Lizzie's Kitchen Adventures and Friends

Yesterday I made beef stew. I followed the basics of this recipe
https://sugarspunrun.com/cozy-beef-stew-recipe/
But I had some variations. As with every soup (and most sauces), I started with a mire poix: diced carrots, celery and onions--about a half cup of each. She starts with only onions, but mire poix adds additional depth to any soup and is a standard in all French recipes.

Also, I cut back on the carrots she later puts in her stew and instead used about half of an acorn squash, cut into one-inch chunks. I also cut back slightly on the potatoes, thinking the squash was a reasonable substitute.

I also made some seasoning additions. These are from an old 1950s "Swedish pot roast" recipe from my mother's Presto Pressure Cooker cookbook. As nearly as I can tell, the "Swedish" in the recipe is there for marketing purposes only and has nothing to do with Swedish cuisine. In any case, these additions add some unusual seasonings to the mix.

For example, Sam starts by coating the beef chunks with a flour/salt/pepper mix, to which I added a TBSP of cinnamon, a TBSP of garlic powder, and a TSP of cardamom.

Another seasoning addition was a quarter cup of brown sugar, added with beef stock (I used stock instead of broth, again for a deeper flavor profile). This, too, is from that "Swedish pot roast" of 50s fame. A quarter cup is barely noticeble in the final mix of flavors, but it's definitely there. The overall result of these seasoning additions is a unique and savory flavor profile.

Oh, and I added an extra garlic clove, which I minced using

(I don't see how anyone can get along without this!)

There's also this little tool for dusting the flour into the mire poix mixture:

It essentially sifts about a TBSP of flour and thus avoids clumps when making gravies and soups. It's also great for dusting pie shells, or for dusting powdered sugar onto cakes and pastries. Another handy tool.

I cooked the whole thing in my casserole pan instead of a "Dutch oven."



Max Griffin
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https://new.MaxGriffin.net

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