Cornbread Panzanella

Since snagging an eyeful of a gorgeous-looking cornbread salad on Beth Kirby's Instagram the idea of a winter panzanella has sat warming on the back burner of my mind. The occasion arose to make cornbread this past weekend when I cooked up a stew, and I saved a couple slices to be toasted up for a salad the following day. The Homesick Texan's cornbread is my go-to recipe, and it held up beautifully for the occasion. Since I usually smear leftover cornbread with a maple-butter mix, I brought some maple sweetness to the table by coating the cornbread cubes with maple & melted butter before toasting them, and swirled some maple into a quick vinaigrette for the salad as well. The final result was incredibly tasty and satisfying - it might even be good enough to warrant baking cornbread for the salad alone!

Cornbread Panzanella
Makes 2-3 servings


*1 scant tablespoon butter
*3-4 cups of cubed cornbread, made the day before
*Handfuls of spinach & arugula
*1/4 small red onion, sliced into thin half moons
*2 cups roasted Brussels sprouts (trimmed, halved, tossed with evoo, S&P at 375 for 30-40 minutes)
*1 scallion, green part sliced
*1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
*2 tablespoons pepitas
*2 tablespoons EVOO
*1 tablespoon maple syrup + 1/2 teaspoon
*1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
*1/2 teaspoon whole grain mustard
*S&P


Melt the butter with the 1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup and toss the cornbread with the mix. Toast in the oven for about 15 minutes, stirring once, until well crisped. Prepare the vinaigrette by shaking together the evoo, a tablespoon of syrup, the vinegar and mustard with pinches of salt & pepper in a small mason jar. Lay the greens in a serving bowl and combine the onion, freshly roasted sprouts, scallions, cheese, pepitas and cornbread to serve over top. A little cracked pepper and salt to finish, and serve with the dressing on the side so people may use it at their discretion.

Pho Ga

The confluence of chicken carcasses building up in my freezer and the miserable weather brewing outside led me to thoughts of chicken soup this weekend, and when I consulted my fridge and pantry my thoughts were immediately pulled East to pho. Pho Ga is a lighter, brighter alternative to the delicate yet unctuous (and better known) beef pho, and proved to be just what I was craving. Piquant with fresh chili and sriracha spice, pungent from lime and fish sauce, aromatic wafts of ginger and warm spices rising with the steam... it's already a bowl of absolute comfort before you even get to the tender chicken and toothsome noodles! I can't recommend it enough as a curative to the winter blues 'n greys.

The recipe is an accumulation and synthesis of various tips gleaned from friends and on Chowhound, but the necessary framework came from Andrea Nguyen , whom I always consult first on all matters Vietnamese. Grab your chopsticks and your slurpin' spoon and enjoy!

Pho Ga
Makes 6 servings

*1 small chicken, cut up (whack at the bony pieces with a cleaver to expose more marrow)
*At least one other chicken carcass, chopped into pieces
*2 onions, unpeeled
*Chubby piece of ginger, about 4 inches, unpeeled
*3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
*2 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted lightly
*2 cloves
*2 star anise
*1 inch piece cinnamon stick
*S&P
*1 heaping teaspoon demerara sugar
*3 tablespoons fish sauce
*Small bunch of cilantro stems
*1 lb dried rice noodles (banh pho)
*Any combination of the following, for garnish: bean sprouts, cilantro leaves, Thai basil, mint, finely sliced hot chilis, lime wedges, thinly sliced scallions, sriracha, hoisin sauce...

Set a toaster oven or regular oven to broil. Place the ginger and onion on a baking sheet and broil, turning occasionally, for 15 minutes or until nicely charred.  Add the garlic in the last couple minutes. After they've cooled to the point where you can play with 'em, remove the charred skin from the onions and ginger, and peel & smash the garlic (you may have to use the back of a spoon with the ginger).

