Stewed to the gills

Not exactly stewed yet. Actually just working on one glass of wine. Celebrating, as well I might. For the first time in what may actually be over thirteen years, my beef stew is simmering to yummy perfection upstairs. Blame it on my lovely redheaded friend in Los Angeles. I said a few posts ago that my husband got a raise & I was going to get beef for stew, but until Fern goaded, pleaded, and bribed, I didn't get to it. Well, you know, Christmas show, extra hours @ Target, World's Worst Cold That Ate 2010, stuff like that. Now it's the New Year, and we are kicking it off by taking requests.

In radio it was for songs. In later life, it's for the recipe.

Now there's a reason I haven't made this in 13 years. It IS totally awesome, so I probably should have done... but it was about the only thing my mother ever taught me to do well, and it was the last thing my mother ever ate on this earth. I made her a batch at her request, and she couldn't quite finish a bowl she was so weak. Takes a wee bit of time to get past that I can tell you. That's the main reason. It's also an all-day project; specific in its ingredients rather then general (like the other 99% of my soups); and because of the beef stew meat, more expensive than my other soups. I bought chuck on sale and cut it up myself, which saved money, but still. I usually have cheap meats, zero meats, or bone meats, and let legumes & grains be the star of the soup-pot. Beef stew is necessarily about The Beef.

Here you go:

Diana's Beef Stew

Dredge about 1 1/2 lbs. or so of stew beef in the following flour mixture:

1 C whole wheat flour
1 C unbleached flour
1 t Italian herbs mix (mine has marjoram, oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, savory)
1 t granulated garlic (or powdered if you like, but NOT garlic SALT!!)
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t sea salt (scant)

Warm enough olive oil to cover deeply the bottom of your favorite big heavy pot. I use my mother's old cast iron dutch oven (this is one sentimental recipe darlin'!). Brown your dredged meat chunks in the oil, turning & scraping (so the cooked bits don't adhere to the pot). When all the bits have been dredged in flour, added to pot, and begun to brown, (flour is cooking into a thick paste) stir in about another 1/2 C of your flour mixture and add :

1 C dry red wine, bit by bit, as you cook the mixture into a sort of thick gravy with beef in it

then

4 C stock bit by bit, as you cook the whole into a thin gravy with beef in it.

Simmer slowly about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add:

1-lb. bag baby carrots
3 bay leaves (broken up) + 1/4 t mixed peppercorns, tied into cheesecloth packet
1/4 C Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce (never use the cheap kind!)
1 T soy sauce

Simmer low / slow for about 1 hour, or until carrots begin to get tender; raise heat to medium and add:

6 small red potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 C frozen pearl onions
2 C frozen peas

Pot will be full! Stir slowly, with care! Lower heat & cover. Simmer low, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking, approximately 90 minutes or until carrots & potatoes are soft and the flavors have blended nicely.

Wait till you taste it the next day (if you can keep from finishing it off the first night). It can be adapted for the crockpot, and it can be varied, with niceties such as sherry, whole garlic, parsnips, etc. -- but do NOT use tomatoes or it's some other dish! Also, if you're cooking in cast iron, the ascorbic acid in tomatoes will break your heart and wreck your cook pot. For my money the magic is in the stock. Since I almost always have home-made stock in the freezer, for this batch I used some wicked killer turkey stock I made after Thanksgiving. You can use what you have on hand or anything fabulous from the store.

I so hope you love this. I have never told anyone how I make it and now I'm telling the Whole Danged Interwebs! Thank you, Fern, for the multiple kick in the tuchus. ;) XO

Kitchen Porn

I'll say this for me: Consistent. When a show closes, insomnia follows. I was out like a light, exhausted, by 9:30. Then about 1:00 this morning, SNAP! Wide awake. It's the weirdest thing.

So... like everyone everywhere (according to some sources), I look at porn when I can't sleep... KITCHEN porn. Mama needs her a new soup-making stockpot sort of thing. The old one, inherited from Phil's side of the family, just hasn't got long to live and that's a fact. It was once, long ago, heated without anything in it, and subsequently the pan's layers have just been separating for ages since. With the amount of soups & stews & pasta sauces I've produced since the Great Layoffs of 2008, it's aged badly; really bumpy and curvy and generally misshapen on the bottom. Won't be long.

