Harvest Pork Stew

Fall is official here and I have been craving the flavors and feelings of autumn! To welcome in October I pulled together a yummy, hot and hearty bowl of a harvest pork stew filled with sweet potato, carrots and apples!

Harvest Pork Stew
(inspired by this recipe.)

1 pound boneless pork tenderloin, cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups chicken broth/stock
salt and pepper
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 large Jonagold apple (that's just what I picked up), peeled and cubed
2 medium or small potatoes, peeled and cubed
10-12 baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise

In a large pot, heat a good drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat and add the cubed pork. Brown the pork on all sides and add the onion, carrot and garlic and cook until pork is no longer pink and onion is soft and translucent. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add in the sweet potato, potato and apple. Bring back to a simmer and cook, uncovered until potatoes and apple are cooked and fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Add a slurry of flour and water to the broth and let thicken. Serve with a big chunk of hearty bread for sopping up the juices.

Total Autumn Harvest Goodness

This stew was pretty fantastic. I felt it could have used something more...maybe some apple cider to pick of the brown bits from the bottom of the pot after browning, just a splash. I just wanted a little more "oomf" to the overall flavor of the broth, but the veggies and the pork were great! The apple was a surprise, cause it soaked up all the juices and then at the end you got the apple flavor. A nice added sweetness and soft texture. I think the sweet potato was key. It added great color and flavor. I would have liked to use a butternut squash but I thought I would try the sweet potato first, we'll do squash next time.

Another must have....bread! And of course I gotta give props to Blackbird Baking Co. The have the most amazing, hearty, earthy, perfect for dunking bread...the Country Brown Levain. Its like a wheat sourdough...its amazing. They have a Country Blonde Levain as well, which has a nice sourdough flavor but I think I like the brown better. Seems heartier and more earthy. And the last hour of their work day is Happy Hour where everything is half off!! You can't go wrong! Delicious, fresh bread and pastry for 1/2 off! It's a dream.


Eat, Drink and Be Merry....ITS FALL!!!!

-BellaRosa

Gorgeous Day for a Picnic and the Best Sammich Ever!

So today was a beautiful, gorgeous day in Cleveland and the hubs was supposed to have a half day, because of Easter, but he decided to take the whole day off and we were going on a picnic! We love going down to Edgewater Park and sitting under a nice tree and having some good eats. The other night I had a "family" dinner with some friends and I picked up some Focaccia Bread from Blackbird Baking. Oh. My. Goodness. This bread is amazing!! It's real simple with just rosemary and some coarse salt on the top, but its so airy and had a nice butteriness to the crust. We just pulled it apart and had chunks with dinner but I thought it would make a great sammich! I always get this sandwich from Panera, the Sierra Turkey, and it comes on an Asiago Focaccia, and it's very good. So I took the idea of using this bread from that sandwich.

I got some Cajun seasoned Turkey from our local store and got some nice Spring Mix lettuce, provolone cheese and a little bit of mayo...and I kid you not...best sammich ever made!!! The bread has the nice saltiness from the coarse salt on top, and the turkey had nice spice and the lettuce was a nice cooling crunch.
This sammich was huge too. I wanted to get a small focaccia but they only had the larger loaf left, so I made a huge sammich for us. I only ate half of mine, gonna take the rest for a nice lunch for work. We made a simple picnic with some deviled eggs (made from the Easter eggs we dyed this morning), Sun Chips (who has a new compostable bag), and Vitamin Water and got some very good brownies from Blackbird as well.

It was a great day! Very relaxing laying on our blanket after our feast and just feeling the wind...so nice. I am thinking I may have to make another one of these sammiches if we go to Blossom for some concerts with my parents...hmmmm :) Hope you all got to enjoy your day too!! Hope your weather was just as nice!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry...and go on a picnic!

Nom.

-BellaRosa

Beef Stew for the Winter Weather Blues

It was snowing pretty hard this morning and has now faded a bit but there is more snow-a-coming! So what's better than a nice hot bowl of stew for a cold wintery, snowy night. And of course I have to make my mom's beef stew, cause it's the only one I have ever really had and it's so delicious!

Beef Stew

1 lb. stew meat, beef cubes
1-2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 carrots chopped
One 32 ounce (4 cups) beef broth
1 cup water
2 potatoes, diced
Salt and Pepper
Slurry (2 T each flour and water combined)

• Brown the meat in the bottom of the pot, until nice and brown. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add the chopped onion and carrot and saute until softened.
• Add the beef broth and water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down and simmer for 1 hour.
• Peel and dice potatoes and add into the pot. Simmer until the potatoes are fork tender
• Make slurry of flour and water. Add to the boiling stew, stir while adding the slurry. Mixture should quickly come up to a thick consistency. Cool slightly before serving

Of course you have to have bread for dipping in the yummy gravy of the stew. And lucky for us right across the street is this great little bakery, Blackbird Baking Co. We love getting their French Epi loaves, which is pretty much a "pull-off-your-own-dinner-roll" loaf. It sort of look like a branch off a tree. But tonight I decided on just a regular French Baguette.

It's got a great crusty outside and soft doughy inside, so good! And whenever I go I can't just leave with bread and not get one of their delicious cookies! They do have the best Peanut Butter Cookies I have ever had...all soft in the middle...yum! The hubs likes those and the Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I picked up for him. For myself I got the Cranberry Oat Cookie. It's amazing. So soft in the middle with a slight crisp along the edge. Not too sugary and just delicious! It nice to be able to support a local business and they have the baked goods that deserve the support.

*Note: I did not add pictures of my bowls of stew, which I am really sad about. But I forgot to buy beef broth when I went shopping and had to use chicken and so it's didn't look right and the consistency was off because I just realized I didnt make the slurry right, I only did 1 T each...like a dummy. So when I make this again I will have to post pictures.