French Stew by the Careless Cook

Is this stew really French?  Well, kinda.  I started with what is a French stew, Navarin d’agneau, stewed lamb. But for various reasons, lamb doesn’t suit my tastebuds, so I used pork.  Yes, even the Careless Cook has some peculiarities, even if they are so few you’d barely notice. 

 

But, as my three faithful readers already know and expect, the Careless Cook views a recipe as just a mild suggestion. And besides, in this case I’d guess every French wifey and grandmother (femme et grand-mére) has a cherished recipe, handed down from the last time France won a war.  

 

But in between defeats, one would have to say, they have done well with memorable cuisine.  Which takes me back to the first time I had Fruit de Mer and a snail had the misfortune to try to crawl off my plate. Ever heard a snail scream? Then there’s my stories about the combination of French wine and French women, but I know you’d rather get on to the magnificent recipe.  Me too. Let bygones be bygones.

 

French Stew by the Careless Cook

 

Ingredients

 

2.2 lbs, or so, pork shoulder, fat trimmed, cut in 2-inch cubes
1 tsp salt

2 tbsps sugar
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Herbs if you want. I did not use any.
3 carrots peeled and sliced on a diagonal
1 large onion, peeled and sliced in chunks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 and a half cups red wine
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock. I used vegetable stock.
About 12 - 20 small new potatoes. I used a small bag full.
3 medium golden beets, peeled and cut into fairly large chunks
Jar of pearl onions, drained
2 tbsp butter
A good slosh of olive oil

 

Set the oven to 350 deg.

 

Puttin’ it Together

 

Put olive oil in a Dutch oven (or any large pot with a top) and toss in the chunks of meat. Turn up the heat. Stir until the meat is deeply browned.

 

Toss in the chunks of onions and garlic. Stir until onions are translucent. 

 

Add the salt.

 

Pour in the stock and stir a bit.

 

Add the sugar, potatoes, carrots, beets, and butter.

 

As the potatoes, add the red wine and the pearl onions. 

 

Bring to a boil, cover the Dutch oven and plop it in the oven. Set your timer for an hour and a half.

 

I served the stew with a baguette and a bottle of red wine! No French women were available. Had to settle for the wine.

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Sadly half the page has a white background.  No known way to remove the white background without an engineering degree and sacrificing the will to live.

 

Pork and Apricot Stew from The Careless Cook

 

Pork and Apricot Stew from The Careless Cook

 

As my three loyal readers know, my meal planning usually involves no planning.  Well, except for wine. There will be wine.

 

But, when visions of pork stew began to float through my head, my next step was on the accelerator as I headed to the grocers.  Yes, a big pile of  chopped pork stew meat was first on the mental list.  See, I prefer mental lists because there’s no trouble changing and rearranging things, which came in handy when the grocer had no pork stew meat.

 

I was a man on a mission and a little thing like that was no deterrence for The Careless Cook.  I spotted cubed pork steaks and my fingers twitched.  Then my agile mind pictured dried, but still juicy apricots, which I remembered from days long past. Then one by one the other ingredients (I have thoughtfully included a photo) popped loudly and found their way into my basket.

Time to cook!

 

Ingredients

 

1 ½ pounds of pork, chopped into cubes, or whatever.

1 onion roughly chopped

1 green bell pepper, also chopped      I think we got a rhythm going!

1 package of sliced mushrooms

1 package of sliced carrots

1 large handful of dried apricots

32 ounce carton of chicken broth

A hefty sprinkle of herbes de Provence or herbs of your choosing

Fresh basil leaves for garnish (I sliced some and left some whole)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Putin’ It Together

 

Slosh some olive oil in a large pot and add the pork.  Cook until it loses color, then add the onions and cook until the onions wilt. 

 

Add the remainder of the vegetables, along with the apricots, chicken stock and herbs.  Put a lid on it and bring to a boil.

 

Reduce heat and cook until the vegetables are soft.

 

Serving suggestions:  Serve over rice or couscous.  White wine of choice.  I served my stew with Pinot Gris.

