Beef Paprika

Beef Paprika is a dish I've made countless times over the past twenty years, a well-worn favorite. It involves no trendy ingredients or techniques -- just beef and paprika braised in tomato paste and red wine -- but it's a comfort classic with retro appeal.

There are many reasons I love Beef Paprika despite its rather unassuming appearance. It's reliable and consistent. The ingredients are pantry staples. Leftovers improve overnight in the refrigerator. It makes enough for two dinners.

Beef Paprika is one of the oldest recipes in my repertoire. So why did it take over a year to blog about it? Well, I quickly learned that brown food and braised beef in particular, is very difficult to photograph. I have an entire file of rejected Beef Paprika pictures.

In the beginning, I served Beef Paprika with rice or noodles (and both are good choices). But once I mastered spaetzle, it became the obvious choice. Go ahead and serve Beef Paprika with the starchy side of your choice. But check More Please next week for my spaetzle recipe.



Beef Paprika

This recipe is adapted from one in The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook, my first cookbook, which I received as a wedding shower gift. Over the years, I've experimented with different types of paprika (sweet, smoked, spicy). I think regular (or sweet) paprika works the best.

2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
2 large onions, diced
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup milk
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

Trim the chuck roast and cut into 1.5 inch pieces. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in two batches so you get a good sear on the meat; use a slotted spoon to transfer each batch of browned beef to a clean plate.

Add another Tablespoon oil and onions to the dutch oven and saute for 3 to 5 minutes until onions are soft. Transfer the beef back into the pot with the onions.

Add the paprika and cook, stirring well, for one minute. Add tomato paste, wine, salt, and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours or until beef is fork tender.

Combine milk and flour in small container and stir well till flour is thoroughly blended. Add the milk mixture to the beef, stir well, and raise heat to medium. Simmer for several minutes, stirring often, until sauce thickens slightly. Serve over rice or noodles. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired.

Makes about 5 cups.

Nutrition facts for 1/8 recipe (about 2/3 cup): 246 calories, 25 g protein, 10 g fat, 53 mg cholesterol, 361 mg sodium, 2 g fiber (made with salt-free tomato paste and 2% milk)

Fruit Smoothie: Strawberry Orange Banana

My Dad recently asked me how to make a fruit smoothie. I gave him the recipe I’ve been using for years. My mother promptly pronounced my recipe “too complicated.” I dismissed my Mom’s critique.

But of course, her comment stuck. And then I recalled how almost daily I say something to my kids that suggests I have become my mother. “Stand up straight.” “Did you put on clean underwear?” “How can you watch this insipid program?”

So I took a hard look at my smoothie recipe and realized my mother was right. For the last two weeks, I have been whipping up smoothies almost daily with a very carefree attitude. Now I have a new and improved smoothie recipe.

My mother taught me that fruit is better than fruit juice. A smoothie is fruit you sip. So I love serving smoothies to my kids in lieu of juice. They get a serving or two of whole fruit, complete with fiber and all the vitamins. With the addition of yogurt, it’s nearly a complete breakfast, with calcium, protein, iron, good bacteria, and more. Great for an after-school snack too.

My go-to flavor is strawberry-banana. I keep a bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer for convenience. And I throw a few bananas in the cart every shopping trip. When a banana gets over-ripe, I peel it, and freeze it. (I’ve also recently discovered frozen sliced bananas at my grocery store.) This time of year, there’s usually a pile of Clementine oranges in the fruit bowl, and they really shine in this smoothie.

You can make a basic (very uncomplicated!) smoothie with only fruit and a bit of liquid (water, milk or juice). For a better smoothie, you need citrus for brightness, a bit of sugar for sweetness, and a pinch of salt to amplify the flavors. Yogurt adds creamy flavor, texture, and nutrition. I keep a quart of plain yogurt in the fridge always.



Strawberry Orange Banana Smoothie

My preferred tool for smoothies is a blender. You can start with fresh or frozen fruit. But I recommend partially thawing frozen fruit in the microwave for easier blending. If you like an icy-cold smoothie, throw in a frozen strawberry or ice cube in the blender. I also tested the recipe using an immersion blender with good results, just be sure all the fruit is thoroughly thawed to avoid damage to the blades. If you think a fruit trio is too complicated, just swap in a comparable volume of strawberries. Omit the yogurt if you want, just substitute the same volume of water. This recipe is easily doubled in a blender.

3/4 cup frozen strawberries, partially thawed
half a banana, cut into chunks, fresh or partially thawed
1 small Clementine orange, peeled & cut in half
2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
Juice from half a lime (or lemon)
1 Tablespoon honey* or sugar
Dash salt, optional

If using frozen fruit, partially thaw in the microwave for 35 seconds or so for easier blending. (If you’re using an immersion blender, you should completely thaw the fruit.) Put strawberries, banana, and orange into blender. (Be sure to check orange for seeds and remove if necessary.) Add water, yogurt, lime juice, honey (or sugar), and salt. Blend until fruit is thoroughly pureed. Taste and add more lime juice or honey if desired. If you’d like a thinner consistency, add water one tablespoon at a time and blend again.

