The Best Stew I've Ever Made

So, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's fall. Well, it's fall here at least. As in, last night, despite sleeping cuddled up with my heating blanket of a husband, I also threw a comforter over myself for good measure.

Fall to me means hot tea, cider, oatmeal, and most importantly: stew. In our household, soups and stews are a staple. We make at least one every week or two. They're frugal, they're filling, and they're just plain yummy.

Now, in this post I'll give you what I put in the stew, but not the amounts; not because it's a secret or anything, I just don't really measure when I'm making stew. Cooking's not about science and measurements, it's about emotion.

This stew started out with a sale on stew beef at Whole Foods, which we took full advantage of. And then we pretty much forgot like any other ingredient to go in a stew. So, while daddy danced for the little monkey, mommy ran to the grocery store for some veggies and such.

Sadly, while I was looking for beef stock, I found that our shitty local Food Lion (which we hate to use, but is literally across the street from our house) no longer carries ANY stock or broth other than chicken broth. I mean, really? I know I live in a backwards, ignorant state and the extent of fine dining is the Ruby Tuesdays in town, but...REALLY?

So, I improvised. Knorr has made this interesting new bouillon type thing. I was hesitant, but I needed beef stock to make this stew, so I grabbed one of these. They're kind of like a concentrated beef stock jelly. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. It dissolved in boiling water (the weird poo looking picture above to the right) and tasted just like regular beef stock, if not a bit saltier.

Hubby had this idea to kind of copy a stew he'd seen on an episode of Bourdain's No Reservations, which involved either turnips or rutabaga. He couldn't remember, so I got one of each. I had never had either. I mean, I've had (and I love) turnip greens, but I'd never had an actual turnip. I didn't really know how to go about tackling this mass of bitter root vegetable, but I noticed the outer skin was covered in wax, which is no bueno, so I just kind of rough-chopped the skin off since it was too thick for a veggie peeler. I did the same with the rutabaga and tossed those in the stock first since I thought they'd probably take the longest to soften.

Next, I chopped up a bunch of green onions, because I couldn't locate leeks at Food Lion. (Curse you, damn redneck grocery hub. Damn you to the depths of hell.) So, I grabbed a regular white onion and added that too. At this point you could probably saute your onion separately, then add them to the stew later, but I skipped that because I had a hungry hubby and a cranky little monkey that was screeching for mommy's attention. (We're currently cutting all four, count 'em FOUR, top front teeth.)

I also began seasoning at this point. You can season with whatever herbs and spices you hold dearest. In our house, we love us some marjoram, thyme, and sage. I think I tossed in more than that, but I can't actually remember...

Next, peel and chop some carrots. All the carrots I got were kind of puny, so I added quite a few. After this picture, I think I cut up about four more to go in, because I'm a huge fan of carrots in stew.

Jason likes his veggies still crispy, but he wasn't cooking, so he got mushy carrots--just the way I like them!

I'm pretty sure you could also substitute the carrots for some parsnips, but with the bitterness of the turnips and rutabagas I wanted the sweetness that the carrots bring to the pot.

I tossed all the veggies in the pot (which, is vastly smaller than I wish it was) and let them cook with the herbs and stock for a bit while I took a break and fed the hungry monster some cheese and crackers.

Oh, also, there's cabbage! I tossed it in after the carrots and added a dash of caraway seeds. We LOVE cabbage! I mean, hubby's Irish so that's kind of a given, and I just love it because it absorbs all the flavor of what you cook it with.

I like napa cabbage for stews usually because of it's added texture, but a head of regular cabbage is bigger, most of the time.

After that, I grabbed a skillet and added butter...a LOT of butter. So, if you're worried about cholesterol or any of that mumbo jumbo, then I guess you can use olive oil instead. But seriously, don't. The butter's there for a reason, which I'm getting to.

When browning meat, for any reason, you must take care to thoroughly dry the meat or it will not brown. Did you hear me? DRY YOUR MEAT. I just use paper towels because it's easily cleaned up, and I find it more sanitary. So, after you dry the meat, flour it and toss it in the butter.

Now, the butter...mmmmm, the butter. After all the meat is browned, add more butter to the skillet and let that melt. Then add some more flour. Are you realizing why you need butter yet? To make this a stew as opposed to a soup, it needs to be thick. To be thick, you need a roux. Now, I didn't really cook the roux like I would have for gumbo or etouffe, because I already had quite a bit of flavor from the meat in the butter. I just cooked it enough to get that raw flour taste out, then added some of the broth, and then added that into the stew.

Now, if you're impatient, sure, you could go ahead and cook that meat all the way through in the skillet, but it won't be tender enough. So, let the stew simmer on low heat for about another half hour, or until you just can't stand it any more.

I had a bowl of this delicious stew, then realized there was nothing to sop up the broth at the bottom of the bowl after all the good, chunky veggies and beef were gone. So, I tried my hand at making cornbread. The reason I'd never made cornbread before is because my best friend's mom, Mama Peggy, makes the BEST cornbread I've EVER had, and I was always afraid of falling utterly short of that golden goodness. But, I needed cornbread. It was essential. So I grabbed Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything" and looked up his easy-peasy recipe. It was totally simple, but completely delicious. I ate half the pan myself... And then my bowl looked like this. <----- Happy, empty bowl!

I found that the next day, this stew is even better because the flavors have had time to marry completely. I also found that I really like turnips and rutabagas. They're delicious in stews, so they'll become an always ingredient, much like carrots.

Little monkey also seemed to like them, which is a good thing. Even though he was fussy most of the time I was making the stew, he was not fussy while nom'in on some cooked carrots and some cereal.

That's it for now. Until next time, enjoy your loved ones and your life with a Spoonful of Sugar!