Anticipating Autumn

To be brief:

Scored some sweeeeet beeeets at the Madrona farmer's market last Friday. I love beets. Jeff also grew a bunch in his folks' garden. So we had an absolutely beautiful assortment.

 My friend Meredith showed me how to cook them this way last summer, and upon feeding them to my mother, I discovered that this was also my grandmother's favorite method.

The Beets
2 or 3 bunches of beets, peeled and sliced and halved (half moonish?) thrown in a saucepan and covered with orange juice, any vinegar but balsamic and a couple good squeezes of honey. If you don't have honey use sugar. A little shallot would be good in there too. Cook on medium low to medium heat until cooked to your liking...I prefer a little bite to them.

The same night I completely winged a beef stew (after seeing Julie/Julia I was craving it) and used up the various items in my fridge to make stuffing (which is technically called dressing when you don't stuff it into something).

Beef Stew
Brown up 3 slices of chopped bacon in a large pot. Ladle it out onto some paper towels, and brown up 2 lbs. chopped and well seasoned chuck roast in the bacon fat...YUM. Add a 1 large quartered onion, 4 chopped carrots and 4 sliced stalks of celery and about 3 cups quartered potatoes (again think ping pong ball size). You don't want the veggies too small because it's going to cook for a bit. Now the fun. Add a bottle of decent red wine and the bacon. And another bottle should now be opened for your enjoyment as the stew cooks. At the same time, add 2 cartons of beef stock, a handful of fresh parsley, thyme, any herbs you like really. And a little tomato paste is good too. Stick the pot on low and leave it alone for about an hour and half...or until the meat is tender. It will be super chewy if you try it too early so just be patient. Also if you like a thicker stew like I do, take a couple scoops out of the pot and puree it. You will literally have "meat shake" in your blender, but it's really for the best, I promise. This makes a LOT of stew, so have friends over or eat it for lunch all week!

Stuffing
Cubed stale bread, celery, onion, carrot, chestnuts (from Culinary Collective), sage, parsley, thyme, garlic, 2 cups veggie stock beaten in with 2 eggs (if you don't beat the eggs, you will have strata, bleck).  Toss it all together in a casserole and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes. It it's browning up too quickly, foil tent it.  Happy Thanksgiving... Happy Leftovers.