Tasting Fall

I decided today it was time to really go fall.  mr’s been craving his mom’s beef stew, and after all, it IS his birthday later this week, so although tonight wasn’t his OFFICIAL birthday dinner I decided to cave to his craving.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find his mom’s recipe in our family cookbook last night and it wasn’t there!  Aware that mr wouldn’t be fooled, I looked for a suitable substitute recipe anyway.  I’ve never made beef stew before, but I knew I wanted something that was meaty and gravy-y.  I found this Beef Stew on (where else) food.com.  And what goes with beef stew?  Biscuits of course!  I found an interesting take on biscuits at food.com as well - They’re called Cheesy Rolls, but I call them Pickle Biscuits.  Yep, no kidding.  I also made this Hot Fall Drink on cooks.com, which I think needs a better title.  Maybe Apple Spice or Festive Fall Potion or something.  I had no idea what to make for dessert, so I went to epicurious.com and typed in “Fall Dessert.”  The first one to pop up was Gingered Pear and Raspberry Pandowdy, which looked delicious.  I followed all of the recipes exactly, except for the biscuits, which I’ll put up below.

Forewarning, the stew takes FOR.EV.ER. to make.  I personally like cooking things that have to cook for a long time, because I can be making other parts of the meal while it just sits and simmers.  Pretty much common sense.  It cooked for about two and a half hours total.  The end result was a very thick gravy-based stew made with steak and lots of veggies.  mom and dad loved it (I know, I wasn’t surprised either...) I thought it was pretty yummy.  mr commented that although it was good, it was nothing like his mom’s.

I knew it.

The Pickle Biscuits surprised us all.  They are so yummy!  I would never have thought to put pickles in biscuits, but I’m glad I tried this recipe.

Pickle Biscuits

4 C. flour

2 T. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp paprika

4 C. grated cheese - I used that new kraft blend with cream cheese in it.  DELICIOUS.

3/4 C. dill pickles

2 eggs

1 1/2 C. milk

parmesan cheese - my addition, can't have too much cheese, can you?

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and paprika in a large bowl.  Stir in the grated cheese and pickles.  Beat the eggs and milk together.  Make a hold in the center of the flour mixture and pour in most of the milk mixture, retaining some to brush on top.  Mix to a soft but fairly stiff dough.  Scoop out a small handful, roll into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet.  Continue to do this with the dough until gone - about 14 biscuits.  Leave room for spreading.  Brush each biscuit with the milk mixture and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

The original recipe called for a much lower temperature and less time, but my oven isn’t calibrated right and I found that I needed to up both the temperature and time.  You may need to play with that, though.  

The resulting biscuits were nice and crisp on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside (a direct quote from my dad - “they are gooey goodness.”)

The drink ended up a lot like wassail, actually.  It was really yummy, but not really something to drink with dinner.  mom, dad and I loved it, and even think it would be good cold, and although mr thought it tasted good, he opted for milk with his food.  This is totally something I would make instead of hot cocoa in the fall.

The dessert was absolutely phenomenal.  I’ve never heard of pandowdy before, but I guess the point is that the “filling” is on the bottom and the biscuity crust is on the top.  Well, whatever the case, I’m sold.  I’m going to make it again.  And again.  And probably again.  We served it with ice cream and everyone loved it - except bug who just loved the ice cream. 

It was my first time making all of these, in any form, and they were relatively easy to pull off.  Tasty too.  

I think I’m starting to like fall.

mini enjoyed the stew, even if her brother didn't.