Soups & Stews Archives - Page 4 of 4

Spicy Root Vegetable Curry

January means New Year’s resolutions and I would venture to guess that a lot of people resolve to eat better and exercise more after the holiday indulgences. While I personally don’t make “official” resolutions I do realize that I should eat healthy meals so I can enjoy decadent desserts on occasion…after all, my blog’s name pretty much says it all and someone has to sample those dishes 🙂

I was fortunate to receive an advanced copy of DOWNWARD FACING DEATH by Michelle Kelly which fit right in with my goals. DOWNWARD FACING DEATH is the first book in Ms. Kelly’s brand new series. Set in the quaint English village of Belfrey, Keeley Carpenter returns after leaving ten years ago, right after her father’s unexpected death. Her father had been the village butcher and other people took over his shop when Keeley and her mother moved. However, the butcher shop has been vacant for awhile and Keeley’s mother wants to sell it. Keeley, however, decides she wants to take over the building, not willing to let go of the physical link to her father.

The problem, though, Keeley is a vegetarian. She decides to open up a vegetarian cafe along with a small yoga studio instead of following in her father’s footsteps. When she arrives into town she finds she’s not exactly welcomed home with outstretched arms. Many of the town’s traditional folk aren’t happy with the change she’s bringing and to make matters worse, a murdered man was found when someone tried to burn down her building.

When the investigator shows up to question her, she finds that it’s none other than her unrequited crush from school, Detective Constable Ben Taylor. He seems cold and aloof at the beginning but when Keeley receives threatening letters he starts showing concern for her well being. With the police no closer to finding the murderer and with additional threatening letters arriving, Keeley decides she must find the killer herself or leave town and give up her dream of opening the cafe.

DOWNWARD FACING DEATH is a wonderful start to this new series. The author has done an admirable job of setting the stage, providing a believable setting in the village of Belfrey with plenty of characters to interact with Keeley. There is a subplot of romance, which adds interest to the murder mystery and I was caught completely by surprise by the ending. I also enjoyed the British colloquialisms used in the book, such as jacket potatoes instead of baked potatoes with skin left on or Aubergine instead of eggplant, which added to the charm of the book.

I truly enjoyed Ms. Kelly’s irony in turning a butcher shop into a vegetarian cafe! She provides numerous vegetarian recipes at the back of the book, including her Spicy Root Vegetable Curry which the publisher has graciously allowed me to share. I loved this hearty dish with the warming spices melding the vegetables into a comforting bowl of yumminess! Now to be honest, my husband’s response was “where’s the meat?” I’m still working on getting him used to meatless meals once in awhile 🙂 In addition to the recipes, several yoga tips are sprinkled throughout the book, with some humor.

I have included a short video tutorial on how to make Spicy Root Vegetable Curry at the bottom of this page.

Minotaur Books has very generously provided a hardback copy of DOWNWARD FACING DEATH to one lucky winner!!! Please leave a comment below to be entered. Contest ends Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST and is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!) and will have 5 days to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Spicy Root Vegetable Curry

A great alternative to meat curries, with the root vegetables giving it a homey, wholesome twist. Can be served with rice, couscous, or the bread of your choice, and also works with jacket potatoes as an alternative to chili.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups vegetable stock
4 carrots, diced
1 cup frozen peas* or chickpeas
1/2 pound sweet potatoes peeled and diced
1 pound turnips, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or if gluten-free eating is necessary, substitute 1 tablespoon cornstarch)

For the curry spice:
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon (= 1-1/2 teaspoons) turmeric
1/4 tablespoon (= 3/4 teaspoon) ground coriander
1/4 tablespoon (= 3/4 teaspoon) ginger powder
1/4 tablespoon (= 3/4 teaspoon) chili powder, or double for extra heat

Alternately you can buy a packet of premixed curry powder and add 2 tablespoons. The author prefers garam masala blend.

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a medium-sized pan, soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil for around 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add the curry powder or spices and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the stock and vegetables* and bring to a boil.

