Bacon, Beef & Blue Cheese Stew

I see I haven't been particularly diligent about my promise to follow up here with dishes from the bacon book I got a while back. Well, time to do at least something about that.

Browsing aforementioned book, a beef, bacon & blue cheese stew caught my attention, and decided to have a go at it - with some minor modifications.

Ingredients:
- 125 g (4.4 oz) bacon
- 3 large onions, coarsely chopped
- sunflower oil
- 1.13 kg (2.5 lbs) beef cubes
- 8 tbsp flour
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) Bedarö Bitter^[1]
- 5 dL (2 cups) beef broth
- fresh thyme
- dried rosemary
- 3 leaves bay laurel
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- salt & pepper
- blue cheese^[2]
- bread for serving

In a large pot, the bacon was fried over medium/high heat till crisp, then removed from the pot. The heat was reduced to medium/low and the coarsely chopped onions were added. The onions were cooked with occasional stirring for over an hour till caramelised - actually I think this part need some optimisation: the recipe said to caramelise the onions at low heat for 20 minutes, but this appeared to be far too little for proper caramelisation - then onions were removed and the heat upped to medium/high and oil was added.

The beef cubes were coated in the flour, and browned in the pot after removing the lightly caramelised onions. Then the beer and beef broth were added. After stirring well (to ensure that no lumps of flour were still stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot) the thyme, rosemary, bay laurels, vinegar, salt and pepper were added and the were onions returned to the pot. Contrary to the recipe I was following I did not return the bacon to the pot at this point. The pot was brought to a boil, covered and let simmer for two hours.

The stew was then served with crumbled bacon and crumbled blue cheese on top - and a piece of bread on the side. The reason I didn't add the bacon before simmering for two hours, but instead afterwards was that I wanted to retain some crispness in the bacon.

It was truly delicious - very intense flavours and quite a heavy dish too. I'm strongly considering trying this again with some mashed potatoes and a green salad on the side.

^[1] Obviously not essential which ale - I'd go for any good, strong IPA.
^[2] The original recipe recommended Maytag (from the US) blue cheese, and I used Swedish Kvibille Ädel (30%), but any good blue cheese sufficiently hard to crumble should work.

Finally: with black lentils

Living now in a different part of the world, it's suddenly possible for me to purchase black lentils again .. and make this dish right:

Red lentil goulash

I had had a bag of red lentils lying in the cupboard for a while and decided to make a rare bacon free goulash.

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 2 medium-large onions, coarsely chopped
- 2 sausages, sliced
- 1 L (1 quart) beef tongue broth
- 500 g (1 lb) dry red lentils
- 2 green chillies, seeds removed, chopped
- 2 red chillies, seeds removed, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh marjoram
- 130 g (4.5 oz) fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- salt

The onions and sausages were sautéed in the oil for a few minutes before adding the broth and the rest of the ingredients. After bringing to a boil, the heat was reduced and the pot was covered to allow simmering for an hour. Finally, seasoned to taste with salt and served with rice.

The result wasn't quite as red as I'd naively hoped for, but I found the golden yellow colour quite pretty nonetheless.

Sausage and Lentil Stew

While this isn't an authentic French recipe (so far as I know) it IS heavily inspired by dishes I had in Lyon when I went there recently. Yes, both the sausage and the wine are Swiss, but I'm sure proper French substitutes could be found.

Ingredients:
- 100 g (3.5 oz) smoked bacon, diced
- 6 small onions, quartered
- 2 smoked sausages ("Freiburger bauernwurst")
- 500 g (about 1 lb) green lentils
- 3 dL (about 1 cup) red wine (Dôle Romaine, Martigny, Switzerland)
- 1 L (about 4 cups) vegetable bouillon
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh thyme
- 6 bay leaves
- 6 peppercorns

In a large pot the bacon was browned, then the onions were added and sautéed for 5 minutes before adding the lentils and the sausages cut in large pieces. The wine was added, and the pt was left on medium-high heat until the volume of liquid was nearly gone. Then the vegetable bouillon was added together with garlic, fresh thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns. The heat was reduced a little and the stew was allowed to simmer for 20 minutes (uncovered).

The stew was served with thick slices of bread and a glass of the red wine - a nice wine from the Swiss canton of Valais.

Goulash of October 28th 2006

I came up with this dish last fall when I had bought some black lentils and made it a few times then. Some months ago I wanted to make it again, but then I couldn't find black lentils again anywhere. Finally I caved in and just got some ordinary lentils, so I could do this.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices bacon
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- paprika & oregano
- 8 pieces of chicken
- 1 large onion
- 1 bell pepper
- 20 cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups lentils
- 4 cups water
- salt

Cut the bacon in smaller pieces and fry in a large pot, then add crushed garlic and generous amounts of paprika and oregano before putting in the chicken. Turn the chicken pieces over until they are dark and crisp looking on the surface, continue cooking till they are cooked through, then take them out of the pot and store them under a piece of foil (or in the oven on low heat - just to keep them warm).
Add now to the pot the diced onion, strips of bell pepper and the tomatoes cut in halves. Add the lentils and the water, and let it all simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve with rice and the chicken.

