Italian Beef Stew

Let me start off with an apology.  I am going to do my best to make my posts easy to read and more importantly easy to follow in the kitchen, but if you know me you know first hand what un-medicated ADD looks like.  I am also going to do my best to take pictures as I go, but for this first recipe I only have a finished picture.

I was hanging with my friend Audrey (who is an amazing cook-I'm sure you will hear her name often) when she was preparing this dish.  It should be said that hers was Italian Beef Soup.  You will learn that I base my creations off of recipes, but rarely do I follow them.  Sometimes this is disastrous, but usually it works to my benefit!  Cooking is like painting to me.  I love it.  I love the planning, picking and the process.  I really love sharing it.  Cooking for people is what cooking is about.

I hope that you are able to try some of this stuff to share with those you love.  I would really love if you would let me know how it works out for you!!

Let's get this going...

You will need:

From the store
-beef.  I recommend getting a roast and asking the butcher to cut it into stew pieces.  It's more tender.
-onion (I used 2)
-fresh garlic (I used 3 cloves)
-RED WINE
-chicken broth (in the box)
-can tomatoes (I used 4 small cans...it tasted great, but was almost too much for the pot)
-carrots
-celery
-red potatoes
-portobello mushroom
-Polenta

From the kitchen
-Italian seasoning (I have and love the McCormick blend that you grind as needed)
-Salt and Pepper
-capers
-oregeno
-olive oil
-block Parmesan cheese

OKAY.
Before you start I would open the wine and pour a glass.  Then, chop your onions, garlic, and veggies.  I didn't cut my carrots-I had the mini ones in the fridge and they worked great.  I also had portobello slices.

You want to flour and salt and pepper the meat really good.  I put flour in a baggie and then added the meat.  It was a mistake because I had too much flour and it caused trouble a little later on.  I would recommend putting the meat in the bag and then adding flour and salt and pepper.  I don't wanna scare you, because I think the extra flour made the stew so good, but when I was browning the meat it scalded the pot...which added an extra 20 minutes because I had to scrape the black tar out...

So, now that your have floured your meat you need to pour olive oil in the pot and turn the eye up on like medium high...you wanna get your oil hot, hot, HOT!!  Cross your fingers and drop that meat in.  Flip it around and DON'T walk away.  You don't want to cook the meat...just barely brown the outside.  Let me tell you I was freaking out because of the extra flour that was burning, so I took my meat out before it was browned on every side and my meat wasn't raw when the stew finished.

After you brown your meat you want to remove it from the pot and turn the eye down on low.  This is when I had to scrape the pot...I talked to Audrey and ideally you will have some goo to scrape and keep with the meat...but mine was scorched, so I had to chunk it.  I'm guessing that if there isn't any oil left you should add a little more and then add the onions.  Sautee them about halfway and then add the garlic. Continue cooking over low heat until the onions are translucent.

Now for the real fun...  add the browned meat to the onion and garlic.  Then, you want to pour wine over it.  I used about a third of a bottle.  I immediately thought I was gonna fail.  It looked like purple mush.  I got my wooden spoon out and just sort of stirred it around.  I would guess this went on for about 20 minutes...until the wine cooked off.  The rest of the bottle is fair game now.

Decide how many servings of polenta you are going to make.  I did a serving and a half.  It was more than enough for 5 of us.  So, for my 1.5 cups of polenta I was supposed to use 4.5 cups of water.  I poured out a cup of broth from my box and set it aside.

When the wine cooks off add the celery, tomatoes, and broth.  I cooked this long enough for the tomato/acid flavor to cook off.  And to drink a glassish of wine.  I added the carrots and potatoes during that time.  I'd say 35ish minutes after adding the broth.  The last thing I ordered was the mushrooms.  Let it cook until the veggies start to get soft, but aren't mushy.

Remove from the eye and cover with a lid and let it sit for an hour.  After about 45 minutes take the broth that you set aside and add the right amount of water to it.  Bring to a boil and add the polenta.  You wanna stand over it and stir for about 5 minutes.  Then take off of the heat and cover and let sit for a few minutes.  Take the Parmesan block and grate over the polenta in the pot.  I overdue the cheese, but honestly I don't think you can overdue it.Mash and stir your cheese around in your polenta.

Now you wanna get your bowls out and put a scoop of polenta in each one and then cover with stew.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!