Since I had not been cooking so much, I had several food items around the kitchen that needed to be eaten quite soon, and when that is the case, it's always a good idea to make stew. So a stew is what I made and what a stew it was. As I said before, I love dishes that cook in one pot, and I was very happy, nay extremely happy, with the dish, as was the wife who mentioned the stew's flavorfulness as soon as I arrived home last night.
But what was it that made this stew the best stew I have made thus far? I used a lot of onions, like a mountain of onions, which I sauted in a mixture of chimichurri and straight olive oil. Several stalks of celery, and about eight potatoes that were growing eyes, as my Gram might have called the roots that begin if you allow them. Carrots. Garlic. Salt and Pepper. A container of cremini mushrooms that I sliced into the dutch oven. I also used a quart of tomato sauce that I had frozen awhile back. To that, I added a quart of low-so chicken broth, and two more cans of diced tomatoes, no salt added. Perhaps it was the beef, which Ma White sent to me from a little butcher shop in Asheboro that sells very good quality products. Maybe so. But the kicker, I think, was the addition of my newest Penzey's: Balti Seasoning (Thanks for the rec, KB. I really like it.) It is quite good and contains a huge mixture of spices, some of which are completely unfamiliar to this old boy. A tablespoon more of that marjoram that fit this dish much better since it mellows the longer it cooks, and that was it.
I ate a bowl, and then I ate another little bowl. Very good eating with just a little more Salt and several twists of the Pepper mill. I just ate another bowl, and the stew has developed its flavor even more after sitting overnight in the fridge. I am pretty sure the remainder will be gone by tomorrow.
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