Mushroom and Cherry Beef Stew

With the arrival of a new year, I have been reflecting a lot. I am coming up on the first anniversary of owning the store, soon it will be two years since we moved to the Valley and 2015 has always hovered in the distant future as the year my youngest, Isaac, graduates from high school. And now it’s 2015. Whew! These past couple of years have been a journey and we are still in the midst of it. I’m excited to see what discoveries this year will bring.

For now, though, I want to share a winter stew with you. This is one I’ve been making for years and I can’t believe I haven’t shared it yet. While it’s fun to try new recipes, having a repertoire of tried and true staples is important. It’s comforting to create a familiar dish, to slip into the quiet rhythm of cooking and relax. This gives me time to ponder the recurring theme of “how did I get to this stage of parenting so quickly?” while I cube beef and slice onions.

This beef stew is a little different than more traditional stews with potatoes and carrots. Chunks of beef are simmered in red wine and beef broth along with earthy mushrooms, tart dried cherries, cinnamon and allspice. As the stew cooks, the cozy scent of warm, fragrant spices fills the kitchen.

Recently I learned about making beef bone broth and what a revelation! Instead of cooking the bones for an hour or two as I had done in the past, the bones are first roasted and then simmered for twelve to eighteen hours, yielding the richest, most nutrient-dense broth possible. After chilling the broth, I skim the fat and save it for cooking and then freeze the broth in jars. If you have access to homemade bone broth, please use it in this stew.

After cooking for a few hours, the beef is meltingly tender and it’s hard to stop taking little tastes. Like most stews, the flavor improves as it sits and is even better if you prepare it a day ahead (making it a terrific dish for guests). I find that cooking and eating a familiar dish like this one grounds me and is a constant during this time of transition. I’m happy to settle in with a savory bowl and just be.

Mushroom and Cherry Beef Stew
Serves 6-8
Adapted from Simply Classic by Kay Baxter and Lucy Bauer Footlik

3 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 tablespoons rice flour (can also use all-purpose flour)
1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon allspice
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil or beef fat
2 medium onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
4 ounces dried tart cherries
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup good quality beef broth
1 pound mushrooms, quartered

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, salt, allspice, cinnamon and pepper in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the beef cubes and gently toss to coat them. Add a tablespoon of fat or oil to a Dutch oven and heat it over medium-high heat. Add a 1/3 of the beef and brown it on all sides (about 5 minutes). Remove it to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining meat in two batches, adding a tablespoon of oil each time.

Reduce the heat, add the remaining oil, onions and cherries. Cook until the onions are soft and beginning to brown. Stir often and mix in the sugar, vinegar, wine, broth and mushrooms. Return the beef to the Dutch oven and mix everything together. Cover the Dutch oven and bake for 2 ½ hours, until the beef is very tender. Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes to thicken the stew a little. If it seems a bit dry you can add a bit of broth or red wine, but I haven’t had this happen. Using a wooden spoon, gently mash some of the beef chunks against the side of the pan and stir in. Taste for salt and set aside to cool. If serving that day, you can reheat the stew covered in the oven or over low heat on the stove top. Or, cover and refrigerate it until ready to serve. Reheat it (covered) in a low oven or on low heat on the stove top.

Chocolate Cherry Granola

We had our first snowfall of the season last week! We woke up to the hush of snow-blanketed ground and it was just beautiful. Of course, it also meant the chickens’ water was frozen so I needed to get one of those warmers to put their water container on, and Bob hung a heating light in their coop so they can be toasty warm for the winter months. We’re still adapting to living full-time in the valley!

One of our dogs, Boots, found the warmest spot in the cabin to spend her day. I think she’ll be spending a lot of time there!

The snow was a reminder that winter is nearing and, since we could easily be snowed in for days at a time, I’ve been filling our shed shelves with staples such as beans and grains for those snowy days we can’t make it out.

It’s also time to start thinking about holiday gifts, especially since Hanukkah begins the night before Thanksgiving this year. I like to give (and receive!) homemade gifts, and a jar of granola tied with a festive ribbon is always welcome. Granola is also something that can be made with those pantry staples, so I plan to keep a jar ready on the counter all season.

