Day 117: Provencal beef stew

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I spent part of yesterday evening making a recipe for tonight’s dinner. The reason being was that the recipe said it would take 2¼ hours to make but that wouldn’t work out well if I started when I got home from work as it would probably be after 8 o’clock when I’d have the dinner ready by which time I’m usually putting the babies down to bed. It would be just too much of a rush so I decided to make it the day before, store it in the fridge and then bung it into the oven for heating up today. This Challenge certainly requires a certain level of logistical planning, that’s for sure. Oh, by the way, the recipe was Provençal beef stew.

I began by pouring olive oil into my large casserole dish and then put it on a medium-high heat. In went chopped onions and sliced garlic which I seasoned and fried for 8 minutes until they were golden. I then tipped in stewing beef which I fried until all the pieces had browned which took a few minutes. Next on the list was to add two tins of chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of caster sugar. Once it came up to the boil, on went the lid and into a preheated oven the dish went for an hour. After an hour, it was time to add in new potatoes. The potatoes were fairly big so I actually quartered them. I gave the mixture a stir, put the lid on again and into the oven it went again for another hour. I then took it out, let it cool and stored it in the fridge. This evening, I put it on to heat in the oven again and when it was ready, I stirred in rinsed capers and fresh thyme. I left out the olives which the recipe said to add as I know that Dear Husband really doesn’t like them.

 

The verdict…

Dear Husband’s verdict was 7 marks out of 10. He has told me on numerous occasions that he doesn’t like stewing beef but I did my usual and didn’t tell him that’s what was in the recipe. I’m not sure if he figured it out but I’m saying nothing as I froze a couple of portions for him to eat again so I don’t want to tempt fate at this stage.

Overall, this recipe was super easy to prepare. It probably took me a wee bit longer to prepare than 15 minutes but not much. It was probably a blessing that I did most of the work yesterday evening as, like most stews, this one probably tasted better today than what it would have yesterday. I’d definitely like this recipe to be on The List as it’s a one-pot which I love; however, I just hope that Dear Husband doesn’t twig about the meat. I’m just after looking at the recipe introduction and it actually says that this recipe can be made a day or two in advance and then reheated so there you go – vindication from Rachel herself that this is good to make the day before you actually need it. I can’t tell you how good it was though to come home from work and the only thing I had to do this evening in terms of dinner was to pop the dish in the oven and throw two things into it at the end. Now, if only I had the sense to do make tomorrow’s  dinner tonight. Ah well, it was good while it lasted…