I love comfort food, and it’s been especially appropriate these last two weeks. Two blizzards in one week made me decide that I had a distinct craving for stew. Not just any stew. Beef stew. Good beef stew. So I yielded to the craving, and this time I outdid myself. Better yet, my secrets will be revealed.

Forgive me ahead of time for vague measurements. It’s how I cook unless I’m following a recipe. I made this in a 5.5 qt Dutch oven on the stove. It took about an hour and a half from prep to serve. A note about the steak. I gave up last year on stew meat. Gross. Steak became the new meat of choice, usually a nice lean top round. This time, I used some top round and some New York strip steak. Next time, it will be New York strip steak all the way. Trust me, if you can afford it, it’s worth every penny. For the stock, I used Swanson’s Beef Stock for Cooking (33% less sodium).

Steak Stew

1 to 1.25 pounds of steak, preferably New York strip
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 large potatoes, chopped into chunks
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, green beans)
beef stock to cover the ingredients in the pot (I needed around 40 oz)
5 tbs bouquet garni
ground pepper to taste
Several generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1/5 to 1/4 bottle of Lea and Perrins steak sauce
Cornstarch to thicken (needed a couple tablespoons)
Water to dissolve the cornstarch

1. Grill the steak (or brown it if grilling isn’t practical).
2. Combine all the ingredients in the pot and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer until the potatoes are tender.
4. Thicken with a mixture of cornstarch and water and then serve.

It occurs to me, as I contemplate my dinner options for tonight, that I really play fast and loose with recipes. Tonight was going to be macaroni and cheese and ham. This recipe has morphed considerably from the time it came into ours family. Twenty-eight years ago, when my mom was a newly minted cardiac nurse, she got the mother-of-all macaroni and cheese recipes from a patient. The secret to this recipe is that the sauce is based on a roux.

When I grew up and started cooking on my own, I started tweaking the recipe. I used the microwave to make the roux because I was hopeless at making it on the stove. Then I upsized the recipe to make a larger casserole. My mother had been adding ham for years, but I raised the stakes by adding broccoli. Unfortunately, my husband is not fond of this variation. (I will include the original and modified recipes at the bottom of the post.) Read the rest of this entry