Fill a stockpot with enough water to cover your cut-up chicken and any parts you're using. When the water boils, add all the chicken sections, the carcass, and any other carcass parts and boil on high for a couple minutes. You’ll see lots of foam and gunk roil up to the surface. Drain, rinse your chicken of the scum and quickly rinse the pot. Refill with 3 1/2-4 quarts of clean water. Add the chicken and pieces, onions, ginger, cilantro stems, fish sauce, sugar and all of the spices to the pot. Turn heat to high – let it come to boil, then turn the heat to low. After 15 minutes or so, remove the chicken breasts, shred with your fingers when cooled and set aside. With a large spoon, skim the surface of any impurities in the broth every so often to keep the broth clear. Simmer for about an hour and remove the rest of the chicken pieces, leaving the carcasses in the broth; shred & set aside the chicken meat. Continue simmering the stock for a bit longer, perhaps another 1/2 hour. Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce and/or sugar.

Strain the broth in a colander lined with cheesecloth and discard solids. Pop the broth in containers and store in the fridge for a while, until you can skim the congealed fat off the surface (which I always save because hey, Vietnamese flavored schmaltz!). When ready to serve the pho, reheat the broth. Prepare noodles per directions on package. Ladle broth into bowls, add shredded chicken and soft noodles and have your selected garnishes on hard for each person to add to their bowl.

Grapefruit Blush Cocktail

In the depths of winter I find I will sometimes go a couple weeks without eating an orange or a grapefruit, and then suddenly the citrus craving will hit hard. Over the past couple days I've binged on clementines and cut up some grapefruit to slip into a salad, and today I decided to extend the citrus trend to late afternoon tipples, too. The same friend who gifted me with maple bitters last year recently gave me an awesome bottle of hibiscus-orange blossom-ginger simple syrup from the Bang Candy Co, and I found it paired quite well with the grapefruit juice I'd just squeezed. A little Cointreau and club soda later, and I was sipping this very easy and tasty cocktail.  It's sweet, tart, juicy, effervescent, and most importantly, makes you briefly forget the dull grey chill awaiting you outdoors. Looking forward to seeing where my current citrus obsession takes me next.

Grapefruit Blush Cocktail
Makes one drink

*4 oz fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
*1 oz hibiscus-orange flower-ginger syrup (ginger simple syrup will work well as a sub)
*2 oz Cointreau
*Club soda
*Sugar & grapefruit zest, for rimming the glass

Mix some sugar and zest together on a plate and run a wedge of grapefruit around the rim of a short tumbler, then place it rim-side down in the sugar. Chill the glass.

Mix the first 3 ingredients together in a shaker filled with ice, then strain into your chilled glass and top with a little club soda.

Eggnog...and Eggnog Ice Cream

Talk about having your cake and eating it too - over the holidays I had a mind to make homemade eggnog AND David Lebovitz's eggnog ice cream...and found I could do both at the same time. When I was reading Lebovitz's recipe from The Perfect Scoop it struck me that the ice cream's custard base was so extremely similar to most recipes for (cooked) eggnog I'd seen, that if I made a big enough batch, I could have both nog concoctions! 2 cups of the base went into chilled glasses and the other 2, into the ice cream maker: perfectly unctuous, rich eggnoggy deliciousness in both liquid & solid form. I prefer eggnog with black spiced rum but feel free to sub in your alcohol of choice - Lebovitz recommended bourbon & brandy. Sip your nog and eat it too!

Eggnog/Eggnog Ice Cream
Makes a quart of the base


Adapted from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop

*1 cup whole milk

*2 cups heavy cream, divided
*Good pinch salt
*2/3 cup sugar

*1/4 cup black-spiced rum (I use Kraken)

*1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

*Pinch cinnamon
*Pinch allspice

*6 organic eggs, divided

*1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine the milk, sugar, salt and one cup cream in a saucepan over medium and keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the milk begins to steam. Put the other cup of cream into a bowl and chill well. 

Whisk the egg yolks until the yolks are glossy. Temper the yolks by slowly adding hot milk mix to them, whisking until fully incorporated. Pour the eggy liquid back into the pan and cook, stirring all the while, until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon – just don't bring to a boil. Pour the mix through a fine mesh sieve into the bowl of chilled cream and add the spices, rum and vanilla. Stir well, then put in the fridge to chill overnight.

When you're ready to churn, use as much of the eggnog base as you would like, reserving any extra for immediate sippin'. To pump up those sipping servings, take about a tablespoon of egg white and a heavy pinch of sugar per serving and whisk together until peaks form, then gently fold the egg whites into the servings. Garnish both liquid and solid servings with freshly grated nutmeg and allspice. 

