Feijoada - an all-in-one-pot soup version

Reputed to be the national dish of Brazil, possibly reflecting a Portuguese influence (link), feijoada is the perfect comfort-food antidote to a cold snowy day... or a chilly wet weekend... even a bracing sunny day. Simple enough to whip up for family meals, it might also please company at a soup and bread feast. Our first introduction to feijoada was ages ago, as guests at an open house feast hosted by friends who were home again following a multi-year posting in Brazil. Their feijoada presented various cuts of grilled pork and pork sausages piled alongside spicy, soupy beans, some greens and bowls of fluffy rice. Both the event and the meal were memorably delicious.

A classic feijoada would include a variety of meat selections, typically pork; some smoked or cured, some fresh, some spicy and some mild. Dried beans would simmer on the stovetop for hours to soften, perhaps 1/4 of the cooked beans reserved to puree and thicken the juices. Traditional side dishes might include collard greens, garlic rice, thinly sliced oranges, and perhaps some tiny hot peppers.    

This isn't that; it's a soup more "in the spirit of" a traditional feijoada. Reminiscent of Cajun red beans and rice, yet totally different, we loved this soup on day one. On day two the beans had soaked up much of the broth, turning my feijoada into more of a stew, still flavor packed and satisfying. This substantial bean and pork soup/stew now ranks high on the list of our favorite winter comfort food recipes. What's your favorite meaty bean soup?

Feijoada - a non-traditional soup version

adapted from recipes by Bernice Ojakangas, Soup and Bread Cookbook  and Sheila Lukins, All Around the World Cookbook


2 cans low-sodium black beans, rinsed & drained
4 slices thick-cut bacon, in 2" dice 
or use 1 TBS olive oil (bacon grease adds more flavor)
3 cups yellow onions, chopped 
3 cloves garlic, peeled & minced or pressed
8 to 12 oz  of smoked sausage (Falls Brand Chorizo), 1/2" dice
1 can (14-oz) diced low-sodium tomatoes 
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp red-pepper flakes
1 can (14-oz) low-sodium beef broth, heated
2+ cups hot, cooked rice
pickled jalapenos, sliced (optional)
grated zest from 1 orange
1 orange, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1. Drain and rinse the black beans, repeat, drain again and set aside.
2. Cook the bacon pieces (or just heat the olive oil) in a large, wide-bottomed pot over medium-high heat to render the fat. Add the onion & garlic; cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. 
3. Add the diced sausage; cook until browned slightly and some fat is released. Add the tomatoes, cumin, red pepper flakes, drained beans and half of the heated broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until heated through, adding remaining broth as necessary.
4. Serve in individual bowls over a mound of rice and top with the chopped orange chunks, orange zest, parsley and jalapenos (if using). Or cool the soup and refrigerate, letting the flavors develop and meld, then reheat to serve. 

Beef Bourguignon , aka Beef Stew

We woke up to a hint of snow, a skim coat of flakes barely thick enough to frost the decks, bushes and lawn but not sufficient to blanket the landscape. This wasn't the snow event predicted by TV forecasters, not a real snow like the storms hitting the central and eastern states. No, this sprinkle of snow was just a reminder of things to come.

After several days of winds and hard rain this was a welcome weather change! By afternoon the clouds cleared, the sun came out and the temperature dropped into the mid-to-high twenties. Brrrr, time to layer on some sweaters and get busy in the kitchen with some comfort food cooking... easy-prep comfort food... beef stew kind of comfort food.

Friends are coming by tomorrow for a late lunch and a round of Mexican Train. I mentally skimmed the list of our favorite cold-weather soups, chilies, gumbos and the like, searching for something that would be a delicious but casual kitchen meal, a no-fuss menu to fit a flexible schedule. Richly flavorful Beef Bourguignon sounded like a winner; a dish that actually improves in flavor if prepared a day ahead. It helped that I had all of the ingredients in stock and didn't have to go out and play with the post-Thanksgiving crowds of shoppers still clogging the shopping center parking lots. 

The rest of the menu will be simple since stew is such a substantial main dish. I'm thinking hot spiced cider and deviled eggs for a warm-up nibble as people arrive, colorful marinated grape tomatoes and mozzarella balls as a salad...

