A simple tradition.

Hearty meal season is upon us, and with that I bring you beef stew. My fiance and I pick up our Christmas tree during the first weekend of December, and though there are sappy fingers, needle-covered floors and a LOT of lugging involved (for him), the spirit-warming results are always worth it. We decorate the tree with an ever-growing hodgepodge of ornaments, and light a fire and watch Home Alone or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s a simple tradition, but we look forward to it all year. And now that we’re engaged, I can’t help but imagine doing these things with our kids someday.

I also think I’ll add this beef stew to our little tradition. After schlepping an Evergreen up a flight of stairs, finagling it into a temperamental stand and scooping up needles from the weirdest of places (I swear I found a few in the fridge), we deserve some good old-fashioned comfort food. Between the wine and the bacon, this meal is a gift all its own.

Beef Stew
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients
2 ½ lbs good quality beef cut in 1 ¼-inch cubes (buy it pre-cut at the butcher or grocery store)
1 bottle of good Cabernet Sauvignon
3 whole garlic cloves, smashed
3 bay leaves
6 oz. bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 ½ C. All-purpose flour, plus another 2 Tbs for later
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
2 C. chopped yellow onions
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1 ½-inch chunks
1 1lb small potatoes, halved or quartered
1 14 oz. can of beef stock
1 large branch of fresh rosemary
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 10-oz package frozen peas

Place the beef in a bowl with the whole garlic cloves and bay leaves, and pour the entire bottle of wine over it. Marinate in the fridge for one hour (Note: the longer you marinate, the more flavor the stew will have. But I find an hour does the trick).

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Brown the bacon in a large sauté pan for 5 to 7 minutes over medium-low heat. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a Dutch oven. Combine the flour with 1 Tbs salt and 2 tsp pepper. Lift the beef out of the marinade, and discard the bay leaves and garlic but reserve the liquid. In batches, dredge the cubes of beef in the flour mixture and shake off the excess.

In the sauté pan, brown half the beef over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Place the beef in the Dutch oven with the bacon and continue to brown the remaining beef, placing it all in the Dutch oven.

Lower the heat in the sauté pan to medium-low, add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Place all the vegetables in the Dutch oven with the beef. Add 2 ½ C of the reserved marinade to the sauté pan and discard the rest. Cook over high heat to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the brown bits wih a wooden spoon.

Add the beef stock, rosemary, Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbs salt and 2 tsp pepper. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables in the Dutch oven and bring it to a simmer over medium heat on top of the stove. Cover the pot and place it in the over for 2 hours, until the meat and vegetables are all tender, stirring once after 1 hour. If the stew is boiling rather than simmering, lower the heat to 275 degrees.

When the stew is done and the meat is tender, whisk 2 Tbs of the flour and 1 C. of the sauce together and pour it back into the stew. Simmer for 3 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the frozen peas, season to taste and serve hot.

The stew is best enjoyed with a crackling fire and a freshly decorated Christmas tree.

One thing that remains the same.

Greetings! I hope everyone had a beautiful, delicious Thanksgiving. The weeks surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas are among my favorite of the year. Spirits are a bit brighter, people are kinder to each other and there's this amazing feeling of hope in the air.

In our house, holiday menus change and guests come and go, but one thing that remains the same are my brother Michael’s southern biscuits.

My family cooks everything in an ancient Chamber stove. We light it with a match, and it’s miniscule by today’s GE standards, but it’s the world’s finest mechanism for roasting chicken and baking cookies.

Mike’s biscuits are the last things to go in the oven. Stomachs may rumble and side dishes may cool, but these biscuits are always worth the wait. Golden and fluffy, they’re excellent dipped in gravy, slathered in butter or nestled between turkey and cranberry sauce. Toasted and topped with raspberry jam, they’re wonderful for breakfast, too. Holidays in the Kutner household just wouldn’t be the same without them.

Michael’s Southern Biscuits
Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe

Ingredients
2 C. flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs cold butter
2 Tbs shortening
1 C. buttermilk, chilled (if you don’t have buttermilk, add a Tbs of lemon juice to whole milk)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture starts to crumble. (The faster the better, because you don't want the fats to melt.)

