This is a very rich stew served in a buttery mustard gravy. The beer in question was meant to be a porter, but I used stout. I also used ~250mL less liquid than the recipe called for. I also used less chicken than called for and a mix of drumsticks and thighs rather than just thighs. I doubled the onions and added a bit of garlic as well.

The resulting stew was excellent! That said, I think it could've used more vegetables. I think I'd put more carrots and potatoes next time and/or add a bit of turnip/swede or something.

Beer-Braised Chicken Stew

Adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. oil
• 1.2-1.5kg chicken pieces
• salt and pepper
• 6 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 400-500g carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
• 500-600g potatoes, cut into 4cm pieces
• 1 kumara, peeled and cut into 4cm pieces
• 1 rutabaga/swede, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces (optional)
• 500mL stout
• 500mL chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon or Roman mustard
• 2-3 tsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/3 c. flour
• 1/2 c. hot water

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and sear for a few minutes on each side.
3. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
4. Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in the pot.
5. Add the onions and garlic and cook until softened and beginning to brown.
6. Add the bay leaf, carrots, potatoes, kumara, and rutabaga (if using).
7. Add the stout, chicken broth, brown sugar, mustard, tomato paste, and thyme.
8. Return chicken to pot and bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
10. Mash the remaining 5 Tbsp. of butter with the flour to form a paste.
11. Slowly add 2 c. of the cooking liquid to the flour paste while stirring until smooth.
12. Pour gravy back into pot.
13. Rinse out measuring cup the gravy was mixed in with the hot water and pour that into the pot as well.
14. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
15. Check to make sure chicken is cooked through, season to taste, and serve.

The mushrooms for this were great. My only complaint was that there weren't nearly enough of them! And, although the potatoes smelled delicious, they weren't quite as flavourful as their aroma implied. I mean, they were still tasty, they just didn't quite live up to expectations. Next time I think I'd double the garlic and onion and add a touch more salt. (I'll make these changes to the recipe below.) And, if you happen to have any roasted garlic paste on hand, I wouldn't hesitate to add a generous teaspoon of that either instead of or as well as the garlic powder.

After tasting the potatoes and mushrooms (and seeing all the delicious, delicious mushroom residue in the bottom of the roasting pan) I decided that a pan sauce/gravy would go a long way toward giving this meal a little more oomph. A bit of water, flour, butter, and heat produced a lovely dark and aromatic gravy. I'm excited to try it with the leftovers tonight!

Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms with Kale Mashed Potatoes

Adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

Mushrooms

If you like mushrooms as much as I do, I recommend doubling all these quantities.

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 450-500g cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small red onion, sliced (optional)

Mashed Potatoes

• ~1kg russet (or other starchy) potatoes
• 150-175g black kale¹, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. fresh (or lightly dried) flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. fresh (or lightly dried) basil, chopped²
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder (or 1 tsp. dried chopped onion)
• 1/4 c. Parmesan (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• pepper, to taste

Gravy

• 1 1/2 c. water, divided
• 2 Tbsp. salted butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour (any type)

Directions

Mushrooms

1. Combine olive oil, balsamic, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and thyme and mix well.
2. Place mushrooms and onion (if using) in roasting pan and toss with balsamic mixture to coat.
3. Roast at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes, stirring and turning halfway through.

Potatoes

1. Cut potatoes into 1" cubes, place in pot and cover with cold water.
2. Bring to a boil and boil until tender. (~7-10 minutes)
3. Drain potatoes, reserving 2 Tbsp. of the water.
4. Add kale to (now empty) pot with the reserved water and olive oil.
5. Cover and cook on medium-high for 3-5 minutes.
6. Remove from pot and set aside.
7. Return potatoes to empty pot and add sour cream, milk, parsley, oregano, basil (if using), garlic powder, onion powder, Parmesan (if using), salt, pepper, and any other desired seasonings.
8. Mash potatoes to desired consistency, making sure to mix everything well.
9. Stir in kale.

Gravy

1. Remove mushrooms (and onions) from roasting pan and set aside.
2. Place roasting pan over medium heat and add 1/2 c. of water and scrape to deglaze the pan and release any stuck on bits.
3. Add butter, continuing to scrape and stir to lift as much as possible from the pan.
4. Sift in 2 Tbsp. of flour.
5. Allow to cook for a minute or so.
6. Stir in remaining cup of water. Keep stirring and mixing to help break up the lumps and clumps that will have likely formed.
7. Continue to cook (and stir) until gravy reaches desired consistency.

