Moomy and Her Growing Love for Cows

As I went about my daily morning routine today (setting the boys up with their breakfast snack, putting the kettle to boil, peeping through the blinds to see what the weather is like outside), I flipped the channels and the telly is playing an episode of Rachael vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off (Season 2).

I’ve always enjoyed watching cooking programs/competition like Chopped or MasterChef where adults from all walk of life compete against the clock to whip up a dish with a surprise ingredient.

But to see kids aged 8 to 13 years old do the same and grill lamb and what-not … that's just amazing! I don’t even cook like that!

Anyhoo, this morning’s episode was pretty interesting: the kids had to cook with an ingredient that they hate. It was funny to see them squirm when they announce what they loathe to eat – brussels sprouts, mushrooms, cucumbers, stinky cheese hehehehe

Now if you were to ask me a similar question: what ingredient do you fear? Ahhh … I am kinda picky with my food but if there is one thing that I’ve always feared handling, it would be RED MEAT.

I started messing about in the kitchen when I was a teenager. It was always something simple really – instant noodles, spaghetti, fried noodles – but I never handle red meat (be it beef, lamb or mutton). It was always chicken for me (boy, do I have a funny chicken story for you, but that will be another post, OK? I promise!!).

And of course, when I met and married my darling husband, I knew my I-don’t-handle-red-meat days are over.

My darling hubby doesn't just enjoy food; he enjoys cooking too. 

And I just love how he wears that apron! 

Hehehe right after we got married, he surprised me one day

by cooking dinner. He made good ol'

 American burgers - juicy, o so juicy and thick, meaty beefy patties. 

Thing was, he had used all 2.2lbs of ground beef

to make 4 thick patties for just me and him! *jaw dropped*

Hehehe nowadays, he made smaller patties.

I believe you call them sliders, here? :D 

Equally yummy, but a more manageable size! *winks*

I remember accompanying my dear mum to the wet market one day (back when I was still single) and she had to swing by the butcher stall for some beef. I swore the sight and smell were just overpowering and … ICKY!! If it wasn’t for the fruity body spray I had the foresight to spritz on myself, I knew I would have passed out.

A typical wet market in Singapore :D 

Don't get me wrong - the wet markets are washed down daily there

but I guess I am more of the modern girl

who prefers a dry & air-conditioned supermarket

when it comes to buying groceries hehehe

But I’m getting better now with red meat. We go to a wonderful butcher in Tigard for our meat and the shop does not smell!! The place looks and smells clean and you don’t see cows’ blood anywhere on the shop floor!

As if buying red meat wasn’t traumatic enough (OK, I am being a wee bit dramatic here hehehe), it’s the cooking of beef/lamb that is scary. I cooked it for my darling hubby once and it turned out tough as leather. I remember after that incident, I stuck to my moist-guaranteed chicken and fresh fish.

And when I do cook red meat, I would stick to fresh ground beef. I have always wanted to cook a good meat stew for my darling hubby. Between the fear of handling red meat and what-seem-to-be-complicated-ways of cooking a stew, I never got around to trying my hand at it until earlier this year.

Anyhoo! It was such a silly fear, really. I don’t cook red meat every day but at least now, I don’t squirm as much when I have to prep them for cooking. So allow me to share with you one of my new fave meat dish: American-style Beef Stew.

When we first moved into our current rental, I cooked

the stew the night before and then kept it in the

fridge overnight. It made a good welcoming meal for us

after a crazy day of moving boxes and furniture!

Here’s how I made mine:

I start off by mixing these in a big deep platter: a third of a cup of all-purpose flour, a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of freshly ground pepper.

Roll 2lbs worth of stewing beef (already cut into chunks) into the above flour mixture: coat the chunks and shake off the excess flour.

In a large pot (I use my pretty lemony-yellow pre-loved Dutch oven!), melt some butter and vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot and ready, add your floured beef chunks and brown them. You have to do this in batches because if you overcrowd the pot, you’re just going to steam the beef up instead of browning them. Set the meat aside once its ready.

Isn't that a pretty (but bloody heavy)

pot to cook with? *grins*

Brown those lovely red cubes of cow meat!

Now very gently, add 4 cups of boiling water and 1 cube of chicken bouillon (you can use beef bouillon cubes if you have it; I use what I have in my pantry) - the mixture will splatter because you did have hot oil in the pot. Stir the mixture carefully and work on those brown bits that you have at the bottom of the pot.

Scrape that off the pot as that makes

a good starter for your stew gravy!

Then to the watery mixture, add these: 1 diced-up whole onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, half a teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary (you can use dried thyme if you don’t have rosemary), 1 teaspoon of dried parsley and 2 bay leaves. Stir to combine.

This time round, I used fresh rosemary and thyme

as we are growing them in our lil garden!

I lurveeeee the smell of fresh rosemary! :D

Next, add those browned chunks of beef, including all the juices left in the bowl. Stir again and cover the pot. Let the beef simmer in all those goodness for 1 and a half hours.

The magical pot of simmering goodness!

 After it has simmered for about 1 & a half hours, 

the stew is ready for its veggies now :D

While waiting, you can prep the veggies to accompany the beef chunks: 4 whole carrots (skinned and cut into 1-inch chunks), 4 whole red potatoes (cleaned and cut into 1-inch cubes) and 4 stalks of celery (cut into 1-inch chunks). Add these veggies to the above pot at the 1.5-hr mark. Stir and cover and let the veggies cook for an additional 30-45 mins until they are fork-tender.

Now I like my stew slightly thick so dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in a good splash of water. Pour this into the pot and stir; the gravy should thicken up nicely. Taste and season accordingly, if necessary.

Nothing like a huge bowl of piping 

hot meat stew to warm up your bones on a cold day :D
The first time I made it, my darling hubby said it was
very very good :D His compliments made me a very happy bunny :D:D:D

We enjoyed ours best with warm, crusty French loaf!

You could have it with good ol' biscuits too! :D

And that’s my American-style Beef Stew, y’all! :D The above made enough to last us 2 dinners (for 2 adults) and a leftover lunch for 1 hungry Moomy! :D 

Toodles for now :D:D:D