Belgian beer braised mushroom stew with fries (a stoofvlees variant)

I am in a food coma. I have a Duvel in my hand and a belly full of rumbly digestive noises. When I tell my Belgian friends that I'm going to make stoofvlees (a Belgian beef stew that uses a dark Belgian beer as the braising liquid) vegetarian they shudder with thoughts of "who the heck does this American think she is?" and "can it be done?" and "can i come over and try it and prove you wrong?"

The answers: she thinks she's awesome; yes and, yes and no. I had imagined using mushrooms the first time I viewed Jeroen Meus's version on Dagelijkse Kost. Something to soak up all the butter he uses and that will cook quickly and pair well with fries. This my friends, vrienden, is een echt lekkere vegetarische maaltijd. Now just imagine me saying, "nu we moet een kleine boter toevoegen daarna, ja, echt kleine stuk boter gesmolten." The contenders are a generous mix of mushrooms including bruine parijse, or basically compact and sturdy cremini mushrooms, along with white button mushrooms, diced white onions, lots of fresh herbs, garlic, Chimay blue (or to make it truly Flemish a St. Bernardus 12 or if I may be so bold to suggest a Westvleteren 12, or really any dark Belgian beer in the quadruple style with lots of spicy notes will suffice), mustard smothered bread, and butter - lots of it. I haven't even mentioned the fries yet!

Indeed, I did use a liberal amount of butter, but the resulting sauce is smooth and rich like velvet. The flip side of making this dish vegetarian is that you can make this dish fast on a weeknight, or when pressed for time. It cooks fast, and because it isn't stewing for hours the beer leaves more floral and fruity notes. You can serve it over mashed potatoes, but the hubs and I recently inherited a deep-fat fryer and attempted our first delicious batch of Belgian fries (how does one live in Belgium longer than two years and not get one is beyond me). They turned out golden, hot, crisp, salted to perfection with the proper salt to fry ratio. One naturally picks this up after watching numerous frietkot owners toss and toss and toss those fries.

This is a rich delicious stoofchampignon met frieten, or a braised beer and mushroom stew. Besides, every proper Belgian home has a frietketel or deep-fat fryer.

Beer braised mushroom stew with fries or stoofchampignon met frieten
Stoofvlees zonder vlees met champignons en frieten adapted from Jeroen Meus's Dagelijkse Kost
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
6 tbsp butter, all divided
2 cups white onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 and 1/2 lbs mushrooms such as white button, cremini, and portabello mushrooms (or 350 g brown mushrooms, and 250 g white button mushrooms) wiped clean then quartered and halved.
1/3 cup chopped parsley
dried basil (maybe 1-2 tsp)
1-2 bay leaves
1 clove
1 bottle of Chimay Blue (or St. Bernardus 12, or a Belgian-quadruple style beer)
4-6 slices thin baguette smeared with strong dijon mustard
1/3 cup or more lingonberry jam, or other tart not sweet jam (apple butter is preferred)
lots of salt and pepper to taste
splash white wine vinegar to finish

Directions:

1. Get out two wide pans, preferably one cast-iron. Start melting 2 tbsp of butter over medium-low heat in the non-cast iron one. When it gets hot, add the onions and garlic and cook until they just begin to sweat. Then turn the heat off.
2. In the cast iron pan heat up 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add half the mushrooms being careful not to crowd the pan. When the mushrooms begin to release water add them to the pan with the onions. Repeat with another 2 tbsp of butter.
3. When the mushrooms are all cooked add them to the pan with the onions and turn the heat to medium. Pour the beer into the cast iron pan and let it heat up. Meanwhile, add the parsley, basil, bay leaves, cloves, salt and pepper to the onion pan. Once the beer is bubbling add it to the onion pan. Stir everything together and stir in the lingonberry jam or the apple butter.
4. Slice off 5-7 thin baguette slices (or 2-3 normal sandwich slices) and smother them with a fancy Dijon mustard. Place these on top of the mushroom stew and simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce has thickened up a bit. Alternatively, you can dice up the bread and stir in about 2-3 tbsp of mustard along with the bread. The bread will dissolve into the stew. It's so good.
5. Begin prepping the fries. Check on the mushroom stew often; it will reach it's desired thickness usually within 30 minutes.

