A New Way To Do Stew

     So, our beef allotment contains several packages of what is termed 'stew meat.'   Now, my typical go-to meat for any kind of stewing is chuck, as it breaks down into tender chunks after all that lovely collagen has dissolved.  I never buy 'stew meat,' cuz I don't know what cut of beef it is from and whether it will behave for me.  No misbehavin' meat, thank you very much.
     But here I have all these packages staring at me in my freezer, and I, for one, am not going to waste it.   So I called Sona at Salmon Creek Meats (our butcher for our beef) and got a little more information.   This cut is generally the leaner pieces left over after they grind burger, generally from the top and bottom round.
     Okay.......but how to cook, how to cook?  My only experience with this, unfortunately, stems from what my mother made from a similar cut, called 'Swiss steak.'  Cooked within an inch of it's life, it was on the bottom of her repertoire, in my opinion, and akin to shoe leather.  Sorry, Mom.
     Sona told me that the trick to this cut was adding acid to the braising liquids.  It was the one she puts in the crock pot to cook all day long.  Got it.  So I ventured forth.   The recipe that I used came from an old Fine Cooking magazine about cooking without recipes.  Pam Anderson, the author, actually recommends cooking her stew over high heat in the oven.  I wasn't going to chance that here, but the general outlines for ingredients and method were otherwise solid gold.
     I like stew, but my issue with it has always been the sad and tired veggies.  They are spent, in a way, with the long braise.  Pam Anderson circumvents this with cooking them separately and adding them at the end.  Amazing!  This version, with a southwestern inspiration, was terrific.  And the beef?  Moist and tender.  No shoe leather in sight.

Southwestern Beef Stew

Serves 3

Adapted from recipe in Fine Cooking 2004 by Pam Anderson

If you want to make larger quantities, just increase accordingly

1 lb package Stew Meat, check to make sure they are all about 1" pieces.

Kosher salt and pepper

2 T olive oil, divided

1 c diced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

Seasonings

1 1/2 T Ancho chili powder

1 1/2 t cumin

1/2 t oregano

Stewing liquid

1/3 c white or red wine (I used sauvignon blanc)

1/2 c water

1/2 c diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen diced tomatoes with chipotle)

Vegetables

1 c butternut squash, in 3/4" dice

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1 zucchini, cut in bite sized chunks

Cilantro for garnish

Preheat the oven to 250F.  Pat meat dry, season generously with salt and pepper.  Heat a heavy bottomed Dutch oven over med-high, add 1 T oil, and brown the meat on at least 2 sides to a dark brown crust.  Do not crowd the pan, remove pieces when browned and set aside.  When all meat is browned, add onion and garlic.  Add 1T oil if needed.  Sauté until softened, add seasonings, sauté another 30 seconds, add stewing liquid and beef, with all accumulated juices.  Bring back to a boil, and cover the surface of the stew with foil to seal in the moisture, cover the pot, and place in oven.  Bake for 2  hours.  

When almost finished, sauté the veggies as follows:  in a little olive oil, sauté the squash, add 1/4c water to the pan and cover for 3-4 min.  Then add the peppers, and continue to sauté, adding a little more water as needed.  Add the zucchini, sauté another few minutes.  

Remove the pot from the oven, remove the foil.  Add the veggies, heat gently on the stove for a few minutes to finish cooking the veggies.  Correct seasonings.  Garnish with cilantro.  Enjoy!

  

Beef Heaven

       Well, Bryce and I had a grubbin' good meal this evening.  There was a lovely salad that was a riff on a salad that Katie and I saw today at Cafe Presse:  greens, hazelnuts and a creamy hazelnut vinaigrette.  I added a bit of feta and found that to be an excellent addition as well.  Then there was the Israeli couscous studded with minced onion, carrot and parsley.  But the coup de grace, the highlight, the reason the meal stands out so strongly has to do with the protein.
     It all started last October, when I got a wild hair to pursue another locavore idea of mine and buy a portion of beef.  I polled my friends and found 5 like-minded souls.  We did some research:  there are quite a few places here in Western Washington that provide what we were in search of, that being a 100% grass-fed, organic locally sourced beef option.  And when you buy a portion, it makes the price very fine indeed.  We finally settled on Lisa and Chris Wilcox (NWlocalgrassfedbeef.com) and started a long series of e-mail exchanges to wit:  We purchased 1/2 beef, which was aged 21 days and was placed in our hands yesterday.
     That in and of itself was an adventure.  Mark and I took off after work yesterday into rain and truly some heinous traffic to Puyallup.  It was only tolerable as we were able to do the HOV lanes, but I am amazed at the misery of the traffic and here it was only a boring Thursday.  You would have thought it was the opening of the Western Washington Fair or something.  Meet the Wilcoxes, load up the car with our frozen portions, and back to Maia's house we went.
     The divvying-up was a flurry of counting out how many packages of ribs, burger and flank steak we had, and making a fair distribution of it all.  That was quite the cathartic event to it all.
     And today, today, the decision was not whether to have beef for dinner.  Oh no.  It was what cut to have first.  I considered using a 'lesser' cut, such as the stew meat, or burger.  At last I decided that I was essentially testing the waters here, and would want to be impressed, right?  Would bottom round be the most impressive option?  NO!  So Bryce and I had a T-bone steak.  Simple preparation, just salt and pepper, oven grilled as I didn't feel like dealing with darkness.  But my oh my.  It was excellent.  We have not gone wrong here.  The beef was well marbled, the fat on the edges was creamy yellow, the flavor was just what I had imagined.  That was the first T-bone steak I have ever had, my friends, and I was not disappointed.  I look forward to many other terrific meals.

Divvying-up the spoils