Tomato & Bulgur Soup

One of my favorite grains, bulgur, quite often works its way into soups to beef 'em up this time of year. This winter, I've gravitated to this very simple and hearty tomato and bulgur soup that I adapted from a NY Times recipe, and have taken a quart jar filled with it into work for almost a week's worth of lunches on a few occasions. Not only is it better the next day, or the day after that, but it's filling and satisfying without being heavy. It also absorbs additions marvelously: one day I may bring in some chickpeas pilfered from the previous night's chana masala, or a quarter-cup of cooked, crumbled Italian sausage, or some leftover pesto. Practically anything stirs in and mingles well with the tomato soup. As is, it's wonderful; at first sip it may taste *too* simple but you soon find that you can't stop eating it. It's a good'un.

Tomato & Bulgur Soup

Makes 6 servings

Adapted from the NY Times

*EVOO

*1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes in juice

*1 small red onion, finely chopped

*4 cloves garlic, minced

*2 tablespoons tomato paste

*1 healthy pinch red pepper flakes

*1 pinch sugar

*1/2 cup coarse bulgur

*4 cups water 

*S&P
*Squeeze of fresh lemon juice per serving

*Chopped fresh mint, to garnish

*Crumbled feta, to garnish

Pulse the tomatoes to a coarse puree in a food processor and set aside. Heat the oil in a pot over medium-low and add the onions with a good pinch of salt. Saute 5-6 minutes, then add the garlic and pepper flakes, and cook about another minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar and bring to a strong simmer. Cook, stirring often, about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly. Add the bulgur and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, season with pinches of salt & pepper and cover partially. Simmer for about 45 minutes, check for seasoning, then ladle the soup into bowls with squeezes of lemon and sprinkle with mint and feta. 

Meatball Cookies

My noted culinary genius pal Michael G has been baking up hordes of holiday cookies lately and out of all the goodies these "meatball" cookies most captured my attention, so after I secured the recipe I immediately set out to bake a batch. They were just as delicious as they looked, and I'm thrilled to have them in my cookie repertoire now. The scintillating spices mixed with notes of coffee, cocoa and orange conjure up a particularity warm and enveloping Christmas spirit, especially when they're paired with a mug of holiday blend coffee on a chilled December Sunday evening. May you enjoy them just as much as I do!

Meatball Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies

Recipe adapted from my friend Michael G

*2 cups flour

*3/4 cup sugar

*1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

*1 tablespoon instant espresso

*1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

*1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

*1/4 teaspoon cloves

*1/4 teaspoon allspice

*1/4 teaspoon salt

*2 teaspoons baking powder

*6 tablespoons unsalted butter

*1/2 cup milk

*1 egg

*Scant 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

*1/4 teaspoon orange extract

*1/2 teaspoon orange zest

*1/2 cup broken walnuts

Heat the oven to 375. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso, spices, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and blend well. Grate in the butter and work with your fingers until a crumbly mixture is achieved.

Make a well in the center and add the milk, egg, extracts, zest and walnuts.  Stir with a large wooden spoon to combine until the dough is sticky and damp. Cover the dough and refrigerate for a few hours.

Scoop by the teaspoonful and shape into balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10-11 minutes or until they are done. Let cool completely before glazing with a mix of hot milk, confectioners sugar and flavoring (I have flavored it with spiced rum or cocoa).

Sage Chicken & Sausage Bake

When your hands smell of onions and sage, you know you're making something autumnally appropriate! Adapted (barely, if I'm being honest) from Nigella Lawson, this recipe is perfectly simple and delicious late fall comfort food...and hearty enough to ease you into an early hibernation. I usually just opt for thighs when I throw this together but you can use any chicken pieces you desire - just keep track of baking times. When paired with roasted potatoes, a crisp salad and peppery saison, you couldn't ask for a better November weeknight dinner.  

