Simple simple

[mamadeb]

Dinner last night was a basic beef stew. I browned stew meat in just the thinnest coating of light oil, then added a whole spanish onion, a package of baby carrots, a pound of mushrooms, sliced, and a pound of teeny tiny red potatoes. I also ground some pepper and tossed in a couple of bay leaves. Then I poured in about a cup or so of red wine and let it simmer on top of the stove until I thought better of it and put the pot in a 400 degree oven. We ate about 1.5 hours later.

Yeah, I know. I forgot the celery.

Be that as it may, it came out very yummy indeed. I'm guessing it was the wine. Sometimes, it pays to be simple.

Comments

[jetis.livejournal.com]

You will be jealous of my herb garden when it becomes the largest and most herb-y windowsill garden in the world. I'll mail you bay leaves (for your stew) and laugh when it gets held up in customs and the Secret Service show up at my door to arrest me for distributing questionable plants across state lines.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I will be jealous. I am jealous already. I could grow herbs, but my thumb is so brown and I am so disorganized that even herbs would fail.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I have found that stewing beef in red wine makes the best stew ever, bar none.

Another good variation is stewing beef in dark beer. We saute lots of onions first; dredge the beef cubes in flour lightly, then panfry them with the onions; and then add a couple of bottles of dark beer and simmer for a few hours. Mmm. :-)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Oh, that would be gorgeous.

Thing is, we *always* have wine in the house and never beer. I used up the end of the very nice Merlot we've been using for kiddush.