Still wintery so wintery dinner

I had put this beef on to cook on Wednesday, two slices of beef shank with a good hunk of marrow bone. I added three cloves of garlic and one dried red jalapeno (pounded to death with my mortar and pestle). Boy did it smell good cooking, which I did on the cooktop. On a warmer day I might have continued with the crockpot but it was chilly so on the stove it simmered.

I served it last night, as most stews etc do benefit from the time to meld more, and Yes! it was good. I didn't know if dh was a marrow eater but he is. Those carrots came from the Asian market up in Glen Burnie, and were two bunches for $1. (You are looking at half a bunch per plate.) Amazing to get baby veggies at that price, huh? I scrubbed them well, and steamed them, and when they were cooked you could have slipped the skins off. I didn't.

The 3rd portion of the meal was the potato and bacon 'pierogis' we bought in Cleveland. The kind I still long for are the ones with a dough outside, and savory cheese inside. Another trip to Cleveland has to happen, as it's a bit of a drive to the western suburbs of Chicago for them. They did cook up well tho, after defrosting, didn't they?

Souper Saturday

This was actually a dinner made on Thursday but as I will be at The Symphony this evening, I wrote this one ahead for you. You may consider having it for your dinner tonight if you get that crockpot or oven going early on. This recipe for Portugese Soupas was adapted from Rick Rodgers Ready and Waiting cookbook.

Cube all your beef and get that onion and garlic prepped.

I used a good hunk of frozen pork fat instead of oil. Hey, it's winter, cold and I like that rich flavor. (the brown little nugget is a piece of beef fat which was then discarded)

As you get closer to dinner, you may want to ask The Staff to make tea for you.

Lookin' good here as it's ready to serve.

Then we have the sides of green beans in brown butter and a mushroom bread pudding.

Plated and ready for eating. It went fast, and himself went back for seconds. Well, I did too but just not as much. heheh

My recipe is here and I think this one is mild enough for a dinner that included picky eaters (you know if you have them). The recipe also discusses how else this could be served if you really want to make this a one bowl meal.

Pot Roast

This was a simple crock pot pot roast that came out pretty well according to dh. I found a recipe that had the dreaded can of youknowwhat but I used it cause that was about the energy level I had this am.

I had browned the chuck roast a while ago and then froze it. I'm going to do that with a couple of roasts this winter as it gives the rich color and still allows me to use the crock pot.

I plan to copy the recipe out tomorrow so this post will be updated links to the flickr site where the recipe is given or here. I don't eat limas so this was a one man show all around. Glad to make him happy.