Cover the pan and reduce heat. Simmer on low heat for 45 to 50 minutes, until the vegetables are soft when pierced with a fork.

While the curry is simmering, mix the flour with 1/4 cup of cold water and stir until very smooth. (If using cornstarch, mix with 2 tablespoons cold water.)

Add the flour mixture to the curry when the vegetables are completely cooked. Bring back to a simmer and continue to cook and stir for about 3 minutes until thickened.

If using cornstarch, stir into the cooked dish and bring back to a simmer. Stirring often, cook for 1-1/2 minutes before removing from heat.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

*If using frozen peas, defrost then add to the cooked dish just after the flour or cornstarch has finished cooking and gently heat for a minute more. This will help retain their bright color and prevent them from turning too mushy.

Tip

My step-daughter and I both like a spicy hot curry. Next time I make this dish I will add a bit of cayenne pepper.
I think the addition of using both the peas and chickpeas together would be very tasty.
I love chopping some of my veggies using this crinkle cutting tool.

If you receive my blog post via email you will need to visit my website to view video

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. All views and opinions are my own.

Slow-Cooker Hearty Irish Lamb Stew

I love having a warming bowl of stew for cold winter weather meals and one of our new favorites is Hearty Irish Lamb Stew. Besides being nourishing with lots of veggies and protein, stew easily reheats well so I can make a pot ahead of time and have a quick dinner on hand as needed. Another thing I love about stews is that they are flexible….you can adapt to what you like and what you have on hand. For example, if you prefer beef versus lamb, by all means substitute a chuck roast. Or add turnips instead of potatoes, parsnips instead of carrots, skip the peas and add chopped spinach. You get the picture…

I also love anything you can cook in the slow-cooker. Some prep work and then it’s hands off cooking for hours. However, so many meat stew recipes I’ve tried in the past all call for flouring and browning the meat in copious amounts of oil. Added calories, lots of added time browning in batches and then the added mess of cleaning up the grease that pops all over. I was a bit skeptical when I saw a tip for browning the aromatics with tomato paste instead of the meat, but it actually works! And adding a bit of umami rich soy sauce also pumps up the meaty flavor without the hassle of browning. My family gifted me with a slow-cooker for Christmas one year that includes a browning feature….love, love, love it! If you don’t having a browning feature, use a skillet. Yes, it is one more dish to do, but you won’t have flour strung out all over the counter from tossing the meat, nor will you have grease popping all over your cook top that takes an hour to clean up.

This recipe makes quite a lot of stew so I like to freeze extras in 2-cup increments, sealed tightly in freezer safe Ziplock bags. Great to have on hand for quick lunches or when I don’t have time to cook dinner. My tip: Freeze them flat on a cookie sheet first and then they’ll stack easily without taking up so much space in the freezer for storing. An added bonus is that they will defrost a bit quicker too.

Slow-Cooker Hearty Irish Lamb Stew

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 onions, diced
1/4 cup tomato paste
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1-1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
Pepper to taste
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 12-ounce bottle beer (or substitute extra beef broth)
1 14.5-ounce can low-sodium beef broth
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3-1/2 to 4 pounds boneless leg of lamb
1-1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
1-1/4 pounds carrots, divided*
2 cups frozen peas
1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard

Instructions

Trim excess fat and silver skin from the leg of lamb then chop into 1-1/2 inch pieces. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt over the meat along with a few grinds of pepper and set aside.

Chop the Yukon Gold potatoes into small pieces.

Peel the carrots and chop into 1-inch sized chunks.

Set aside half of the carrots (approximately), then combine the potatoes with the remaining carrots.

Drizzle the potato and carrot mixture with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt, then wrap tightly in foil. Set aside.

Potatoes and half the carrots are wrapped in foil and cooked on top
of the stew to help maintain their shape and keep them from
disintegrating. The remaining carrots are cooked into the stew to
add body and a sweetness to the broth as they break down.