Sage Chicken & Sausage Bake
Serves 3-4

*1 onion, peeled and cut into wedges

*3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
*1 tablespoon EVOO
*1 teaspoon of your favorite mustard - my standard is a wild mushroom mustard

*1 heaping teaspoon dried sage
*1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
*Juice of half a lemon
*4 chicken thighs, extra skin and fat trimmed

*3-4 hot or sweet Italian sausages, your choice
*Handful of fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped

Throw everything but the sausages into a Ziploc bag with a good grinding of fresh pepper and a couple pinches of salt. I cut the spent lemon half in a few pieces and throw that in too.  Toss the bag around, squelching everything together to mix all the ingredients evenly across the chicken. Leave to marinade in the refrigerator a couple of hours (or overnight), squelching and turning the chicken around in the bag every so often.

Take the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you're going to bake, and toss the sausages and some sage leaves in the bag as well, squelching everything around again. Heat the oven to 425.

Arrange the chicken and sausage as well as some of the onion quarters all in a roasting pan. Sprinkle the rest of the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages (I usually tuck one under each flap of thigh skin, too) and then put into the oven to cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the thighs are done. Turn the sausages about halfway through to brown on both sides.

Warm Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Bagna Cauda Dressing

If it were socially acceptable to bathe in bagna càuda (which, incidentally, means "hot bath" in an Italian dialect), then I'd be splashing around in it right now. Anchovies, garlic and olive oil - was there ever a better trifecta? In the past I've made it as a dip for crudites or crusty bread, but it struck me that it would be excellent on roasted cauliflower because more than most vegetables, cauliflower demands to be paired with rich umaminess. I got the idea of making a whole salad of the affair by cruising around on Epicurious; this recipe was helpful in getting my thoughts together. Even if you aren't the biggest fan of anchovies I still heartily suggest giving this a try - it's less specifically fishy and more just...decadently savory. Especially as we're edging into seriously cold weather now, this will be a repeat visitor to the table.

Warm Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Bagna Cauda Dressing

Makes 4 entree salad size servings or serves 6 as a side

*1 sizable head cauliflower

*1/2 head radicchio, cored and ribboned

*1 small shallot, sliced very thin

*Handful chopped parsley

*1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

*Endive leaves, for garnish (and for dipping extra bagna cauda sauce)

*Scant 1/4 cup good olive oil

*8-9 anchovy fillets, minced

*3 fat cloves garlic, minced

*S&P

Heat the oven to 400. Cut the cauliflower into bite size florets and arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with evoo and season with S&P then toss lightly so the florets are all well oiled. Roast about 30-35 minutes, or until the tops are starting to brown, stirring once midway. Meanwhile, make the bagna cauda by heating the oil over medium-low and adding in the anchovies and garlic. Cook both in the oil for about 10 minutes without burning the garlic. Keep warm. When the cauliflower is tender, then it take out of the oven and toss in a big bowl with the radicchio, parsley, chopped shallot, and some of the warm dressing. Arrange on a plate with some endive leaves for garnish, add a little extra dressing and smatter some chopped hazelnuts around. Use up any leftover bagna cauda up by dipping crusty bread slices or endive leaves into it.

Winter Citrus Salad

Currently burdened by a nasty headcold in the midst of an unending winter, I yearned for a big bright hit of vit-C today. Luckily, my fruit bin just happened to be bursting with citrus. Halfway through absentmindedly peeling an orange, I was suddenly moved to cut and pare and arrange ALL my fruit into something pretty and sunny and worthy of a wee blog post. It's barely a recipe, but don't discount the mood-lifting power of a plate of glistening, jewel-like cuts of orange and vermillion and pink!

I whipped up a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt, minced mint, squeezes of citrus and a little honey and drizzled the dressing over the salad as you can see in the bottom picture, but feel free to use some mint infused simple syrup or a mere squeeze of lime to add a little extra zing to your salad.

Winter Citrus Salad
Makes 2 servings

*1 grapefruit
*1 blood orange
*1 orange (or clementine)
*Sea salt
*Palmful of shelled unsalted pistachios or pepitas
*Mint leaves

Cut the fruits into slices and then using a paring knife, remove the pith and rind from the rounds. Arrange the pieces on a platter and dust with a teensy pinch of your best sea salt and scatter some pepitas around on top. Tuck some mint leaves in for garnish.

Pro-tip: zest your oranges before cutting and paring and then either use the zest immediately or freeze for another use later.

