Anti-recipe #28 Cold weather beef stew

brr its cold. this was weeks ago. its too cold
to play outside now!

I haven’t been cooking much lately. Still.

However, I just got done reading this epic adventure book set in a world of castles and dragons and evil fairies and they were always eating things like bread and cheese and stews.

This makes me hungry.

So, a few days ago I pulled out a thick piece of steak and made, seriously, the most awesome beef stew.

It has also been cold here. Like where-did-all-things-warm-and-green-and-good-go-in-this-godforsaken-land kind of cold.

So beef stew was good for that too.

I did mine on the stovetop due to poor planning. It would’ve been even more tender and yummy sitting in the crockpot all day. Next time

First I pulled out a container of beef stock from the freezer (a large yogurt container). This wasn’t going to be enough so I added a frozen container (same size) of chicken stock. Thankfully I have a husband who loves to make stock. This is absolutely essential for a good stew. If you don’t have some frozen buy the kind in the container that you can pour out. Not the powdered stuff.

I then chopped up the meat and browned it thoroughly on each side, salting and peppering as I flipped it around.

I also had some homemade tomato paste in the freezer. Roughly the amount in a small can of paste.

Already this dinner was smelling good.

Next I chopped up two large carrots, a small onion, and five or six small red potatoes. I peeled the potatoes first (simply because they looked kinda old and ick. But, not necessary.)

Now throw all this together in with the stock/tomato paste mixture, bring to a bubble, and then turn down to a medium low simmer. I added a cube of fresh basil frozen in olive oil (that my sisters and mom and I made at the end of the summer. Sniff. I miss gardening)

I seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

Mine simmered like this for a good two hours. I covered after a while because it was simmering down too much and I wanted stew with broth. If I had done it in the crockpot I would’ve let it simmer on low all day long.

Enjoy with a crusty loaf of bread and some good aged cheddar. YUM.

Here is hoping the warmer weather they promise is truly on its way! In the meanwhile, I am totally eating leftovers for lunch today.