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Two Recipes for the Season

What’s In Season Now: Leeks

HOW

WHY

WHAT

WHO

DETAILS

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A delicious twist on basic spaghetti: Baking it with spinach, sausage and cheese melds the flavors deliciously and creates a one-dish meal that’s almost as good as lasagna—without all the work. Use a smaller or larger amount of meat, as desired, or omit completely for a vegetarian version.

Beef Stew with Turnips, Tomatoes and Leeks

You can’t go wrong with stew. If you only throw everything in a pot and turn it on, the long simmering will work its magic to create a hugely comforting dish. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be made even better. Following the basic recipe below are suggestions for making a good stew

even better. Also note that this dish serves 8, since stew makes one of the best leftovers–and you might want to share this easy-to-like dish with a neighbor or friend.

Ingredients

Instructions

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 lbs. beef stew meat

½ tsp. sea salt, more or less to taste

¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper, more or less to taste

½ cup water

Brown Beef and Deglaze Pan Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium-high heat until fairly hot. Season meat pieces with salt and pepper then place carefully in hot oil, in a single layer. Turn each piece as soon as a side is browned and, once 2 or 3 sides are browned, remove promptly to slow cooker. Once all pieces are removed, add water to pan. Deglaze by stirring to scrape up all browned bits from bottom of pan, then pour liquid into slow cooker with beef.

28-oz. can Muir Glen crushed tomatoes (try the “fire-roasted” variety for a great flavor boost)

1 tsp. sugar

3 bay leaves

Slow Cook Beef and Tomatoes Gently stir tomatoes, sugar and bay leaves into beef in slow cooker, taking care not to break up bay leaves. Cover pot and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours.

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 lrg. onions, diced to ½”

8 to 10 med. carrots (about 1 to 1½ lbs.), sliced into half rounds, ½” thick

6 to 8 small turnips (1½” to 2” diameter), peeled and diced to ½”

Brown Root Vegetables In pan used for browning meat, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add onions and saute about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add carrots and saute 2-3 more minutes, then turnips and saute another 2-3 minutes.

1 tsp. olive oil

¼ tsp. chili flakes

1 tsp. marjoram

1 tsp. drief leaf thyme

2 tsp. rubbed sage

1 tsp. dried leaf oregano

15-oz. can Muir Glen diced tomatoes

Saute Herbs and Spices Reduce heat under saute pan to medium-low, then push vegetables to sides of pan. Add the 1 tsp. oil and, when warmed, stir in chili flakes, marjoram, thyme, sage and oregano. Continue cooking 2-3 minutes, stirring once or twice, until herbs and spices smell fragrant.

Combine Meat and Vegetables Add diced tomatoes to vegetables and herbs and stir everything together thoroughly. Add vegetable mixture to meat mixture in slow cooker and continue cooking on low setting as directed above.

4 cups leek greens, sliced about ½” thick

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Sweat and Add Leeks About an hour before serving, SWEAT leeks in oil for about 10 minutes, in same heavy-bottomed saute pan. Stir into stew in slow cooker and continue cooking for remainder of cooking time.

Just before serving, remove bay leaves, then taste and add more salt and pepper, if desired.

Serves: 8

Handy Cooking Tips for

Going from Good to Better

The “Good to Better Continuum,” described the pitfalls of assessing our cooking efforts on a scale with only two markings: “good” and “bad.” Why not give ourselves credit for generally coming up with meals that are pretty darn good. Then we’re free to engage in a no-pressure treasure hunt for tips and tricks to make our good food even better. As you have the time, here are a couple stew tricks you might want to try:

For More Flavorful and Tender Meat: Better Browning Tips The point of browning is, obviously, to brown a food. But meat doesn’t brown if the surface is wet with either water or blood, or if the pieces are crowded into the saute pan. Solutions:

I thaw my stew meat standing up in a bowl, so the blood drains away.
Once thawed, I spread the pieces out on a dinner plate and, if still moist, blot them with a paper towel (but I often don’t need this latter step.)
With the pieces spread on a plate, they are easy to season evenly with salt and pepper.
Once the oil is good and hot, I carefully ease the pieces into the hot oil, being sure to put a little space between them. If your pan isn’t big enough to give all the pieces some good space, brown in two batches.
Finally, and very importantly, remember you are only browning, not cooking the stew meat. Turn pieces as soon as a side becomes brown, which may only take 1-2 minutes. I don’t worry about browning every last side. Two or three is fine, which strikes a good balance between developing flavor but not cooking the meat. I want to leave the cooking to the slow cooker’s low, slow heat, which is the key to meat that is tender not tough.

For Turnips That Don’t Taste Sharp Turnips will always have a slightly sharp taste (which is what makes them a nice counterpoint to the sweet tomatoes and carrots in this stew), but as they get bigger and/or older, that taste can become overpowering. A couple things help:

Be sure to peel the turnips, especially the bigger and older they are. This can be time-consuming with small, old turnips, but the taste is well worth it.
Pre-cooking turnips in a little salted broth also helps wring out some of the sharpness. Simmer diced turnips in a covered saucepan with about 1 cup of flavorful broth and ¼ tsp. salt. Cook until they are soft but not mushy, then stir into the carrot tomato mixture just before it is added to the slow cooker.

For Vegetables That Aren’t Mushy: Cook Less While slow cookers have many advantages, a serious downside is overcooked vegetables. The long cooking that is perfect for meat often turns veggies into unappetizing mush. Here is a solution if you are home a couple hours before dinner, e.g., maybe you make this dish on a weekend then save it for a couple weeknights:

In the morning, put only the meat and crushed tomatoes on to cook in the slow cooker.
Wait to cook the vegetables until two or three hours before dinnertime. After sauteing them and the herbs and spices, add the diced tomatoes as directed, then cover the saute pan and simmer the veggies for 20 to 30 minutes, until the carrots are just turning crisp tender.
Now stir the veggies into the slow cooker and continue cooking the last couple hours until the carrots are tender to taste and all the flavors have had a chance to meld.

To Freshen Up a Slow Cooker Dishes If you must cook the vegetables and meat together all day, consider adding a fresh dose of herbs and spices before serving. Long cooking in a slow cooker can leave herbs and spices pretty tired tasting. So as soon as you get home, stir in about a quarter of the amount of each herb and spice called for, which will give them until dinner time to simmer and meld.

If My Slow Cooker Isn’t Big Enough As mentioned, this recipe serves 8. If your slow cooker isn’t big enough, mix everything together in a big pasta pot, then reserve store half (as in the pictures to the right) and cook in a separate batch a couple days later.

Beef Stew with Turnips, Leeks and Tomatoes

Coconut Thai Soup with Leeks

. . .on the blog

THIS MONTH’S MAGAZINE

Take a Tour:

For anyone who has ever hoped, wanted or needed to eat more vegetables, but has procrastinated, hemmed, hawed or otherwise avoided making the leap, this Club’s for you.

Please accept this invitation to join me and learn all that I have discovered on my 20-year vegetable journey. We know we should eat more vegetables. Now, find out how to do that–deliciously, creatively, efficiently and enjoyably!

Many happy meals,

Mary Collette Rogers

Your Certified Vegetable Guide