Joe’s Fideo Recipe

A Texas Treat

“Fideo” actually refers to a dish made with short, vermicelli-style pasta (shown above in the lower left corner). Fideo is first browned in a skillet then various ingredients are added to typically make a pasta or soup dish. The folks at Q&Q sure know how to help us make tasty dishes – fideo has been a tasty Texas treat for more than 100 years!

While fideo can be prepared in a multitude of ways – this is my very own recipe that pairs greatly with enchiladas and a side salad. Enjoy!

Foodie Tips:

❤ What are “hatch cubes?” These are my own homemade treats that will save your time in the kitchen (shown below). I buy a frozen bag of Hatch Chilies from Trader Joe’s. I defrost it and pour the hatches into ice cube trays then freeze. I “pop” and transfer them into a Ziploc freezer bag and I can easily add the number of cubes into my recipe based on my appetite for heat. :) Pastas, soups, and eggs have never been the same since!

❤ This recipe can be easily doubled. Twice is nice!

❤ Fideo can be made in a million ways. Google or YouTube it and you’ll see.

Shown Above: One Of My Homemade “Hatch Cubes”

Time To Prepare:

About 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

½ Tablespoon  |  Butter
5 ounce Box  |  Q&Q Fideo Vermicelli
1 Cup  |  White Onion, Chopped
2 Tablespoons  |  Tomato Paste
1  | Hatch Cube or a Small Can of Hatch Green Chilies (optional)
2 Cups  |  Chicken Broth
3  |  Garlic Cloves
1  |  Bay Leaf

What To Do:

1. In a skillet over medium-high heat melt the butter.

2. Add the fideo and sauté until the vermicelli is just golden brown (think Rice-a-Roni, but Texas style). I like my Q&Q toasted, but be careful not to burn it.

3. Add the onion and continue sautéing. Add the tomato paste, hatch (if using), broth, garlic and the bay leaf.

4. Simmer until the vermicelli is al dente (about 5 minutes).

5. Remove from heat, let thicken a bit, discard the bay leaf, and enjoy!

Yield: About 2-4 servings, maybe less, if you enjoy food like I do! 

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty

Email: JoePaul@KW.com
Mobile: 512-222-3302
Web: JoePaulReider.KW.com

Fideo Fan?
I found these awesome Q&Q Fideo stickers from our friends at BarbacoApparel in San Antonio. These vinyl stickers are a great way to show your love for Texas’ favorite vermicelli!

Recipe: Irish Beef Stew

A True Pot o’ Gold

Spring is in the air which means St. Patrick’s Day is front and center. While Lucky Charms and green beer frequent the leprechaun’s table, this is a hearty stew that will make eyes green with envy for the recipe. And here it is!

For the past several St. Patrick’s Days this Irish Stew has made a special appearance in my home. After we served it at our first St. Patrick’s Day party in our new home our guests raved about this so much we’ve been making it ever since.  🍀🍀🍀  We don’t just enjoy this for St. Paddy’s Day but any day we have an appetite for a delicious stew.

Try it once and I think you’ll enjoy it as much as we do!

Time:

To Prepare: About 20 minutes
To Simmer: 2-3 hours (the longer the tastier)

Foodie Tips:

❤  The best sidekick for this stew is a 1-2 cup-sized dollop of my family’s smashed potatoes. I form a large divot in the middle and ladle the stew on top. There’s nothing better!

❤  Whether you use a skillet, dutch oven or crock pot, the special “oomph” to this recipe is to make sure your cooking vessel has a lid — covering this stew during the simmer stage will ensure the flavors are infused into the stew for a super-tasty dish.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon  |  Olive Oil
1 – 2 Pounds  |  Chuck Roast, Cut Into Cubes
1  |  Yellow Onion, Chunked
5 Large  |  Carrots, Peeled And Chopped
3 Cloves  |  Garlic, Minced
2 Teaspoons  |  Fresh Rosemary, Chopped
2 Teaspoons  |  Fresh Thyme, Chopped
1 Teaspoon  |  Kosher Salt
1 Teaspoon  |  Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
3  |  Bay Leaves
2 Cups  |  Beef Broth
2 Tablespoons  |  Flour, Sifted
2 Tablespoons  |  Butter, At Room Temperature (try Falfurrias available at HEB)
½ Cup  |  Peas

What To Do:

1. Heat a large cast iron skillet or dutch oven to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Add the cubed chuck roast and cook, stirring here and there until it’s browned. Do not cook the meat until it’s well done! 

2. Add the onion, carrots, garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, and bay leaves and cook until the onions begin to soften (about 5 minutes). If using a slow cooker (Crock Pot) transfer the meat mixture to the crock pot. Otherwise… add the broth, cover and low-simmer for 2 or more hours, stirring periodically. You’ll love the smell that forms from this savory dish!

