Spanish Beef Stew

This dish of Andrew Zimmern reminds me of Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon!  The flavors are so similar but presented in a different way.  Cooking the beef in red wine gives it a deep rich flavor that is so pleasant in the mouth.

Another good thing about this dish is that you can fix it in the slow cooker and leave to do other stuff!

Ingredients

3 tbsps olive oil

2 pounds cubed beef for stew

3 pieces bacon, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger, grated

1/4 tsp clove

1 tsp sugar

1 c dry red wine

1 c beef stock

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in 1 inch cubes halved & placed in a bowl of cold water

1/2 c dried currants ( I could not find this so I used dried blueberries instead)

1/4 c toasted pine nuts

2 tbsp capers

3 tbsp minced parsley

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 bunch spinach

Salt and pepper

Directions

Cook bacon in a large heavy pot until it becomes slightly crisp.  Remove from the pot and set aside.

Add a third of the beef.  Brown it on all sides and and transfer to a platter.  Repeat with the remaining meat.

Add ginger, onions, garlic, clove, nutmeg and sugar.  Cook for 3 minutes.

Add wine and let it boil for 5 minutes. Add the stock and lower the heat.  Put the beef back and simmer covered for 1 hour.

Add the potatoes and simmer covered for 30 minutes.

When the meat and potatoes are fork tender, remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Stir in the spinach, currants, pine nutes, capers, parsley and vinegar.  Cook until the sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add back the meat and potatoes and cook for another minute or two.

 

Pineapple Pie

Before my mom made her famous apple pies her first fruit pie was pineapple.  Living in a tropical country, pineapples were abundant, not to mention sweet.  Of course she makes everything from scratch which means that she used fresh pineapples, peeled off the thick spiny skin and removed the pineapple "eye" one by one.  It was a laborious job.  But it had it's merits.  It was the best pineapple pie I have ever eaten.

From then on,  I would always ask her to make one but she never did.  It was just that one time.  I can't blame her.  It was too much work.  I know you would ask, "why didn't she use canned pineapples?".  Well that's how my mom made things.  Nothing pre-made, everything from scratch.

So to bring back memories of my childhood, I made a pineapple pie.  But not like my mom, I used the canned kind but unsweetened.  I want to control the sugar that I put in the food I make.

This pie surely brought back memories of my childhood.

Hope you like this recipe and include it in your repertoire (so to speak).

Pie Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon coarse salt

2/3 cup shortening

5-6 tbsp ice water

Filling

1 – 20 ounce can Crushed Pineapple (unsweetened), drained
2/3 Cup White Granulated Sugar (the original recipe called for 1 cup of sugar)
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp cornstach
1 tbsp quick cooking Tapioca
pinch of salt

Topping

Milk
Egg

Directions

We did not have a food processor growing up so this dough recipe is done manually.In a large bowl combine flour and salt. Add the shortening and with a dough cutter/blender "cut in" the mixture until it resembles a coarse meal (to "cut in" means to mix cold fat such as butter with dry ingredients to form small pieces.) Pour in the ice water a tablespoon at a time (the amount of water added would depend on the temperature at the time you are making the dough). If you are using a food processor, just pulse the dough until turns into a crumbly texture. Combine just until the dough holds together in a ball.Divide the dough and two. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. If the dough has been refrigerated in advance, remove 15 minutes before using. The dough can be made and refrigerated for up to 3 days in advance or frozen for up to 6 weeks.Preheat oven to 375F.

When the dough has chilled, remove one disk from the fridge and on a floured surface, quickly roll it out into a circle, 12 inches in diameter. Fit dough into a 9 inch pie plate ( do not stretch dough) and cut the edges that hang over.  Poke the bottom crust with a fork to prevent it from bubbling up when baking.

Bake the dough until slightly brown.

While the bottom crust is baking, combining all the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl.

Pour the filling into baked pie shell.

Get the other dough disk from the refrigerator and place on a floured surface.  Roll the dough into a circle, about 10 inch in diameter.  With a pizza cutter or a knife, cut the dough in 9 equal strips.

Lay 4 strips across the pie, parallel to each other, and evenly spaced.

Fold back every other strip, about half way. Take a strip of dough and lay it right up agains the folded back strips and perpendicular to the strips laying flat. Unfold the strips, so that they lay flat over the new strip.

Repeat this pattern until the lattice is finished. Trim off extra and crimp edges.

Crack an egg and add a tbsp of milk to make an egg wash. Brush the crust with the egg wash.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 40 – 45 minutes until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

This might come as a surprise but, serve it with vanilla ice cream!