Yield is about 1.25 cups (10 ozs).

Nutrition facts for full recipe as above: 216 calories, 4 g protein, 1 g fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 184 mg sodium, 6 g fiber

*Children under one year of age should not eat honey. See fact sheet from National Honey Board for details.

Braised Cabbage

Cabbage is not the most glamorous vegetable, with a shape resembling a bowling ball and a reputation for unpleasant odors. For most of my life, it was relegated to boiled sidekick status in the annual St. Patrick's Day corned beef dinner.

But every March as I devoured steaming wedges of cabbage slicked with beef fat and infused with the flavors of corned beef, I'd think "why don't I eat cabbage more often?"

Braised Cabbage is now a regular side on our dinner table. It's unbeatable with roast pork. It's right at home along side baked chicken. It's heavenly with mashed potatoes or butternut squash.



As usual when looking for new ways with vegetables, I turned to Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and found Braised Cabbage with Wine and Nutmeg which was an instant favorite and the inspiration for my recipe. The cabbage is sauteed first for a bit of caramelization, then braised until tender.

Braised cabbage is so versatile. Once you master the method, you can tweak the flavor by varying the braising liquid and spices. The tiny bit of sugar in the recipe really makes a big difference.

I was delighted last week to open my CSA box and find this gorgeous globe of Savoy Cabbage.



I braised it with fresh apple cider, honey, and the warm flavors of Chinese Five Spice powder, then served it with maple-glazed pork. The perfect antidote to the cold and dark nights of November.

Apple Cider Braised Cabbage with Five Spice Powder & Nutmeg

I love how the apple cider pairs with the warm spices and coats the cabbage. The tiny bit of honey makes a big impact. But the technique is really the main point of this recipe. Change up the braising liquid (chicken stock, white wine, even water), replace the honey with brown sugar or white sugar, and use whatever spices you prefer (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves.) I typically need half of one large head of cabbage to yield about 5 cups of shreds.

5 cups shredded cabbage

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter

1/2 cup apple cider

1 teaspoon honey

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil and butter over medium heat in deep saute pan. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally until it's golden brown in spots.

Now add the apple cider, honey, nutmeg, five spice powder, and a good pinch of salt. Stir well. Bring to simmer, then lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until cabbage is tender. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

Makes 4 generous servings (about 1 cup each).

Nutrition facts per 1/4 recipe: 97 calories, 1 g protein, 6 g fat, 7 mg cholesterol, 88 mg sodium, 2 g fiber

Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad

I'm always looking to get more whole grains into my diet. It was the Wheat Berry Salad in Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking that inspired me to give wheat berries a try. I made the salad (with pine nuts, feta and spinach -- see link below) and have been occasionally craving wheat berries ever since.

Last year, I noticed a Wheat Berry Waldorf salad in the Dean & Deluca catalogue. First I pondered the absurdity of mail-order salad. Then I made my own version, extrapolating from the photo in the catalogue. This salad is a wonderful mix of textures -- chewy, crispy, crunchy, and creamy.

Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad

Wheat berries are whole kernels of wheat. After cooking, which takes a good hour (at least) in boiling water, they're chewy and nutty. I buy hard wheat berries at my local health food store, but given a recent surge in popularity, I bet you can find them at a well-stocked grocery store. This recipe makes a lot (5 cups) so I typically serve it first as a dinner side, then pack leftovers for weekday lunches.

5 cups water
1.5 cups hard wheat berries

Dressing
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons apple juice
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon stone ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt, more to taste
1/8 teaspoon pepper, more to taste

1 apple, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, optional

Bring the water to a boil in medium saucepan. Add the wheat berries and simmer covered for 60 to 90 minutes until desired tenderness. Start tasting the wheat berries for doneness after an hour, at which point they're still quite firm. I like them tender but chewy, which requires an additional 15 to 30 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl to cool somewhat.

Prepare the dressing. Whisk olive oil, apple juice, vinegar, and mustard till blended. Stir in salt and pepper. Taste and add salt as desired.

Add the apple, celery, walnuts, and cherries to wheat berries. Pour on the dressing and stir well. Top with blue cheese if desired. Taste for salt and add more as needed. Store salad in refrigerator.

Makes approximately 10 (1/2 cup) servings.

