chose the potatoes carefully. Waxy potatoes are not good, and will take forever to go to mush. Floury potatoes are much better. My personal preference is for King Edwards, but we have had reasonable results with Romano.
Beware that these measurements are British Imperial, but approximate. An American pound varies from a British pound, and tablespoons also vary. Use your own judgement.


The Vegetarian Version.

Out of sheer cussedness I became a vegetarian and finally decided to update the Irish Stew recipe.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons Olive Oil
Scallions (spring onions) to taste
Garlic to taste
1 ½ pounds of carrots
1 ½ pounds of onions
2 stalks of celery
1 large leek
Spinach
3 pounds of potatoes
1 Teaspoon of Mixed Herbs
½ teaspoon of Basil
1 Pint of vegetable stock
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Picquante Pimenton to taste
Hungarian Paprika to taste
1 Tablespoon of Ground Nutmeg
7 ounces of “RealEat” beef-style chunks (half a bag)

Method

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil. Peel and chop the carrots and braise them. I have had better results when the carrots are cut lengthways before being chopped. Smaller pieces of carrot gives the stew a more carroty taste. When the carrot has been braised for five minutes, turn the heat down as low as it will go. Coarsely chop the garlic and add this to the carrots. Chop the onions finely and add them to the mixture, and stir. Chop the scallions and add them. Chop the celery and add it. Clean and chop the leek and add it. Stir the mixture. Add the spinach. I use frozen leaf spinach, and I add about five lumps. This is probably two ounces of spinach. Prepare the stock as you finely chop the potatoes. Add the potatoes and stir the mixture. Let it simmer dry for a few minutes, then add the stock, the basil, the mixed herbs and the salt. It is best to add the salt at the same time as the potatoes. Add enough water to nearly cover the vegetables. Let this simmer for an hour. Turn the heat off, stir, and let the mixture simmer in its own heat for an hour.
When the potatoes lose their integrity, add the beef-style chunks. We have tried various vegetarian meat substitutes, with varying results. If you use imitation mince, the result is like Lobscouse. If you use imitation sausages, the result is like Lancashire Hotpot. Irish Stew requires chunks of some kind. My wife objects to quorn substitutes in stew. TVP varieties give a better texture. Now add the nutmeg, the paprika and the Picquante Pimenton. Large quantities of nutmeg can have a mild hallucinogenic effect. That is up to you. When all the vegetables are well stewed, serve hot.

[spittin_in_the_wind]

some frozen blackeyed peas (can't get fresh around here!)

You could buy some dried ones and plant them.

I'm not sure we have the weather for 'em. They take 90-100 days to mature, and I have had no success with pumpkins with that maturation time. (also too short a growing season for okra, my all time favorite vegetable) Bummer!

Robin

[I.D.10-t]

Sorry for the necro-post, but a co-worker wanted this recipe so I figured if it was already typed up, I might as well post it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chicken with biscuit topping.
Serves ~4
Filling

1-2 tbsp butter
1-2 onions chopped
1-2C sliced mushroom
1 green pepper, chopped
1-2C cooked shredded chicken
~1-2 C milk

Traditional Rolled Biscuits

1 3/4c flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
2-6 tbsp butter
2/3-3/4C milk (warmed)

This recipe is normally made in an oven proof skillet (If you don't have a 9” round cast iron skillet, transfer the filling into a casserole dish and add the biscuits).

On low heat melt butter and add the onions and mushrooms, saute* until almost tender and add the green pepper. When the green peppers are done, add the chicken. Slowly stir in the milk until the filling is almost covered and heat until almost boiling** (If you need to transfer the filling do so now).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heat the oven to 450F

Cut butter into the flour and baking powder*** (you can go light on the butter because the filling provides moisture) mix in the milk (don't over mix, the dough should just be free from the sides of the bowl) turn the dough onto a floured board and roll out to about ½ an inch. Using a round glass or cookie cutter about 2 ½” wide cut the biscuits. Layer the biscuits over the filling (there will be some overlap) If you prefer a golden top, you can brush the biscuits with milk or melted butter.

Put the pan in the middle rack of the oven, and place a cookie sheet on a rack below it in case the milk slightly boils over. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops of the biscuits are browned.

Serve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*If you prefer a thicker filling, can up to 2 tbsp. cornstarch or flour to the onions while they are cooking.

**Originally the recipe was about half the size of this recipe, and cooked in a pie pan. I have found that when a cast iron pan, that you can just add the milk without having to heat it due to the pan already being warm.

***Black pepper can be added to the filling and up to a teaspoon of salt can be added to the biscuit recipe, but I prefer to add the salt and pepper at the table.

[jbarter]

When I left Belfast in 1973, my Mum gave me her recipe for Irish Stew.

I had got this one from you before but don't apologise. If it was cooked even longer, till the spuds were the consistencey of a thick paste, then it would almost be lob scouse. Great eaten warm and sliceable for butties when cold.

[Sliabh Luachra]

8 oz. hot water
1 Tbs Honey
1 lemon slice
10 cloves poked into the lemon
1 lrg. shot Irish whiskey

mix in a mug