Saturday, November 20, 2010
Suit Case Full of Beer...
and I'm heading to San Francisco. Out to Missoula tomorrow at 6 am, two weeks there then a Grey Hound to Billings.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
A Month of Nothing... Here's Some Stew
Beef Stew
• 2 tbsp flour
• ¾ tsp ground cayenne
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2-3 lbs beef stew-meat
• 2 tbsp oil (olive, vegetable doesn’t matter)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 5 medium carrots, chopped
• 5 ribs of celery chopped
• 6 medium garlic cloves, fine chop
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• ¾ cup dry red wine
• 1 pound red potatoes, cut up
• 2 cups (roughly 2 cans) beef broth
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Coat the meat in the mixture and set on a plate.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in the pot over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to flicker add 1/3 of the meat and sear till brown on all sides (5-6 minutes). Remove the meat from the pot and set on a separate plate. Do the same to the remaining meat.
3. Once all the meat is seared and set aside, add remaining tbsp of oil and bring pot to medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery. Use extra salt and pepper to season to taste while stirring occasionally until vegetables begin to brown (5 minutes or so).
4. Add in the garlic, tomato paste, thyme and the bay leaf, stir well. Stir in the wine (immediately scrape the bottom of the pot once the wine hits it, this will release the burned meat at the bottom and add to the flavor). Add potatoes and stir well.
5. Add the meat and beef broth, stir well mixing everything together. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer (medium low to low). Let cook for roughly 30-40 minutes, it will be done when the potatoes get soft and the meat is tender.
6. Serve (and drink the rest of the wine).
So this is my recipe for beef stew, I've made it a few times in the last month and a half and I do believe it to be damn good. It looks like a lot of work but it's really just cutting shit up, throwing it together and waiting.
Searing the meat is a pretty slick idea. It will look like you are burning a bunch of shit on the bottom of the pot but leave all of that black goodness. When you add in the wine and broth you want to scrape up that stuff in a mad fury. Basically it's locked-in juicy goodness, so do your best to get it off when you add in the liquids.
Also it may not look like a lot of sauce to solid ratio but it is a stew so you're not getting soup like broth. It should look very thick.
When you choose the wine (do not use cooking-wine, that's a dab; you want to drink the stuff when you are done and or during) you definitely want to pick something you would drink. I recommend a Cabernet Sauvignon, it's dry and meaty (in a good wine sense... that's not what wine people say is it...) and it is going to add a great character to the stew. Caserillo del Diablo makes a great cab plus it's relatively cheap, something like 7-8 $. Another great cab is Toasted Head (or Fire Bear as we call it) but it's about 15-16 $ though very worth it. I'm not a pretentious wine douche but I can say those two are pretty tasty.
Every now and then I add a can of sweet peas to the stew, much to the displeasure of my friends. If you dig peas it's a good mix, if not... tough shit.
• 2 tbsp flour
• ¾ tsp ground cayenne
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2-3 lbs beef stew-meat
• 2 tbsp oil (olive, vegetable doesn’t matter)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 5 medium carrots, chopped
• 5 ribs of celery chopped
• 6 medium garlic cloves, fine chop
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• ¾ cup dry red wine
• 1 pound red potatoes, cut up
• 2 cups (roughly 2 cans) beef broth
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Coat the meat in the mixture and set on a plate.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in the pot over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to flicker add 1/3 of the meat and sear till brown on all sides (5-6 minutes). Remove the meat from the pot and set on a separate plate. Do the same to the remaining meat.
3. Once all the meat is seared and set aside, add remaining tbsp of oil and bring pot to medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery. Use extra salt and pepper to season to taste while stirring occasionally until vegetables begin to brown (5 minutes or so).
4. Add in the garlic, tomato paste, thyme and the bay leaf, stir well. Stir in the wine (immediately scrape the bottom of the pot once the wine hits it, this will release the burned meat at the bottom and add to the flavor). Add potatoes and stir well.
5. Add the meat and beef broth, stir well mixing everything together. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer (medium low to low). Let cook for roughly 30-40 minutes, it will be done when the potatoes get soft and the meat is tender.
6. Serve (and drink the rest of the wine).
So this is my recipe for beef stew, I've made it a few times in the last month and a half and I do believe it to be damn good. It looks like a lot of work but it's really just cutting shit up, throwing it together and waiting.
Searing the meat is a pretty slick idea. It will look like you are burning a bunch of shit on the bottom of the pot but leave all of that black goodness. When you add in the wine and broth you want to scrape up that stuff in a mad fury. Basically it's locked-in juicy goodness, so do your best to get it off when you add in the liquids.
Also it may not look like a lot of sauce to solid ratio but it is a stew so you're not getting soup like broth. It should look very thick.
When you choose the wine (do not use cooking-wine, that's a dab; you want to drink the stuff when you are done and or during) you definitely want to pick something you would drink. I recommend a Cabernet Sauvignon, it's dry and meaty (in a good wine sense... that's not what wine people say is it...) and it is going to add a great character to the stew. Caserillo del Diablo makes a great cab plus it's relatively cheap, something like 7-8 $. Another great cab is Toasted Head (or Fire Bear as we call it) but it's about 15-16 $ though very worth it. I'm not a pretentious wine douche but I can say those two are pretty tasty.
Every now and then I add a can of sweet peas to the stew, much to the displeasure of my friends. If you dig peas it's a good mix, if not... tough shit.
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