Nutrition facts per (1/2 cup) serving: 242 calories, 6 g protein, 13 g fat, 3 mg cholesterol, 85 mg sodium, 5 g fiber

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You can find the recipe for Heidi Swanson's Wheat Berry Salad with Citrus, Toasted Pine Nuts, Feta, and Spinach from Super Natural Cooking at Salon.com here, you'll need to scroll down a bit.

Check out the Barefoot Contessa's Wheat Berry Salad recipe here.

How to Host a Spooky Dinner

Spooky Dinner is an annual Halloween tradition for our family. Every year we get together with our good friends and their kids for a low-key, family-friendly dinner party.

It started as a way to celebrate the holiday beyond candy and costumes. The focus is on food with an emphasis on fun. Over the years I've tailored the fright factor to suit the ages of the kids. And I've learned to gauge the level of gross for the adults.


Here are some party-planning tips to get you started on your own Spooky Dinner.

MENU PLANNING

Plan your menu at least one week before your Spooky Dinner so you have ample time to shop, decorate, and cook.

• You'll find tons of Halloween themed recipes on the internet; try searching for "Halloween food" and "Halloween recipes." Three great sites for family-friendly Halloween recipes online are Family Fun, Food Network, and Martha Stewart.com.


• Check out my list of tried and true Spooky Dinner menu selections below.


• Give each menu item a fun Halloween-themed title and a brief spooky description. Then type up your menu, using creepy fonts and clip-art. Reading the menu is fun for your guests and sets the tone for the evening. Here's a sample menu you can use for ideas. Click here for a better view.

MENU SUGGESTIONS

Here are some menu items I've served over the years to jump-start your brainstorming.

Spooky Starters

• Demon Eyeballs (use your favorite recipe for Devilled Eggs, decorate with a bit of food coloring or ketchup, green olive garnish)




• Vampire Fangs with Dipping Sauce (Apples Wedges with Strawberry Preserves)


• Dracula's Bloody Salad (check out my recipe for Roasted Beets with Oranges & Citrus Vinaigrette)


• Oozing Skulls (skull-shaped cheese quesadillas)

Main Course Ideas

• Werewolf Claws (breaded chicken tenders, I adapted this recipe)



• Monster Bones (baby back pork ribs)



• Mummy on a Stick (breadstick wrapped hot dogs on a skewer)



• Spooky Stew (ground beef chili with "BOO" topping, pictured at top of post)


• Tangled Snakes and Morbid Meatballs (spaghetti & meatballs)

Scary Side Dishes

• Ghoulish Potatoes (mashed potatoes, find a recipe here)



• Grubs & Worms & Bugs (buttered green beans & carrots with toasted walnuts, pictured above)


• Alien Monster Heads (braised Brussels sprouts)

Devilish Desserts

• Witch Fingers (your favorite sugar cookies with strawberry jam and almond garnish)



• Creepy Eyeball Cupcakes (your favorite cupcakes with peachy O's gummy candy, Mason dots, and red & white frosting)



• Rotten Apples (caramel apples with chocolate chunks & gummy worms)

Beverages

• Bloody Bug Juice (strawberry punch with floating blueberries, I've used this recipe with good results)


• Swamp Soda (fruit punch with orange slices)

ROOM DECOR

Decorations help set the mood. Hang up your kids Halloween art projects and string some Halloween lights.


Go to the pumpkin farm and stock up. You can never have too many pumpkins. When the kids were younger, we opted to paint our pumpkins. For jack-o-lanterns, let the kids draw a design for parents to carve.



I transform our dining room into a spider's den with package of spider webbing, a bag of plastic spider rings, and some mini 3M adhesive wall hooks. It's high-impact but low-cost. I stick the hooks high on the walls just below the ceiling, then hang the webbing, stretching it across the ceiling between hooks. Be sure the webbing is high enough to clear everyone's heads and well beyond the reach of young children. Then hang the plastic spider rings into the webbing.

TABLE SETTING

Use a paper or plastic Halloween themed tablecloth for quick clean-up. Candles are the perfect centerpiece. Orange or black tapers are easy to find and Halloween themed candles start popping up everywhere this time of year.

Miniature pumpkins make great place-cards. Just tie on name-tags with some curling ribbon or write the names of guests right on the pumpkins with a black permanent marker. One year, we made cute little bat place-cards. You'll find the instructions (plus lots of other great decorating ideas) here at Martha Stewart's website.

START YOUR OWN SPOOKY DINNER TRADITION

Spooky Dinner has become a cherished tradition for our family. The evening is frightfully fun, a casual way to kick off the holiday season. I'd love to know about your Halloween family celebrations. And I'm always on the lookout for Spooky Food.

Daring Cooks Vietnamese Pho: Beef Noodle Soup

Vietnamese Pho was the October Daring Cooks challenge, guest-hosted by celebrity food blogger, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen. Pho is the Vietnamese version of chicken or beef noodle soup. The broth is served with rice noodles, meat, and an array of toppings including lime, chiles, bean sprouts, and cilantro. I chose the beef version because beef broth is one of my favorite foods.

