Home with Mandy: beer

On my last post I made a Mexican Braised Beef with the intent of showing you how versatile this meal really can be. I've already posted about Beef Chalupas and a Beef and Noodle dinner. I was in the mood for soup and after looking around at what I had on hand I came up with this recipe for Southwest Onion Soup using, you guessed it... leftovers and some odd ingredients you may have on hand too.

I used one giant Spanish onion, leftover braised beef, olive oil, a can of beer, a can of kernel corn, a can of rotel, beef bouillon cubes, and chipotle chili powder.

This was my inspiration, a photo from a cookbook.

This recipe comes from a Swanson soup cookbook my mother gave to me. This recipe calls for:

1 T olive oil

2 large spanish onions, sliced

1/2 pound boneless beef chuck roast, cut into cubes

1 t ground chipotle pepper

4 cups Swanson beef broth

1 bottle Mexican beer

1 can diced tomatoes with jalapeno

1 cup frozen corn

Tortilla chips

1 package shredded Mexican cheese

By reading this ingredient list, I could see where they were going with the recipe. For one, I didn't want to make four cups of this soup, I wanted a smaller portion. Secondly, I didn't have all the ingredients, exactly as they had listed. So I made this up as I went, using thier recipe as my guide.

I began with some olive oil over medium heat in the bottom of a large stock pot.

Next, I sliced my onion and stirred it into my pot, coating with the olive oil...then leaving to cook low and slow until they were translucent and slightly caramelized. Stirring every now and then.

About halfway through the cooking process, I just eyeballed about a teaspoon of my chipotle chili powder. You could use any seasoning you like here...garlic powder, paprika, regular chili powder, cumin.

Then I took my leftover beef and cut it into small chunks.

Then added the meat to my soft onions.

These few cherry tomatoes were about to go into the trash if I didn't use them up by the end of the week, so I cut them in half and threw those into the stock pot.

Add the can of rotel with all the juices.

Next, I drained a can of corn, and added those into the pot.

To build my flavors up, I added about a teaspoon of each Ground Cumin and Garlic Powder.

Using bouillon cubes, I made two cups of beef broth and added that to my meat and veggie mixture.

I don't have a picture, but I also added about 1/2 can of the beer. I would have preferred a Mexican style beer or a dark lager...but all I had was Bud Select. What are you gonna do? I brought this mixture to a boil and then covered and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Using my cookbook photo as inspiration, I toasted a few tortilla chips in the oven sprinkled with cheddar cheese. Garnised my warm and comforting soup with the chips and a sprig of cilantro, excellent. This was easy and tasted great. The meat fell apart and the flavors melded well. I liked the spice from the rotel and the chipotle chili powder. A great way to use leftovers - what about leftover pulled pork? Add cilantro to the soup, add hominy or add diced potatoes.

Printable Recipe for Southwest Onion Soup.

Have more beef leftover? I threw some into a small skillet and added 1/2 cup of BBQ Sauce. That makes chopped beef! Put that on a sandwich or on top of a spud! Jim loved this quick baked potato dinner topped with spicy bbq meat.

Still have more meat left? Shred the meat, place between two tortillas with some cheese and melt in a skillet. Instant quesadilla. This was quick and easy for a light dinner or in our case, a mid day snack for Jim.
In these economic times I try to find inexpensive cuts of meat and do my best to stretch them into as many different meals as possible. Its challenging but fun. I hope I've inspired you to be creative in the kitchen too.

{Print Recipe}

This is a big bowl of hearty Irish Beef Stew.

This is my Irish man. He's so handsome. And sweet. And he's trying to figure out if the wine has gone bad. After another taste test, he confirmed the wine was not good. And you know I wouldn't cook with wine that I wouldn't also drink.

Saturday was my ideal day. I woke up around 6:30 AM and got out the door early. My first stop, Starbucks, my second stop, the grocery store. I really enjoy grocery shopping. Coffee in hand, I'm wearing my comfortable shoes with a detailed and organized list in hand. Oh, I love mornings like this. I bought groceries for the week, but I was most excited about the Irish Beef Stew I was going to make for Jim today.

This hearty stew has layers of flavor, from beef stock to wine to a stout beer, I chose this recipe from Simply Recipes because it made my mouth water just reading the ingredients.

