Beef Bourguignon is the French cousin to pot roast, with the addition of red wine, large cubes of beef and very slow cooking to make it all tender. At the end, the liquids are separated from the beef, carrots, potatoes and onion and reduced and thickened to become a silky sauce to serve over the solids.

Key to getting the most flavor is browning the meat as well as the carrots and mushrooms. When browning in a skillet, it’s important not to touch the pieces until you turn them, cooking them for 4-6 minutes on each side over medium heat. Prep time for this is 45 minutes to an hour with all the browning, and cooking time is 4-6 hours, so be sure to get an early start.

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When I make chili, I often come to a moment when I wish I had some corn flour around to thicken it just a bit, and to add a little flavor. Well, I got to thinking that Fritos, or tortilla chips for that matter, are made of corn, and they’d do the same thing. I’ve had chili served on a bid of Fritos at the Atomic Cafe in Santa Fe (chili pie) which was pretty good. So why not put the corn chips in as an ingredient? Then I got to thinking about the best chili I knew. Don’t hate me, but it’s Hormel’s. In a can. So I wondered if I might find a good copycat recipie on the web, which I did at Food.com. Surprise ingredient…a cup of crumbled Fritos. Great minds, and all that. Continue reading →

Our Halloween pumpkin was still nice and firm, since we hadn’t hacked it up, and friends had pressed half of a humongous butternut squash into my hands when I stopped by to gift them with half a loaf of pumpkin bread Esther had made, so there I was with a surplus of squash on my hands. Continue reading →

Thanksgiving rolled around and so did the turkey. Much as I like both, I’m not a tremendous fan of turkey soup, turkey tetrazzini, or turkey chowder. I like turkey pot pies pretty well, but I’m not up for playing with the crust just so my wife can point out all the calories I’ve stuffed into each one.

So I went surfing for ideas on the web, and found a turkey soup with lime and chile  over at the NYTimes, which they’d just popped up for the holiday. Which puts me in mind of two things that might work out: either a Turkey broth version of Tom Yum Gum, or a Turkey Tortilla Soup.

Browsing around for recipies to steal ideas from I came across the ultimate stock of Turkey Soup ideas at the National Turkey Federation’s website: eatturkey.com.

Turkey Soup Recipes – National Turkey Foundation Website

Suddenly the pot of broth I’ve got boiling away downstairs doesn’t seem so ominous.

Turkey Soup with Black Beans and Tortillas

• 8 cups turkey stock
• 2 15 oz cans Black Beans
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 4 oz can diced jalapenos
• 1 cup sweet corn
• 1 med onion, diced and sauted
• 3 large clove garlic diced and sauted
• 1 cup salsa verde (medium hot)
• 1 tbs chili
• 1 tbs cumin
• 2 tbs corn flour (I put 2 tbs grits trhough a coffee grinder and called it flour)
• 1 tbs salt
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Basically, I threw all the ingredients except the cilantro together willy-nilly and stood back for 40 minutes while it did a slow simmer. Then I added the cilantro and let it simmer for another 10 minutes before turning off the heat to let it come together for about an hour.

Tortilla Strips

• Corn Tortillas (one per customer)

I tried cooking the tortillas up in olive oil in a frying pan, but never got the results I wanted. I had much better luck with this method:

1. Heat oven to 350 f
2. Cut tortillas into long strips, about 1/3 of an inch wide
3. Lay them down on a cookie sheet and lightly spray them with olive oil
4. Salt lightly and pop them into the oven for 8-10 minutes, until they get some color and are crunchy

Serve them on top of (or under) the soup.

Links / Sources

• Turkey Soup With Lime and Chile – Recipe – NYTimes.com
• Hot and Sour Thai Soup: Tom Yum Goong – FoodNetwork.com
• Chicken, Lime and Tortilla Soup – Cooks.com
• Chicken Tortilla Soup | the Pioneer Woman
• Hearty Turkey Tortilla Soup: Campbell’s Kitchen