The Vietnamese beef broth started out the same as my traditional version, with water, bones, beef, and onion. The spice packet and aromatics however, took a detour East. In place of parsley, thyme, bay, and peppercorns, there was cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, and fennel. Garlic was replaced by ginger. The inclusion of fish sauce and a bit of sugar was another exotic departure from the usual.

Another unique aspect to the flavor of the Vietnamese broth came from toasting the spices for a few minutes in a dry pan to intensify the flavors. Most of the spices required for the recipe are available at a grocery store, except for star anise. Penzey's is a great source for star anise and almost any other spice.

I stayed true to Jaden's recipe, with two variations. I chose not to parboil the bones. It's a refinement I associate with professional chefs. I made sure to rinse the bones well and then skimmed assertively. Also, I opted to cook the beef briefly in the boiling broth first, rather than put raw beef slices directly into the serving bowls as directed. (Although Jaden's photo of medium rare beef looks more enticing than my well done beef!)

The final bowl was a blend of contrasts: sweet and sour, hot and cold, tender and crunchy, savory and spicy. Familiar, yet foreign at the same time. I'll admit to going back for seconds. You can find the recipe for Vietnamese Beef Pho here at Jaden's blog, Steamy Kitchen. Or maybe you'd prefer Jaden's Chicken Pho, here. Go ahead, get steamy, make some soup!

Diner Style Cheeseburgers

One of the best things about Racine, Wisconsin is Kewpee's. It's an old-fashioned burger joint serving up good food and friendly service. Customers sit on stools at the horseshoe counter, servers still take your order with pen and paper.



The burgers are juicy, the buns are toasted, the crinkle-cut fries are crispy, and the root beer is homemade. Plus, there's a sense of community you just don't feel at a typical fast food restaurant.

A Kewpee cheeseburger is the standard by which my kids measure all other burgers. They complained my burgers at home were too thick, too crusty, too charred -- "we only like Kewpees, Mom."

So on our next visit to Kewpees, we sat right across from the grill and I paid attention. I can't match the practiced technique and timing that comes from years of experience at the grill station. (You can see a pic of Kewpee chefs in action on their website here.) But I adapted the Kewpee method for my home kitchen.

Burger nights at home now get enthusiastic response. The family says my burgers are "almost as good as Kewpees." There's no substitute for a visit to Kewpees, but every once in a while, it's fun to capture the diner experience at home.

Kewpee's-Style Cheeseburger

If you're ever in downtown Racine, grab a burger at Kewpees (and check out their display of Kewpee collectibles). Otherwise, make a Kewpee's-style burger at home. I use an electric non-stick griddle to accommodate about 1 pound of beef (6 burgers) at once. You could adapt the method using a non-stick frying pan on the stove-top, but you'll need to cook the burgers in two batches. We love to serve these burgers with homemade french fries, but chips make for a quick weeknight dinner.

1.125 pounds ground chuck (18 ozs.)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 soft white hamburger buns
6 deli slices sharp cheddar

Heat griddle to 350 degrees F. Combine ground chuck, salt, and pepper. Mix gently but thoroughly. Form 6 thin hamburger patties, about 4 inches in diameter. Transfer the burgers to the hot griddle and cook for 3 minutes till burgers are browned on bottom. Flip burgers over and cook for another 3 minutes, or until burgers are cooked through (internal temp at least 160 degrees F). Transfer burgers to clean plate.

Remove all but about 2 teaspoons of grease from the surface of griddle. Place the buns cut-side down on the griddle. Cook for a minute or so until buns are toasted to your liking. Put the toasted bun bottoms under the burgers, set the bun tops aside. Turn off the griddle; wait a minute for it to cool a bit.

At this point you can put the cheese directly on your burgers. We like to melt it slightly on the griddle before topping the burger, just like they do at Kewpees. Until you get the hang of it, it's best to only heat only 1 or 2 slices at a time.

Put the cheese slices directly on the griddle. After 30 to 60 seconds, when the entire slice has softened and is melting (but not bubbling), scrape up each slice of cheese and quickly transfer to burger. The cheese will crumple up on the spatula a bit and might be difficult to place neatly on the burger. The trick is to work quickly and confidently (and use a spatula that won't scratch your non-stick surface). Don't worry if the cheese is a bit messy -- it will be meltingly delicious.

Finish the burgers with the toasted bun tops. Serve immediately with your favorite condiments. Grilled onions make a nice addition too.

Makes 6 cheeseburgers.

Nutrition facts per cheeseburger with toasted bun: 389 calories, 23 g protein, 21 g carbs, 23 g fat, 77 mg cholesterol, 731 mg sodium, 0 g fiber