Make a well in the center of the dough and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together—it will be very sticky. Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cookie cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough.

Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. Biscuits from the second pass won’t be quite as light as those from the first, but what can you do?

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Sunday Soups

I’m making a point to carve out a couple hours every Sunday to make soup. There’s something about a warm bowl of anything that makes the Sunday blues a bit easier to bear. Moreover, a big pot of soup makes for five weekday lunches (and it always tastes better the next day). So who’s with me?



I first discovered Portuguese caldo verde soup at Ted and Amy’s Supper Club. Loaded with potatoes, linguica sausage and kale (Yay! Kale!), this rich, spicy soup makes a comforting meal when served with a glass of red wine and some hot, crusty bread.

Best of all, it takes under an hour to make. I was amazed by how simple it was to replicate. I find that it’s easier to get your hands on Chorizo than linguica sausage, and it worked very nicely here. My aunt--and cooking mentor--who taught me how to make this, has always raved about the power of tap water when it comes to good broth (when she doesn’t have homemade stock on hand, she’ll always use water over the boxed variety). This was the first time I made a soup without stock, and the results were lovely. The salt, onions and chorizo are the star flavors, and give the broth a real heartiness. So when in doubt, turn to the tap.

Caldo Verde soup
Ingredients
3 Tbs olive oil
¾ lb kale, stems discarded and cut into strips
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 ½ lbs boiling potatoes (2 large), peeled and thinly sliced
2 tsp salt, divided
½ lb spicy Chorizo, cut into ½-inch cubes
8 c. water

Heat olive oil in a 5-quart pot over medium-high heat, and sauté onions until translucent (about five minutes). Add peeled potatoes, and cook four to five minutes. When the warm-onion-and-potatoes aroma fills the kitchen, add 8 cups of water, 1 tsp of salt, cover and bring to a boil. Simmer the broth for fifteen minutes, uncovered, and get to work on the chorizo. Heat a small pan over medium-high heat and brown the Chorizo pieces until crisp (five minutes). Lay on a paper towel to drain. After fifteen minutes, mash potatoes—a wooden spoon works fine—into coarse pieces. Place the Chorizo into the soup, and simmer five minutes more. Then place kale in the pot, and use a wooden spoon (gently) to immerse it in the broth. Add additional tsp of salt, stir and simmer for five minutes more.

TGIF

Brunch has always been my favorite meal, because it's so many things wrapped into one: breakfast and lunch, a reason to drink cocktails during the day, and most importantly, a chance to catch up with good friends.

One of the reasons I love the warm weather is because it means lots of brunches at outdoor restaurants, like this one. NYC comes alive at the first signs of Spring, and I intend to celebrate every ray of sunshine with bacon, eggs, and a stiff Bloody Mary. Here are some of my favorite brunch treats. If you're feeling domestic, try the recipe for orange and ricotta breakfast dumplings after the photo jump.

Croissants dunked in coffee



Tea with Brooklyn Honey



McClure's Bloody Mary mix with chipotle vodka



Egg sandwich with homemade sausage from Mile End



Orange Ricotta Breakfast Dumplings
Courtesy of Crumpets and Cakes

Ingredients
1 C ricotta cheese
1 C all purpose flour, divided in half
1 medium egg lightly beaten
1 tsp orange zest plus more for garnish

In a medium pot bring to a gentle boil 2 quarts of lightly salted water. In a large bowl mix the ricotta with the egg, add half the flour, and mix it with a spoon to form it into a ball. Add orange zest and more flour--little by little--as needed. The dough will be very sticky, but not wet, and the amount of flour you use will depend on how much moisture is in the ricotta cheese. One cup should be right, so don’t add too much flour as it toughens the dumpling.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut in half. With your palms, gently roll it into two long strands about 1/2 an inch thick. With a knife, slice each strand on diagonal into about half inch wide dumplings. This will make approximately 44 dumplings. Transfer all the dumplings to a large pot and boil until they float to the surface, about 10 minutes.

Arrange cooked dumplings on a serving platter or divide into small bowls. Top with butter and orange zest, and serve immediately.