Lima Bean Gumbo

Another word for okra is gumbo - and of course it can be used for the cajun dish of the same name. I've been a great fan of cajun cooking since the first time I encountered it, but I've never really tried to make it much myself. This was an experiment somewhat into that.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb (500 g) dried lima beans
- 1 lb (500 g) sliced okra
- 2 chicken filets, cut in strips
- 1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, mashed
- 2 dried puya chilies
- water
- salt

The preparation starts 1 day before...
Put the lima beans in a large pot and cover with 2 L (1/2 gallon) water. Let stand overnight (or at least 6-8 hours). Then drain and set aside.

Cut the ends of the puya chilies, shake out most of the seeds, put in water in a small pot, bring to a boil, turn off and let stand for half an hour to soften - then cut in small pieces.

In a large pot, heat up a little oil, add onion and chilies and stir till onion is translucent. Then add the chicken and the garlic and stir til the chicken is cooked. Add the okra, the lima beans, about 1.5 L (3/8 gallon) water, salt and the bell pepper. This looked at first like a soup and I was afraid I'd added too much water, but after simmering for 2-3 hours the dish had thickened up nicely and I was rather happy with the result, served on a bed of parboiled rice.

Unfortunately Mrs. throat-erator didn't fancy this at all.

Goulash of February 9th 2002

I've only made this once before and as you can see it was well over 5 years ago, but for some reason I had taken a few notes that allowed me to recreate the experience. I guess the reason I took notes is that I really liked it - at least that's what I found this time around, shaming my lack of faith in my own notes.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices bacon
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- jalapeño
- 0.5 L (2 cups) coconut threads
- 100-120 g (4 oz) egg noodles
- turmeric, ground ginger, dill weed
- 1 broccoli head
- 2 eggs
Cut the bacon in smaller pieces and fry till crisp, then add crushed garlic and coarsely chopped onion and stir for a few minutes. Add the jalapeño and the coconut threads and season with turmeric, ground ginger and dill weed - turn to low heat.
In separate pots boil the broccoli and the egg noodles. When the egg noodles are done, drain and mix well with the coconut mixture, then add the eggs and stir to cover the rest with the eggs as they solidify. Serve with broccoli on top.

Sweet & Sour Goulash

I made this first some 4 years ago, and I recently felt like trying it again.

Ingredients:

- 4 slices bacon
- 1 small onion (coarsely diced)
- 2 large tomatoes (coarsely diced)
- 2 tomatillos (coarsely diced)
- 2 cloves garlic
- jalapeño
- 8 oz (200 g) corn
- 1 lime (as wedges)
- 4 tbsp sugar
- salt & pepper

Cut the bacon in smaller pieces and fry till nice and crisp, add crushed garlic and onion and stir for a few minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients - then cover and leave on medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Before serving remove what's left of the lime wedges. Was served this time with quinoa.

Risotto

According to my previous roomies the definition of goulash was anything I cooked .. while that is a bit unfair I do have a tendency towards cooking improvised dinners that start with frying bacon in a large pot and continues by adding ingredients until I have 6 or more servings of .. well, gulasch might be one way to describe it.
This, however, I would call a risotto.

Ingredients:
- 150 g (5 oz) bacon (cut in small pieces)
- 1 large (red) onion (finely chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (mashed)
- 2 serrano chilis (finely chopped)
- 500 g (1 lb) crimini mushrooms (coarsely chopped)
- 500 mL (2 cups) arborio rice
- 250 mL (1 cup) wild rice
- 500 mL (2 cups) white wine
- 1 L (1 quart) chicken boullion
- 125 mL (1/2 cup) cream
- 125 mL (1/2 cup) grated pecorino
- salt & pepper
- fresh ginger (finely diced)

In a large thick-walled pot fry the bacon, then add the onion, garlic, chili and ginger. After a few minutes add the mushrooms and a few minutes later add all the rice - stir until the rice are well-coated and translucent. Reduce to medium heat and add 1/3 of the wine. With occasional stirring let the liquid reduce, then add more wine, repeat. Using the same technique continue with the chicken boullion in 4 portions of equal volume. When this proces is done, reduce to low heat, add the cream and the cheese, as well as salt and pepper to taste. Stir till well mixed, turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

The result is quite dense, so be careful not to serve too much.