Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Beef Daube Provencal, Part 1
Although she's a better cook than I am and a FAR better photographer, I'm absolutely inspired by The Pioneer Woman ( http://thepioneerwomancooks.com/) and her cooking and blogging ways. Her writing style is just delightful too. Yep, she's darn near perfect and I weep at ever being that good, but still, I'll try.
With a cool front coming in, The Boy and I decided it was time for stew. So I assembled ingredients last night and started in.
Sorry, canned diced tomatoes, didn't mean to leave you out. I'm rather ADD as a cook and it shows worst in my attempts at mise en place. Oh well. Here you are, next to your purpose...the recipe from Cooking Light. Yeah, I said "Cooking Light". Wanna make something of it? They have good recipes, they're not freaks about abstaining from butter or sugar and since I'm not working out all that much, I have to show restraint SOMEWHERE.
The recipe calls for 12 cloves of garlic. TWELVE. Yum. If I were a good food blogger (like, maybe The Pioneer Woman), I'd have taken pictures through the cooking process and show you step by step. I'm afraid, Dear Reader, that I trust you can look up the recipe and manage it on your own if you're so inclined. See, I trust you. That and I was trying to watch the Steelers game. Did you know that the Pittsburgh Steelers have more female fans than any other NFL team? True. Inside the NFL did a story on it. As it turned out, I didn't need to worry about Ben and the Boys.
Eventually, all the lovely ingredients are going to end up in a pot. This time, I didn't use the lovely blue pot, but the lovely white pot. The Boy bought this one for me too. We weren't even hitched at the time. He just knew that I wanted it and that I'd make him some good meals in this pot.
See, lovely, isn't it? I admit, it's much more lovely when it looks like this...
After cooking this for a few minutes, the house had an incredible aroma of love. Well, not of "Looooove", but the "hey someone loves you and is cooking for you" aroma that generally comes from cooking garlic and other aromatics (hence the name "aromatic"). This should be stewed in the oven, but I decided to finish it in the Crock Pot. When I get home today, it will smell like someone stayed home all day and cooked dinner for The Boy and I. Mostly because the Crock Pot did that very thing. If it ever gets out and gets a real job, we'll not eat as well.
This is what it looks like in the Crock Pot. Yes, I know the handle is a little dirty. You cook on the handle of anything? Didn't think so. I'll clean it tonight; I was running late this morning.
It doesn't look very "stew-y" does it? I was worried too. I checked on it and it had plenty of liquid once I gave it a stir. Just to be safe, I added another half cup or so of broth.
And thus, here ends Part 1. I'll have more pix tomorrow of the finished product and the bread The Boy has promised to make. He's made it for his 4 wheel drive buddies and his work guys and has promised to now make it for ME. (Us really...)
With a cool front coming in, The Boy and I decided it was time for stew. So I assembled ingredients last night and started in.
Sorry, canned diced tomatoes, didn't mean to leave you out. I'm rather ADD as a cook and it shows worst in my attempts at mise en place. Oh well. Here you are, next to your purpose...the recipe from Cooking Light. Yeah, I said "Cooking Light". Wanna make something of it? They have good recipes, they're not freaks about abstaining from butter or sugar and since I'm not working out all that much, I have to show restraint SOMEWHERE.
The recipe calls for 12 cloves of garlic. TWELVE. Yum. If I were a good food blogger (like, maybe The Pioneer Woman), I'd have taken pictures through the cooking process and show you step by step. I'm afraid, Dear Reader, that I trust you can look up the recipe and manage it on your own if you're so inclined. See, I trust you. That and I was trying to watch the Steelers game. Did you know that the Pittsburgh Steelers have more female fans than any other NFL team? True. Inside the NFL did a story on it. As it turned out, I didn't need to worry about Ben and the Boys.
Eventually, all the lovely ingredients are going to end up in a pot. This time, I didn't use the lovely blue pot, but the lovely white pot. The Boy bought this one for me too. We weren't even hitched at the time. He just knew that I wanted it and that I'd make him some good meals in this pot.
See, lovely, isn't it? I admit, it's much more lovely when it looks like this...
After cooking this for a few minutes, the house had an incredible aroma of love. Well, not of "Looooove", but the "hey someone loves you and is cooking for you" aroma that generally comes from cooking garlic and other aromatics (hence the name "aromatic"). This should be stewed in the oven, but I decided to finish it in the Crock Pot. When I get home today, it will smell like someone stayed home all day and cooked dinner for The Boy and I. Mostly because the Crock Pot did that very thing. If it ever gets out and gets a real job, we'll not eat as well.
This is what it looks like in the Crock Pot. Yes, I know the handle is a little dirty. You cook on the handle of anything? Didn't think so. I'll clean it tonight; I was running late this morning.
It doesn't look very "stew-y" does it? I was worried too. I checked on it and it had plenty of liquid once I gave it a stir. Just to be safe, I added another half cup or so of broth.
And thus, here ends Part 1. I'll have more pix tomorrow of the finished product and the bread The Boy has promised to make. He's made it for his 4 wheel drive buddies and his work guys and has promised to now make it for ME. (Us really...)
Labels: foodie stuff
