The Saturday Stew Story

Probably because I went to sleep early, I woke up early (5:00 AM) on Saturday. It was 15 degrees F. outside, BTW.

I forgot to mention that Vicky returned my cake pan yesterday (remember the coffee cake I brought in before the Christmas break?) along with three pieces of cake her Mother had made. The cake was not frosted and was pink! I asked her what was in it and she said she knew there were strawberries in it and she thought cream cheese, too.

What ever was in it, I had a piece for breakfast along with my second cup of coffee and my morning pills. It was very moist and delicious!

I started a load of clothes and shaved and showered for my shopping trip. I hung up my shirts and pants and then started the next load (all the towels and my bathrobe) before I left.

Traffic and the stores were light (probably the damn cold) so I made good time getting the stuff I wanted. I hit Kroger’s (mostly for the boneless chuck roast and the replacement items I threw away: Sriracha hot sauce, dried tomatoes, chili sauce, Kalamata olives, Teriyaki sauce, fish sauce, capers and Jalapeño slices).

Then I went to Westborn for some cheese, fresh carrots (does anybody know what to do with the carrot tops? I just end up throwing them away), some baby redskin potatoes, Honey Crisp apples for next week, fresh parsley, a pound of loose crimini mushrooms, some sun-dried tomatoes (that I couldn’t find at Kroger’s), some more Romaine lettuce hearts (I want to make that grilled salad again) and more of those little Sutten House bottles of wine (I dislike wine, but need it for cooking). 

Then I stopped at Michael’s to see if I could find a ring to make a wreath. Here’s the problem: I have a wreath to hang outside for Spring, Summer, Fall and Christmas. But, I don’t have one to hang up from Christmas to Spring, so the front of the house looks bare. But, I have a whole bin of pinecones I’ve collected that I thought I might hot-glue onto “something” and make a winter wreath.

I couldn’t find what I wanted (and there were no salespeople to ask – they should take a lesson from Office Depot) but I did find a marked-down wreath, that I bought for $9.00 US!

I went to PetSmart (next door) and bought some kitty litter. Then I walked down to the Dollar store to look for storage baskets. One of my ToDo items this week is to clean out the little closet in the hallway between the kitchen and down stairs (it’s a mess of batteries, old clothesline, garbage bags, packing tape, light bulbs, etc.) The checkout lady was insistent that I take the covers for the six plastic bins, but I told her I didn’t want them. So, six dollars and 36 cents later, I was headed for home.

I treated the cats and then attended to the most pressing item: addressing the birthday card for my sister-in-law Jean and getting it out to the mailbox before the mailman came.

I got that done and called my friend, B___ with two questions. He gave me the answers I needed and then it was onto making my beef stew.

Please note: I am NOT making the beef stew recipe I have posted under “Recipes” as this requires a four hour to overnight marinade and I want this today! So, I am modifying the recipe.

So, using the Wustof after rubbing it on the steel, I cut the chuck roast into roughly 1-inch cubes (this was messy, BTW). I put 1/2 cup of AP flour and a half teaspoon each of paprika, salt and ground pepper into a zip-lock bag. I dumped a bunch of canola oil into my Dutch oven and got it hot.

Then, I worked in batches, dredging the beef into the flour, shaking it off and then searing it on all sides. I used a slotted spoon to take it out and let it drain on some paper towels. I think it took five batches in all.

When the meat was done, I put a whole big yellow onion, sliced medium-dice, two stalks of celery and two cloves of minced garlic in the pot to soften. When it was ready, I deglazed the pot with a little bottle of red wine (Sutter Home Cabernet Sauvignon) The bottle is 187 ml – I’m guessing about 3/4 cup, but you can figure it out if you want to.

Then I added a whole box of beef stock (twice the recommended amount, but I didn’t want any leftovers). To that I added a tablespoon each of soy sauce, red wine vinegar and Worchester sauce, and 1/4 cup of tomato paste. I skipped the recommended sugar, and turned the heat on “simmer.”

I put the meat back in and peeled the fresh carrots, slicing them on the biase, discarding both ends and the tops (I still think they could be used for something). I took about two pounds of nice baby redskin potatoes and quartered them, adding them to the pot, leaving the skins on.

I didn’t have enough fresh herbs to make a bouquet garni. So I cut up about 1/4 cup of fresh flat leaf parsley, got two fresh bay leaves and some dried thyme from my herb drying rack and threw that in.

I set the timer for three hours and went and took a nap.

I woke up about 1/2 an hour before the timer was set to go off. I taste-tested it (damn that broth was good) and didn’t add a thing. When the timer went off, I checked and both the potatoes and the carrots were soft. So, I mixed up the dumpling ingredients.

I added in about half of the crimini mushrooms with the tips cut off and sliced thick, another couple of tablespoons of minced garlic and a cup of frozen peas. I turned the burner on high (stirring so things wouldn’t stick and made my dumpling mix.

I put  two cups of AP flour in a bowl along with four teaspoons of baking powder, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of sugar and a scant cup of milk. I mixed that together and dropped heaping tablespoons of them onto the bubbling mixture (you want to be sure that they don’t touch each other and that the gravy is below the veggies)

I let that cook for 10 minutes uncovered and then covered the pot for 10 minutes more. Then I dug in! It was pretty good, but the dumplings were a little more soggy than usual. I don’t think I had a full boil when I first started dropping them in the pot.

I let the rest of the stew cool down while I watched the news. Then I watched “The Patriot” with Mel Gibson (not because I particularly wanted to see the movie per se, but parts of it were filmed in Charleston, SC and I wanted to see that again.

When the movie was over, the stew was cooled, so I put it, pot and all, into the fridge. I watched a few taped DIY shows before going to sleep.