Beef Stew

Every time I make something I've never made before (especially if it's a food I'm not used to eating, never mind cooking), I'm incredibly worried it won't come out perfectly, but somehow I manage it (most of the time).
All the recipes for beef stew I looked up needed red wine or tomatoes/tomato paste, both of which I did not have. Being underage I couldn't just go buy some wine, but I don't recall my parents ever making their beef stew with wine anyway. They weren't big wine drinkers. So I adapted this recipe to fit what I had in the kitchen, as usual. I unfortunately had no bay leaves so I used a bunch of fresh sage leaves as a substitute, though I would recommend the bay leaves if you have them.

• 1 eye round roast, cut into 1″ chunks
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or 2 Tbsp pre-chopped garlic)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp thyme
• 2 1/2 cups of beef broth
• 3 Tbsp tomato sauce
• 4 potatoes, diced

First, brown the meat. Coat the chunks of roast in the flour, and heat the olive oil in the bottom of a large pan. You might have to brown the chunks in batches, because you don't want to overcrowd the pot. After all of the meat is browned, remove it and set it aside. You’ll be left with a lot of gunk on the bottom of your pan. That's what makes the stew taste so good.
Add the carrots/celery/onion/garlic on top of this, along with the bay leaf, thyme, and a pinch of salt. When the onions are transparent, add your meat back to the pot along with your broth and tomato sauce.
Use a wooden spatula or whisk and scrape the bottom of the pan to release all of the brown bits.
Cover, and cook on medium/low for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally (and gently scraping the bottom to make sure nothing burns). After the hour has gone by, add the potatoes, and cook for an additional 35 mins.

Baked Potato Eggs

When there’s nothing to make for dinner in the house, I come up with some weird concoctions. I looked at the eggs and mozzarella cheese in the fridge and instantly wanted to make baked eggs of some sort. I had read a lot of recipes about putting the baked eggs in bread bowls, and I saw a recipe once with eggs in a potato bowl, so I looked at our sad potato supply and figured — why not?
As delicious as this was, I think it would have tasted a lot better with some basil. And sour cream. But we had none of either. Maybe next time.


Baked Potato Eggs

• 2 large potatoes (russett works best)
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 strips bacon, cooked and diced
• 2 Tbsp. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tomato, diced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, bake your potatoes. If you’re doing this in the oven, preheat it to 350 F. Wash and dry your potatoes first, then poke some holes around them with a fork. I always coat my potatoes with salt and butter (or oil). Then bake them in the oven for 1 hour, or until the skin is crisp and when you poke a fork through them it comes out without resisting, it’s done.

Or you can microwave them: wash and prepare the potatoes the same way, but instead, throw them in the microwave for 5-8 minutes.

Once you have your baked potato, lay the potato on its side, and use a knife to carefully cut off the top third of the potato. With a spoon, hollow out the middle of the potato to make a “bowl”, leaving it as thick or thin as you’d like. Place 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the middle of the bowl. Then gently break an egg into each bowl, careful not to break the yolk. Top with bacon, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and then season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until the egg whites are set. Serve immediately.