A Special Story for New Yorkers: 19 Charles Street

Let's be honest: shopping for good food in New York can be a pain. As much as I love going from specialty store to specialty store on the weekends, it would be nice to get my bread, cheese, pasta and meat in the same place every now and then (especially on week days, when the last thing I want to do is shop for groceries).

Enter 19 Charles Street, the Manhattan-based gourmet food delivery service that brings great ingredients and nourishing recipes to your doorstep. This genius new company has a special place in my heart, as it was founded by my lovely friend, Dawn, and her husband Brandon. I remember when 19 Charles Street was just an idea, and I'm thrilled to see all the success it's having.

The idea is simple: 19 Charles Street delivers delicious, high-quality food to people who love to cook but simply don't have the time to shop. They work closely with local farms and gourmet purveyors (like Murray's Cheese, Blue Ribbon Bakery and Raffetto's) so that customers get top-notch recipes with some of the best food available. You can also purchase tasty extras on the site, like alessi sea salt and organic olive oil. I know--genius.

To order, simply sign up, browse the current week's menu, select your servings and when you want to get cooking. The order will be delivered to your doorstep the following week (Monday-Wednesday). Each meal comes with a recipe card and all the required ingredients. Best of all, nothing takes longer than an hour to prepare.

I loved making their baked breaded chicken with collard greens and a turnip puree. 19 Charles Street has taken the guesswork out of creating a gourmet meal, and most importantly, they are super responsible about the food they provide.

As of now, 19 Charles Street delivers throughout Manhattan and to most parts of Brooklyn. But I sense they'll soon be taking the country by storm.

Here's a peek at this week's menu:

Braised chicken breast with rainbow chard, crimini mushrooms and pan-fried sunchokes


Sausage risotto with baby broccoli rabe and Parmesan


Lightly breaded filet of sole with toasted pine nuts, spring onions and green salad


Croque monsieur mac & cheese with a green salad

Pasta with Shrimp and Arugula

Pasta is one of my favorite things to cook, both for its possibilities and for all the meals I can get out of it. It's easy to get one dinner and three lunches out of a pound of pasta, which makes it one of the most cost-effective foods ever. And if you can find a pasta recipe that only takes a half an hour to make, well that's a bonus.

I got this easy recipe for pasta with shrimp and arugula from my friend Sabrina, an Italian girl who knows her pasta. Sabrina adapted it from another Italian girl who knows her pasta. When you get a recipe from an Italian who likes to cook, you know you can trust it. This dish is so good, I had to step away from my plate and fork. I could have easily finished the entire pot.

If you sub whole wheat noodles for white-flour pasta, this meal is crazy-healthy.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Shrimp and Arugula

Ingredients
1/4 C olive oil
1 finely chopped shallot
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, plus more serving
1 C dry white wine
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and de-veined. Do yourself a favor and buy a bag of frozen, peeled and de-veined shrimp.
12 oz whole wheat pasta (I like wide noodles, but spaghetti, linguine, or whatever you prefer works just fine)
3 C (packed) fresh arugula

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and white wine and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the wine reduces by half, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook just until they are pink, about 2 minutes (5, if frozen).

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. Note: whole wheat pasta is reaches a nice al dente after 6 minutes. If you're using white pasta, cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

Drain the pasta, and return to pot. Add the shrimp in its sauce, plus the arugula, to the pot. Toss to combine. Season the pasta with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon juice (optional).

TGIF

I always find something to love at flea markets, from vintage fur coats to old grammar-school maps. But I love the Brooklyn Flea for one very specific reason: the food. It's as if the vendors put everything I love to eat in one place. There are lobster rolls, homemade caramels, artisanal sodas, cheese and jam....I could go on and on. Browsing the Flea is one of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities. This year, the Flea has a new home on the Williamsburg waterfront--and the food alone is worth a trip on the L train.

Here are some of my favorite locally-made treats:

Hot Dogs with kimchi apples, pickled carrots and daikon from Asia Dog NYC



Liddabit Beer & Pretzel caramels (made with Brooklyn Lager)



Strawberry-basil popsicles from People Pops



Perfect half-sour pickles from McClure's



Lobster rolls with a touch of mayo and celery from The Red Hook Lobster Pound



Open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 27 North Sixth St. (between Kent Ave. and the East River); brooklynflea.com

Have a delicious weekend.