Now onto the fries. Belgian fries are fried twice, and are cut thicker. They are fried once at a lower temp resulting in cooking the interior of the fry, and the second time at a higher temp resulting in (the Maillard reaction) the browning of the exterior while keeping the inside nice and soft. First we will fry all the fries at 280º F /140º C. Once they are all done, the temp will be increased to 355º F/180º C. The idea here is to first cook the potatoes until they are just bright yellow, about 5-6 minutes; then cook them a second time, about 5-8 minutes, until they are golden or golden-brown.

Fries or frieten:
Note: Count at least 2 potatoes per person and probably 3 for guys, trust me, everyone scarfs down fries.
4-5 fry potatoes
1 liter of fry oil, or frituurolie; peanut oil is fine
A heavy bottom pan with a thermometer, or a deep-fat fryer

Directions for fries:

1. Peel fry potatoes and cut them into thick sticks about 1/2" or 13 mm. Do not wash them. Any water on the fries will be bad news for hot oil, and it will get rid of the starch which will make the first crispy layer on the fry.
2. Pour 1 L of fry oil (in Belgium there is special oil for the art of frying fries called frituurolie or fry oil) or peanut oil into a deep-fat fryer and heat up to 280º F/140º C.
3. When hot add in the fries being careful not to overcrowd the pan or fryer. Fry about 5-6 minutes or until the fries look golden. Repeat with all the fries. When the fries are done remove them to a heat safe plate lined with paper towels.
4. Turn up the heat on the fryer to 355º F/180º C. When ready, fry the once-fried fries until they are golden-brown and remove. Serve with mayo. I won't judge if you serve with ketchup or mustard.  Toss the fries with salt in a wide bowl, and serve alongside the stoofchampignonsaus. 

Eet smakelijk!

Baked potatoes with lemon, feta, and herbs

Before the holiday break, the hubs and I were invited over for a Christmas party. We ate baked trout that was steamed in foil packets. The seasonings were simple: bay leaves, lemon slices, delicate garlic slices, and olive oil. It was divine. I try not to be judgmental with my vegetarian ways but hot damn that fish was unlike anything that could ever be recreated in the plant kingdom. So sometimes I cheat, but my vegetarian self always wins. I had to recreate those flavors. My idle time is not spent being bored. I got to work.

I use new potatoes, garlic, shallots, lots of fresh chopped parsley, lemon, capers, red kidney beans, generous pours of olive oil and capers. I carefully arrange everything in small cute foil pouches, and then away they go into the oven coming back steaming an hour later. 

Oh heaven. This is vegetarian comfort food. Just in time for Valentine's Day too. I'll cook you this meal if you can come up with a prettier name than what I named it =-). Yes. They are not really cute, the foil gives them a rather industrial appearance, but trust me these are delicious.


Unwrapped baked potatoes








I really wanted to make these last two images an animated gif. I resisted.

Baked potatoes with lemon, feta, and herbs

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 packet of aluminum foil, or enough for 4 10" by 10" squares

4-6 small-medium new potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2" rounds

scant 1 cup fresh chopped parsley, can sub chopped dill
1/3 cup chopped shallots

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 lemon sliced (enough for 1-2 slices in each pouch)

4 bay leaves

1-2 tsp capers (do not rinse them)

1/2 cup feta cheese 

1-2 cups cooked kidney beans (canned beans are fine)

olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 º F; arrange everything on a plate, and then lay out foil squares (10" by 10"). 

2. The order in which the ingredients go don't really matter, although it's probably easiest to start with the potatoes. Pour a bit of olive oil onto the middle of the foil. Place a bay leaf on top and then place about 6 slices of potatoes on top. Top with parsley, shallots, capers, garlic and lemon slices. Arrange feta cheese and beans on top. Pour a generous glug of olive oil over the top, crack some fresh black pepper on top, and then fold into pouches like folding an envelope.