...tiny red potatoes to add to the stew, some crusty French bread to soak up every last drop of that wonderful gravy...

 ...and an apple galette for dessert as we take a break midway through the game. (not pictured: RL added a towering pile of whipped cream to each slice, and no one protested.)

That's my menu, what do you serve with your beef stew?   

Beef Bourguinon

based on a favorite recipe found in Tyler Florence's cookbook, Real Kitchen.

Yields 3 quarts, about 8 servings

1 Tbs Canola oil
2 slices bacon (not maple flavored)
4 lbs chuck roast, dried with paper towels, fat trimmed & cut into large, bite-size cubes
Salt & freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brandy (or port or marsala, etc.)
1 bottle hearty red wine (Pinot Noir, Merlot, Burgundy, etc)
1 can (14.5 oz) low-sodium beef broth
2 generous Tbs tomato paste (from a tube)
cheesecloth bag with 4" sprig rosemary, 6 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped (or Gourmet Garden chunky garlic in a tube) 
2 cups pearl onions, blanched & peeled (or 1 bag frozen) 
1 pint white mushrooms, stems trimmed, large 'shrooms halved (or add some reconstituted, dried 'shrooms)
Pinch of sugar
2 Tbs unsalted butter (optional)
Gremolata garnish of freshly minced flat-leaf parsley and the zest of 1 lemon

Add the oil to a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Add the bacon strips and cook until crisp; remove to a paper towel and hold until ready to serve. Pat the beef dry again with paper towels, then add to the pot to brown in several batches. Sear the beef cubes on all sides in the bacon drippings, letting each side sit undisturbed until browned. Remove to a bowl and season each batch with salt and pepper.

Return all of the browned meat and their juices to the pot. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and stir to completely coat each cube until all of the flour is incorporated. Add the brandy and stir; loosen all of the browned bits on the bottom of the pan (there's a lot of flavor lurking there). Cook and stir to evaporate the alcohol. Add the red wine and beef broth; stir in the tomato paste; add the cheesecloth bag of herbs. Bring to a simmer and cook until the liquid begins to thicken and develops a sauce like consistency, about 12-15 minutes. Cover the pot and simmer over very low heat for 1 hour. Use a flame tamer/heat diffuser if needed to keep the pot at a low simmer instead of a hearty boil.

Uncover the pot; add the garlic, onions, mushrooms and the pinch of sugar. (The sugar will balance the acidity of the red wine.) Taste; season with salt and pepper as needed. Raise the heat slightly and simmer for another 40 minutes, or until the vegetables and the meat are tender. Remove the cheesecloth packet of herbs; stir in the butter to add a glossy finish to the sauce (optional). Sprinkle with the gremolata (minced parsley and lemon zest) and crumbled, reserved bacon just before serving.

Accompany with whole or mashed potatoes or buttered noodles, crusty bread or soft biscuits, You won't want to waste any of the delicious gravy!

Note: if you prepare the stew a day ahead, hold it in the fridge overnight and skim of the solidified grease before reheating and adding the finish of butter and gremolata.

Triple Pork Sort-of Posole Soup

The cool February weather called for comfort food, something hearty to warm the stomach and lift the spirits, and it wouldn't hurt to make a big batch to have ready to reheat for several lunches. Red pork posole was the perfect thing to fit those needs, not that we ever need an excuse to enjoy a pot of posole. We had just moved Rhapsody south (link) to a shipyard for haulout and the days were busy with preparation. 

I didn't want to spend hours in the galley, fussing over a slow-cooking braise or stew, while we were busy with boat projects. I also needed to work with the ingredients already on board since the nearest grocery was miles away... uphill... in the rain... and I was lazy "otherwise occupied". Here's the latest NW version of a Simple Sort-of Posole Soup.

