Houston Restaurants -Events

Stew: Makes: 1 gallon
2 Tablespoons - vegetable oil
1 Tablespoons - minced garlic
½ cup - diced yellow onion
1 pound - Tenderloin of beef, ¼” cubes
2 pints - whole shiitake mushrooms: (cleaned: stems removed and reserve for drying, slice mushrooms)
4 cups - cooked shelling peas (black-eyed, purple hull, lady creamers or mixture of all)
1 tablespoon - salt
1 teaspoon - black pepper
½ cup - white wine
1 recipe - mushroom stock
1 stem - rosemary

Heat oil in a large saucepot over medium heat, add garlic and yellow onion.

Sweat for 3-4 minutes until translucent.

Increase heat to high and add seasoned beef.

Sear meat for 2-3 minutes; add sliced mushrooms and peas to pot.

Deglaze pan with white wine and add stock.

Boil and simmer on low heat for 35 minutes.

Add rosemary and cook for 5 minutes more.

Adjust seasoning.

Mushroom Stock
Yield: 2 ¾ quarts

1 Tablespoon - vegetable oil
1 each - small yellow onion, rough chopped
1 stalk - celery, rough chopped
1 each - parsnip, rough chopped
½ cup - white wine
1 cup - dried mushroom stems
¾ gallon - veal stock or low sodium beef broth
1 each - bay leaf

Cleaning mushrooms: remove stems and place on sheet pan; roast in oven 1 hour on 200; reserve for mushroom stock.

To make the mushroom stock:
Heat oil over high heat and sauté onion, celery and parsnip for 5 minutes until they begin to caramelize.

Deglaze pan with white wine scraping food from bottom of pan.

Add veal stock, mushroom stems and bay leaf.

Simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain through fine mesh strainer and reserve.

Carol's at Cat Spring, Cat Spring, Texas
Owner, Carol Davis
www.Blisswood.net

Good Luck Hoppin' John Black Eyed Peas

8 ounces dried black-eyed peas (about 1 ¼ cups)
I like using fresh peas (adjust).

For dried peas, soak and cook until tender, drain and add ingredients below.

For fresh peas, add peas to ingredients below.

3 cups water (I like to use chicken stock)

1 ½ cups chopped onions

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 ounces smoked ham, diced (or ham hock)

½ teaspoon dried thyme (I like to use fresh, adjust)

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 large bay leaves

Simmer gently, uncovered, about 20 – 30 minutes.

Discard bay leaves and season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Sprinkle each serving with minced fresh parsley and serve with fresh-baked cornbread.

Must be eaten on New Year’s day to bring you good luck for the year.

Michaels Magic New Year’s Black Eyed Peas
Michael Briggs, Home Cook

• Two 12 oz bags of fresh black-eyed peas
(frozen works in a pinch)
• 1/2 pound diced ham
• 1/2 pound chopped link sausage, or your favorite meat, chopped
• 1 medium onion, course chopped
• 1 medium Red Bell Pepper, course chopped
• 1 medium Green Bell Pepper, course chopped
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes and liquid
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth (or beef broth depending on your preference)
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard (I prefer spicy)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon course ground black pepper
• ½ cup chopped bacon
(Optional) Add diced jalapeno and pepper sauce to taste.

Place the peas, ham, sausage (or other favorite meat) into a 4-6 qt crock pot set on HIGH.

Add the onion, bell peppers, garlic and diced tomatoes, and cover with Chicken broth.

After the peas have cooked 3-4 hours check them for consistency, adding more broth if needed to keep the peas covered, then add mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in the ½ cup of the chopped bacon just prior to serving.

Top with finely chopped parsley and onion. They get better with time so try to cook them the day before you serve them and let them sit in the refrigerator over night. Reheat slowly and enjoy the results!
Serves 6 - 8

EASY TIP – Substitute your favorite jarred salsa (16 oz) for the onion, bell peppers, garlic and diced tomatoes.