Fortunately, due in part to all those above-referenced cheap eats, I can finally afford to replace it if I don't go too crazee-like. It's officially my birthday present. I want enameled, and I want red.

The pretty little Paula Deen stockpot I like @ Target has some pretty bad reviews online, makes me skittish. I could always try one & return it if it disappoints, I guess. Having the part-time job there, & hence the discount, makes Target a go-to in most cases. But... Paula Deen Paula Deen, what have you done to us, darlin'? Is it true what they say about the pretty stockpot?

Keeping in mind that I have a tight budget but grandiose dreams, I did a lot of kitchen-porn-surfing, indulging in a few drools over the high-end, nearly-a-grand apiece copper works of art, on down into more realistic realms.

Here are the winners from tonight's exhaustive online Kitchen Porn search:

1. Rachael Ray's big 12-quart one for $49.95 plus $10.99 shipping ($60.94)http://www.rachaelraystore.com/Product/detail/Rachael-Ray-Enamel-on-Steel-12-qt-Stockpot-Red/300438

or

2. The 8-quart one from Le Creuset which may be the better investment for $54.99 + free shipping ($54.99! That's like about 1/2 price compared to most sources!)
http://www.chefscatalog.com/checkout/cart.aspx?action=checkout

and some interest in

3. The Tramontina enamel Dutch oven [as recommended by Cook's Illustrated] for $49.97 from Wal-Mart (free shipping site-to-store)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tramontina-6.5-Quart-Cast-Iron-Dutch-Oven-Red/11989387

I still have my mother's old cast-iron dutch oven, although its original glass lid was lost in a tragic Thanksgiving-Day glass-breaking mishap a couple of years ago. Said Dutch oven, no doubt using a substitute lid from some other pot, will soon be pressed into service for the famous promised beef stew. But I still need to replace the old soup pot (kettle?) no matter what. Definitely leaning towards the Le Creuset for my birthday present. It's built to cook a lot of cheap or fancy meals well, over many years, and it's gorgeous.
And... I want it.
That's a kitchen-porn feeling, baby.

Share your life online with a blog!

..."it's easy, fun, free", and there is absolutely no time in which to blog during the holidays if you work two jobs and still expect to sleep!

Happy New Year!

I haven't made any new soup in a while but it sure has saved us to have assorted frozen soups in the freezer, waiting to be thawed & put into service. I've been working at Target & doing a very funny show called "Miracle on Christmas Lake," plus it was my honor to get one of the nastiest, most hanging-on, colds of all time. So both blogs and new soups have been out of the question.

Many mornings have begun with Soup's old pal and partner, Sandwich. In order to make the budget & the 2-people, 2-jobs-each, plan work, we have each required a sandwich per day most days. In order to feel I'm doing what I can to keep us healthy, I've made every effort to get the most clean, nutritious, low fat, healthy breads, cheeses, and lunch meats, and to include 2 slices of dark green leafy lettuce & 2 slices of fresh tomato, on every sandwich. It takes some serious time in the mornings, maybe 20 extra minutes, but it pays off and dear Gawd they are deli-delicious. Protein, salad course, whole grains, fiber, calcium, all the basics. Around 25% - 30% of each sandwich's retail price if ordered out somewhere. Plus while my beloved husband is driving from one job to another, he can eat with one hand, in traffic, a meal that satisfies and doesn't drip or otherwise spill on him.

Of course this financial savings was offset in favor of stimulating our local economy last night, in the form of a rather indulgent order from Plymouth Gardens. Actual Chinese food made by actual Chinese people in our actual neighborhood, nearby enough that we get it delivered still piping hot. Oh, my, the duck! THE DUCK!!! :)

Now it's the New Year, 2011, and hours will shorten at Target as retail slows down. The show closes tomorrow and my cold is trying to let go of me and move on with its toxic life. A search for more work, a better job, maybe even a "real" or "grownup" job will accompany a restoration of the frozen-soup stash. Sometime this month I intend to keep my promise to purchase beef for stew and make a real beef stew for my husband and me to enjoy in these cold dark Minnesota winter evenings. It ain't Julia Child's Bouef Bourgonion, but it ain't slop neither! ;)