3. In a small bowl with fork or whisk, make a slurry by mixing the flour and softened butter together. Pour this into the stew. Add the peas and let everything mingle and thicken. Just before serving remove the bay leaves and discard. Serve into bowls and enjoy the stew alone… or even better partnered with my smashed potato recipe (see recipe tips above). Sláinte!

Serves about 4-6 Texans, depending on the size of their appetite!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty

Email: JoePaul@KW.com
Mobile: 512-222-3302
Web: JoePaulReider.KW.com

❤ Love Food? In a click and a scroll you can visit more of my favorite recipes — there’s more than 50 recipes here on the Home Style Austin blog!

Chicken Basil Orzo Soup Recipe

Soup’s On!

Any of my friends, family, or coworkers will tell you that I’m kind of a ridiculous fan of soup. I love it! I enjoy making soup at home where I can cozy-up with a warm bowl in the cold of winter. And even on brutally hot summer days when the rest of the world is dining on popsicles, I can be found in the kitchen making soup … and then I have a popsicle for dessert!

The first night I made this bowl of soup I realized I didn’t use nearly enough basil; it just tasted like a pretty classic chicken noodle soup. But the second day when I reheated it, I added in another handful of basil and it totally rocked; it was wonderfully herb-a-licious!

If you’re a fan of chicken soup, grab some fresh basil and give this Home Style Austin recipe a go!

Foodie Tip:

❤  We arm-wrestled over whether this should be called Chicken Basil Orzo Soup or Turkey Basil Orzo Soup. Either way, we all win!

Ingredients: 

1 Teaspoon  |  Olive Oil
1/2  |  Sweet Yellow Onion, Diced
2  |  Carrots, Peeled And Diced
2 Stalks  |  Celery, Diced
3 Cloves  |  Garlic, Minced
8 Cups  |  Good-Quality Chicken Stock
2 Cups  |  Cooked Chicken, Diced Into Bite-Sized Chunks
2  |  Bay Leaves
To Taste  |  Sea Salt And Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
5-6  |  Fresh Basil Leaves, Chopped
1 Cup  |  Dried Orzo Pasta

Directions: 

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large cooking pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated, add onion and stir for 1-2 minutes. Then add carrots, celery and garlic then stir for 60 seconds. Stir in chicken stock, diced chicken, and bay leaves, then season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for an hour (or 30 minutes if you’re rushed).

2. Raise heat to medium-high and bring the soup back to a boil. Then add basil and dried orzo pasta and cook per instructions until the pasta is al dente. Taste and re-season with additional salt and pepper (or more basil) if needed. Serve warm.

Yields: 3-4 Servings

Love this recipe? We want to hear from you!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

❤ Love Food? In a click and a scroll you can visit more of my favorite recipes!

Shamrock Turnovers

Mushroom Magic

This recipe comes to Home Style Austin from our Brand Director, Patrick (it was his Mom’s recipe). This evolved from a Mushroom Turnover recipe into something we transformed into an annual treat for St. Patrick’s Day by stamping the turnovers into little shamrocks.

Foodie Tips:

• Use fresh mushrooms for a flavor explosion. Try a little more salt and some pepper if your tongue doesn’t tingle on your first “go” of it.
• Can’t find three 3-ounce packages of cream cheese? You’re not alone. It seems our modern day bellies are bigger than the “small packs” so you’ll most likely have to buy multiple 8-ounce blocks or containers of the good stuff and trim ‘em down.
• Don’t have a 2¾” cookie cutter? I found a small juice glass in my kitchen that measured-up quite fine.
• While the original recipe calls for an ungreased cookie sheet, I think I went a little liberal with the egg brushing. I found some PAM Baking Spray helped a lot.
• Why not create a mushroom masterpiece of your own? I used a clover-shaped cookie cutter and made my own version of this tasty treat… debuting this St. Paddy’s Day 2012.
• This recipe yields enough for a party. If you don’t want to prepare 50 turnovers, half the recipe!

Ingredients: 

9 Ounces  |  Cream Cheese, Softened
½ Cup  |  Butter, Softened (use Falfurrias brand butter)
1½ Cups  |  Sifted Flour
½ Pound  |  Mushrooms, Minced
1 Large  |  White Onion, Minced
3 Tablespoons  |  More Butter, Softened
1 Teaspoon  |  Salt
¼ Teaspoon  |  Fresh Thyme Leaves, Minced
2 Tablespoons  |  Flour
¼ Cup  |  Sour Cream
1  |  Cage Free Egg, Beaten

What To Do:

1. Early in the day or 2 hours before serving, place in a large bowl the cream cheese, butter and flour. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until soft dough forms.