 

Ever thoughtful of my guests, I baked some flat bread.  Recipe below.

 

Note:  If you like your stew thicker, I suggest a mixture of butter and flour.  I added a couple of tablespoons to the stew.

Flat Bread

 

2 cups flour (all purpose or bread flour are both fine)

1 teaspoon yeast (I use the TLAR method….That Looks About Right)

1 teaspoon sugar (TLAR)

olive oil – check the recipe for use

½ teaspoon salt – plus rough salt for sprinkling on top

¾ to 1 cup of very warm water  (How warm?  Not boiling but uncomfortable for your fingertips)

 

Makin’ and Bakin’

 

Add all ingredients to a bowl, except the oil and mix well.  I used a handheld electric mixer, then formed it into two balls.

 

I oiled my palms and coated the balls with oil, placed them back in the bowl, covered the bowl with plastic wrap and put the bowl in a cool oven, with the oven light on.

 

The dough needs to rise about an hour.  Remove from the oven.

 

Heat oven to 450ºF

 

On a floured surface, stretch and flatten the risen dough to about half an inch thick, spray it, or brush it with olive oil and sprinkle on a sparse amount of rough salt.

 

Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven. Bread should be barely browned in spots.  Bake it too long and you can use it for a ping pong paddle.

Slosh some more wine in your guests' glasses.  You won't be sitting long before you hear bellowing cries for more.

Fabulously Easy Pork Stew

I admit it; I’m a lazy cook.  I don’t mind a meal that takes four hours to prepare, as long as I don’t have to be in the kitchen the whole time. I have a lot more important things to do, such as nap and rearrange the wine bottles in the frig, just to name the top two.

Getting to the grocers to fondle fruit and stare at masked invaders counts as a travel adventure. 

Imagine my joyful surprise when I grabbed some sweet onions on sale, finished with the fruit and vegetable aisle, and found in the meat section that pork shoulders were also on sale.  I quickly laid hands on a 4 pounder and heaved it into my cart.  No idea what I was going to do with it, until on aisle 4, I met with another sale! This one a 2 for 1  for this and that canned goods.  I picked up cans of Cuban style black beans and fire roasted tomatoes.

Oh joy!  Oh rapture!  Right away a vision appeared of a quick throw together, and a free afternoon, accompanied by the melodious flow of French café music and glasses of delight wine, while said pork went to work in the oven to provide a heavenly meal.

I hear you and my three faithful readers breathing hard in anticipation of the recipe, but mostly in anticipation of the wine.  Have I failed you yet?  Mais non, mes amis!

Fabulously Easy Pork Stew

Ingredients…almost too few to mention!  

4 pound pork shoulder

1 can Cuban style black beans

1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 sweet onion, diced

3 cups chicken broth (if you want it soupier, add more later)

1 tablespoon garlic powder 

Salt, pepper

Oven to 275ºF (135 ºC)

Cheese and green onion biscuits, and pickled red onions to accompany.  Recipes for these at the bottom of the page.  NOTE: Pickled red onions will need to be made a minimum of two hours before serving, or a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator.

Heat the baking oven!

Add the diced onions to a Dutch oven and add a bit of oil and lightly sauté.

For the roast, salt and pepper the pork, then slice it in four thick pieces and sprinkle on garlic powder. 

Put the pork in the Dutch oven with the sautéed onions, add the whole contents of the cans of beans and tomatoes. Cover and put in the oven for 3 hours.  (A perfect time to make your pickled red onions.) 

At the end of 3 hours, check for doneness.  The pork should pull apart easily, but if not, raise the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), recover and roast for another hour.  Don’t worry about the time too much, just test the pork!

When the pork is cooked to your satisfaction, take the pieces out, remove the fat, and chop.  Skim off fat from the cooked stew and add the meat back.  Your supper is ready to surprise those who doubted your abilities in the kitchen, and who are already salivating.

Top their bowls of stew with pickled red onions and serve with cheese and green onion biscuits.

