Stew

[ksmith]

That staple of Extruded Fantasy Product (tm), indefinable brown soup-stuff concocted from root vegetables and wagonkill. Or not.

I have interview questions to complete and a proposal to bloody finish, so of course I spent time eating and well, cooking so I'd have something to eat. Some of my recipes haven't quite worked out, but this one is Good. Had it yesterday with brown rice, which tasted a little flat. Had it today with mashed Yukon Gold spuds. Much better.

Orange-Cumin Beef Stew

3 tbsps vegetable oil
3 pounds lean boneless chuck, cubed
grated rind of one orange (about 1 tbsp)
1 cup orange juice
1 cup beef broth or stock
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsps brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 tsps ground cumin
2 tsps dried oregano, crumbled
1 tsp ground allspice
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 oz small white onions
1 pound small mushrooms, sliced up however you like 'em

1. Heat oil in skillet--moderately high heat. Brown meat on all sides and transfer to a casserole (you could do this in the casserole dish, imho)

2. Stir in everything but the onions and mushrooms. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 2 hours or until fork tender. Add onions during last 30 minutes and mushrooms during the last 15.

I added carrots and celery because I had some in the fridge that I needed to use or lose. I also added chopped parsley. A whole can of stock, which at 15 oz was 2x the recipe. The stew tasted like glorified chili until it had cooked for a while. Then the flavor mellowed and the orange came through. The sauce thickens on its own. It's delicious.

Comments

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

You know what cracks me up the most about stew as ye olde ubiquitous fantasy novel food? It takes ages to make really good stew. It needs to, you know, stew. And it gets treated like magical instant food in so many high fantasies.

I love a good stew.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

You know what cracks me up the most about stew as ye olde ubiquitous fantasy novel food? It takes ages to make really good stew. It needs to, you know, stew. And it gets treated like magical instant food in so many high fantasies.


And given the quality of the meat they probably had to work with, it likely had to stew even longer.

Stew is one of my favorite foods.