Saturday, March 28, 2009

Stew Update


I have been  remiss in my stew making. We were in Portland for about 11 days and then right after returning home, my father-in-law passed. I wanted to do Ina Garten's "Parker's Stew" in her barefoot contessta "Back to Basics" cookbook before doing a finale.

She marinates the meat overnight in red wine, garlic, and bay leaves. My marinade ended up going for two days, so it might taste a bit different. One of my friends came up to spend the night, so she had Ina's stew and really liked it. I thought it could use some more veggies, so the end stew recipe will probably have more than potatoes and carrots. But it was really good. She bakes her stew, instead of stove-top. She also throws in a fresh rosemary branch, which adds lots of flavor. The meat was very tender and the flavor was wonderful. I think the bacon added a nice touch, but she browned her meat and the onions in the bacon grease, which tastes great but adds saturated fat to the dish. 

I wish I had a picture, but my husband borrowed my pocket camera to take with him to take Flat Stanley pictures. More about Flat Stanley later.

So now it's time to use your ideas for the perfect stew, and you had some wonderful ones, use my own, and incorporate a few of Ina's. Final stew recipe coming soon!

5 comments:

Kathy's Klothesline said...

MMMMMMM..... A nice big pot of stew I could use some comfort food about now. Think I'll go stir up a pot of something or other myself!

L'Adelaide said...

i have been thinking of buying her latest book but find it so expensive and wonder if it is a re-hash of her others, which i have....I've been watching her show, however, and there are some good things, as always....as for saturated fat, my sense about ina is she doesn't think about it, lol!

a good stew sounds so delicious!

that was a beautiful post about your father in law....what a wonderful way to pass ....

blessings...

Lori ann said...

I love stew and yours sounds delicious. I can't wait to see your final recipe.

TheChicGeek said...

Hey, I hope you are doing well. I was very sorry to hear about your father-in-law's passing. You wrote a wonderful tribute.
I LOVE Ina's recipes. I've never made one that wasn't delicious. I make soups all the time. They're actually incredibally easy to make and healthy and delicious! Yummy!
Enjoy your weekend!

Reya Mellicker said...

OMG that sounds so delicious. I love Ina's way of cooking, her easy manner and unpretentiousness.

And I love stews of all kinds.

More than anything though I love the first line of your post. What a jewel!

Happy Sunday.