This week's recipe that I am going to try from my family recipe book is from my Aunt Carol. She is my mom's sister and a fellow Kindergarten teacher! She lives in Northern California with her husband Allen. She wrote that this recipe for Wine Country Beef Stew with Fennel and Dried Cherries is from the chef at Alderbrook Winery. Fancy!
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| Aunt Carol's submission to my recipe book. It is extra special because it is handwritten. |
Ingredients:
2lb lean stew meat in 1'' chunks (I had chuck roast in the freezer that I used. It was not the greatest.)
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 c. seasoned flour (salt & pepper)
2 T. brandy (I used apricot flavored.)
1 Fennel bulb, diced (I subbed in celery because I couldn't locate fennel bulb.)
2 yellow onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 med. carrots, peeled and sliced
10 small red potatoes, cut in half
3/4 c. cabernet sauvignon
3/4 c. beef stock
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes & juice (I used diced. Same thing, right?)
1/2 c. dried cherries (I was a bit more liberal with these, I dumped the rest of a bag that I had in the pantry. Maybe a whole cup?)
1 T. tomato paste
1/2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. dried rosemary
1 bay leaf (since I had to pans, I put one leaf in each pan.)
1/2 t. fennel seeds
Instructions:
Toss meat cubes in seasoned flour. Brown in small batches in hot olive oil in skillet. Transfer to large (It will not fit in a 9x13 baking dish, I had to use 2. I cooked them both, but then froze one.) cooking pot. Douse all meat in brandy. (FUN!)
In hot skillet, cook onions and garlic for 3 min or till soft. Then add to pot. Add fennel (or celery in my case) and carrots to hot skillet. Cook 3-5 minutes. Then add to pot.
Add potatoes, wine, tomatoes, dried cherries, tomato paste, and all the seasonings and herbs to the pot.
Either cook on stove top or bake in oven 325 for 2 1/2 hours. Occasionally stir and add more liquid as needed.
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| Meat cubes browned and onions/garlic done, now cooking carrots and celery. |
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| My little helper was not super excited. |
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| Mix it all up! |
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| In the oven. I had to use 2 pans! |
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My mess.
No one ever shows this part in their blogs. I feel like recipes should also have some sort of mess rating. On a scale of 1 to 10, how messy does your kitchen get making this recipe? I give this one a 5. |
Overall it was good, but the time and emotional toll it took to make this recipe wasn't good. While I was cooking, Silas was screaming for 50% of the hour or so it took me to get everything cooked and in the oven. Dean was upset that I couldn't cater to his every snack and tv need during this time. He did a spite poop in his underwear that I had to clean up. To date it is the only poop accident he has had in his underwear. Coincidence? I think not.
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Ready to eat!
We had some delicious chunky French bread from the Kroger that was a perfect side. |
It was quite an adventure compiling all the ingredients. It took me about half an hour wandering around Walmart with a sleeping baby attached to my chest to realize that we not live in a dry county. No matter how hard I looked, I was NOT going to find any wine or brandy or sale! Patrick and I ended up stopping at a liquor store on our way home from our date in Little Rock to get the cabernet sauvignon and the apricot brandy (I bought apricot flavored because I can use that in another recipe that I love). The other difficult ingredient to obtain was fennel bulb. Neither Walmart, Kroger, nor the local health foods store carried it. It wasn't until after I had already made the recipe did I stumble upon some fennel bulb at Harps, a regional employee owned grocery store chain. Now I know for next time and there will definitely be a next time! The stew was good and I know with a bit more practice (and better ingredients) it will be GREAT!
