(Photo of Emeril Lagasse’s beef stew from Food Network)
More snow today. There must be about three feet of it at our house. Robert and I went to the gym this morning and there were mountains of snow piled high in the Wal-Mart/Barnes & Noble parking lot, and front loaders actively adding more to the mounds as we approached. Meanwhile the kids got geared up and busy shoveling the snow at our house, but not from the driveway or walkways. They did, however, get every last flake off of our trampoline which looked as if it might shatter under the weight of the snow and frigid temperatures. Priorities, you know.
Since we’ve just returned from a 3 week trip to Texas, the cupboards are bare. Last night I managed to mine some chicken breasts and frozen peas out of our deep freeze for dinner along with some white rice left in the pantry, but I know the big grocery trip is impending, so I’ve been brainstorming what to cook. Beef stew and cornbread always comes to mind when it’s cold and snowy. Plus, its a certified favorite dish around here. I do not have a written recipe for my version of beef stew, just a hodge podge of techniques via watching others make their own version. The base recipe comes out of my grandmother’s old Methodist church cookbook, but I’ve changed things over the years, and probably don’t even make it the same way each time. Here’s what I’ve come up with today as a written version of what I use and how I cook mine. (The cornbread recipe will follow, which is similar ~ no written recipe, just in my head until today!)
Beef Stew
3lbs stew meat (or any roast that looks good, that you can cut into pieces)
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
4 medium sized potatoes, washed, not peeled, and cubed (Any will do. Red are nice.)
5-7 carrots, peeled, and thickly sliced
1 small box frozen corn (or half a bag)
1 small box frozen peas (I use the frozen petite peas in a bag from Trader Joes)
1 can tomato sauce
4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp Mc Cormick’s Garlic and Herb Seasoning
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
water
Place the stew meat into a large stock pot, add the chopped onion, salt and pepper, and cover with water. Place the top on the pot and let simmer for at least an hour. Add carrots, corn, potatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, herb seasoning, and more water to cover. Simmer until carrots are tender. Add peas and pressed garlic at the end. (The peas only take a few seconds to heat up and they’ll stay nice and green for serving. The fresh pressed garlic tastes so yummy, and will help cure or ward off any cold viruses lingering around!)
Cornbread
1 cup rice flour (or GF flour mix)
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
Stir dry ingredients together in bowl. Whisk liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add liquids to dry ingredients, stir until thoroughly combined. Pour into a greased 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
If you own a cast iron skillet, though, you MUST (because it’s heavenly) do it this way: Place 1/2 stick real butter in bottom of skillet. Place skillet in preheated oven just until butter melts. Swirl butter in skillet to coat. Pour cornbread batter into skillet and bake for 20 minutes at 400. My kids love it this way, insist on buttering it again on their plates, and then get the honey out for a dessert version of the cornbread!
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