Repeat with the ingredients to make 4 pouches. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for an hour or less. Serve with some warm crusty bread to soak up the juices. 

Picnic Potato Salad

A healthier tastier potato salad.

Now all you need is a nice picnic location, or an invite to a BBQ.

A nice picnic spot with an old abby.

Someone to carry the picnic supplies?

This is a healthy potato salad made out of a yogurt and mustard dressing. It's refreshing and tangy and nothing like the heavy mayonnaise bland potato salads. Start by bringing some water to boil in a large pot. While the water is warming up, scrub, peel, and quarter the potatoes. While the potatoes cook, prep the rest of the ingredients. 

Picnic Potato Salad

Serves: 4 or more

6-8 medium to large potatoes, washed, peeled and quartered into large chunks

salt, about 1 tsp

1/3 cup yogurt (half mayonnaise and half yogurt is fine too)

2-3 tbsp fine Dijon mustard (may want to add to your taste)

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper (or any other color is fine)

2-3 tbsp parsley, chopped fine

2 spring green onions, chopped with about 4" of the greens chopped into chives

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Lightly salt the water with about 1 tsp of salt (I used coarse salt). Covering the pan will make it boil more quickly.

2. Once the water comes to a simmer, or light bubbles form from the bottom to the top in a steady stream, carefully add in quartered potato chunks and turn heat down to medium. Cook 15-20 minutes or until soft. Don't cook the potatoes so long that they fall apart, you don't want boiling water, a light simmer is fine. Turn the heat off once cooked. They can sit in the water until just ready to use.

3. In a small mixing bowl add yogurt through green onions. Stir to combine. Taste to adjust seasoning. Since the potatoes were cooked in salted water, you may not need to add in any extra salt.

4. Drain potatoes in a colander, but before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, such as in a coffee mug or teacup. Place the large pot on a heat-safe surface or on a pot holder.

5. Add the drained potatoes back to the large pot, and place the dressing on top.

6. Carefully mix the potatoes and dressing together. Take a big spatula, and gradually fold the potatoes from bottom to top. If too thick, thin with some of the reserved water. Serve immediately, or place in fridge until ready to serve. Some water may separate from the yogurt, just stir carefully before serving.

Potatoes with Turmeric and Mustard Seeds

I know that after you saw the bittermelon post you couldn't wait for these potatoes! They are a favorite and can really be served with anything. Super simple to prepare, these are always a hit. If you want them spicier top them with chopped jalapeno and cilantro. Sometimes, shredded coconut is also good. Once again, since Indian foods tend to have crazy long ingredient lists, just omit what you don't have (I have listed these as optional).

Potatoes with Turmeric and Mustard Seeds

(Bataka ni Shak)

Serves: 4

2 cups diced new potatoes (peeled; you may want 6-8 potatoes); baking potatoes, such as russets, will fall apart.

1 tbsp peanut oil, or olive oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds (optional)

pinch asafoetida powder or hing (optional)

¾ tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste (probably ½ tsp)

½ cup water

cilantro to garnish

Directions:

1. Heat up the peanut oil or olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat.
2. Once hot, add in mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and asafoetida powder (you'll be making a vaghar). Once mustard seeds start to pop add in potatoes. Stir everything together.
3. Add in turmeric and salt, and stir together. Add in water, and stir.
4. Cover the pan slightly, and cook for 20 minutes. You might need to add in more water. Just keep an eye on it – you don't want the potatoes to stick to the bottom of the pan. Taste for salt. If potatoes pierce easily with a fork, they are cooked. Top with cilantro and serve immediately.  

Alternative: the potatoes can be peeled, cut up and cooked in microwave safe dish along with about 3/4 cup water. You can do the vaghar with the mustard seeds then add cooked potatoes and finish with turmeric and salt. 