Triple Pork Sort-of Posole Soup

Ingredients:

4 strips bacon, diced
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut in bite-sized chunks
1/2 lb Mexican chorizo
1 large yellow onion, medium dice
1 can diced green chiles 
2 cloves garlic, minced, mashed or pressed
2 tsp cumin
1 Tbs Mexican oregano
1 Tbs dried cilantro
2 cans diced low-sodium tomatoes including their juice
1 can beef broth
2 cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 large can yellow hominy, rinsed & drained
2 cups fresh kale, chard or spinach, cut in thin strips
Lime juice to taste at the finish
Lime-flavored tortilla chips, optional

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon to render out the fat but not until crisp; remove and set aside. In the same pan, cook the chorizo till no longer pink; remove and set aside. In the same pan, sear the pork chunks in two or three batches until browned on all sides but not crispy; remove and set aside. Remove all but a tablespoon or two of fat from the pan.
2. Add the diced onions and chile pieces to the pot; saute for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the dried spices and cook for a minute or two, stirring often, until fragrant.
3. Return the meats to the pot, add tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently until the pork is tender.  
4. Add the hominy and kale; simmer until softened and heated through, adding water if needed to keep the ingredients covered with liquid. Taste for and adjust for seasoning, add salt and pepper as desired. Stir in the juice of 1 small lime just before serving. 

I topped my bowl of posole with fresh cilantro. RL added two handfuls of lime-flavored tortilla chips and a lot of hot sauce to his bowl. We were both happy.

Tomatillo Pork Tinga

aka Mexican Pulled Pork

Another south-of-the-border inspired dish. What is there about the bright, tangy, sour-citrusy taste of roasted tomatillos that gets me every time? I love how those flavors complement the smokey zing of chilies, so much so that I decided to replace the traditional sweet red tomatoes in this Pueblan dish with a handful of fresh green tomatillos. Mmmmm, good decision. It took tinga into a new level of flavor. It was still comfort food with shredded meat and potatoes in a spicy sauce, but oh! what a sauce.

A Rick Bayless recipe was my starting point, as is often the case with Mexican dishes. (My three Bayless cookbooks are splattered and stained from years of use, always a good sign for a cookbook.)  I think this tinga variation is a winner; homey, if not quite authentic, Pueblan cooking. A winner? Oh, yes! its a new favorite chili-like recipe that's terrific served in a bowl - or in a tortilla - or in so many other presentations. See below for several other tasty ideas and give tinga a try. I think you'll like it.

Tomatillo Pork Tinga

adapted from a Rick Bayless recipe in Mexican Everyday

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

4-6 medium red-skin boiling potatoes, cut in ½” cubes

2 pounds pork shoulder, cut in steaks or in small chunks

3 fresh mild chilies (Anaheim or poblano), roasted & peeled

2 small jalapeños, roasted & deseeded

6-8 large fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed and roasted

1 medium white onion, in ¼” slices

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced or crushed through a press

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried cilantro

1 tablespoon ground chipotle powder (optional)

1 cup low-sodium chicken stock (more, as needed)

For serving:

corn tortillas, warmed

1 cup crumbled queso fresco or shredded jack cheese

small bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

avocado, pitted and chopped in small dice (optional)

Directions:

   1. Place the pork in the bottom of a good-sized heavy pot or Dutch oven, at least 4-quart with a 10 to 12 inch diameter. Scatter the potatoes on top of the meat.
   2. Roast the chilies and tomatillos until charred. Seed and peel the chilies (or not, if you’re after more heat). Toss the chilies and tomatillos into a blender (be sure to capture all of the juices as well as the flesh) and puree with a few pulses.

   3. Add the remaining 7 ingredients, onion through 1 cup chicken stock and pulse a time or two just to mix, not to puree the onions.
   4. Pour the mix evenly over the pork and potatoes, cover and cook in a 300 F oven for 2 to 2½ hours until the pork is completely tender. Add more chicken stock if the sauce becomes too thick (unlikely).

   5. Remove the pork steaks or chunks from the pot; use two forks or your fingers to break into smaller pieces or shreds.
   6. If there is a lot of liquid in the pot, ladle it out and boil rapidly until reduced and somewhat syrupy. Return the meat and the liquid back to the cooking pot and stir it all together. The meat will absorb some of that loose sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary (salt? hot sauce? green tabasco?)
   7. Serve with the warm tortillas, crumbled cheese and avocados for making soft tacos. Or serve in a bowl with toppings to enjoy like chili. Or use the mix to top a crispy tostada, stuff a burrito or enchilada, fill a torta or quesadilla or an omelet, or even top a baked potato or rice.

