10-10-10

I spent all day Saturday cooking. First it was dog food day and then on to us. We were to play golf on Sunday and then our friends would join us for Sunday supper. I thought I would make a planned dinner of Slow-Cooked Beef Minestrone, which I assumed would be soup and easy to cook while playing golf. This recipe came from Wegmans monthly magazine. It says makes 14 cups, which I will now interpret as 10 servings. I also thought Minestrone soup, which it might have been if I had not goofed. Mine trued out more like a beef pasta dish. It tasted great and I have 3 double servings left over. It tasted good and worked well for the day.
Slow-Cooked Beef Minestrone
1 pkg.(1.6#) Boneless Beef Chuck roast, cut in 1” cubes
Flour
2 T EVOO
1 16 oz pkg. Cleaned and cooked Minestrone soup vegetables.(carrots, potato, zucchini, leek, celery, onion, cabbage)
Salt and pepper
32 oz beef stock
14.5 oz can Italian-Style diced tomatoes
24 oz. Italian seasoned tomato sauce
½ C dry Italian soup pasta ( added too much which is why mine was too thick)
14.5 oz. garbanzo beans
6 oz baby spinach
1. Dust beef with pan-searing flour; pat off excess.
2. Heat oil in large brazing pan on M-H heat until oil if fairly smokes. Add beef; sear 10 min. until all sides are paper-bag brown.
3. Transfer beef to slow cooker and add vegetables to pan with beef drippings, season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring 3 minutes add to slow cooker.
4. Add stock, tomatoes, and sauce to slow cooker. Cover and cook 10 hours on low.
5. Add dry pasta and beans 45 minutes before the end of cooking. (I started it overnight and added the pasta and beans in the am. I should never do anything in the am.)
6. Add spinach to slow cooker; stir to blend well about 2 minutes.
This meal would have been perfect except I added too much pasta. It still tasted divine. I served it with whole wheat garlic bread from the frozen food section of the grocery store, also very good. Jim served Bradford Mountain Sonoma County Zinfandel, 2002.
For dessert I served Apple pie, kind of as described by Lidia on page 101 of Oct. 2010 of Bon Appetite. I did not make the breadcrumb hazelnut crust. I used Pillsbury readymade in the chilled section of the grocery store. I did sprinkle the apples with ground walnuts. I followed her recipe for the filling as it was different from my regular pie and I liked this filling, but not as much as mine.
2# granny smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into ½” wedges (I will not use Granny Smith as I hate the taste. I usually use Golden delicious, but I have lately found Honey crisp to be equally as good.)
2# Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored, cut into ½” wedges
½ C sugar
1 C apple cider (the recipe says hard cider; I use the Williams Sonoma concentrate. It is delicious. Buy it now and you can keep it all winter and use in oatmeal.)
Arrange the apple slices in a large heavy skillet. Sprinkle with sugar and add apple cider. Cook 10 minutes covered and then uncover for 10 minutes until juices evaporate. Turn the apples frequently. Do not panic and use fewer apples. They get smaller and are perfect for the 7” Pillsbury crust. I put nuts on the bottom and then the apples and sprinkled more on top. Put on the top crust and crimp the edges. Bake about 40 minutes on 400 degrees.
I like adding the apple cider. The whole pie is less sweet. Good dinner even with the mistakes.