Beef Stew with Seasonal Ale

The temperature is definitely dropping. Time to bring out the hearty stews!





Ingredients

1/2 cup flour

2 Tablespoons paprika

Salt

Pepper

2 lbs stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

4 strips bacon

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bottle seasonal beer. I used a 22ounce bottle of Elysian Night Owl, a pumpkin ale that is the epitome of Autumn.

1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed

2 larger carrots, sliced

1 lb turnips, diced

1 Tablespoon oregano

1 Tablespoon thyme

Combine flour, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

Fry bacon in large cast iron skillet. While bacon is cooking, roll each piece of beef in flour mixture. Remove bacon from skillet, add beef pieces, cooking 3-4 minutes per side.





Remove beef from pan. Add onion. Saute 5-7 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add garlic, cooking for 1 minute. Add beer, then scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add tomatoes, bacon, and beef back to the skillet. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

**Note** At this point, the skillet may be too small. I poured the contents of the skillet into an 8-quart pot and continued from there.

Add potatoes, carrots, turnips, oregano, and thyme. Simmer for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Adapted from this recipe on Simply Recipes.

Baked Tomato-Basil Mahi Mahi over Saffron Risotto with Sauteed Mushrooms

We had a couple of friends over for dinner, and we were tired of steak. It was hot today. Something "light" sounded good.


Saffron Risotto

Mahi-Mahi

We're serving the fish with a balsamic tomato-basil sauce we discovered yesterday and absolutely loved.
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This was phenomenal. The fish was just a little bit rare, so it was nice and juicy, and basically fell apart in the mouth. The tomato-basil topping complimented the fish perfectly.

The risotto was good, if a little bit salty. I expect this is because we had to use chicken boullion instead of actual chicken stock.

I believe the cheese on top was manchego, but my memory may be failing me on that.