We love stew in this house. Some chunks of meat, a thick sauce and some veggies served over rice (and with dumplings if Bush Boy gets his way) makes this little family happy any dinnertime. Once you have learned to make a good stew the possibilities are endless. Tonight in the pot we have stew beef, carrots, onions, celery, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, flour, beef stock and red wine vinegar. Leave it to simmer on the stove for a couple of hours and we are good to go.
My favourite ‘special’ stew to make is Tagine, a Moroccan beef stew flavoured with cumin, coriander, orange and dates. Chicken stew is usually a red stew – tomato sauce and red wine with bone-in chicken thighs.
Working from home gives me the ability to make a stew any night of the week without much prep, and I know it will be greeted with cheers as my guys come home.
What is one of your family’s go-to meals?
Rocks, Waves, Beach 
mmmmm…. i love stew, and the three you mentioned sound divine! especially the moroccan one – oranges *and* dates – yum! do you have a recipe or is it just something you throw together?
our “go to” meal would probably have to be chicken fried rice. it’s quick, tasty, and best of all it’s my husband’s speciality so he is the one who makes it!
By: melissa on January 28, 2010
at 7:38 pm
Mmm, stew. I hail it too. Like you, I mostly work from home, so I can do long-cooking things too, something I greatly appreciate. Stews, soups, chili, lasagne, all the winter greats. The only problem is, with two teen boys, nothing lasts like it used to. Time was I could make a pan of lasagne and have leftovers for lunch for days. Not anymore. I’m not complaining, though–I have to admit I love to watch the boys gulp up my home cooking.
By: Amy on January 29, 2010
at 8:03 am
Yum. Most of my go-to meals are quick pasta dishes, but I love soups and stews. One of my easiest (and we love it) is to throw some stew meat into a large, tall casserole dish, some quartered potatoes, onions, and carrots. Mix together a can of condensed tomato soup and half a can of water with 2 TB vinegar some salt/pepper and a bay leaf…pour on top. Put in oven for 5 ish hours at 275. Don’t need to touch it and it is heavenly.
By: Rachel on January 29, 2010
at 9:23 am
Yum Kate! There’s nothing better than ‘comfort-food’ stew on a cold winters’ day. I can almost smell the wonderful flavours you’re stewing, mmm mm! I’d love to make stews, but don’t, cos DH isn’t a fan. :( I grew up enjoying my parent’s moose meat stews – delicious.
By: Kim aka treblemaker on January 29, 2010
at 10:50 am
Sounds delicious. I love stew too. It always takes me back to my days working at the Fort where we ate stew daily. I miss it…
By: Liz on January 30, 2010
at 6:27 pm