Other people's Guilty Pleasures, Guest Writer, Listening to your Grandmothers (and Music) while you cook

Thank you all so much for all the comments, both here and on Facebook! Keep sending in comments, recipes and requests! Today, I have something a bit different: a Guest Writer. Josh Sehn and I have been cooking together on and off for more than a year now. He sent in a couple of recipes I will be posting in the next little while and the first two are his Grandmother's beef stew and his own version of it. I love how flexible these recipes are and the food memories connected to them. Simply Delicious!

Josh Wrote:

As the weather continues to grow a little colder I look to start cooking warm up foods. These are the types of dishes that my Grandmother called comfort foods. I remember coming in from the cold days of my youth and being greeted by the smell of my Grand’s cooking. The thought still brings a smile to my face. One of my favourite of her “Go To” dinners was and still is beef stew. So here are two recipes to try out. The first is my Grand’s and the second is my take on Grand’s stew. Give them a shot and enjoy.

Grand’s Beef Stew

4-6 potatoes

2-3 carrots

2 onions

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 turnip

3 stalks of celery

1 1/2 pounds of stewing beef

4 tbsp flour

Salt and pepper

½ cup of frozen peas

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ gallon of water 

Method:

• Chop potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and turnip into fairly uniform chunks
• Put flour, a pinch of salt and pepper into a mixing bowl and dredge beef to coat. 
• Heat oil in a stock pot or dutch oven. Add beef and onions to brown over medium high heat. 
• Add garlic to the beef.
• Once the beef has turned golden add the carrots and 1/3 of the potatoes. (By the time that the stew is done cooking these spuds will have broken down and will have thickened it without adding more flour or cornstarch.)
• Add water and bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Add the rest of the chopped veggies.
• Season to taste and simmer until it has thickened, 25-30 minutes.
• Add the frozen peas and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

"Serve with rolls so you can mop up your bowl. Grand means it when she says clean up your plate."

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That is my Grand’s beef stew and it is awesome. That being said I have played with the recipe over the years and made it a little more of my own. I am also of the philosophy that food and music go hand in hand, so I recommend that you throw on some Billy Joel while giving this one a go. The Joel’s tunes seem to somehow fit the dish for some reason.

Beef Stew to the tune of “Only the Good Die Young”

1-2 onions

4 cloves minced garlic

1 ½ lbs stewing beef

5 strips of bacon cut into matchsticks

3 tbsp flour

3 carrots cut into chunks

4-6 potatoes cut into chunks

2 yams cut into chunks

½ cup frozen peas

½ cup of frozen corn

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

1 litre beef stock

½ litre water

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

1 bottle of dark “beer flavoured” beer. (No chocolate porters or raspberry lagers)

Method:

• Heat oil in the bottom of a stock pot. Dredge beef in flour salt and pepper. Add beef and bacon to the pot and let brown.
• Add onions, 1/3 of the potatoes and carrots to the mix, stir and then add the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Let cook for 5 minutes. Keep stirring.
• Add stock and water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes.
• Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and the beer. Cook until the vegetables are fork tender.
• Add frozen veggies and cook for another 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Fish out the bay leaves and the thyme sprigs. (They have done their work.)

Serve with sourdough bread for the same reason Grand served rolls. Enjoy.