Pickled Red Onions

2 red onions, peeled and sliced thinly

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons sea salt

3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

1 tablespoon mixed peppercorns

1 quart jar

Put the sliced onions in the jar, add the peppercorns and garlic.  Heat the vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a sauce pan, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve.  Pour the mixture over the onion et al in the jar. Do not put on the lid until the mixture has cooled somewhat. Let it sit for at least 2 hours or store it in the frig.

Cheese and Green Onion Biscuits.

2 cups flour (or use 3 cups gluten free flour)

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons baking powder

6 teaspoons butter, but in small chunks

1 cup or more of your favorite cheese

3 green onions chopped

1 cup milk

I use my food processor.  Add all but the milk to the food processor to mix.  Well mixed? Add the milk and mix again until the dough sticks to the sides.

Flour a surface and roll out the dough to about a thumb width thickness.  Cut into squares or rounds and bake at 450ºF (230ºC) for 12 minutes.

Have you ever cut the lawn with barber’s scissors?  I find it creatively rewarding.  You can make wonderful designs, although it may disturb the neighbors. But, I thought their lawn looked great.  Also, don’t forget the fun of re-fluffing the clothes in the dryer.  Is it against the law to drink Jameson with your morning coffee?  What if you’re at Starbucks?  Just asking.

Low Carb Curried Pork Stew

A couple of things you should know about me.  Don’t care to know? Fine!  Skip down to the semi-fabulous recipe that can cook while you’re off to visit your busy day and still feed your ungrateful family who has no idea how hard you work and all the things you do for them daily.

But, enough about you.  Let’s get back to me and the things you should know.  I love to cook…scratch that…I love to empress people with my cooking.  I only invite people who are exuberantly thrilled to be impressed.  I am also lazy…well not really lazy….ok, really lazy.  I like to work at a frenzy, then casually sip a wine or three with my freeloading friends, while the spectacularly delicious meal takes care of itself.  Lots of ways to do that and one of my favorites goes under the unremarkable heading of stew.

In my never ending search for the unremarkably remarkable, I chanced upon a stew recipe that with just a bit of tweaking could turn a suburbanite’s common Mustang into a fire-spitting Shelby Cobra.  I know, I know.  Mixed metaphors.  First cooking, then screaming sports cars.  But, that fire-spitting Shelby Cobra sticks In your mind, n’est pas?  Mission Accomplished!

On to the recipe.

Low Carb Curried Pork Stew

Hint:  If you’re getting an early morning start, cook this stew the night before.

Pre-heat your oven to 275ºF (140ºC)

1 Pound (or a bit more) of either cooked, or raw pork.  I used some of each.

3 cloves of fresh garlic, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste or about ½ teaspoon each

6 Ounces button mushrooms, washed and quartered

½ Medium onion, diced

½ Red bell pepper, sliced

½ Green bell pepper, sliced

1 Large parsnip, julienned

4 Tablespoons of your favorite concentrated curry paste.  I use Patak’s.

1 Can (about 1 ½ to 2 Cups) double strength beef broth, undiluted

2 Cups chicken broth

Juice of ½ Lime to finish

Puttin’ It All Together:

If you’re using raw pork, drop a tablespoon or two of oil in a frying pan and lightly brown the meat, adding salt and pepper.  Don’t worry about the pork not cooking completely!  The stew will be in the oven a few hours.

Put the vegetables in a large skillet and lightly cook them.  This reduces the water in the vegetables and intensifies the flavor. 

In your stew pot, put a bit of oil and the minced onions and garlic slices. Cook until they wilt.  Add all the pork and stir.

Add the beef and chicken broths and bring to a boil.  Add the curry paste and stir well.  Add the vegetables.

Put a top on your stew pot, slip it into the 275ºF (140ºC) oven and go do something else for three hours.

When the stew comes out of the oven, taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Squeeze the juice of half a lime over the stew and stir.

Ladle the stew into bowls and serve with a slice of lime.

This stew goes well with either swilling a beer, or sipping a Pinot Grigio!