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Last week my cousin came over for dinner. Normally I cook some kind of pasta, but I was pretty sick of spaghetti so I decided to try my hand at braising, which ended up being a stew. I was surprised at the result since it came out to be pretty tasty; although quite tangy. I’ll explain later. Braising is a method of cooking meat so that it ends up extremely tender, with the added bonus of absorbing the flavor of whatever liquid it’s surrounded in. You can do this two ways: by covering the mixture of meat, liquid and vegetables with a lid and cooking under a low-medium heat in your skillet or pot, or by sealing the mixture in aluminum foil and baking it in an oven. I’ve used both methods and they both work pretty well. Onto the recipe! Ingredients 3 lbs. beef tenderloin, cubed 5 small un/peeled red potatoes, quartered 12 white mushrooms, halved Half of a large cucumber, sliced 5 cloves of garlic, whole or crushed 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup organic whole milk 2 cans Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup 1/4 cup drinking water 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce Combination of dried basil, pepper, salt, and dried parsley First, brown the veggies in your skillet with some olive oil and then dump into a heated large pot on medium heat, but not to the point where you sweat the mushrooms. Proceed to brown the beef with some olive oil, adding salt and pepper if desired. Combine the beef with the vegetables and stir, increase to high heat, then add the vinegar, Worcestershire, water, garlic and spices, then lid the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and let sit for about 20 - 25 minutes. Do not disturb. After the wait, your vegetable-beef mixture should be about fork tender. Add the two cans of soup along with the milk and stir thoroughly. Bring the heat up to medium-high and let the mixture reduce for about 15 - 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can reduce it to the level of thickness you want the stew to be; longer reduction time means thicker stew. If it gets too thick, add some water or milk. Do not lid the pot during reduction. Remember to taste test! This should produce about four servings. Now keep in mind that this was the first stew I made. I improvised a compound of some really flavor heavy stuff (balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire!) so it ended up having a really tangy, heavy flavor. It was tasty, but I couldn’t go for seconds. I’ll definitely be making more complex stews from now on, but if you’re planning on using this recipe, you can definitely do with just a quarter cup of balsamic and replace it with some water. Happy cooking! (: —JT Zoom

Last week my cousin came over for dinner. Normally I cook some kind of pasta, but I was pretty sick of spaghetti so I decided to try my hand at braising, which ended up being a stew. I was surprised at the result since it came out to be pretty tasty; although quite tangy. I’ll explain later.

Braising is a method of cooking meat so that it ends up extremely tender, with the added bonus of absorbing the flavor of whatever liquid it’s surrounded in. You can do this two ways: by covering the mixture of meat, liquid and vegetables with a lid and cooking under a low-medium heat in your skillet or pot, or by sealing the mixture in aluminum foil and baking it in an oven. I’ve used both methods and they both work pretty well. Onto the recipe!

    Ingredients
  • 3 lbs. beef tenderloin, cubed
  • 5 small un/peeled red potatoes, quartered
  • 12 white mushrooms, halved
  • Half of a large cucumber, sliced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, whole or crushed
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup organic whole milk
  • 2 cans Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/4 cup drinking water
  • 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • Combination of dried basil, pepper, salt, and dried parsley

First, brown the veggies in your skillet with some olive oil and then dump into a heated large pot on medium heat, but not to the point where you sweat the mushrooms. Proceed to brown the beef with some olive oil, adding salt and pepper if desired. Combine the beef with the vegetables and stir, increase to high heat, then add the vinegar, Worcestershire, water, garlic and spices, then lid the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and let sit for about 20 - 25 minutes. Do not disturb.

After the wait, your vegetable-beef mixture should be about fork tender. Add the two cans of soup along with the milk and stir thoroughly. Bring the heat up to medium-high and let the mixture reduce for about 15 - 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can reduce it to the level of thickness you want the stew to be; longer reduction time means thicker stew. If it gets too thick, add some water or milk. Do not lid the pot during reduction. Remember to taste test! This should produce about four servings.

Now keep in mind that this was the first stew I made. I improvised a compound of some really flavor heavy stuff (balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire!) so it ended up having a really tangy, heavy flavor. It was tasty, but I couldn’t go for seconds. I’ll definitely be making more complex stews from now on, but if you’re planning on using this recipe, you can definitely do with just a quarter cup of balsamic and replace it with some water.

Happy cooking! (:

—JT


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