Purist Beef Stew and Cinnamon Puff Pretzels

Another lazy day, but there's nothing wrong with that. With winter back again, a beef stew seemed like a good idea to warm the soul. And we're eating through the freezer again, so there was some thawed puff pastry in the fridge. I was thinking of something to do with apples, but mom wants to be in charge of those, since she thinks they're skeazy, so I went with a straight-up cinnamon sugar thing.

Purist Beef Stew


serves 3

2 lb eye of round beef, chunked
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 packet onion soup powder
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp sherry
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups water

Put a large pot over medium heat and add the oil.
Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes.
Add the onion soup powder, flour and pepper and mix until everything looks wet.
Add the sherry and cook off the alcohol smell, about 1-2 minutes.
Stir in the water gradually until all the lumps are gone.
Turn down to really low and add the beef chunks.
Even though the meat is sticking out of the liquid, DON'T add more water, since the meat will give off its own.
Simmer about 2 hours, until meat is soft, stirring occasionally. If it starts to boil, just turn it off for a while and let it sit on the stove.

Serve immediately or fridge and reheat the next day (it's always better the next day if you can plan it that way)

If you couldn't tell, I nicknamed it "purist" since it only has beef and onions, none of this potato, carrot, pea and what-not stuff you find in canned stew, lol.

Cinnamon Puff Pretzels

makes 24 mini pretzels

1/2 package puff pastry (about 227g), thawed

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425 F

Sprinkle a little of the sugar on a clean work surface and put the puff pastry on it.

Roll it out to a 10 inch by 12 inch rectangle.

Brush the butter over the whole area of dough.

Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the dough.

Semi-tightly roll the dough to the middle from both sides, to make a pretzel-shaped log.

Cut into 24 even pieces and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake about 8 minutes and then flip the pastries and bake another 5 minutes, or until brown on both sides. Careful, it can burn quite easily.

Serve warm or cooled. both make a yummy, sweet treat.

Enjoy!

Mushroom Ricotta Tartlets

Yes, it should be homemade pastry, but there are times when you crave the semi-fake stuff. Plus we don't have a mini fluted tart pan and those foil shells the pastry comes in are cute. So, the pastry was on sale and we scored some discount-produce portobello mushrooms; presto chango we got some tarts going on.

Mushroom Ricotta Tartlets


makes 12

1 box frozen mini tart shells
1 lb portobello mushrooms, cleaned and diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp oil
salt and pepper to taste
100g ricotta
1 egg, well beaten

Heat oil in a skillet and lightly brown garlic and onion.
Add the mushrooms and cook until all liquid reduced, about 30 minutes over medium-low. Season halfway through.
Cool.
Follow tart shell packaging directions for thawing.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a medium bowl, mix egg and ricotta until smooth.
Add mushrooms and stir well. Add extra seasoning if needed.
Spoon a heaping teaspoon into each tart shell and then top up if needed.
Bake on top rack oven until shells are brown and filling is set, about 20 minutes.

A crisp pastry filled with an earthy, creamy filling; delicious!

Enjoy!