Red Wine Beef Stew

 
The Holiday season this year was just what I'd hoped for: lots of quality time with friends and family, and just enough relaxation and time to myself at the end that I feel rejuvenated and ready to go back to work/school tomorrow.  The Christmas festivities began the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I had the house to myself, Carsten was at the hospital working hard.  I turned on the Christmas music and pulled the Christmas boxes out of the attic.  I sang along and decorated the house to my hearts content - taking a break only to head out a buy a few more things.  Maybe next year we'll get our first Christmas tree, but this year I decided to fill my house with poinsettias instead - a little trick I learned from my mother-in-law.  A fast and easy way to bring the feeling of Christmas into the house without the hassle of a tree.  But don't get me wrong, I love Christmas trees.  Love them.  Next year, hopefully.  I also bought - don't hate me for this - pine cones.  I know, I should be ashamed, especially as an Oregonian.  And I was.  Knowing how many times I've tripped over pine cones on my runs, it felt utterly stupid to be paying for a little bundle of them.  But I wanted them to decorate with, and I wanted them then.  *sigh*  forgive me.

Needless to say, my home soon felt and smelled like Christmas, and I was eager to fill my house with friends.  The last week of school, we had a Christmas dinner party with my classmates.  I prepared a delicious lentil stew (with homemade chicken stock) and a mouth-watering red wine beef stew.  My first beef stew ever.  I was a little nervous, as a bad beef stew can be pretty awful, so I read through many recipes until I came up with a combination of a few recipes that I thought would be good.  At the end of the night, the pot was scraped clean, so I'll count this one as a success.  Unfortunately, I only remembered to snap one picture, and it was long before the stew was completed.

I also made a delicious gingerbread cake (recipe here) and a scrumptious maple whipped cream topping (recipe here), and garnished it with pomegranate seeds.  Dessert was just as appreciated as the stews - but I forgot to take any pictures :(

Ingredients
2 lbs stew beef, but into 1-inch chunks

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 3 tablespoon + more if you need it olive oil 1 medium-sized chopped yellow onion 4 medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped 2 large yams (sweet potatoes), washed and chopped 4 clove garlic, crushed 1 handful of fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons of dried 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 12-14 ounces of red wine, something you would drink 1 cup low sodium beef stock (I only had vegetable and used that) 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - See more at: http://kneadtocook.com/slow-roasted-beef-stew/#sthash.7DVTItgE.dpuf

3 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3+ Tbs olive oil (more as needed)
1 medium sweet onion
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 lb potatoes, peeled and chopped (about 4 medium)
3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 cups red wine (something you would drink - it's nice to have an extra bottle to drink with the meal)
1-2 cups low sodium beef stock
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Procedure
place beef pieces in a colander and rinse with cold water.  Pat dry with paper towels.  In a large ziploc bag, combine flour, salt, paprika, and black pepper.  Shake to mix, then add the beef pieces.  Shake to evenly coat all the meat.
Meanwhile, heat 3 Tbs olive oil in a Dutch oven on the stove over medium heat.  If you don't have a Dutch oven, you'll need a heavy bottom stew pot.  When the oil is nice and hot, but not quite smoking, carefully add a layer of beef - you'll need to work in batches.  Brown the beef on all sides, then remove and set on a plate lined with paper towels.  Once all of the meat is browned, you'll have a tick brown crust on the bottom of your pan.  That's where all the flavor is!  To keep all this good flavor in, add the apple cider vinegar to the pot, and scrape the botton until all little brown bits are loose.  Be careful of the steam!
Add the meat back into the pot, along with all the other ingredients (using just 1 cup of beef stock).  Stir and reduce the heat to low.  Let the stew cook for 2.5-4 hours, stirring frequently to prevent burning.  Check the liquid level periodically, adding more stock or wine as need be.  The meat should be falling apart and the vegetables tender.

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3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 3 tablespoon + more if you need it olive oil 1 medium-sized chopped yellow onion 4 medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped 2 large yams (sweet potatoes), washed and chopped 4 clove garlic, crushed 1 handful of fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons of dried 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 12-14 ounces of red wine, something you would drink 1 cup low sodium beef stock (I only had vegetable and used that) 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - See more at: http://kneadtocook.com/slow-roasted-beef-stew/#sthash.7DVTItgE.dpuf