2. Wrap dough in waxed paper and refrigerate at least one hour.

3. In a medium-sized skillet over medium heat, cook the mushrooms and onion in 3 tablespoons butter until tender, about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in salt, thyme and 2 tablespoons flour until blended and then stir in the sour cream (yes!).

5. On a floured board, thinly roll-out one half of the dough and cut into about 12 circles using a 2¾” cookie cutter. Roll dough scraps into ball and refrigerate.

6. On one ½ of each circle, place a teaspoon of the mushroom mixture. Bush the edges with egg and fold the edges over the filling to meet the bottom edge.

7. With a fork, press edges together and prick tops in three places to let the steam out. If you want to enjoy your turnovers for St. Paddy’s Day you can stamp them with a clover-shaped cookie cutter at this step – note: there will be spoilage!

8. Place turnover on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and mushroom filling until you’re all done.

9. Preheat oven to 450°F.

10. Brush the turnovers with egg.

11. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about 50 turnovers. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

Does St. Patrick’s Day Have You Doin’ The Jig? Check out our “Holidazed” Pinterest Board for some SPD inspiration that will have you seeing the green!

Avocado and Bacon Potato Salad Recipe

When I stumbled across this unique potato salad recipe that packs a lotta punch compliments of avocado and sour cream instead of hard boiled eggs and mayo, I knew I had to give it a whirl. It hails from the cookbook of my marketing director’s Mom and it has a taste as big as Texas.

This potato salad made its debut in my cucina on the 4th of July in 2011 and it has since visited many, many times. Your foodie friends will ask you to make it again and again so it makes any day a special day.

Food Tips: 

  The original recipe called for “regular ol’ parsley” for decoration but I prefer Italian Flat leaf as it’s less tickley on the tongue and can boast more flavor.

  You can cube (vs. slice) the tomatoes and avocados for the final garnish but either makes a dy-no-mite presentation. Remember that even with a lemon juice coating the avocado can brown after it has been sitting awhile … so dress the salad near the time you are going to present and consume it. Go fresh.

Ingredients:

3 Cups  |  Potatoes, Cooked Then Cubed
1 Cup  |  Sour Cream
½ Teaspoon  |  Salt
½ Teaspoon  |  Seasoned Pepper (a.k.a. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt with Black Pepper)
½ Teaspoon  |  Caraway Seed
1 Tablespoon + Some Extra  |  Lemon Juice
¼ Cup  |  Italian Flat Leaf Parsley Sprigs (chopped)
3  | Avocados (ripe, not hard)
¼ Cup  |  Chopped Onions
8 Slices  |  Hickory-Smoked Bacon (crisped and crumbled)
1  |  Large Tomato (diced)

What To Do:

1. Scrub then boil the potatoes in a medium-sized pot. Boil until tender, but not “mushy.” Set aside to cool.

2. Blend the sour cream with the salt, pepper, caraway seed and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside to marry.

3. Chop the parsley to yield ¼ cup; set aside.

4. Cut 2 of the avocados lengthwise into halves, removing the seed and skin.

5. Cube the avocado and gently combine it in a medium-sized salad bowl with the chopped parsley, potatoes, chopped onion, the sour cream mixture and ½ of the bacon.

6. Arrange additional chopped parsley sprigs on the top of the salad, cover and chill.

7. To serve, prepare the remaining avocado by slicing lengthwise into halves. Remove the seed and skin and cut into slices. Slice the tomato.

8. Alternate the avocado and tomato slices on top of the potato salad and sprinkle with lemon juice and the remaining bacon.

Serves: One to Few. It’s that good. 

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

Hamburger Casserole Recipe

Cheers To Mom!

Don’t Moms make the best meals?!

This recipe comes from my Mom’s kitchen in East Texas near Tyler.

This savory dish packs the perfect blend of Frito crunch plus a little bit of Texas kick, compliments of our friend – the jalapeño. Great on game days, chilly days or any day you want a one dish casserole that’s sure to please.

Ingredients:

1 Pound  |  Hamburger Meat
1  |  Onion
1 Can  |  Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can  |  Cream of Mushroom Soup
½ Soup Can  |  Water
To Taste (2-3)  |  Fresh Jalapeño Peppers, Sliced With Seeds
1 Bag  |  Fritos
To Top  |  Velveeta

What To Do: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Brown meat and onion together in a medium pan.

3. Add the soups and a ½ can of water and the jalapeño pepper. Bring to a simmer then remove from heat.

4. Layer into a ungreased 1.5 quart casserole dish: fritos, meat mixture cheese. Then repeat fritos, meat mixture and cheese on top.

5. Bake 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve warm.

Yield: 6 – 9 Servings

Food Tips: 

  You can surely use pickled vs. fresh jalapeños if you prefer.

  Enjoy with a side salad and some fresh brewed tea for the home style touch.

  Top with a dollop of sour cream if you want to take down the spicy kick a bit.

Enjoy!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.