If you have a browning feature on your slow-cooker, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the base. Otherwise heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the diced onions, reserved carrots, tomato paste, thyme, rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Cook until onions are lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

Stir the flour into the onion mixture and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Slowly add the beef broth into the onion mixture, vigorously stirring to keep the flour from getting lumpy.

If using a skillet, transfer to the slow-cooker. If browning in the slow-cooker, change the setting to slow-cooker, low heat.

Add the beer, soy sauce and garlic to the onion mixture and stir to combine.

Nestle the lamb pieces into the stew broth mixture, then lay the foil packet on top.

Cover and cook until the lamb is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.

When the lamb is tender, remove the foil packet and carefully open. Be cautious with the steam that will escape! Transfer the potatoes and carrots back to the slow-cooker, along with any juices remaining in the foil packet.

Stir in the peas and Dijon mustard and allow to sit about five minutes to heat the peas thoroughly.

Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed.

Serve with Beth’s Irish Soda Bread!

*Another blooper alert…I thought I had 2 pounds of carrots in my produce drawer but when it came time to make the stew I found I had 1 pound only…thus my photos reflect the use of baby carrots mixed with the potatoes in the foil packet instead of chopped carrots.

Sausage Vegetable Stew

When the weather changes from summery heat to the cool, crisp days of autumn, I start being drawn to warming, hearty meals like stews. My husband, Dan, could eat stews year round even when temperatures are close to triple digits! So this summer when I started reading the book, LADLE TO THE GRAVE (A Soup Lover’s Mystery) by Connie Archer, he was very happy to hear that a soup or stew was in his future.

LADLE TO THE GRAVE is the story of Lucky Jamieson who owns and runs By the Spoonful, a soup restaurant in Snowflake, Vermont. When one of the town’s women drops dead after drinking May wine while celebrating Beltane Eve, Lucky’s grandfather, Jack, becomes an immediate suspect for accidentally poisoning the wine. Jack doesn’t have a mean bone in his body but he did pick the herbs that the wine was brewed with. Even though Jack is getting on in years and worries he made a mistake, Lucky knows her grandfather could not have given the women poisonous herbs. Jack also suffers from post traumatic syndrome and when the stress of the death sends him into a downward spiral, Lucky takes it upon herself to find out who murdered the woman.

In addition to trying to find the murderer, Lucky is in the midst of helping her best friend, Sophie, plan her wedding to By the Spoonful’s chef, Sage DuBois. To thank Lucky for all her help, Sophie takes her to visit her family’s property in the mountains. But instead of a relaxing girls’ getaway, they find a unidentifiable dead body, which could be Sophie’s estranged brother. The police begin taking an interest in Sophie since she has a strong motive for wanting her brother permanently out of the picture. Now Lucky has two people dear to her that need to have their names cleared and she races against the clock to make sure Sophie will be able to walk down the aisle to wed Sage.

I enjoyed Ladle to the Grave very much and am happy that there are three previous books in the series I haven’t read yet! Even if you don’t start with the very first one in the series, the Soup Lover’s Mystery series are easily read as a stand-alone. In addition to a great story with twists in the plot, Ms. Archer provides a variety of recipes along with one for May wine. My husband loved the Sausage and Vegetable Stew recipe I made! There was plenty of sausage to satisfy him and enough vegetables to suit my taste as well. I will certainly be making this stew again and loved the fact that it was great as leftovers for a few days.

Thank you to Connie Archer for providing a wonderful story and a comforting stew recipe and allowing me to share!

As a bonus for my readers, I’m giving away a copy of LADLE TO THE GRAVE. Please comment below and one lucky winner will be randomly chosen. Contest ends Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 11:59 pm. Winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!) Open to U.S. residents only.

Sausage Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray
4 sausages or 3/4 pound of bulk sausage meat (I used Italian sausage with great results!)
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 14-ounce can diced or crushed Italian style tomatoes
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 dash nutmeg
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup rotini pasta, uncooked (use gluten-free pasta if desired)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated cheese (I used Parmesan)