Katie Stew

It has been a crazy few weeks.

I did this shoot about three weeks ago. I have a huge stack of beautiful pictures and recipes that I look forward to sharing. So where have I been the last few weeks?

For a while, honestly I was just feeling really unmotivated. I don’t know why really. Let’s chock it up to the changing of the seasons, my recent acquiring of HBO go, and general lethargy. I suppose I feel a bit like I’m in a slump. So many people around me have these defined game plans and goals, they are hitting these big life landmarks. I have goals, but for some reason lately I’ve found myself unable to work on them. Sitting and staring at my computer, unable to type anything.

And then two weeks ago I got bad family news. My uncle was in the hospital and it wasn’t good. So, I flew home to Arkansas to support the family. I kept people fed and calm. I tried to be a rock. It went well. My uncle got brain surgery and was able to go home. He is recovering now and doing as well as can be expected. I came back to Seattle and found myself completely drained.

Boy, this is a week where I just can’t wait for the weekend.

But hey, here I am. I’m going to throw myself into my work and climb my way out of this negative cloud that I’m floating in. Send positivity my way. And on the plus side, you’re about to get a few weeks of really exciting Asian food!

In my journey to cook through all of my cookbooks, I decided to conquer the Asian ones. This first recipe is from Taste of Asia- Authentic Recipes from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines and Japan by Steven Wheeler. An older cookbook with some amusingly retro photography, but one where the recipes are straightforward and delicious. I couldn’t believe how easy and delicious this recipe was.

When this was cooking, you wouldn’t believe how good the house smelled. I followed the recipe exactly and was thrilled. The only thing I will do differently in the future is brown the chicken more thoroughly before the simmer stage. Without that, the chicken ended up looking a little pale. But trust me, it is fall apart tender and delicious. It just isn’t as pretty and tanned as I’d like. And the broth that it forms? So fragrant and magical. I was tearing apart the chicken with my fingers out of the bowl and popping them in my mouth. And the broth over rice was just so good. It made me want to lick my bowl. If you are feeling some Asian flair, give this recipe a try. Other than a little chopping at the top, it was really fast and easy to put together. Simple, authentic and delicious, and it makes your house smell so good.

Hot Chili Chicken with Ginger and Lemongrass

• 3 chicken legs, thighs and drumsticks, separated
• 1 TB vegetable oil
• 1 piece ginger, 3/4 inches square, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 small red chili, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 piece lemongrass 2 inches long, shredded
• 2/3 cup chicken stock
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 oz raw peanuts, chopped
• 2 scallions, shredded
• 1 zest of mandarin orange, or satsuma, shredded
• 2 TB chopped mint
• rice or rice noodles to serve

With the heel of the knife, chop through the narrow end of the drumsticks, removing the small ball joint at the end. Remove the skin from all the chicken.

Heat oil in a large wok or frying pan over medium high heat. Add chicken and brown slightly. Add the ginger, garlic, chili, and lemongrass. Cook together 3-4 minutes, until very fragrant. Add chicken stock, sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Cover and simmer gently for 30-35 minutes.

Serve the chicken with the delicious pan sauce. Scatter with roasted peanuts, scallions, and the zest.

Enjoy!

Photographs by Jessica Yager.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Moroccan Carrots. They were a delicious snack at a cocktail party I was co-hosting. These short ribs were made the same night. This had to be some of the worst food planning I’ve done for a party. Now, don’t get me wrong. The carrots were delicious and were devoured. And these short ribs are unbelievably good and we got down on them in a serious kind of way. But the thing is, there is not a ladylike way to pick up a big piece of meat on a bone and daintily eat it in mixed company. Especially when they taste this good and you just want to go all caveman on it and smear it across your face.

Exactly. Dainty.