Wild Mushroom, Caramelized Shallot & Brie Panini

This is a perfect winter vegetarian sandwich, earthy, warming, flavorful but mellow, and incredibly filling. Out of all the paninis I've pressed in the maker I got for Christmas, I think this is my favorite. Perhaps not the most appealing to take a picture of, but I swear there is one delicious bite after another in that green and brown tangle!

Wild Mushroom, Brie & Caramelized Shallot Panini
Makes 1 sandwich

*2 tablespoons butter, divided
*EVOO (I used a garlic-infused variety)

*2-3 shallots, sliced thinly

*2 cups mixed wild mushrooms, stemmed, wiped & sliced 

*Scant 1/2 teaspoon minced thyme leaves

*S&P
*Balsamic vinegar

*2 slices hearty bakery bread

*3-4 slices of Brie

*Palmful of baby arugula
*Your favorite fancy mustard (chablis Dijon, for me)

In a wide cast-iron skillet, melt a tablespoon of butter with a drizzle of garlic infused oil and add the shallots. Sprinkle with a healthy pinch of salt (and a little pinch of sugar too, to speed things along) and caramelize for a good 30 minutes. If you don't have garlic infused oil and want a hint of the beautiful stinking rose, feel free to mince a clove up and throw it in with the shallots for the last few minutes of caramelizing. Remove the shallots from the pan and add the mushrooms and another drizzle of oil (regular evoo used this time), then saute for 4 minutes before adding the thyme and seasoning with salt & pepper. Cook another minute, splash with a touch of balsamic, and toss well.

Brush one side of each of the bread slices with a bit of the other tablespoon of butter (melted or room temp), then assemble the sandwich by smoothing a thin layer of mustard on one slice, then top with the shallots, mushrooms, arugula and finally, the Brie. Press the sandwich in a preheated panini maker for 4 minutes or so, until the sandwich is toasty. Cut 'n eat!

Cauliflower Soup with Scallops

Last year around this time I had an absolutely delectable soup at a Talula's Table dinner, and have had savory memories of it from time to time since. When designing my Christmas eve dinner my mind wandered back to it, and I decided to finally take a stab at recapturing that cauliflowery deliciousness. I was inspired by this recipe on Epicurious and after adapting it to suit my tastes (and budget!), am extremely pleased with the end result. This is one voluptuous soup. 

Cauliflower Soup with Scallops

Makes 4-6 servings

*1 scant tablespoon butter

*EVOO

*1 small shallot, minced

*1 garlic clove, minced

*1 medium head cauliflower

*Equal parts chicken stock and water, about 3ish cups of each

*1/4 cup cream

*1 thumbnail size piece of Parmesan rind (or just a piece cut from a wedge)

*S&P (white pepper, if you don't want to blemish the ivory surface of the soup!)

*3-4 bay scallops or 1 sea scallop per serving

Carve the core out of the cauliflower and break the head into small florets. In a pot melt butter over medium heat and drizzle with a dribble of evoo. Sweat the shallot for a few minutes, add the garlic and continue to saute for a few minutes more. Add the cauliflower, then just barely cover with water & chicken stock (around 3-3 1/2 cups of each). Throw in the piece of Parmesan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes with the pot partially covered. When the cauliflower is totally tender, puree everything with an immersion blender and add the cream. Season with salt & white pepper to taste. Pass the soup through a fine mesh sieve to achieve that smooth silky consistency.

Meanwhile, prep the scallops – trim the muscle if necessary and dry the scallops thoroughly. Season with S&P. Heat a skillet over high heat, add a small slick of evoo and sear scallops briefly on both sides, about a minute total for bay scallops and a minute and a half per side for sea scallops. Serve soup in shallow bowls and garnish with the scallops.

Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Sauce and Bitter Greens

After nearly two weeks straight of soups, stews, and other hearty fare consumed to chase away the flinty chill of deep winter, I felt compelled to make something light and dainty for dinner - especially since the air has warmed and sweetened over the past few days! A flavorful vision of seared scallops, one of my favorite "dainty" foods, and a citrusy, piquant sauce immediately came to mind. My local fine foods grocer has a huge cache of blood oranges right now, so I picked up a few for the sauce cause - it's always a little thrill to slice into a blood orange and see vivid wet crimson, striations of rust and oxblood, when the eyes are primed to expect plain orange.

