Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Green Chile Beef Stew with Cheddar-Jalapeno Dumplings

Warning - you must like heat to enjoy this stew!

I found a recipe for
Green Chile Stew on the Epicurious web site. I liked the ingredients and flavors, but not the cooking method. I looked at the latest recipe I used for Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings and decided to use that cooking method mixed with the ingredients from the Green Chile Stew recipe. The dumplings were my own creation; I based the idea for the dumplings in the Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings Recipe.

Here is my adaptation -

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pound beef stew meat
  • 2 teaspoons meat seasoning (1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper*, 1/2 teaspoon salt)
  • 1 stalk celery cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Peppers: I used 3 poblanos, 2 Anaheims, and 1 jalapeno **
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 c water
*NOTE - after making this, I really think the cayenne could be eliminated and replaced with chili powder and cumin for a deeper flavor. The stew did not need the extra heat from the cayenne.

** NOTE - you never know how hot your peppers are going to be. For this reason, I think I would stick to poblanos next time - no jalapenos.

Dumpling Batter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 c whole milk
  • 3/4 c flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 jalapeno, seeds/ribs removed and finely chopped (when I tasted how hot the stew was, I only used 1/2 of the jalapeno!)
  • 1/3 c finely shredded cheddar cheese

Mix the egg, jalapeno, and milk. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the milk/egg/jalapeno mixture to the flour mixture until just blended. Lightly stir in the cheese.

Directions
  • First, make the green chili. Roast the peppers over an open flame until they are charred. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. After 15-20 minutes, remove the skins. Chop into bite-sized pieces and place in a pot with 1/2 c water, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until the water has absorbed.
  • Heat oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven. While oil is heating, sprinkle meat with most of the meat seasoning. Add meat to the pot and brown; once browned, removed meat from the pot.
  • Add onions, celery, tomatoes, green chile (pepper mixture), and the rest of the meat seasoning to the pot. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
  • Return meat to pan and add 3 1/2 cups of the broth. Bring to a simmer, and then cover and transfer to a 325 degree oven for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
  • Add carrots and potatoes, cover, and continue to cook in the oven until the potatoes/carrots are tender, approximately 25 minutes.
  • Transfer pot back to the stove and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add remaining broth and let simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Add spoonfulls of dumpling batter to the stew; cover and let cook for 15 minutes, until the dumplings are done.

The picture isn't that pretty so I saved it for the end -

This isn't what I was expecting. It was good, but had too much heat that overpowered the flavors. I don't understand why the recipe would have you add cayenne, and now that I have made it, I would definitely remove the cayenne and use chili powder and cumin instead to give it a deeper and more full flavor rather than just having heat.

The dumplings were very good, although they did lose a bit of their bottoms. Hey, I don't bake and probably didn't measure the ingredients for the dumplings exactly. Ok, I admit it, I was sloppy with my measuring :) But I'm sure if you measure everything exactly, they would be perfect!

I'm giving this one a Mexican tag because I think with my changes it would have a very full, Mexican flavor.

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3 comments:

  1. This looks delicious and I love the Mexican flavors throughout this dish!

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  2. This looks great. I saw a stew recipe a while back that had masa harina dumplings. I think it used lard (ew) but the flavor of the masa would be great with this dish!

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  3. Elly - that's a really good idea. I have never worked with masa but was eyeing it at Wegman's the other day!

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