Tartiflette for Vegetarians

I have a backlog of blog posts, which means more recipes will be up in the next few days/weeks.  We ate a tartiflette this week. It seemed logical since it has been snowing all week and has been absolutely freezing.

I first tried this dish and my friend, Nico, clued me into what it was. Tartiflette is supposed to be a French dish from the Savoie region, and can be enjoyed after a day of skiing, as Nico has enjoyed on many occasions. I read somewhere that the tartiflette dish was a marketing ploy to increase the sales of reblochon cheese.

I used Raclette cheese (a Swiss cheese), omitted the lardons or bacon, and added spinach. Because I incorrectly recalled the name of the cheese at the cheese shop, I came away with Raclette instead of Reblochon. Simple, but delicious, mistake.

The recipe for this tartiflette came from the French Cooking for Dummies blog, with the substitutions I mention above.


Lightly boiled potatoes are cut up. I leave the skin on the potatoes.


Making layers.


Sauteed onions get topped above a layer of potatoes. Spinach is a nice addition.


Almost ready to hit the oven.


Raclette cheese




Tartiflette ready to go into the oven, topped with green onions and the cream-wine sauce.


Tartiflette out of the oven.

Here is what I did, although I followed the original instructions pretty closely, I did find myself altering it  and have made my adjustments below. Because the bacon would make the dish saltier, you can add in more salt, or pass the salt at the table. I added less cheese, and found it to be tasty enough.

Tartiflette for vegetarians
Yield: 6-8 servings, huge ladleful.


Ingredients:
8-10 small to medium potatoes, scrubbed and washed clean, leave them whole as they will be easier to cut into slices once partially cooked.
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
1 tsp or more smoked paprika, or hot paprika
1 cup fresh cream (creme fraiche)
1 cup dry white wine
3 tbsp green onions with chives, chopped
2 cups washed fresh spinach leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 Reblochon wheel, see below

Now for the cheese, if you find a reblochon wheel, you can slice it in half and put each half (cheese side down) on top of the potatoes once the dish has been layered. Since I had raclette (which is an easily meltable cheese, I cut it into chucks and covered the top). If you cannot find any of these cheeses, I would use a 2 cups of shredded gruyere cheese, because it will also be delicious, although not authentic. Seriously, who cares? You will have an awesome dish either way.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F, and lightly grease a casserole dish.  
2. Boil water in a large pot for the potatoes. Add the potatoes whole and cook until they are soft (about 20-30 minutes). Once cooked, take off the heat and drain. 
3. Meanwhile, heat butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in onions and saute for 5-7 minutes. Stir in paprika and turn off heat. 
4. In a medium bowl combine, cream, green onions, wine and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. 
5. Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them into rounds 1/4" thick. 
6. In a greased casserole dish, layer potatoes, onions and spinach, finishing with potatoes or onions. Pour the cream mixture on top, and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. 
7. Place the cheese on top and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until golden. 
8. Serve with a salad, and pass extra salt and pepper at the table. 

Baked Stuffed Tomatoes with Lemon-Chard Feta Rice

Need a way to consume more vegetables each day? Try this recipe. These baked tomatoes are filled with lemon-chard feta rice, and baked on top of golden potato wedges and red onions.  It takes some prep work and extra baking time, but the outcome is quite delicious.
When I was 14 years old, I began cooking meals for my family. This is the one dish from those years of many failed dishes, that managed to turn out a delicious meal each time (in fact, this is the only dish that I prepared, that my cousins actually ate). I think I used a recipe from a home-ec class, which included milk, eggs, and spinach. Back in the day (early 90’s), baked tomatoes along with platters of steamed veggies used to be the default vegetarian dish on restaurant menus. Baked tomatoes are a nostalgic dish for me - good thing they are delicious!