Notes:

• Some tinga recipes call for chorizo to be crumbled and fried, then added to the sauce at the end of cooking, just before serving. Other recipes use the rendered chorizo oils to sauté the onions at the beginning of the recipe. Either option sounds delicious.
• For a more carnitas-like treat, after step 5 fry the meat in a bit of oil until the edges crisp, then mix with the sauce and serve. 
• Use a slow-cooker to make this a fix-it-and-forget-it recipe: slow-cook on high for 6+ hours, and you can hold on the “keep warm” function for another 4 or more hours. This would be a useful game day feature when schedules are unpredictable.

Christmas Cioppino

I have childhood memories of Christmas Eve suppers with Mom’s homemade soup, usually a vegetable beef blend, simmered slowly on the stove and accompanied by fragrant loaves of white bread, still warm from the oven. Decades later I continue the family soup and bread supper tradition, but now we enjoy a NorthWest cioppino with crusty sourdough loaves. I tried to follow tradition for Christmas Eve 2012, but life got in the way.

On the morning of the 24th I made an early-morning run to my favorite seafood market, Mutual Fish, at least I thought it was early. Customers must have lined up very early that morning, long before the usual 8:30 opening. As I pulled plastic tag number 54 to mark my place in line, tag number 4 was called – and Mutual had run through an entire set of 100 tags once already prior to this round! The minutes flew by as I hung out, made new friends, compared recipes with strangers, and marveled at the patience and good cheer shown by everyone in that crowded market. Finally it was my turn at the counter. Soon small packages of cod, shrimp, crab, scallops, calamari and clams went into a sack and traveled home in my cooler. The seafood went directly into the refrigerator and I went directly to bed... damned flu bug! I should be recovering, not relapsing. Niece H phoned to report her last-minute call out on a 3-day trip, and our Christmas Eve supper was officially postponed until later in the week... whenever. 

About that fresh seafood... clams prefer an underwater life, don't like to hang out in the fridge very long, and certainly don't improve with age. So we had a simple supper that night, eating a few clams steamed with wine, diced chorizo, peppers and aromatics. The uneaten clams were scooped from their shells, the broth reserved, and all of the seafood tossed into the freezer until that indefinite later in the week. 

Fast forward to later in the week when H returned home and my flu bug was less pesky. We celebrated being together for the holiday and enjoyed a new recipe for an old favorite, cioppino. Fresh seafood is always the best, but recently-frozen worked out just fine for this holiday.

Christmas 2012 Cioppino

serves 6+

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 onion, chopped

1 sweet red pepper, chopped

1 large leek, halved lengthwise and cut in half-moons

2 teaspoons salt

4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

5 cups fish stock (or use clam broth and chicken stock)

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon each fresh thyme and oregano 

2 pounds manila clams, scrubbed

1.5 pound firm fish fillets (halibut, cod, etc) cut into 2-inch chunks

1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 pound mixed scallops and calamari

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, rough chopped

Dungeness crab meat sauteed in butter  (optional garnish)

Heat the oil in a very large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, red pepper, leek, and salt and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, fish stock, bay leaf, thyme and oregano. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, until the flavors blend, at least 30 minutes. (I like to make the broth a day in advance, then reheat before proceding on.)

Add the clams and to the cooking liquid (or cook the clams separately and add to each bowl before serving.) Cover and cook until the clams begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the fish, shrimp, scallops and calamari. Simmer gently until the seafood is just cooked through, and the clams are completely open, stirring gently, a few minutes longer (discard any clams that do not open). Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes.

Optional topping: melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a small saute pan over medium heat. When bubbling add chunks of Dungeness crab meat or additional prawns and cook briefly. Sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne or pimento if you like.

Ladle the soup into bowls, add the clams if you cooked them separately, sprinkle with the chopped parsley, add a small mound of warmed crab chunks and serve with crusty bread. Add a green salad and a glass of wine and there's a dinner to celebrate any holiday or special event.