A small knoll of bitter greens and little ruby-red jewels of pomegranate scattered around the plate completed the scallop scene. It was exactly the kind of delicious and delicate dinner for which I yearned! If you have heavy winter food fatigue as well, you should give this one a go.

 

Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Sauce and Bitter Greens
Makes 2 servings

*6-8 sea scallops
*Juice of 2 blood oranges (about 2/3 cup)
*1 teaspoon dry sherry
*1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
*2 cups assorted bitter greens (I used rocket, dandelion greens and chicory)
*Seeds from about a quarter of a pomegranate
*Tiny lengthwise snips of a scallion, for garnish
*1 1/2 tablespoons butter + canola oil

Wash and dry your greens and winnow the pomegranate seeds out from within the annals of the fruit, set aside. Rinse and thoroughly pat dry your scallops, making sure to trim the muscle off the sides if need be. Lightly toast the peppercorns until fragrant and grind into a powder in a spice grinder.

Meanwhile, melt the butter with a dribble of canola oil in a cast-iron skillet on medium-high and season the scallops with the pinch of peppercorn dust and kosher salt on each side. When the skillet is hot and the butter has foamed, lay the scallops in and sear on each side for about a minute and a half. Remove to a warm platter, reduce the heat and add the the orange juice, sherry, and the rest of the ground peppercorns to the skillet. Stir, scraping the bottom, until the liquid has thickened and reduced, which will likely happen quickly. Divide the greens and scallops between two plates. Pour the pan sauce through a small sieve and over the scallops, and then scatter some pomegranate seeds around the perimeter. Garnish the scallops with snips of scallion.

Flemish Beef Stew

I suppose with a blog entitled "Zou Bisou Beef Stew", I had to deliver a beef stew recipe sooner or later! Voila, my Flemish beef stew, or carbonade à la flamande as it is otherwise known. When the winter winds start licking underneath the doors and rattling the window panes as they did yesterday, there are few comfort foods I enjoy cooking more than this dish of tender, savory chunks of chuck braised in a rich burgundy-brown gravy spiked with a spicy and complex abbey-style ale.

Important tips - do not scrimp on the beer, and, make sure to get an extra bottle or two to sip with the meal! I recommend Ommegang's Abbey Ale. Enjoy!



Note: this picture is of leftovers; there is significantly more gravy in the initial go-round!

Flemish Beef Stew
Makes 3 servings

Recipe heavily adapted from a Saveur clipping; online copy here

*About 1 1/2 lb beef chuck roast, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes
*1/4 cup flour
*1 teaspoon ground coriander
*Healthy pinches of kosher salt & pepper
*4 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4 inch lardons
*2 tablespoons butter
*5 cloves garlic, minced
*2 small yellow onions or one very large onion, halved and thinly sliced
*14-16 oz Belgian abbey-style ale (I always use Ommegang Abbey Ale)
*1 cup beef stock
*2 teaspoons brown sugar, divided
*2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
*A couple sprigs of thyme and parsley, plus one sprig of tarragon, tied together
*1 slice crusty country bread, preferably a day old, slathered with 1/2 teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard on each side
*1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
*Bread, mashed potatoes or egg noodles, for serving

Heat oven to 325. Combine the flour, S&P and coriander in a large ziplock bag. Add the cubed meat and toss the bag around until the pieces are lightly floured; remove and shake off excess flour. Meanwhile, cook chopped bacon over medium in a dutch oven until fat has rendered. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, and then working in batches, add the meat and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes total per batch, adding a touch of olive oil if needed between batches. Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add the onions. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt over them and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 20-30 minutes. Add the garlic, increase the heat back to medium and cook for another few minutes. Add half of the beer; cook, scraping at the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, until the beer has slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Return beef and any juices to the pot with the remaining beer, stock, the rest of the sugar, vinegar, bacon, bound herbs, paprika and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, place the mustard-slathered bread on top of the stew and cover.  Braise covered in the oven for at least 2 1/2 hours, preferably 3. I usually stir half of the bread into the stew, depending on the thickness of the gravy, and then toss the other half (or let the cats lick it for a while).

You could also crockpot this sumbitch, if you so prefer.

Buttered egg noodles tossed with salt, pepper, and minced parsley is my favorite foundation for the stew, but pick your favorite starch to pair - just make sure that you have some extra crusty bread on hand as well!