Assembly

1. Scoop 1/4 of the potatoes into a bowl.
2. Top with 1/4 of the mushrooms.
3. Pour a little gravy over and enjoy!

I've already noted my doubt about the basil in the footnotes. In thinking about it though, I think I'd like to experiment with adding more herbs and seasonings to these potatoes in general. I think the parsley, oregano, onion, and garlic work well, but there's room for improvement. I think next time I'd like to try adding 1/4 tsp. each of dried rosemary and thyme. And maybe a tsp. or so of fresh tarragon. I think the tarragon would go particularly well if you were including carrots in the mash. If you're having the potatoes on their own, without the mushrooms, I think fresh chives and parsley would be very nice in them. There are lots of different options here. Just a few tweaks could give you something that tastes completely different!

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¹ I only had one small bunch of kale left. I didn't bother weighing it, but I doubt it was anywhere near 150g. I decided to stretch it by mixing it with some chopped cabbage. I ended up using one small bunch of kale + 1/4 of a small head of cabbage. I'm pretty happy with the results. The cabbage works well with the potato. It definitely has a little less presence than the kale, but I actually like the mix of textures and flavours. I think it would be interesting to experiment with mixing other veggies in either instead or as well. I think carrots, sweet potatoes, and rutabagas/swedes would all work pretty well. I could also see creamed corn being a nice inclusion. Maybe even a bit of cauliflower. There are all sorts of options! Use what you have on hand and experiment. ^Back
2 I'm not entirely sold on the inclusion of basil here. It just doesn't feel like it jives with the rest of the dish and basil + potatoes is not a combo I'm used to seeing/tasting. I think maybe next time I'd experiment with adding a little dried rosemary (maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp.) to the potatoes instead. ^Back

Vegetable Pot Pie

This recipe has been somewhat modified from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. The mushrooms were doubled, swiss chard was replaced with kale (which I find less bitter, and which we have in abundance), and the turnip -- difficult to find here -- was replaced with a rutabaga. The latter required some adjustment to the cooking time, since it turns out that rutabagas cook much more slowly than turnips do; we ended up having to disassemble the first pie, remove the rutabaga chunks for more cooking, and then return them and reassemble it.

The original recipe calls for a deep-dish pie plate, and is not kidding about it. If you don't have one (as we don't), buy or make two top-crusts and bake two shallow pies. If you only have one pie plate, you can keep half the pie filling in the fridge for a day or two while you eat the first pie.

Ingredients

• 1 pie top crust
• 60mL unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 500g cremini mushrooms, quartered (or halved if small)
• salt and pepper
• 350g sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 250g rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3mL grated lemon zest
• 15mL lemon juice
• 250g black kale, stemmed and sliced into 2cm pieces
• 30mL all-purpose flour
• 500mL vegetable broth
• 125mL freshly grated parmesan
• 30mL fresh parsley, grated
• 1 large egg (or two small ones)
• water

Procedure

1. Melt 30mL butter in a dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Add onions, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release their liquid, ~5 minutes.
3. Add sweet potato and rutabaga. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fork tender, 1-2 hours. (The original recipe calls for cooking "until potato and turnips begin to soften around the edges", but if you do this with rutabaga it will still be "soft around the edges" and rock hard in the middle when it comes out of the oven. Doing it this way runs the risk of slightly overcooking the rutabaga and sweet potato, but both are highly tolerant of overcooking and completely unforgiving of undercooking.)
4. Meanwhile, roll out the crust and cut four vent slits in it. As the filling approaches tenderness, preheat the oven to 400°F.
5. Once the sweet potato and rutabaga are fork tender, stir in the garlic and lemon zest and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
6. Stir in kale and cook until wilted, ~2 minutes; remove and buffer in a bowl.
7. Melt remaining 30mL butter in the now-empty pot over medium-high heat.
8. Stir in flour and cook for one minute to  make a roux.
9. Gradually whisk in broth, deglaze, and simmer until it thickens slightly, 1-2 minutes.
10. Remove from heat and whisk in parmesan, parsley, and lemon juice.
11. Stir in cooked vegetables and any accumulated juices, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
12. Pour filling into a deep dish 9" pie plate, top with crust, and bake for 30 minutes, until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling.