Dirtsailor's 6 pack Beeff Carbonnade

I'm sure that some of you have already seen this on the other Smoking meat place, but for those friends who recently vanished into thin air here is my take on beef Carbonnade. In true Dirtsailor fashion, more photo's less talk.



It was a fine fall day for some stew. Fired up mini #1 for phase one of this cook.



My local grocer had this fine Bottom round begging to be taken home.



Simple SPOG



After a few hours bathing away in Cherry and pecan this is what came out 125° IT.



Sliced into 1 1/2" thick cuts (I could've eaten it just like that)!!!



Cubed and seasoned, ready for phase two.



A sampling of the rest of the ingredients. (put in 3 Jalapenos, 6 taters, lost count on the carrots, 6 cloves of garlic and that whole onion).



The rest of the ingredients (note to self buy a half rack next time, so I don't have to drink cheap beer!).



Brown the meat, make sure to pour in all the juices from slicing too. Remove the meat.



Sautee the onion, garlic, and carrots



Return the meat to the DO, add all six beers (any good smokey, porter or stout will do)



Add this stuff, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours.



Make some of these (seasoned drop biscuits, had a bit too much liquid, turned into cow pies!)



Still turned out tasty, even if they were a bit flat!



ENJOY!!!!

Smoked Turkey soup

Was  going to make Turkey pot pie, but was missing some important ingredients. Then I thought I'll make turkey and dumpling stew. Yep was missing  the same ingredients for the dumplings as I was for the crust. Flour's kind of important. Ended up with smoked turkey soup and hot dog bun cheese bread.

Thai Pumpkin seafood chowder

This soup is full of flavor and a good option for adding halibut, rockfish, shrimp or crab too. For a thicker consistency one can puree it all or puree half the batch.

Look @ those nice Kabocha!, The zucchini, and tomato are from my garden!

I was given some great looking Kabocha squash, so I decided to make Thai pumpkin soup. This soup can be pureed, or not, and can be served either hot or chilled. I decided to add some prawns to the mix, so I will serve it hot and not pureed.

The beginning of something really good, homemade vegetable stock! More to follow!!!

All good soups need to start with a good foundation. I prefer to make all my own stocks, and for this particular soup I choose to make a hearty vegetable stock. Probably the easiest stock you can make. Use whatever vegetables you might have, I used carrots, celery, Leek, turnip, red onion, tomato, zucchini, potato peelings, garlic, parsley, fresh basil, fresh thyme, peppercorns, and a bay leaf!

Several of these Chile's will be going into the final soup! These are Thai Chile's.Love using fresh stuff from my garden!

I decided to post this here because several family members & friends have asked me for the recipe, and thought I'd share it with all.

Like most my cooking I wing it as long as it's not baking, baking's not my forte, so i stick to the book for that! Every time someone asks me for a recipe I kinda Hesitate, just because I follow my instincts when cooking. Usually when people ask me how much of this or that blah blah blah, I come back with the question, well how much do you want to cook? So with that here are the general amounts for about 4-6 servings. Of course with that said, I vary all my seasonings to taste as I go...

So we made the base for the soup, the vegetable stock (you can substitute chicken stock, or fish stock if you prefer) After simmering the stock for and hour or so, I strained the solids out (for clearer stock strain through cheese cloth and sieve).

Vegi Stock, strained. I was not concerned for it to be perfectly clear, so I opted not to strain through cheese cloth.

4-6 cups of stock
1 can of coconut milk, reserve the cream ( coconut milk separates, do not shake can prior to opening, scrape thickened cream)
3-5 cups of peeled squash (any winter squash, pumpkin, etc.) cut into bite sized pieces or cube.
4 medium prawns per serving or a couple white fish fillets cut into bite sized pieces ( If you plan to Puree do not puree fish or prawns.)
Small cucumber cut into small pieces
Small red, or yellow bell pepper cut into small pieces
1-2 red chili peppers, seeded and sliced, or 1 tsp dried chili pepper
2-3 kaffir lime leaves (if not available substitute with fresh lime zest) Kaffir lime leaves can be found @ Asian food markets, if not fresh check out the freezer section.
3-6 garlic cloves finely minced
2 shallots or half a small purple onion diced
1 stalk of lemon grass
tsp or so of shrimp paste, or anchovy paste (once again those who live somewhere where there is a Asian market shrimp paste will be available)
couple Tbsp. of fish sauce (if the soup is not salty enough add more fish sauce instead of salt)
juice from 3-4 limes (hand squeeze, reserve rind for zest if not using kaffir leaves)
several tsp sugar
Thai Basil, Coriander, etc for garnish

So in order to get rolling get all the fresh stuff cut prepped and ready to go, when your done you should have a pile of stuff that looks like this. This soup cooks fast so best to have everything ready to go!

The guts of the soup ready to go!

Heat several Tbsp. of oil in your stock pot over medium high heat. Add garlic, Chile, and shallots (purple onion). Stir fry long enough to meld the flavors.
Add stock, and kaffir lime leaves ( or zest) bring to boil.
Add squash, reduce heat and simmer till fork tender.

Simmering away!

While simmering add shrimp/anchovy paste, fish sauce, lime juice and, sugar.
When squash is soft add shrimp, and or fish, lemon grass and red pepper, do not over cook seafood!
When seafood is done reduce heat, to low add coconut milk, and cucumber, stirring to combine.
Taste re-season if needed and serve! garnish with Basil, coriander, etc...

Yumm!

Note if you are going to puree, remove fish and shrimp prior to , and or cook fish and shrimp, then add as garnish to final dish!