Ben and I have always struggled with Sundays - the depression, the sloth, and, many times, the lingering hangover. Sunday is the perfect combination of regret for your wasted weekend and dread for the coming week. A sadly ticking clock.
But - a year or two ago we started Sunday Dinners. On Sunday night, we decided, we would cook, eat, and forget about how we would inevitably feel in the morning. We would relax and celebrate the freedom of the weekend until the minute we went to bed, filled with delicious comfort food.
Cooking is something that I’ve become increasingly interested in as I’ve gotten older. My mother, my aunts, and my grandmother are all accomplished southern cooks bursting with recipes that have been fine-tuned through the generations. And although I try to hold off on the gravy during the week, Sunday is the day to break out the sausage, the flour, the beef, and the butter.
Even the most depressing act of Sunday night, making your Monday work lunch, is transformed into lovingly placing some leftovers in some Tupperware and whispering to yourself, “it’s always better the second day.”
Cooking is also very relaxing for me - a creative outlet that doesn’t, for a change, involve me weeping in front of a keyboard. I get to chop and grind and mix and I get a finished product in a few hours that doesn’t ever get workshopped. Just eaten.
In any case, I thought I’d share with you my recipes each week and see if I can’t start improving Sunday nights everywhere. I’d also love to hear about your favorite recipes. This week I made my mom’s beef stew (Ben made garlic bread and cleaned the kitchen afterward). It’s hard to screw up, cheap, and awesome for the first real week of fall. And - your apartment smells like stew all day (which I think has been proven to have the same effects as Prozac).
BEEF STEW
1.5 pounds beef
2 large potatoes
2 carrots
1 celery stock
1/3 cup of flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 capful Kitchen Bouquet (you can find this old school product in any grocery store, usually in the instant gravy section even though it’s more of a spice)
other veggies (whatever you feel like or have around - green beans, corn, peas)
spices (salt, pepper, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, garlic, whatever you feel like, fresh is always better)
Heat oil and garlic in a large Dutch oven or pot. Cut beef into bite-sized cubes. Dredge cubes in four, salt, and pepper. Add to pot along with chopped onions and finely chopped celery. When the beef is browned but not cooked through, add water until the beef is just covered (add more water if you like a thinner stew). Add the Kitchen Bouquet and spices. Cover and simmer for about an hour. Add diced potatoes, carrots, and any optional veggies. Cook on low for another hour or two - longer if you like it mushy and thick, shorter if you like the potatoes and carrots firm and completely intact. If you like your stew really, really thick, take your spoon and mash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot.
Serve with warm, buttery garlic bread made by your boo. Watch Sunday night football. Whatever you do, don’t check your work email or think about Monday morning.
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September 30, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Pingback from Sunday Dinner #2: Fresh Tomato, Basil and Spicy Sausage Pasta « BROOD
September 24, 2007 at 2:33 am
Jason Michael MacLeod
“don’t check your work email”
That is my downfall. Always.
September 24, 2007 at 4:56 am
bgraef
Hmmm…….
Know of any single women that have your attitude?. I could use some of that beef stew once in a while.
September 24, 2007 at 11:51 am
tochkopf
I will try it! =0)
September 24, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Nora Rocket
Yeah, you can watch Sunday night football with glee until you turn away for, oh, ten minutes and discover that the Curs’ed Dallas Cowboys have gone two scores up on your Belov’ed Bears (Belov’ed though @(&#)ing).
Ruined my evening.
September 24, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Amanda
This looks so good — and it is getting to be stew weather, so I’m all about it.
Do you want to contribute to my recipe blog? It’s updated infrequently, but was created as a forum for my friends to share their recipes (in their own words). Here it is: http://amandamn.typepad.com/suabb
September 24, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Adrienne
An approximation of one of my favorite comfort food recipes (which I am making tonight, incidentally):
The Easiest Potato Soup Ever (to be found in pretty much any cookbook)
3-5 potatoes (medium or large; I know nothing about starches)
3-5 leeks (bigger the better)
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 stick of butter (slightly more if you’re me)
1 cup heavy cream (I think this is the amount in one of those small cartons)
I usually start by making the chicken stock. Mine is nothing fancy, since I often get cravings for chicken broth & need to have a lot of those little cubes in my stores for winter. Boil 5 cups of water, mix in the stock cubes, & set aside.
Then chop the leeks. Most recipes will tell you to use only the white part, and I take this with a grain of salt, chopping up through the light green. Make them pretty small, but don’t knock yourself out. Melt the butter in a large soup pot, and then toss in the leeks. Sautee them on medium heat until they are tender but not brown (about 20 min.)
While the leeks are cooking (which smells really good, by the way), chop the potatoes. I usually cut them into thin circles, & then cut them into halves or quarters. The reasoning behind this (as opposed to, for example, cubes) is that the potatoes will sort of melt as they cook when they’re that thin. That way you have the option of pureeing the whole mess of it if you so desire. I personally leave it as-is, because I like have some potato chunks.
Once the leeks are tender, add the potatoes and the chicken stock. Simmer this mixture until the potatoes are soft (I don’t remember how long this takes. Probably in the 20-30 minute range as well). Then, add the cream (just pour it in), and salt & pepper to taste.
This is delicious, and can even be vegetarian. Alternately, you can fry some bacon in the beginning & sautee the leeks in a combination of bacon fat and some butter (because I really love butter). I think you can also add a bay leaf to the whole shebang without messing anything up.
September 24, 2007 at 4:40 pm
bpd
Heh heh heh heh heh.
Dutch oven.
I have a recipe for **cranberry** beef stew I could share that is just delightful. If you like cranberries.
April 11, 2008 at 12:36 am
Sueblimely
Going out somewhere with friends is just as much lot of fun, as coming to this website. Always has something to laugh at, a lot of things to share with each other, and it’s much easier to make friends here, than anyone would think! I come to this website when I have problems, and always leave it in a good mood. It really helps a lot!