Austin Eats

Bernt and I have been in Texas on a working vacation. After biding our time eating free breakfasts and dinners in San Antonio, we have finally arrived in Texas' culinary mecca. We stopped in a beautiful town named Wimberly to eat at a cozy little cafe named The Leaning Pear (http://www.leaningpear.com/). It was eerily familiar- the kind of place I might have run if I had decided to run a cafe. Simple, tasty menu. Cheerful surroundings. Good prices. Just perfect for today.




Delicious cremini mushroom soup

Liam loved the soup

BBLT with brie, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes on grilled sourdough

Buttermilk and vanilla panna cotta with grapefruit and tangerine

Liam made off with the bread


Along the way to Austin from Wimberly, we ran across Driftwood Winery and tasted 6 different wines. Several were tasty, but we settled on a beautiful orange blossom muscat dessert wine as a gift for tomorrow night when we will have dinner with my college RA and his wife and 2 kids.

Once we arrived in Austin and checked into our hotel, we ventured out to see the Congress Bridge bats at dusk. Apparently 1.5 million bats migrate every year from Mexico to Austin, where they roost in the 16x1.5 inch ruts in the concrete under Congress Bridge. Unfortunately, they really don't arrive in Austin until mid-March with best viewing time in August when the babies start to fly. We hung around for a while but saw neither hide nor errant wing of those tiny bats. It must be incredible to stand under the hoards of bats 1.5 million strong heading out for the evening hunt. I already like them- they eat mosquitos!

In front of the Congress Ave. Bridge


We ate dinner at a place featured in Bon Appetit magazine called House Pizzeria (http://www.housepizzeria.com/). An unassuming little place, it used to be a KFC that is now transformed into a local pizza joint serving high quality organic food. We sat right by the jukebox and conveniently close to the bar. On tap were a bunch of tasty beers in addition to a raspberry lambic and Maine root beer (I met the owner of this company and his brother a few days ago at a food convention). We tried the Pecan Porter, (512) IPA, Big Oak Amber, and a tasty rye beer whose name I forget. One of our appetizers was roasted olives, which arrived sizzling in oil with garlic.

Starting with a spinach salad with crispy salami, shaved parmesan, and lemon wedges. Liam enjoyed the parmesan.


But he enjoyed the roll even more...


Pizza with broccoli rabe, homemade Italian sausage, and hot peppers


All in all, a gastronomically delicious day!

Beef with Burgundy Stew

Returning from a weekend in Lake Placid, I felt like making something warm, comforting, and most importantly, easy. This is a variation on the Beef Burgundy I usually make, since I didn't have any bacon or fresh brown mushrooms and did have some collard greens I wanted to use. I did have a large bone-in chuck roast from my grass-fed cow that I bought from Austin Brothers Farm in Belchertown, MA.

I read that, in order to tenderize the beef, it is vital to begin cooking slowly at low temperatures and then turn up the temperature nearer the end once the collagens, etc, have relaxed. I attempted this method, but found that the beef was just as tough over the first 1-2 hours as if you just cook over high heat the whole time. Next time, I'll just throw the whole pot in the oven for 3 hours and forget the simmering business.

Serves 8 people (or in this case 3 with lots of leftovers)

about 4 lbs (1750 grams) bone-in chuck roast
12 carrots (a few parsnips thrown in that were lying around)
3 yellow onions
4 cloves garlic
1.5 ounces dried oyster mushrooms (I would prefer porcini but didn't have them)
2 bay leaves, handful fresh herbs if you have (oregano, thyme, etc...I didn't)
1 bunch collard greens
2 cups water
1 bottle burgundy (or any other dry-ish red wine)
8 potatoes
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour


Round up your ingredients


Get them ready to go: soak the dried mushrooms in hot water then rinse and drain, chop carrots and onions in to large chunks, slice beef into evenly sized and easy to brown pieces, coarsely chop garlic, peel and quarter potatoes and cover with cool water, rinse and coarsely chop collard greens


Heat up your dutch oven on medium-high heat (Le Creuset in my case, large heavy pot if you haven't got one). Add a little vegetable oil. Be careful, because the oil will spatter a bit. Brown the beef a few pieces at a time to give them room to breath. The goal is to get a nice caramelized surface on as much of the chunks as you can. I usually just try to brown the two largest surfaces, because the pan quickly starts burning and smoking. Set beef aside. Don't wash the pan!


To your beefy pan full of brown bits, add the onions and saute until softened. Add mushrooms and saute a few minutes. Add the carrots, garlic, herbs and beef. Cover with water and wine and simmer gently. Once this gets going, dump in the collard greens, cover and simmer for 1 hour until "tender" (my beef was as tender as a rubber band at this point). For the remaining 2 hours or so, bake uncovered in a 425F (about 220 C) oven, stirring every 20 minutes or so and topping off with wine, stock, or water as you see fit. 30-60 minutes before you are ready to eat, stir in the potatoes.


This is what my stew looked like after 3 hours of cooking. If you like a soupy gravy, leave it like this. Otherwise you can thicken it by making a roux, thinning this with the sauce, and mixing it all back in the pot.

Roux:
In a small saucepan heat the butter until melted. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium heat until thick. Slowly add some of the sauce by the ladleful until it makes a thick gravy. Stir this back into your stew pot for a luscious stew. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I served my stew with a golden beet and feta salad:
4 golden beets, roasted, peeled, and sliced thin
1 ounce feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 lemon, squeezed over the top
drizzle olive oil