"beef stew" news and stories

A slow cooker is a great way to prepare beef stew, but sometimes you want dinner cooked fast. So use a pressure cooker, as KitchenDaily contributor Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez (who also happens to be a very busy mom) does in her beef stew recipe. In a little more than a half hour of cooking time, it's a meal. Gina serves her stew over silky egg noodles, but with the potatoes in the stew, you could also offer it as a solo act.

This time of the year, I look forward to a warm hearty dinner that's not too complicated. Winter stews are perfect for putting together some of your favorite ingredients and cooking them in water, and transforming them into a thick rich savory blend of meat and vegetables.

Lately, I've been cooking beef stews, in particular the French Beef Bourguignon. I first tried this dish when I was invited for dinner at my friend's house, in the suburbs of Paris. I was immediately struck by the incredible juiciness and tenderness of the beef. Beef Bourguignon is probably my favorite stew. The beef simmers in an assertive Burgundy for hours resulting in a mildly sweet succulent meat.

While I tend to make beef stews, there are several other kinds of stew to choose from when cooking, including many that are vegetarian. Below are 8 recipes for very different stews:

1. Martha Stewart's Indian Stew - It's perfect for thos vegetarians out there!
2. Beef Bourguigon
3. Kabset Baitenjan - This is an Iraqi-style beef and vegetable stew.
4. Braised Lamb Stew
5. Baby Root Vegetable Stew with Black Tea Prunes - This is another vegetarian stew.
6. Moroccan Chicken Stew with Sweet Potatoes
   
7. Georgian Pork Stew
8. Bahian Seafood Stew with Coconut and Tomato

• Beef stews from around the world.
• The world of offal.
• A close-up look at the grill of the Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown.
• The Plonk of the Month.
• Restaurant reviews: Isaac's on the Waterfront, Georgie Ds Place, and 65 Main and Dog Bar.
• This week's recipes: Chocolate Brownie Custards, Chocolate Souffle Cakes, New Year's Rice Cake, and Molten Chocolate Cakes.

A couple of Friday nights, I took a break from school work in order to make a big pot of beef stew. I needed to retreat to some deeply comforting food and in cold weather there's nothing like beef stew (at least in my mind) to warm you up. It had been awhile since I had made it and but it's one of those recipes that always comes back to me when I have the ingredients spread out in front of me.

You can adjust this recipe to your tastes. I used about a cup of red wine to deglaze the pan when the veggies have picked up all the caramelized brown bits that come from browning the meat, but if you can use a little water instead. I always use parsnips in mine, but if you find them objectionable, feel free to leave them out. Instructions on how to make my version of beef stew are after the jump.

The more I think about this idea, the more I like it: a line of food you can buy at the grocery store based on the food Aunt Bee used to make on The Andy Griffith Show.

Mayberry's Finest will include canned food like beef stew and mustard greens, and they''ll also have packaged cake/muffin mixes for buttermilk buscuits and lemon icebox muffins. The food is targeted to baby boomers (and younger people who really love the show, I assume) and each package will include pics of a certain character, script excerpts, and trivia.

Sounds like the ultimate comfort food for TV fans.