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 3 tablespoon + more if you need it olive oil 1 medium-sized chopped yellow onion 4 medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped 2 large yams (sweet potatoes), washed and chopped 4 clove garlic, crushed 1 handful of fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons of dried 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 12-14 ounces of red wine, something you would drink 1 cup low sodium beef stock (I only had vegetable and used that) 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - See more at: http://kneadtocook.com/slow-roasted-beef-stew/#sthash.7DVTItgE.dpuf

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream

A friend form school turned 30.  Time for a celebration, am I right?  So I started planning a fun dinner party.  First things first - get the house ready.  Having people over is the best way to get myself to give the house a good cleaning.  And this time my house (all of it by my bedroom and the eagle's nest) got a good deep cleaning.  Carsten and I also took a self-guided tour through the garden section of Home Depot, and picked out some new plants for the back yard.  So the back patio got a makeover and the house got a face lift.  Thank you Parker for turning 30!

I asked the birthday boy what kind of cake he wanted, and he requested a carrot cake.  I was so excited, because I'd recently found a carrot cake recipe that looked amazing.  I had been trying to learn how to frost a cake properly for Carsten's birthday, and found this great video tutorial on BraveTart.  The cake she uses in the video is the most delicious looking carrot cake I've ever seen, so I decided to use her recipe, substituting walnuts for her pecans or pistachios, and allspice for her mace.  I also meant to add raisins, (because every carrot cake should have raisins!) but alas, I forgot.  I also used the BraveTart recipe for Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting, but ran into some troubles...

I've made Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting three times before this (three times in the last 4 months), and have never had any problems, so I didn't even think that there might be an issue.  Usually, you make the meringue, then whip in the butter.  Sometimes it gets a little soupy (if the meringue is a bit too warm), but it always seizes up and turns into the perfect thick frosting texture.  However, something about adding part cream cheese instead of butter messed it up.  It first turned lumpy (my fault - I probably didn't let the cream cheese come completely to room temperature before adding it), then soupy.  And it stayed soupy no matter how long I whipped it.  I didn't want to give up on it.  It was a whole pound of butter, an entire pound of cream cheese, and ten egg whites.  I couldn't let it go.  I probably continued to whip it for 30 minutes, hoping that it would magically transform.  But it didn't.  So I began scouring the internet for solutions.  I found someone who had done the exact same thing as me, and had come up with a solution.  Her advice (Briana's Kitchen) was perfect.  Her solution was to take a small batch of successful butter cream frosting, and slowly whip in a little of the soupy cream cheese mess at a time.  It worked.  I made a new half batch of plain Swiss meringue butter cream, which turned out perfectly (thank the Lord!!), and slowly added a 1/4 cup of the cream cheese soupy frosting at a time.  After each addition, I waited until it was fully incorporated to make sure that the frosting was holding it's perfect texture.  I ended up adding over 3/4 of the original mixture.  Not quite all of it, because I didn't want to push my luck.  And because I now had PLENTY of frosting.  Fortunately, I'm told this frosting freezes beautifully, so I saved all the leftover and will use it later :)

All that to say, if you're going to make this cake and this frosting for a party, just give yourself plenty of time.  I made the cake the night before, wrapped each layer tightly in plastic wrap and stored them in the fridge.  The frosting I made the day of (recommended), but thank goodness I had plenty of hours to spare!

Credit: I found the cake recipe here, and the frosting recipe here. 

For the Cake (adapted slightly from BraveTart):
Ingredients
16 oz unsalted butter
14 oz sugar
7 oz brown sugar
1 Tbs baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tsp ginger
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
6 eggs
16 oz whole wheat flour, sifted
1 Tbs vanilla extract
32 oz carrots, peeled, trimmed, and shredded
16 oz walnut pieces, lightly toasted
(If I had remembered, I would have added about 1 cup of raisins)


Procedure
Preheat the oven to 350° and line three 9” cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly grease them and set aside.
In a small pot, melt the butter over low heat. Once it has melted completely , turn up the heat to medium. The mixture will begin to bubble, possibly spit, and make a bit of noise. You’ll notice brown bits forming on the bottom of the pot. When the butter stops bubbling and goes completely silent, you’re done. Set the butter aside to cool.
Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, spices and eggs. Whip on medium to medium high speed until light and fluffy, about five minutes.  (I should have taken a picture at this point.  It was beautiful!  I set the timer and let it whip for five minutes, I'm glad I did, because otherwise I probably would have stopped way too soon).
Reduce the speed to medium low and with the mixer still running, slowly drizzle in the brown butter, making sure to include all of the browned bits from the bottom. Add the vanilla next, then reduce the speed to low and add in the sifted (important!) whole wheat flour all at once. Mix until just incorporated.
Shut off the mixer and use a rubber spatula to fold in the nuts and shredded carrots (and raisins if you so choose).
Measure 32 ounces of batter into each 9” cake pan (or about 3 ounces into each cupcake liner if you're making cup cakes). Bake about 25-30 minutes for cake or 15 minutes for cupcakes, or until the cakes have puffed and lightly browned. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out with very few to no crumbs stuck to it.
NOTE: I found a secret to baking perfectly flat cakes, that rarely need to be leveled before frosting!  Cut strips of towel (I cut them about 4 inches wide, and doubled them over to be extra thick).  Saturate the towels in water, and lightly squeeze out water, just so that the towel strips aren't dripping.  Tightly wrap the towel strips around the cake pans.  I used safety pins to secure the strips.  The more evenly the pan is surrounded, the flatter the cake.
Allow cakes to cool about 10 minutes before removing them from the pan.  Once completely cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the cake.

