#we're gonna have the leftovers with my partner's parents tomorrow

[swordshapedsnacks]

Made a truly beautiful beef and veggie stew today! I feel very clever about the potato situation. I bought a bunch of German Butterballs, which are supposed to hold up well in a soup situation, and one masquerade potato, which is a very distinct purple and white variety that when boiled basically dissolves into starch. And when I cut them for the stew, my GBs were cut into big hearty bites while my masquerade was diced. It completely dissolved into the broth!

In addition to the meat and potatoes there was a yellow onion, carrots both orange and purple, parsnips, sweet peppers that aren't bells but I can't remember the name, cherry tomatoes, and a golden beet. And of course a bunch of fresh garlic, ginger, and dried herbs and spices.

I started by searing the beef before deglazing with some pinot noir. I prefer merlot to cook with as I like how fruity it is, but the store was out of the tiny bottles and I didn't want to have to buy a whole regular sized bottle for just the half a cup I needed to cook with. Neither my partner nor I are wine drinkers so it would just go to waste.

Anyway, once I got all the fond up, I added the beef back in with enough water to cover, 4 cups. And I let it go like that for a little over an hour, which is when I added the potatoes and onion, along with another cup of water, salt, smoked salt, and some paprika.

While that was going, I broiled the tomatoes and peppers to toast them a bit and deepen their flavor.

Let the stew simmer for about half an hour, then added the rest of the veggies, along with some freshly ground fennel seed, a couple of bay leaves, some Chinese five spice powder, and more salt. Gave it a last additional cup of water and another hour to simmer and it was done!

Pro tip! Both potatoes and beets will discolor if they are left exposed to air, so if they're not going directly into the pot the second you cut them, pop them in a bowl of cold salted water to prevent this!

I remembered we had bread when I got myself seconds! It's a baguette that is also from my farmers market and very good. It's made by a French guy who was so appalled by the state of bread in America he felt forced to make his own and then all his friends liked it so much he was, he claims, bullied into becoming a professional baker.