Guinness Lamb Stew with Wild Rice

I know you all think I’m weird because I don’t like soup.  But spooning hot liquid into my mouth (and spilling it down my face, because that’s how I roll) is not my idea of a good time.  I do, however, have a fondness for stew.  Especially stew with beer in it, because beer is a great tenderizer of things.  And because I like beer.

I’ve had this stewing lamb in my freezer for a while and I decided it was probably time I do something about it.

So I took it out, put it on a plate, and patted it dry with a paper towel.

Then, in a bowl, I took a small scoop of flour, added salt and pepper, and gave it a stir.

Into that I hucked the lamb cubes, and gave them a stir as well.

I heated up my trusty cast iron skillet with a few tablespoons olive oil inside.  Then, shaking the excess flour off the lamb, I plopped it in the skillet to brown.

While that was going on I cut up some vegetables: carrots, an onion, and a package of mushrooms.

I didn’t have any potatoes, that classic stew thickener, so I decided to use rice.  This wild rice blend from Trader Joe’s is excellent.

I took the browned lamb cubes out and put them on a plate to rest a few minutes.

Then I added a bit more oil to the pan and chucked in the vegetables, giving the onions a wee bit of a head start in the cooking.

Once they’ve softened you can add the rest.

Now you can chuck the meat back in.  Then I plopped in some parsley, Newfoundland savoury, rosemary, and thyme.  If I’d had sage I would have used that, just to make up the lyrics to that “Scarborough Fair” song.

I also added a few more tablespoons flour.

At this point I ran out of space in my pan so I transferred the contents of the skillet to a larger saucepan.  I used a bit of beef broth to deglaze the pan a bit and poured that into the pot, along with the rest of the beef broth (about 3 cups).

Then came two cans of Guinness stout (minus a sip or two, for quality control of course).

Then the rice.

Then I brought it to a simmer, lowered the heat, and let that gently bubble away, stirring every so often, for about an hour.

Excellent. Even more so the next day.

“Cactus-Cut” Potatoes

I had some leftover potatoes that I’d cut for the gratin I showed you on Monday.  The Pie suggested that we attempt to fry them up as thick potato chips, not unlike those of a popular restaurant chain.

So we did.  This is a few inches of vegetable oil in a large saucepan. You heat it on medium-high (like at 7 or 8) until a pinch of flour dropped in goes all fizzy.

Then I fried the potatoes in batches until they were slightly crispy, but not too dark.

Stirring often with my big mesh spoon.

Plop them on a paper towel to drain and immediately salt them.

We had them with a chicken sandwich and some salad.  It makes up a bit for the grease.

Teacup Candles

This is a cute waste-not idea from Martha Stewart, but it’s been done by many others as well.  Teacups are ideal for this particular trick as they are already designed to withstand high temperatures, but you can use canning jars and other heat-safe containers as well.For my DIY Christmas I spent a lot of time scrounging second-hand stores for things I could use, and one day my mother happened upon a large quantity of beeswax sheets just there for the picking.

And yes, I picked.  I also picked up some old teacups and had some that were missing their saucers donated by my parents.

I had to buy some wicking from Michaels, and I found these handy wicks that were pre-waxed and already had the sustainer attached to the bottom.All I had to do was stand them upright in the cup and I was set.  Easy-peasy.

So you take your old candles, or your beeswax, or whatever, and you chuck it in a double boiler.  I used the equivalent of two sheets of beeswax for each cup.  Just tear ‘em up and let them melt!Be patient.  It takes a little while.Make sure it’s completely melted before removing from heat.Now, very carefully, pour the hot wax into the cup. Leave that to sit a while. See that little blip of wax on the side of the cup?  Fuhgeddabowdit.  You can just chip it off once it’s set.If you return your waxy bowl to the still-hot pot you can wipe out the excess wax with a paper towel.This will mean you can experiment with other colours of wax as well.Once your candles are set and cooled you can trim the wicks to an appropriate length and give ‘em all away!

Tips to a Tender Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin can be one of the best things to eat.  Ever.  If you eat pork, that is.

But it’s all in the preparation in order to make that tenderloin worth eating.

And the trick to good tenderloin is to remove the membrane before cooking.

Yes, you heard me right.

First you take off all the excess fat, of course.

Then you get hold of that ooey gooey membrane.

It’s slippery, so another handy trick is to pull it off with the aid of a paper towel.  It makes things grippier.

You may need a knife to get under the more stubborn bits of membrane still clinging tenaciously to the tenderloin.  Not to fear: you will prevail.  In this case, might makes right.Get as much of it as you can, then season or marinade your tenderloin and cook it at a high temperature, around 450°F or so, until the internal temperature is about 135°F, about 25 minutes.  Mmm!

 

 

Sweet Success! Softening Sugar

The Pie picked up THE WORLD’S HARDEST SUGAR the last time we were grocery shopping.  I had to slam it on the counter just to break it into manageable chunks.  Rather than chuck it I decided to try to save it.

Chunks of cement - I mean sugar.

I put these chunks into a plastic container with a sheet of damp paper towel and left it sealed up for a week.

A week later I took out the paper towel (which was dry, of course), and the sugar was once again malleable.

You can see my poke-prints.

The sugar that was directly under the paper towel turned out a little funny, but the rest of it was awesome.

This was the sugar under the paper towel.

Mmm, sugar . . .