French-style Beef Stew





Sometimes it's fun to jump right into a semi-complicated recipe. Especially soup, because you know what the basics are and eventually everything gets tossed into liquid to soften anyway and it's hard to mess up. Other recipes, it's probably a good idea to 'put your stuff in place' first, then get cookin', just to stay in touch with the advised timing.

To be forced to quickly cut eight red potatoes while the meat is browning because the recipe called for eight red potatoes that should have been boiling in chicken stock five minutes ago is tough on a cook.

Other than a lot of country-style fresh ingredients, I assume what makes this stew French in name is mostly the Herbs de Provence, a common

seasoning mixture that consists of savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano and a small shred of lavender.  The stew is also supposed to be spooned over a bowl of haricot verts (fancy for

slender green beans) before serving.  What I liked about this stew is that it called for round steak meat not just stew meat, to be cut up into little quarter inch pieces, simmered into sautéed onions and white wine for…an hour and half!  Obviously the goal in this patient initial step is to create a tender and deeply tasteful stew meat.  After the meat has soaked up its essence, then it is time to add kalamata olives, capers, (another Mediterranean touch I suppose), tomatoes and carrots…those potatoes...all to soften for at least half an hour.  American-style beef stew is quick, straight-forward, and good; French-style is fresh, more complicated (olives and capers might not work everybody) and good.