recipes – Beulah Jane

Happy Pie Day, Everyone! January 23 has long been officially designated Pie Day, so to mark the occasion, I’m sharing a recipe for one of my favorites of all of Jane’s recipes, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Both Jane and Beulah made amazing pie crust! I’m no slouch in that department either, and I credit Beulah’s instruction for that. I’ll share my favorite pie crust recipe in another post, but today it’s all about the fruit filling.

First, a little food history! Pies have been around for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks are credited with developing the first pastry shells, and the ancient Romans made pies with all kinds of meat and seafood. Even though apple pie was eaten in Europe long before America was colonized, the phrase “as American as apple pie” is still universally used, probably in honor of the legendary American pioneer and conservationist Johnny Appleseed.

This recipe also has a connection to the January book selection for the Read Between the Vines book club. This quote from The Trackers by Charles Frazier appears in Section V, Indelible Black of the novel. In this scene near the end of the novel, Long has orchestrated a picnic ride for himself, Faro, Val and Eve. The rest of the group is unsure of the motive for the outing, but feel as if they have no choice but to indulge Long’s suggestion. After all, he is the boss! Drama ensues!

The sun hovered over the jagged peaks. Faro added wood until the flames stood waist high. We’d all eaten roast beef sandwiches and potato salad and pie, and we’d already made our way through the majority of the opened bottles of wine, Long drinking almost as much as the rest of us combined.
The Trackers, A Novel by Charles Frazier

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

4 cups sliced rhubarb
1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
⅓ cup flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter

Pastry for two-crust pie

Directions:

Combine fruits. Blend dry ingredients and toss lightly with fruit.
Place mixture in 9-inch pie pan lined with pastry.
Dot with butter, and cover with top crust.
Seal edges of top and bottom crust with water. Cut small slits in top crust to let steam escape.
Bake at 400̊ F. for 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly and brown. Cool on wire rack.

Yield: 8 servings

The original inspiration for this blog was to share recipes from the impressive collections amassed over many years by Beulah and Jane. However, as my original idea has morphed into a slightly new direction, as my ideas so often do, in the future I’ll be sharing tried and true recipes from my own extensive collection plus new favorites that I’ve developed or discovered. I often am asked to share recipes with friends and former students (I taught Culinary Arts for 32 years!). If there are any recipes that anyone would like to see added to this blog, just comment below and I will be happy to share them here.

Now a word about the Long Shot Beef Stew recipe. Dusty and I are charter members of the Read Between the Vines book club, which meets at the original Feather Hills Tasting Room at 410 Thorn Lane, Makanda. Formerly known as Orlandini’s Winery, it’s one of the oldest wineries on the Shawnee Hills Wine trail. January is my month to select a book for the group to read and I chose The Trackers by Charles Frazier. I selected this book because it’s set in Depression Era America, a very challenging time in our history and similar in many ways to the post-pandemic period in which we’re living now. I’m hoping that the novel will inspire some good discussion at our next book club meeting on February 8. All book and or wine lovers are welcome to attend, BTW!

There are many food references throughout the text of The Trackers and the quote below inspired this recipe for Long Shot Beef Stew. This recipe is my adapted version of Julia Child’s classic Beef Bourguignon, which is alluded to in the text of The Trackers. I also took bits and pieces of other similar beef stew recipes to come up with surprisingly delicious dish.

Julia, who is identified in the quote from The Trackers, isn’t the famous Julia Child, but rather the Long Shot Ranch cook who often appears in the novel. However, the recipe described is likely Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon. This recipe is my adaptation of the culinary classic. Cooking the stew slowly at a low temperature in the oven, produces tender meat and vegetables simmering in a decadently savory sauce. I should also mention that Dusty is the best sous chef ever! We worked on developing this recipe together and we hope that you will give it a try!

“A torn corner of paper marked a page and when I turned to it, a recipe for beef stew with wine and onions and mushrooms. A sentence was underlined in pencil–However, for the best results, make use of every trick. I held up the open book and said, Good advice?– Your bet, Julia said. And not just in cooking.”
The Trackers

Long Shot Beef Stew

1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (10.5 ounce) condensed beef broth
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ cups dry red wine, like Feather Hills Merlot

⅓ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon marjoram
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

3 carrots, pared and cut into 1-inch segments
1 pound fresh white mushrooms, quartered
12 small red potatoes (1 ½ pound), quartered
1 bay leaf

Directions:

In a frying pan, sauté beef in hot oil until lightly browned and no pink remains. Add onion and garlic. Sauté just until onions are translucent. Remove from heat. Transfer mixture to a 4-quart ovenproof Dutch oven or casserole.
Stir in tomatoes, beef broth, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and red wine.
In a small bowl, combine all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, marjoram, bay leaf and pepper. Add to beef mixture and stir to combine.
Cover and bake 2 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender, stirring once.

Yield: 8 servings

To learn more about the Read Between the Vines book club and to browse the other titles we’ve read, visit the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/591292862029567