Daring Cooks' Pate Chinois

Shepherd's Pie or Cottage Pie: a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2012 Hostess is Andy of Today’s the Day and Today’s the Day I Cook! Andy is sharing with us a traditional French Canadian classic the Paté Chinois, also known as Shepherd’s pie for many of us, and if one dish says comfort food.. this one is it!

I must admit I approached this challenge with caution, reluctant to prepare a dish I have successfully avoided my entire life. It has always reminded me of some oddball Hamburger Helper concoction, and not in a good way. But that's just me. The concept of a meat pie with a potato crust is hardly new, it's been around for centuries. Wikipedia notes:

The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791 when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cf. "cottage" meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers). In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top. The term "shepherd's pie" did not appear until 1877, and since then it has been used synonymously with "cottage pie", regardless of whether the principal ingredient was beef or mutton. More recently, the term "shepherd's pie" has been used when the meat is lamb, the theory being that shepherds are concerned with sheep and not cattle.

These were interesting factoids, and I was especially cheered at the mention of leftover roasted meats. That made it easy to ignore the recommended ground meat preparation and work instead with a favorite recipe for Boozy Beef Stew in Wine Sauce, aka Boeuf Bourguignon. I've already raved about that recipe in a previous DC challenge (link). This choice was an invitation to prepare an extra-large batch of stew and a largish pile of gremolata. We served the stew to friends P and R for dinner earlier this week and still had quarts left to play with. Some mashed potatoes from the same dinner were re-seasoned, piped into mounds similar to Duchess Potatoes (link), and voila! I had a great start on a personalized version of cottage pie.

The short version: 
Using your favorite stew recipe, ladle a generous serving of warm stew meat, vegies and gravy to fill small ramekins. 

Sprinkle a teaspoon of minced flatleaf parsley and lemon zest gremolata over each bowl. 

Whip some sour cream, additional butter and shredded parmesan cheese into warmed "regular" mashed potatoes; fill a bag fitted with a large star-point tip, and pipe the potatoes into circular mounds on a silpat or parchment-covered baking sheet. 

Broil or heat in a 500 F oven until the potatoes brown slightly.  

Cool and place atop each ramekin.
OR you could pipe the potatoes directly onto each stew-filled ramekin, but my potato-piping skills needed developing.
Bake in a hot oven until warmed through (or use a microwave).

The Results: Version One 
The ramekins resembled cute savory cupcakes; an interesting if slightly strange presentation. As usual, the gravy was my favorite part of the dish. It tasted divine and bathed the meat in a silky sauce, keeping it moist and tender through the reheating. Carrots and onions retained their texture, though the mushrooms melted away a bit more than I would have liked. Mixed reviews on the potato topping though: the browned outer edges contrasted nicely with the soft, flavorful interior but the potatoes cried out for more gravy. A side pitcher of gravy will take care of that in the future.

A Second Try:
Fill a small 8"x8" baking dish about two thirds full with the same BoozyBeef Stew with Vegetables and Wine Sauce. Loosely scatter parsley/lemon zest gremolata over the top like edible confetti. Frost the cottage pie in irregular peaks and valleys with cheesy, sour cream mashed potatoes. Heat in a 500 F oven until the potatoes brown slightly. 

The Results: Second Try
The dish looked like lumpy potatoes, nothing more. It was still tasty, but not as attractive or appealing as serving the elements separately in a wide soup bowl. Picture the vivid colors of carrots, parsley and lemon zest plus a snowy mound of potatoes nestled in a pool of mahogany gravy with golden slices of mushroom and richly browned cubes of beef.  I missed that colorful visual when I gazed at my tater-topped cottage pie. 

Conclusions: Pate Chinois/Cottage pie/Shepherd's pie is much tastier than I had imagined. All those years of wrinkled-nose avoidance and rejection were a silly, uninformed response to an unfamiliar dish. Playing with your food is always fun, and I might pipe potato mounds again. Sigh! embracing the dish is another matter; it's still all about the abundance of a great gravy and it's hard to beat the original presentation.