Sunday, October 26, 2008

Stew Weather is Back

The weather has been getting a little cooler and I have the goal of not turning on the furnace until November 1st. I've already slightly "blown it". Friday was gray, rainy and bone-chilling. I turned it on for just a little while to get the chill out of the house. Due to this hefty goal, I am more than ready for some hearty stews and soups to warm the body and the soul . This one was easy and delicious. Unfortunatly, there is not a recipe, per se.

Here's the jist.

I purchased stew meat already cut into hunks. I dried it with some paper towels (made from recycled paper, of course) and lightly floured it. In a skillet, I heated some extra-virgin olive oil and some butter. I placed the floured meat into skillet and browned the pieces on all sides. You want to do this is small batches. Don't crowd the meat or it will not brown properly. Once brown, remove from skillet and place into your cooking vessel. We found this old speckleware dutch oven in our basement. Mom, apparently, left it behind. It was the perfect size. Now I added sweet onion that was chopped into fairly large pieces, mushrooms, red pepper sliced into thin strips, herbs de provence into the skillet and sauteed until the onions were soft. I then, deglazed the pan with a delicious cherry wine to get all of the good and tasty bits from the bottom. Add 2 T. of tomato paste and salt/pepper to taste and some beef broth. Simmer for a few minutes to get all of the flavors to meld. While this was going on, I diced some potatoes and some carrots from our garden. I just threw these raw into the dutch oven with the meat. Once the broth mixture had simmered for a few minutes, I poured it over the meat and potatoes. Into the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. I then reduce the tempurature to 275 degrees and bake for another hour. Slow and Low is the way to cook this meal.

A few helpful hints:
-You don't have to buy the most expensive meat for beef stew. We have purchased some inexpensive roasts and cut the meat ourselves and it turns out just as good.
- Salt and pepper throughout the process and be sure to taste along the way, making any needed adjustments to the seasonings.
-You can use any wine that you like but cherry wine seems to add a really unique and deep flavor. We have used it many times in this dish and it is delicious!
-We love Victoria Taylor's Herbs de Provence. The spices can be purchased at TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Home Goods or online. There is a link on this webpage. We love the dried shallots, Sicilian and Tuscan seasonings, as well.
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