Utterly delicious. I more or less followed the recipe, just subbing cocoa powder for the bittersweet chocolate, until the removal of the large pieces of aromatics. Instead of discarding these, I puréed and returned to the pot to thicken the stew. I also omitted the potatoes and added some sauteed cremini mushrooms along with the diced parsnips, carrots and onions. The beef took a bit longer than expected to get tender - I bumped the temp to 325 after adding the diced veg and it still needed an extra 45ish mins - but it was worth the wait. Super rich and complex. Served with a slice of whole wheat sourdough slathered with Brebichon, a soft rind sheep cheese I picked up at Fromagerie du Vieux St. Joseph (near Montreal) last week.
NYT sesame salmon with herbs. Loved the pile of cilantro/quick-pickled shallot/sesame oil on top. I promise there is salmon under the tangle of cilantro salad. Very ripe tomato dressed with sesame dressing and some Knorr’s rice side, which was an impulse buy on-sale at Market Basket (which B and Spring Onion enjoyed).
Tonight’s dinner was Peanut Butter Lemon Chicken Breast over rice topped with peas. I’ve made this dish before, but usually top it with chopped broccoli. I didn’t hear any complaints and everyone seemed to like it. At the end of the day it was a hot meal. Good enough…
I had the last bagel for dinner last night and discovered I had a little cream cheese left as well as some cukes. I had a tomato green bean salad on the side. I had the last of the butter tarts from the freezer while watching Farm Aid.
Looks AMAZING! And he said this in the article: “The finished stew won’t look like beef chunks coated in a thick gravy, but, then again, this is beef stew, not beef gravy.”
That’s exactly how I prefer my beef stew…not beef stew soup, swimming in gravy, but coated with a “glaze” of gravy. I like the idea of coffee and chocolate added to the stew to smooth out the bitterness.
Yes, although the original recipe does not call for pureeing the first set of vegetables and adding back to the pot. Before I did that, the sauce was very thin and soupy, and the flavor not particularly robust or balanced. The puree thickened it without making it too gravy-like, resulting in that lovely glaze you see in my photo. If you try the recipe I strongly recommend the puree alteration!
I made pork with green beans [and chicken of the wood mushroom] from a Woks of Life recipe @ottawaoperadiva suggested, served over cauliflower rice mixed with some leftover brown rice pilaf. This wasn’t my favorite WOL recipe – maybe because I’m not a big fan of dark soy sauce. I added some more sugar, oyster sauce, salted chilis, and cashews to balance the flavors. And I used boneless center-cut chops because they’re leaner than shoulder. My DH really enjoyed, but probably not a repeat for me.
A quiet day. Chilly when I finally woke up at 8 a.m. (the boyz let me sleep off my vaccine exhaustion). But the temps rose enough to open the slider window.
A semi-Sunday roast dinner: a Frankenchicken breast marinated in olive oil, s/p, garlic paste, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and freshly minced deck parsley, thyme, and rosemary. Roasted at 425° for 30 minutes, then 375° until done, spooning pan oil over top several times.
Baby potatoes steamed for 20 minutes, then tossed with olive oil, s/p and Penzeys Mural of Flavor and roasted in the convection oven until crispy on the outside.
A very large carrot, some frozen peas and fresh-frozen COTC from last season cooked and then buttered and seasoned with s/p and dried savory.
We were invited to a small wedding celebration at noon at a distillery just outside of town. Considering we’d resigned ourselves to only ever attending funerals at our age anymore (let’s face — not a lot of folks celebrate their divorces ), we were lucky to witness 3 couples among our dear friends tie the knot this year. There’s love in the world still
& a sip of champagne for the toast; the food included delish deviled eggs with bacon, charcuterie & a few warm things, as well as cupcakes we didn’t have.
Stopped by a frozen custard place on our way home & split most of a sundae with chocolate peanut butter cup & coffee toffee, and an insane amount of walnuts, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and crushed pistachios.
I drove for a bit afterwards, then we met up with the happy couple again late afternoon for an after-party at the gay bar. Dinner was leftover Greek food (souvlaki, tzatziki, xoriatiki, gigantes) we wolfed down when we got home.
Looks delicious!! I am hoping that the dearth of in-trip reporting means you’ve been having too much fun to log on, not that something untoward has happened.
