Posts Tagged: BSM

The Bacterial Death Squad

On 16/06/2010 by Selena With 0 Comments - Health & Wellness

Has come to pay me an ever. So. Sweet. Visit. Arrooogaaahhh. The good part? I was not contagious. After all my homeopathic/natural medicine, rest, clear, non-sugary fluids by the gallon, several home sweats. With oils. After all of this I still felt like the Grim Reaper was at my door. Today is the first day I felt well enough to do more than barely scrape by my absolute responsibilities. Of which there are many. Thanks to good ‘ole penicillin. So. The benefits of believing in both science and nature I shall reap.

, , , , , , , , ,
Continue Reading

Crock Pot Bison Stew

On 03/05/2010 by Selena With 1 Comments - At Our Table, Paleo

This is a long-awaited request for the recipe from my loverlie Baker Babe and, well, it’s a general crowd pleaser. I usually I simmer this bad boy all day in the in the crock but in a pinch you can do it in a dutch oven on the stovetop too!

Enjoy this rich, stick to your ribs goodness, a most perfect type of cuisine to devour as this time of year as the leaves change colour and start to fall. I use as much organic and or local ingredients as always when cooking for my family. Do what you want in your kitchen, it’s your choice. Why I choose local, drug-free and/or organic whenever possible is for another post, another day.

Print
Crock Pot Bison Stew
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
What You'll Need
  • 2 pounds bison meat, cubed
  • ½ cup coconut or avocado oil
  • ½ cup grassfed butter
  • ¾ cup of arrowroot flour
  • 1 cup yellow onions, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup red onions, coarsely chopped
  • 1½ quarts water
  • 2 quarts of broth (I used veggie this time, as I did not have beef or chicken and it tasted just dandy. Homemade bone broth is always best!)
  • 2 to 3 bay leaves
  • 20 peppercorns
  • 4-6 cloves of garlic
  • ¾ teaspoons dried thyme leaves
  • 2 c. sliced carrots
  • 2 c. chopped celery
  • 2 c. halved baby white potatoes (keep it simple, keep it rustic)
  • 1 can of stewed tomatoes (diced or dice them yourself)
  • 2 c. chopped parsnip
  • 1½ pounds of shrooms (whatever you like, we favour portobello)
  • ½ - ¾ bag of frozen peas
  • vino or beer (1/2 can of Guinness = yum. Or left-over/turned wine. ¼ of a bottle.
  • (Use some for deglazing onions, which cooks off the alcohol; the rest for stock.)
  • Pink salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
How You Do
  1. Toss your lean, gorgeous chunkers in 2 tablespoons of the arrowroot flour, a drizzling of oil of choice and season with fresh ground pepper, salt and a wee bit of your thyme.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil of choice and 2 tablespoons of your butter reserve (see up there?)  in a Dutch oven or cast iron, (I use cast iron when using the crock and go dutch when going stove-top) pan over medium-high heat; brown the bison in oil, 2 to 3 minutes per side; remove bison and set aside.
  3. Saute onion till translucent, add your minced garlic and celery until soft, about 8 minutes in 2 tablespoons (1 of each) of the reserved oil and butter. Deglaze with vino! Stir in some of the broth to ensure you get all the flava flave when transferring to crock-pot.
  4. Add your beautiful bison to your crock pot or dutch oven and thank it; remaining spices; carrots and parsnips, stock, water, salt, pepper, cloves, canned tomatoes, and the rest of wine or that ½ a can of Guinness.
  5. Cover and turn down the heat to continue simmering for about an hour and a half if on stove-top. Add potatoes and peas, simmer for the last 45-ish minutes. Add roux (see below), simmer for 15-ish minutes. Serve it up with warm bread (we like ciabatta) and butter. Enjoy just as equally as you would have if it were born of crock descent. Don't discriminate. I'll be trying this action out to accompany my stew next time.
  6. Crock Pot Finish: You've deglazed your garlic, onions and celery with vino. Add your bison and bless it. Add a bit of broth to make sure you loosen up all of the yummy stuff and pour into your crock. Then do everything the same as in step 3 except your cooking time is longer. Obviously. Add your peas in the last 1 hour of cooking (the total being around 4-6 hours). Also add your roux in the last hour. Dish & bliss-out.

 

Mother of All Key Ingredients To Everything That is Grand and Great…Roux

I’m not talkin’ the flour and water baloney. I don’t know what I thought I was doing before I met my songbird and began cooking with her. But it’s in her great tutelage that I discovered equal parts flour and butter. Hello! What on earth was I doing before? If you are not making your roux this way…or prefer to go for less fat; nonsense! Enjoy the naughty indulgences food has to offer and get your arse to the gym/track/mat. There’s a time and a place for healthier cooking. There will be plenty of that here too. Moderation and indulgence. It’s the key to NEVER dieting and just fessing up to the simple fact that diets DON’T WORK and make one miserable and obsessed. It’s called exercise and moderation. We all know that deep down, don’t we? But then, someone is buying all the fat-free this and that…

ANYHEW. The roux. This is where the rest of your flour and butter come in. Grab a small sauce-pan and whisk together, (always, never stopping, don’t want clumps!) equal parts butter and flour. Then slowly add in some siphoned stock from your stew into the roux, constantly whisking till thick and smooth.

EAT!

 

, , , , , , ,