Small to medium red onions cook quickly when quartered. Cut up the potatoes and onions first. Then prep the tomatoes. Finally, prepare the stuffing.  Use ripe tomatoes.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
4-6 small to medium yellow waxy potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into wedges
3 small red onions, peeled and quartered, leave the ends on
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp capers, rinsed and drained
salt and pepper to taste
4-6 ripe tomatoes, cored and cleaned out, reserve the pulp and seeds
1 recipe lemon-chard feta rice (see note below)
Note: add the reserved tomato pulp and seeds in place of the cherry tomatoes called for in the lemon-chard feta rice recipe.

Directions.
1. Place the potatoes and onions in a casserole dish.
2. Mix together olive oil, capers, salt and pepper and toss with the potatoes and onions.
3. Preheat oven to 375 F.
4. Prepare the lemon-chard feta rice
5. Carefully fill each tomato with about 1/2 cup or more of the lemon-chard feta rice filling.
6. Nestle the tomatoes in between the potatoes and onions, so they don’t fall over.
7. Bake the tomatoes for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes appear wilted and cooked through.
8. Serve the tomatoes along with the potatoes and onions.

Potatoes and onions in a small casserole


Tomatoes



Bright light chards from the container garden (my only successful plant all Belgian summer long)



Baked stuffed tomatoes ready to go in the oven



Sunday lunch out of the oven

Bhrelu shak (stuffed Gujarati vegetables)

Bhrelu shak is a dish of stuffed Gujarati vegetables. These are delicious roasted in a cast iron pan to mimic a hot tava, or they can also be prepared in a microwave or oven. I will provide all cooking options below. This dish is known to be oily, but this recipe uses less oil. Stuffing vegetables should be small potatoes, baby eggplants, and baby squashes if available. Avoid cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower or broccoli.

Ingredients for stuffing:

1 cup gram flour

1/4 cup ground coriander

1/4 cup cumin

1 T garam masala

2 large garlic cloves, crushed

2 T ginger, chopped fine

1 chili, seeded and deveined, and chopped

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, washed and chopped

1 tsp salt

2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp citric acid (lemon juice will make it mushy) you can omit if you don't have.

2 T vegetable oil plus extra for roasting

Directions to prepare stuffing:

1. Combine all of the stuffing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Mix together well. Adjust seasoning if needed.
2. Gram flour can be available at South Asian grocery stores, or substitute garbanzo bean flour (chickpea flour) from a health foods store.

Ingredients for vegetables:

1 cup red new potatoes, scrubbed and scored

8-10 baby eggplants, washed and scored

5-6 baby squashes or 1-2 large squashes

1 sweet potato

Directions:

1. For the baby or small vegetables, score them along one side, and score along the opposite side, so you can stuff the insides with the gram flour mixture.
2. If using regular sized vegetables, just cut them and coat them with the mixture.

Directions for cooking:

Cast iron or tava method:

1. Pour about 1-2 T of vegetable oil in a cast iron pan, and heat over medium heat.
2. Place the stuffed vegetables in a single layer and cook 2-3 minutes per side, until the vegetables are cooked and golden.
3. As they are cooking, add 1-2 tsp of water to the pan so the vegetables don't dry out. You can also add in a little oil as well. It is important to cook the vegetables in a single layer, so they cook evenly.
4. Continue rotating the vegetables to ensure that they get roasted and cooked. This method should take between 25-30 minutes.

Microwave method:

1. Place vegetables in a shallow microwave oven safe dish that has 1-2 T of oil and about 1/2 cup water placed in the bottom of the pan. Place the cover on the dish.
2. Microwave on regular power setting for 2-3 minutes and rotate the vegetables after each cooking cycle.
3. Cook this way for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked thoroughly.

Method for oven:

1. Heat oven to 375 F.
2. Coat baking or roasting pan with liberal amounts of oil (1-2 T) and arrange vegetables in a single layer.
3. Cover the pan with foil to help roasting, and check the vegetables often, about 5-10 minutes. Rotate the vegetables for even cooking and continue to sprinkle oil and water to the cooking dish to help add moisture during the cooking process.
4. Cooking time will be about 35 minutes.