Nothing better than warm beef stew

Nice slow cooked beef stew

For the past few hours a stew has been cooking.  I got stew meat on sale, which is always a good reason to make a stew – especially when it’s chilly outside.  This time I made my stew a little differently, I added rutebega and also substituted some of the beef stock for a good dry red wine.  Stew is really moisture added to meat, vegetables and potatoes – all in nice perfect bite-sized morsels.  The slow and low simmer is really the key, patience I guess – which when it comes to food, sometimes I lack.  Well, who’s kidding who? Sometimes I lack patience in general – but I’m learning:)  And I figure start with food.   

I always leave the skins on my potatoes, it adds a great flavour and crunch.  The rutebaga was a nice addition, although I’ll wait to see how I feel after a few more bowls.  The red wine definitely adds a richness to it, which I really enjoy.   One thing I would never change about stew is how I eat it.  Eating stew has always been the same ritual – my second last bite is always beef, the very last is my favourite…the potato.    If there was only one food I could take to a dessert island, it would be potatoes. 

The base recipe I use for making any stew, whether it’s a curry stew or the classic comes from The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook – which is a handy book to have in the kitchen.   Enjoy a potato, eat a good stew:)

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