Recipe: Beef Stew

I’m obsessed with this beef stew recipe. It’s kind of a work in progress but here’s the gist of it. This is great for work week lunches, but if you want a fancy dinner I’d go with the first link below.

It’s a combination of these three recipes:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/beef-stew-in-red-wine-sauce
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/honey-roasted-sweet-potatoes-recipe/index.html
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Red-Wine-Beef-Stew-364571

Total time: 1.5h
Hands on: 45min

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds trimmed beef flatiron steak or chuck, cut into pieces (I buy “Beef For Stew” at Whole Foods)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (meh – or two, or three…)
One 750-milliliter bottle dry red wine (Yep, that’s a whole bottle)
1 small can tomato paste (I use the kind where the only ingredient is tomatoes. No sugar. No salt.)
2 bay leaves
1 thyme sprig (or a few pinches of dried is fine)
2 large yams or sweet potatoes – whatever kind you like
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 lb bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
15 cremini mushrooms (I get small ones and just half them)
Small 1lb bag of baby carrots (I leave them whole and just dump them straight from the bag)
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Weird Tools you might need to check if you have
“large enameled cast-iron casserole” – this basically just means any big pot with a lid that is made to go in the oven as well as on the stove top – so no plastic or rubber. Mine is not enamel and it’s fine.



1.       Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, melt the butter in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the meat in the casserole in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, 8 minutes. Add ½ of the chopped onion and all of the garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the wine, tomato paste, bay leaves and thyme, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil (I find that there’s never enough pepper and salt), stirring to dissolve any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.

2.       Cover the casserole and transfer it to the oven. Cook the stew for 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is very tender and the sauce is flavorful.

3.       With the yams, olive oil, honey, lemon juice. Prepare this recipe and put it in the oven right next to the stew pot. Should only take a few minutes. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/honey-roasted-sweet-potatoes-recipe/index.html

4.       In a large skillet, fry the bacon until it’s half-cooked. Leave the bacon fat in the pan. Add the rest of the onion, mushrooms and carrots and cover. Cook until the onion and bacon are fully cooked. About 4-10 minutes. Drain bacon fat from the pan.

5.       When the stew and yams are finished combine everything in the stew pot, dish it up, garnish with parsley if you’re fancy, and enjoy!

Mozzarella Macaroni and Cheese For Two

Threw this together the other night based on a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I love mac and cheese but most recipes (including Mark's) are too big for two people, and cheddar is a lot more fattening than mozzarella. I'm pretty sure that the proportions below of butter-milk-flour are not ideal, but it still came out delicious. Fiddle around with the sauce a little if you like, but this works pretty well as is. This recipe took 45 min or so and made two large (adult) servings.


1 Cup grated Mozzarella
1/4 Cup shredded Parmesan
1/4 Cup shredded Romano
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Bay Leaf
2 Cups Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta
Spoonful of flour (regular dining spoon)
1 Tablespoon butter
Breadcrumbs (Italian seasoned)


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the pasta water in a pot with a little salt. Cook the pasta as advised on the box.

While the pasta is progressing, put the milk in a small saucepan with the bay leaf and turn on medium low. Cook it until small bubbles start to form where the milk touches the metal. When you tip the pan the bubbles will stick to the pan underneath. there shouldn't be any steam or boiling.

Remove the milk from heat and transfer to a small bowl or Pyrex measuring pitcher. Take out the bay leaf and discard.

Manage the pasta as necessary now - it may be al dente at this point. If it is, drain it, cool it off with some cold water and pour it into a baking dish.

Tricky Part: Get a small wire whisk in one hand and get your flour ready. Set the milk nearby. Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium low until foamy, then drop the flour into the melted butter and quickly stir it with the whisk until smooth. As soon as the flour/butter mixture browns add a little of the milk, stir until smooth and pasty, then add more milk. Repeat until all the milk is gone.

Add the cheese and stir until melted and smooth. (Mark Bittman's recipe has you separate the cheeses - I didn't and it worked out fine) Pour the sauce over your pasta, and mix it in. Top with a little more Parmesan and a thin layer of breadcrumbs.

Put the mac and cheese in the oven for 15 minutes and enjoy!


Some ideas you might want to try:

Blue Mac and Cheese - top with blue cheese crumbles instead of shredded Parmesan. it won't take much to have a big impact on the flavor.

Apple Gruyère - omit the Parmesan and Romano, replace with Gruyère. Thinly slice 1/4 of a Granny Smith apple and cut into smaller pieces. Sprinkle on top with the breadcrumbs before placing in the oven.

Other Mix-ins: jalapeños, bacon, pimentos, white onion