Beef Stew

Normally I make beef stew in the crock pot. Yesterday with the snow event and no power for most of the day I had to prepare this on the stove top. Nothing is better than a stew on a very cold day, and our bones were definitely warmed by this dish!

Ingredients
1 1/2# stew meat
flour
garlic powder
salt and pepper
Hungarian paprika
1 onion
extra virgin olive oil
64 oz. beef broth
1 cup good red wine, I used Zinfandel from Storey Winery
3 potatoes
handful of prepared baby carrots
3/4 cup of frozen peas
1/4 # fresh green beans
2 bay leaves
1 TBS savory
1 TBS coriander
2 TBS rosemary
2 TBS parsley

Cut up the meat into bite size chunks…sorry the photo is poor… 😦

Meat is cut up and ready to use

Then take the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper and the paprika and add to a zip lock bag. Put the meat in and shake it vigorously. Set aside. Next take the onion and chop coarsely. Add this and 3 good glugs of olive oil to your stew pot. Turn on the heat, add the onions. Cook down for about 3 minutes and then grab the pieces of beef out of the bag. Do not worry about excess flour as you grab the meat as it will thicken the stew. But do not add in the rest of the flour from the bag. Brown the meat. While this is browning, peel the potatoes and cut into bite size chunks. Trim up the green beans.

The vegetables are ready to go

When the meat is brown add the broth and the wine. Then add your vegetables. Next add the herbs.

Everything is added

Bring this up to a boil, and then cover, turning the heat down to low. Check your stew often to ensure that it does not stick to the bottom of the stew pot. Cook on low for about 2 hours, and then serve.

Dinner is served!

Don’t forget to have a glass of the wine that you used in the stew!

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Chicken in Black Bean Sauce

Two of my most favorite Asian ingredients are black bean sauce and sesame oil! The flavors are comforting to me. I perused through the freezer and discovered that I had set aside some cut up chicken thighs, and it came to me to make this dish.

Ingredients
1/2 # boneless chicken thighs, cut up in chunks
3 TBS Sherry
dash of salt
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TBS water
1/3, + 3 TBS cup of low sodium chicken broth
2 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS black bean sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
3 TBS peanut oil
3 slices of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups thickly sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup frozen peas

Take the chicken and in a bowl combine with 1 TBS sherry and the dash of salt.

Chicken, salt and sherry

Set aside. Next combine the cornstarch with the water, then add 1/3 cup of chicken broth, remaining sherry, soy sauce along with the black bean sauce and sesame oil.

Cornstarch mixture

Set aside. Add 2 TBS peanut oil to your wok and heat until hot.

Oil is hot in the wok

Add the chicken

Chicken starts to cook

and stir fry until the chicken is no longer pink.

Chicken is cooked

Remove this from the wok. Add remaining peanut oil and heat until it is hot. While this is heating up, re-stir the cornstarch mixture so that it is ready to use.

Re-stir the cornstarch mixture

When the oil is hot add the ginger and garlic and stir fry for about one minute.

Garlic and ginger being stir fried

Add in the mushrooms and peas and stir fry for about one minute

Add the mushrooms and peas

and then add the remaining chicken broth.

Add the remaining broth

Next add in the cornstarch mixture slowly.

Add the cornstarch mixture

Add back the chicken and heat through.

Let the liquid thicken by cooking

The sauce thickens

Serve this over steaming hot jasmine rice.

Dinner is served!

I hope that you enjoy the subtle, savory flavors of this dish!

Savor the flavors and enjoy!

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