Irish Beef Stew is perfect for the Irishman in your life, or anyone who needs a stick-to-your-ribs meal in the winter. We've been having 25 degree weather here in Austin. Which, by the way doesn't sound too bad when I heard from Jamie in Kentucky that she was experiencing 11 degree weather! Oh my! Jamie, make this stew - and hurry! It will warm your house and your belly.

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 pounds well-marbled chuck beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces (NOT extra-lean)
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
I cup of Guinness beer
1 cup of fine red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

This was twice as much beef as I needed, but it was such a good price and WELL MARBLED, so I cut this in half and stuck it in the freezer - for another use, at this time we don't know its destiny.

With the remaining half, I cut into one inch slices.

Then diced into one inch cubes.

Salt the meat well.

Side Note: Do you notice anything different? Have you thought that these photos rock? Is it just my obsession with food porn? I hope I'm not alone in this. Well.... I received a Cannon T1i for Christmas and although I have a long way to go in the photography department, I'm super excited about the way these photos turned out!

Garlic! Oh how I love thee. The recipe calls for six garlic cloves, I might have gone a little overboard.

I just started mincing and couldn't stop.

In a large dutch oven I added 1/4 cup of olive oil and heated over medium-high heat. Well, I didn't measure the oil but I feel pretty good about my estimating skills.

Working in batches, add the beef making sure you do not crowd the pan, or the meat will steam and not brown. Cook, without stirring, until nicely browned on one side, then use tongs to turn the pieces over.

Continue to cook in this manner until all sides are browned, about 5 minutes.

Jim is sitting on the couch watching some crazy movie about a woman who's astronaut husband is taken over by an alien and comes back to earth to impregnate her with alien twins. It was bizarre and he was totally into it, but the SMELL of these beef nuggets cooking was enough for him to pause, turn around and say, that smells good! Then he comes in and tries to steal a piece of the seared beef. And I let him, because he is a devilishly handsome Irishman.

Once all the meat is seared, add back to the dutch oven. Quickly before another member of your family steals another piece!

Now add in all the freshly minced garlic.

Add six cups of beef stock.

This is going to lift all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan also, creating some of the best flavor for your beef stew.

Recipe calls for Guinness, but my HEB was selling individual bottles so I purchased this cream stout. Hmmm... I wonder if I can still call this Irish Beef Stew? Oh, what the heck... My cooking, my blog.

Again, I reiterate that you must cook with wine that you would also drink! Cooking with gross stuff makes your food taste gross.

Add the wine, the beer, and you have some great layers of flavor already in this stew.

2 Tablespoons of tomato paste.

1 Tablespoon of sugar.

1 Tablespoon of dried thyme. And I must insert here that I would have halved this amount, because the flavor of the thyme in the end was a tad too strong for my taste. Maybe a fresh thyme sprig would be better next time.

1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.

Add your bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Now for all the vegetables! This is three pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and beautiful in all their nakedness.

Dice into 1/2 inch pieces. I diced mine more like one inch pieces, which I'm glad I did, because later on in the recipe we saute these, then add to the soup to simmer for 45 minutes and they fall a part a little, and I wanted chunky potatoes in the stew.

I love chopping onions. I have these really cool/cute pink onion goggles that I wear. They make me feel like a mad scientist in the kitchen. Lop off the top end of the onion, leaving the roots. Cut the onion in half from root to tip. Peel off the paper skin. Then make several small vertical slices all the way through the onion (as shown.)

Next, rotate the onion 90 degrees and slice again, creating a fine dice.

Ah, I big pile of accomplishment right there. Also note the diced celery which is a Mandy addition, not originally in the recipe. That is about two stalks of diced celery.

The stew meat and liquids are simmering away. Meanwhile, in another pan I melt one Tablespoon of butter, and add two cups of chopped carrots. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

The carrots are such a big veggie that I gave them a head start. Next I add all the chopped onion and the celery along with another "knob" of butter.

Saute vegetables until golden, about 20 minutes.

After an hour, the stew has really reduced - which is good since we are about to add lots of veggies.

Dump them in, give them a good stir.

Now for the potatoes. I tossed the potato pieces with a sprinkle of garlic powder, onion powder and white pepper in the hot skillet for a short 5-10 minutes.

Add the potatoes to the stew. My dutch oven is really getting full!

Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, I get down on the floor and test my photography skills with the babies (aka our dogs Madeline and Cole.) This is Madeline's "what's going on face."