For the Frosting (adapted out of necessesity from BraveTart, using help from Briana's Kitchen):
Ingredients
10 oz egg whites (about 10 egg whites, it’s okay to go a tad over)
10 oz sugar
1/2 tsp  salt
the scrapings from 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp ground vanilla bean (I use this)
1 lb unsalted butter, cut into 2" chunks and softened to a spreadable state
1 lb cream cheese, cut into 2" chunks and softened to a room temperature
Juice of 1 lemon
AND If need be...
5 oz egg whites (about 5 egg whites)
5 oz sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb unsalted butter, cut into 2" chunks and softened to a spreadable state

Procedure
Combine the egg whites, sugar, salt, and vanilla bean together in an clean metal bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of water and turn the heat to medium low. You don’t need the water to even simmer, you just want it hot enough to steam, since steam is what actually heats the whites.
Whisk frequently to prevent the eggs from cooking on the sides. Aim to get the mixture to 145° for food safety reasons, I just used a candy thermometer.
When the mixture is sufficiently hot, remove from the heat.  If using a stand mixer, wipe the condensation off of the bottom of the bowl (to prevent any water from getting into the egg whites), and transfer mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer. Use the whisk attachment to whip on medium high speed until the mixture has doubled in volume and turned snowy white. Continue whipping until the meringue is cool. Use your hands to feel the bowl itself, rather than simply testing the temperature of the meringue. You want it to feel perfectly cool to the touch with no trace of warmth. Note: if you are using a glass or ceramic bowl, even if the meringue has cooled, the bowl itself may still be quite warm and continue conducting heat into the buttercream over time. If you are using a glass or ceramic bowl, transfer the meringue to a new bowl before proceeding or continue mixing until the bowl itself is cool.
Turn the mixer down to medium-low and begin adding in the butter, one chunk at a time. If you didn’t let your meringue cool enough, this is when you’ll really regret it. By the time you’ve added all the butter, you may need to scrape down the bowl to fully incorporate any butter or meringue that’s stuck at the sides.  Then add the cream cheese one chunk at a time.  Continue whipping until the mixture is smooth.  Whip in the lemon juice.  If you're lucky - unlike me - the frosting will become the perfect thick texture of a Swiss meringue buttercream.  If, on the other hand, it turns to a soupy mess and doesn't thicken after 15 minutes of whipping, transfer the soupy mixture to another bowl, and set aside.  Use the remaining ingredients to make another half batch of regular Swiss meringue butter cream.  Once you've completed the procedure and have a perfect frosting, continue whipping on medium speed and start adding the soupy mixture a 1/4 cup at a time.  Let the soupy mixture fully incorporate after each addition.  Continue adding the soupy mixture, paying close attention to the thickness of the frosting.  I stopped when I had added a little over 3/4 of the soupy mixture, but you might be able to add it all without compromising the thickness.  You're finally done!  You should use it to frost your cake right away.  Any leftover frosting can be frozen for later use (just thaw in the fridge, and whip again before using).

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Carrot Cake

Ingredients for Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup chopped walnuts

Ingredients for Frosting
16 oz cream cheese, softened (fat free is ok)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
food coloring
1 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup sugar

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch cake pans. Line with parchment paper and re-grease. Combine sugar, flour, salt, oil, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and allspice in a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Add in eggs one at a time. Stir in carrots and walnuts. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30-40 minutes or until tester comes out clean and cake has pulled away from sides of pan. Let cool in pan for ten minutes. For frosting, combine cream cheese, butter, food coloring and powdered sugar. In a separate bowl combine carrot and sugar. Assemble cake.



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Adapted from allrecipe's recipes