At one point in the night, I was in the kitchen with two ladies and a couple of dudes and I said, “you will have to excuse the ladies for a minute, we need to step outside”. I then whispered to the girls to grab a short rib. We stepped out back where we could be as messy as we wanted and munched down on these in a primal kind of way. There was much giggling and groaning involved. It was awesome. 
So, needless to say, these short ribs are really good. They were fairly easy to make and were very well received. The wine gives them a great richness of flavor that tastes very familiar, but the Chinese 5 spice and the ginger give the ribs a twang of something really unique.

However, don’t make these for a cocktail party. Make these when you will either be seated with a plate and real silverware, or for a meal with friends you know well where you will roll up your sleeves and dive in with a big pile of paper towels nearby.

This recipe comes from Entertaining with Booze. I wrote about this book recently when I posted about the Rosemary and Pear Martinis. Fun book and I am very happy with both of these recipes that I pulled from it.

Exotic Braised Short Ribs

From Entertaining with Booze by Ryan Jennings and David Steele

• 2 TB canola oil
• 4-5 lbs beef short ribs, cut into chunks
• 1 TB Chinese 5 spice powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups red wine (shiraz or cabernet sauvignon)
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 TB sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven until smoking.

Season the ribs with the Chinese 5 spice powder, salt and pepper. Add the ribs to the pot in batches and brown on all sides, about 4-5 minutes, transferring them to a large bowl once browned.

Pour off all but about 2 TB of excess fat and oil from the pot. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and ginger to the fat in the pot and cook over medium heat until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes. Add the wine, stock and tomatoes, making sure to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Return the beef to the pot and bring to a simmer.

Cover and transfer the pot to the oven. Braise until the ribs are fork-tender and most of the fat has rendered, about 2-3 hours. Start checking the meat at the 2 hour point (possibly later if your ribs are exceptionally fatty). Remove the ribs to a serving dish and cover with a lid or tent with foil. Strain the vegetables out of the sauce and discard, reserving sauce and skimming as much fat as possible off the top Return the sauce to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. (Mine took much longer than this. I simmered for about 45 minutes before my sauce thickened to a level I was happy with.)

Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste and pour over the ribs. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped green onions for garnish.

Enjoy!

Photographs by Jessica Yager

I made this pie for part of my Easter lunch. Honestly, I decided to add it to my menu because I saw a photo on Pinterest that just screamed, Eat me! The photo looked so good, but I’m telling you, it didn’t look as good as the actual thing. I just finished having another slice for lunch today. This pie is delicious. And if you don’t think about it too hard, you can totally convince yourself that this is good for you. There is a ton of spinach in there and spinach is healthy. Just ignore the cream cheese part and it will be fine. Lots of spinach makes the cream cheese good for you. Isn’t that how calories work?

Actually, if you look at the original recipe that I took my inspiration from, it called for cottage cheese. But hey, why use cottage when I can use cream? Anyways, this pie is very easy to put together and very, very yummy. I love stuff like this. In fact, you could put this in a frozen pie crust and add an extra egg and call it a quiche if you wanted. But, I love puff pastry. It is so easy! It can live in your freezer and make a million different things. The flaky crust provided by the puff pastry and the spinach filling make me think of spanakopita, the classic Greek dish. In fact, maybe this dish technically is a spanikopita! I just looked it up! It is! Who knew?

(btw, spanakopita is a really fun word to say. Span-a-ko-pi-ta.)

The filling is a really great, satisfying texture and you can up the nutmeg or chili flakes to your own tastes. This is a great new recipe for me to keep in my back pocket. Fast, delicious, and pretty? Yes, please.

This would be great for an easy brunch, lunch… I was going to keep listing, but really, this would work for any meal of the day as an entree or side dish. Try it out.

Spinach Feta Pie

• 1 TB olive oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 10 oz packages, chopped frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 4 oz feta cheese
• 4 oz cream cheese
• salt and pepper
• 3 eggs
• 1 sheet puff pastry

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and allow to cook slowly and caramelize. Add the garlic and chili flakes and cook until fragrant. Add the two packages of spinach and mix thoroughly. Add the nutmeg and the two cheeses. Stir until cheese is mixed in and melted. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 400.

