Good morning, reading-cooking-dining friends. I just smashed a disappointing pumpkin over the porch railing and down the hill at our house. It was rotten to the core, and it's a long time until Halloween. And that raises the question: What does one do with pumpkins after they are decoration if they are still healthy and whole? Last week we ended with a request for pumpkin recipes; this week we will refine that request to fresh pumpkin recipes.
STEW GIVE AND TAKE
G.W.S. of Snellville, Georgia, visiting in Chattanooga, hopes you will give her a variety of recipes for stew. To prime the pump, she sent you a copy of her first attempt, hoping you will provide her second, third and then some. This originated in allrecipes.com.
Jane HenegarBeef Stew With Beer and Paprika
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 pounds stew meat
1 whole medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (12 ounces) beer
4 cups beef stock (or 4 cups water plus 4 beef bouillon cubes)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups water (more if needed)
4 whole carrots, washed, unpeeled and roughly sliced
4 whole new potatoes, quartered
Minced parsley (optional)
Heat oil and butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown meat in two batches, setting aside on a plate when brown. Cut pieces in half. Set aside.
Add diced onions to the pot. Stir and cook for 2 or 3 minutes until softened, then add garlic for another minute. Pour in beer and beef stock, then add Worcestershire, tomato paste, paprika, salt, pepper and sugar. Add beef back into the pot. Stir to combine. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Note: The liquid should cook down to a thicker state. If it gets too thick/reduces too much, add additional water as needed.
Add carrots and potatoes, then cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes. (If stew gets dry, just add a cup of hot water at a time to replenish the liquid.) Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Serve in bowls next to crusty French bread. Sprinkle with minced parsley, if desired.
BREAD BITS
Mr. and Mrs. Sunday weighed in on the weighty and wonderful topic of bread.
"Our 'look here first' site for baking is King Arthur. It started out as a simple flour mill in 1790 (yes, the year after the Constitution was agreed to) and has evolved to a web-based catalog store to serve all your baking needs. They have over a dozen gluten-free mixes, specialty salts and sugars, cookware (e.g. hot dog buns, Bundt cupcakes), recipes, a help line, yeasts and more.
"Speaking of yeasts, here's the link: https://kingarthurflour.com/shop/ingredients/yeasts, and you can buy fresh starter (yes, with instructions) and dried starter. Elsewhere on the site you'll find an additive to make your recipe taste like sourdough.
"Buy something and they send you catalogs that will make you hungry. At the bottom of every web page there's a link to just request a catalog."
SALMON SUGGESTIONS
We all know that salmon is a mighty healthy main dish. To increase the benefit, here's an idea from Valerie Bowers. "When I saw the request for foil-baked salmon, my first thought was 'oh no.' It's so much healthier to bake in unbleached chlorine- free parchment paper like the If You Care brand available at Earth Fare and many other grocery stores around town. In fact, Salmon en Papillote is a French classic. Do you think your reader would like a recipe using that instead of something that leaches aluminum into her fresh meals?"
Yes, indeed, that is a welcome idea.
To clarify her point: Some safety issues have been raised about aluminum foil and cookware leaching the element into food, but aluminum is not classified as a carcinogen, and research suggests that the amounts normally ingested through food, drinking water and pharmaceuticals are easily passed through the digestive system. That said, Food Nework's Healthy Eats website advises that if you are concerned about your intake, you can reserve foil for food storage instead of cooking.
This recipe takes the no-worries route by substituting parchment paper for foil. Though it calls for green onions and fresh asparagus along with the requested lemon slices and olive oil, a creative cook might just play with substitutions. That same cook might be happy with this recipe exactly as given.
Carly's Salmon en Papillote (in Paper)
This is moist, delicious, almost foolproof salmon. This salmon is wrapped in parchment paper and steamed in the oven. No fishy taste in your mouth, no fishy smell in your house. Just a delicious meal.
4 (4-ounce) salmon fillets
1 lemon, juice only
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 (12- by 18-inch) pieces of parchment paper
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
8 spears fresh asparagus, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
4 teaspoons olive oil
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Rinse salmon fillets in cold water, place on a plate and squeeze a lemon over the salmon. Sprinkle fillets with salt and black pepper.
Fold a piece of parchment paper in half crosswise, and center a salmon fillet on one side of the paper. Place 1 or 2 lemon slices on top of the salmon, and surround with 2 cut-up asparagus spears. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of green onion over the lemon slices, and fold the parchment paper over the salmon. Fold the edges of the paper over several times, all around the open edges, to seal the salmon into a parchment paper envelope. (Do not tape the parchment paper closed.) Place the sealed envelopes onto a baking sheet, and brush the tops of each packet with about 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
Bake in the preheated oven until the asparagus is tender and the salmon is opaque and slightly flaky, 20 to 25 minutes. To serve, place a packet onto a plate, and cut open the paper to release the aroma.
JUST A DASH
Tomorrow night in a certain local home will be like all others. Thursday is Spaghetti Night. "There are no decisions to make on Thursday, and when there are leftovers, they get put into a spaghetti casserole and frozen for another Thursday. But there are seldom leftovers."
In the same family, Sunday is Cereal Night and Saturday is Hamburger Night. That is one smart cook, or in the case of Sunday, one smart no-cook. These simple hints to make life easier are always welcome. And you are always welcome, as reader or contributor. Next Wednesday?
REQUESTS
» Fresh pumpkin recipes
» A variety of stews
TO REACH US
Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send.
Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750
E-mail: chattfare@gmail.com