I’ve made many batches of my Blueberry Maple Granola, but this last time decided to mix it up a bit and made a chocolate version. I stirred together honey, coconut oil, vanilla, cocoa powder and a big pinch of flaky sea salt before mixing in oats, cacao nibs and chia seeds. After baking, a handful of dried cherries finished it off.

A scoop of chocolate granola is hard to resist for breakfast and I don’t expect it to last long. We’re expecting more snow this weekend so I may be making another batch soon!

Chocolate Cherry Granola
Makes about 4 cups

1/3 cup raw honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the honey, coconut oil, vanilla and cocoa powder until smooth. Add the chia seeds, cacao nibs and salt and mix in. Gently fold in the oats until just coated. Spread the mixture out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake the granola for 9 minutes, stir the edges to keep from burning bake for another 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Stir in the dried cherries and store the granola in a sealed container at room temperature.

Our Persian-Inspired House Haroset

Spring has arrived, and in celebration I brought home tulips today and painted my toes pink. Between the pouring rain and lashing wind, though, it’s not feeling particularly spring-like yet, but once I start thinking of the balmy days ahead there’s no stopping me.

Having Passover fall in March this year is creating a bit of a scramble as I scrub the kitchen and clear out all the hametz (leavened items like pasta and bread). Fortunately, I also get to plan the seder menu which is so much more fun! A seder is the traditional Passover dinner that celebrates the ancient Israelites’ journey from slavery to freedom. I also get to dust off my seder plate, which is used to hold symbolic foods during the seder. I love our seder plate! Bob and I brought it home from a pottery co-op in Jerusalem back in 1994, where we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary. Such special memories.

I keep a Passover file with each year’s notes, suggestions and recipes I want to try. Once it’s all spread out over the dining room table, I get out my pen and notepad and start planning.  We have eight days of eating unleavened foods (including matzah roca!), which leads to some creative cooking that I truly enjoy.

One of the symbolic foods we put on the seder plate is haroset. Haroset is typically made of fruit and nuts mixed with wine and spread on matzah to eat. The chunky mixture represents the mortar that the Israelite slaves used when in Egypt. Haroset is made with a quick blitz in the food processor or you can crunch it together with a mortar and pestle. The most familiar version is made with chopped apples, walnuts and sweet wine.

There are many different harosets reflecting different Jewish cultures. Suriname, Egypt, Yemen and Turkey are just a few – you can take a trip around the world just eating haroset! Each year, I like to do a haroset tasting and sample some different flavor combinations. There’s one haroset that’s always on our menu, though, and it’s this one: our house haroset.

I discovered this Persian-inspired recipe almost twenty years ago, when Joan Nathan’s book Jewish Cooking in America was first published. It includes strawberries, dates and bananas in addition to apples and nuts. Sweet, spicy, soft and crunchy ... let’s just say it was love at first taste! I’ve changed a few ingredients and spiced it up a bit over the years and it’s become a family tradition.

Some of my favorite times volunteering in my sons’ Jewish elementary school were when I taught each of their classes to make this haroset. I roughly chopped up dates, strawberries, bananas and apples and let the students scoop the ingredients into small bowls and sprinkle on cinnamon and a splash of cherry juice. Then their little hands got busy pounding away with wooden spoons to create a chunky paste. We slathered the haroset on matzah and happily snacked away.

Haroset
Adapted from Jewish Cooking in America
By Joan Nathan
Makes about 4 cups

1 cup pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped
1 cup raw almonds, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
1 cup dried, unsweetened cherries
10 ounces strawberries, stems removed and cut in half
1 medium banana, peeled and chopped
1 medium apple, cored and chopped (I use Granny Smith)
6 ounces dates, pitted and sliced in half
2 tablespoons cherry juice (I used dark cherry concentrate) or pomegranate juice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional, provides a little kick)
Matzah or crackers for serving

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the mixture until a chunky paste is formed. Spoon the haroset into a bowl to serve alongside matzah. It can be made a few hours ahead and kept covered in the fridge.

Haroset also makes a marvelous breakfast when spread on matzah (or toast) with some cream cheese.