Roll out the puff pastry into approximately 12 by 12 inches. Place pastry in a pie plate with the edges hanging over.

In a small bowl, crack and beat two of the eggs. When the spinach mixture has cooled, mix in the two eggs. Pour the whole spinach mixture into the pastry. Fold the edges over the top, covering the spinach. Crack the last egg into the egg bowl, add 1 tsp water, and beat. Then brush the top of the pastry with the egg wash. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the top is puffed and brown and the bottom of the pie is golden. (Using a clear pie plate is super helpful in making sure the bottom is thoroughly cooked.)

Let rest at least 10 minutes and then cut and serve.

“The Great Hall of Winterfell was hazy with smoke and heavy with the smell of roasted meat and fresh-baked bread.”- A Game of Thrones

So reads the intro to the recipe for Crusty White Bread from the companion cookbook to the Song of Ice and Fire series, aka, the Game of Thrones. And let me tell you, having your house smell like this fresh baked bread is a wonderful thing. This recipe was very easy to put together and very impressive to watch rise. The bread dough got so big that it spilled out of the bowl I was using and onto the counter beneath. It was awesome in a sciencey kind of way. (Spell check doesn’t believe sciencey is a real word but doesn’t mind science-y, apparently. What does spell check know?)

I followed the directions for this bread, and I was very happy with the result. The bread was indeed crusty with a very soft, delicate interior. It is the kind of white bread that you remember eating as a kid before white bread became all taboo. As with the foccacia I made a few weeks ago, we started munching down on this as soon as the photos were done. (And as you can see below, while we were still taking photos.) There is just not much better in the world than freshly baked bread with butter smeared on top. Maybe fresh bread with butter and honey, but that just depends on what kind of mood you are in.

I think this is hilarious. My first .gif! This little clip has made my day. I keep cracking up. Not sure exactly why pictures of me eating bread are so hilarious, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Now, in my experience, following the instructions, my dough was always sticky. The kneading step was especially hilarious. I’m not sure how, unless I added entire cups more flour, I was supposed to get something that I could knead, so instead I figured that the bread would be fine, flipped it around a few times, stuck my hilariously gooey fingers in people’s faces, and trusted that it would work out. And it did! So if your dough seems unbelievably sticky no matter how much flour you start adding, don’t sweat it too much.

Crusty White Bread

from A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Companion Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer

1 1/2 TB dry yeast (2 packets)

1 to 2 TB honey

3 cups warm water

6 1/2 cups all purpose flour, more as needed

1 TB coarse salt

1/3 cornmeal

Combine the yeast, honey and water and mix it up. Add the flour and salt and begin working them into the mixture. Combine thoroughly with the dough hook of your mixer, or by hand if you are dedicated and strong.

Dump the dough onto the clean, floured counter top and knead for around 5 minutes, pushing with the heel of your hand, then gathering the dough back into a lump. Knead until the dough becomes one big mass. When you poke it and the dough bounces back, you’re all set. If it is still too sticky, add a little extra flour.

Place the dough into a large greased bowl, cover it with a towel, and let it sit in a warm place for about 2 hours. (You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight; it will rise more slowly. You can even let the dough sit in the fridge for a couple of days, at which point it will take on a slight sourdough taste.)

Once the dough has at least doubled in size, divide it into thirds. Pull on each piece to form a ball, tucking all the ends in at the bottom. The balls should be semi-smooth. Dust the top of each round loaf with a bit of flour and make some light slices in the dough with a very sharp knife. Place the balls at least 4 inches apart on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal and allow them to rise, uncovered, for about 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Fill a baking dish or broiler pan with 2 cups of water and place it under the rack where your bread will go. (This is the trick to making a nice, crusty loaf of rustic bread. The steam from the water adds a nice crunch to the surface of the loaf.) Bake the loaves for around 30 minutes, until the crusts are a dark golden color and the loaves sound hollow when you tap them.

Enjoy!