The reason I try to double my recipe amount whenever I can was reinforced tonight. I was able to pull together a good dinner with things I had frozen and other items already in the refrigerator.
The beef stew recipe I used consisted mostly of beef chunks, well trimmed, a few vegetables, herbs and spices and beef stock and red wine.
After the beef chunks were browned on all sides in oil, I browned the vegetables and combined all of it to simmer in the oven for a couple of hours until the beef was fork tender and a rich gravy was formed.
Classic Beef Stew
Since I usually keep several homemade salad dressings in the refrigerator, it was simple to find the Caesar Salad Dressing and bring that to room temperature. Croutons are always ready in the freezer since I make them from left over bread that I have diced, sautéed in butter and oil and seasoned.
Caesar Salad
There was a stalk of Pan d’Epi, wheat stalk bread, from the “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes” book that I’ve used before, in the freezer so I defrosted that.
Red wine and Beef Stew just go together. But we had some of that Wal-Mart wine; Oak Leaf Vineyards Merlot opened and just drank that. As I said before, for the price (cheap) this is a fine wine to have everyday when you don’t want to pay $10 and above.
Oak Leaf Vineyards Merlot
The stew was rich and meaty, complemented by the same Merlot that I cooked it with. Crisp, deep green Romaine provided a cool, cheesy accompaniment and the bread was heated in the oven and served with an Italian Olive Oil and some chopped fresh garlic.
Italian Olive Oil for the bread
Fall in Vegas means cool evenings—perfect for warming meals like beef stew.
Ready to eat
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