Stews Make Hearty Dishes For Cold, Dreary Days
Stews and casseroles are ideal dinners for this time of year. They are hearty, satisfying and robust and usually include vegetables, protein, starch and a variety of flavors in a single dish.
The following recipes are classics not only from the United States but from the Mediterranean, Spain and the Middle East as well. Over the years, they have become favorites in this country. In this case, each dish is designed in a streamlined fashion - using fewer ingredients, frozen vegetables where applicable, canned chicken broth in place of homemade chicken stock, and fewer steps.
All are perfect for leftovers and actually are better the second day. They can be frozen with great success and make outstanding lunches the next day. Served with a green salad and bread, these casseroles and stews are the quintessential uncomplicated winter meal.
There are as many variations of gumbo as there are Creole and Cajun cooks. One traditional version made with chicken, ham and okra is referred to simply as an okra gumbo, despite the fact that chicken and ham are also used. In the following recipe I added lima beans and corn, also used in this Southern-style dish, but often not in combination with okra.
Some frozen vegetables are acceptable; others are really terrible. Beans are always OK, and frozen corn is usually better than corn out of season. Okra is hard to find fresh in many markets, so frozen is fine; people with an aversion to okra may like it better since it is not gooey, as fresh tends to be.
Chicken Gumbo
This one-pot stew is very easy to make and takes only about an hour to prepare and cook. Once the onions are sauteed, you basically throw the rest of the ingredients into the pot and let them cook together.
1 pound thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 medium onions, medium dice
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 bay leaves
1-1/2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 (28-ounce) cans chopped tomatoes
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup white rice
8 ounces frozen okra
10 ounces frozen lima beans
1 pound frozen corn
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 tablespoons file powder, optional
1/2 cup water
Salt, pepper
Cayenne pepper
Cook bacon in skillet until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Discard all but 1/4 cup bacon fat.
Cook onions, garlic, bay leaves and thyme in 1/4 cup bacon fat over moderate heat 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add tomatoes, chicken broth and rice. Bring to boil over high heat. Cook 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally or until rice is tender.
Add okra, lima beans, corn, chicken and reserved bacon. Reduce heat to moderately high and cook 10 minutes until chicken is just done and vegetables are heated through.
Dissolve file powder in 1/2 cup water and add to stew; mix well (see note). Remove bay leaves. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings.
Note: Add file only to portion you are serving. Reheating gumbo with the file powder tends to make stew stringy.
When most folks think of the cuisine of Spain, the dish paella comes to mind first. Like gumbo, there are hundreds of versions of this short-grained rice dish. Most are elaborate, with dozens of ingredients, and involve many steps.
Traditional paellas usually require cooking each ingredient separately and then adding it to the rice, in a special paella pan, at just the right moment. The assembled dish is then baked in the oven and served in shallow bowls.
The classic version is, of course, preferred, but if you don’t have all day, the following recipe will fill in perfectly. It can be made in a regular pot on top of the stove.
Seafood and Sausage Paella
If you are really pressed for time, you can buy precooked, shelled prawns in the seafood department of many grocery stores.
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons saffron
6 cups chicken stock
2 large onions, small dice
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons each dried oregano, thyme, basil, salt, black pepper
2 cups short-grain white rice
1 pound frozen peas
1 pound medium-large prawns, shelled and deveined
1 pound linguica sausage, cut lengthwise and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
2 pounds small mussels, cleaned
Dissolve saffron in chicken stock. Set aside.
Cook onions and garlic in olive oil over high heat 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add reserved chicken stock and saffron, herbs, salt and pepper, rice and peas. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to moderate and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes.
Add prawns and sausage and mix well. Place mussels on top of rice mixture and cover with tight-fitting lid. Cook 5 to 7 minutes or until mussels have opened. Discard any mussels that do not open. Serve immediately.
Yield: 8 servings.
Couscous is a North African dish that combines the cooked grain called couscous with an assortment of stewed vegetables, meats, poultry and fish.
Couscous is a durum wheat kernel from which the bran and the germ have been removed. The remaining endosperm is steamed, pressed together to make bigger chunks and dried. It needs to be cooked a second time, and this is where the traditional couscous dish requires practice, special equipment and plenty of time and attention.
This version uses the increasingly popular precooked couscous, readily available in grocery stores. The accompanying vegetable stew is a traditional blend of Mediterranean vegetables, canned garbanzo beans, herbs and spices, and can be prepared in less than an hour.
Vegetable Couscous
Precooked couscous, found in the grain and pasta section of your grocery store, will help cut down on preparation time and is quite delicious.
1 (16-ounce) package precooked couscous
2 large onions, small dice
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons each ground cumin, coriander, fennel and cinnamon
1/4 cup olive oil
2 small eggplant (preferably Japanese), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup currants or raisins
1 (16-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (8-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
Salt, pepper <
Make couscous according to package directions and set aside.
Meanwhile, cook onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, fennel and cinnamon in olive oil over moderate heat 10 minutes. Add eggplant and cook 10 minutes longer, stirring frequently.
Add tomatoes, currants or raisins and garbanzo beans. Cook over moderate heat 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Gently mix in artichoke hearts. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with couscous.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.