Last weekend, when Brigid, Turk, Tam and I stopped by Penzey's Spices, I picked up a recipe for Parkey Stew. It starts with leeks and carrots plus kielbasa, crushed tomatoes and cabbage, cooked up in chicken broth. Garlic, marjoram and caraway seeds season it. Quick to make -- saute the root veggies, then add tomatoes, broth and meat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes.
I've been meaning to try it and tonight was the night. I substituted a little; the superdupermarket has fresh uncooked kielbasa instead of the summer-sausage-looking stuff you usually find, so it got sauteed with a little head start on the carrots and leeks and I cut back the olive oil a bit. I used purple cabbage 'cos I had it, scaling the amount back to about 2/3 and went with half again as much broth as it the recipe calls for.
Marvelous! The cabbage kept a lot of color; the broth is a kind of rich, golden brown, dotted with bright-orange carrots and yummy-looking slices of sausage. It looks great, smells like heaven and tastes better. (UPS man showed up halfway through dinner, took a deep breath and said, "Something smells great! What's for dinner?")
Claimed to make enough to serve 8 to 10. Or, as it turns out, two bowls apiece for two very hungry bloggers with about one bowl left over; we didn't have any side dishes with it. Just the thing for a cold, snowy afternoon.
Just the thing for a cold, snowy afternoon.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it!
Jim
I can always count on you to stimulate my saliva glands. Dammit.
ReplyDeletePenzey's turns out some simply amazing dead-of-winter chow. The favorite here at the nerd ranch: In a decent sized stew pot, sweat about half an onion, 3 chopped carrots, and a some of cabbage in olive oil until the onions go soft. Add in 1 very large or two small/medium (three small if you really like) diced potatos and a tablespoon of flour. Give the flour about a minute to soak up any oil left, and add 3 cups of chicken stock and 3/4 a bottle of beer (stouts and porters for preference here) and bring to a boil, then back down to a brisk simmer. Toss in 1/2 tsp of mustard powder, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp of Penzey's Black & Red spice. Mix about 1/4-1/2 tsp of worcestershire into 1/2 cup of milk, and stir into the soup. Meanwhile, saute about 2 cups or so of stew beef enough to get some nice browning, and set aside. When the potatos and carrots are tender, stir in the beef, and start adding in cheddar cheese. The official recipe says 3 cups, but I like cheese and tend to just add until it looks right to me.
ReplyDeleteNot for the fragile of artery, but very tasty and reheats well.
Hey Bobbi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pointer; we made it yesterday on a cold snowy afternoon of our own, and it was great! Not easy to prepare, but just time-consuming. Good stuff.
Leatherneck