just one cook can spoil the broth

A classic of the French bistro menu. It’s the food your grandmere would make. Some recipes are very complicated, but if you strip it down to the essential elements, it’s manageable. 

I like Julia Child’s classic recipe, but wanted to streamline it. This is a very good adaptation. I used to make it without adding the mushrooms and pearl onions later, but I really does taste better with that extra step as it really layers the flavor.

Ingredients 

4- 5 lbs Beef Chuck cubed

1 bottle Red Wine, Pinot Noir is ideal. 

2 Tbsp Oil

1/3 lb Bacon, pancetta or pork belly.

1 Onion, sliced

2 cups Baby Carrots 

2 cloves Garlic, smashed

1 Shallot, sliced

Salt and Pepper 

2 Tbsp Flour

1 Tbsp Tomato Paste

2 tsp Thyme, dried. 

2 Bay leaf

1 1/2 cups Pearl Onions, peeled, left whole 

4 cups Mushrooms, left whole if small. 

Preparation:

Prep your meat and pour in your bottle of wine and allow to marinade 8 hours up to overnight. Drain the meat pat the meat dry, reserving the wine. 

Blanch the bacon or pork belly in simmering water for 15 minutes, drain, remove and pat dry. This is only really necessary if the bacon is smoked. Using pancetta will eliminate this step. 

Heat the oil and render down the bacon and remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.

Preheat oven to 325F. Salt and pepper the beef cubes and sear on all sides and remove from the pan and set aside. 

Add in the sliced onions, baby carrots, garlic, shallots and cook until slightly softened. Add in the flour and stir until incorporated and it takes on a slightly golden color. You want it to lose its rawness. 

Then add bay leaves, thyme, tomato paste and the retained red wine. Stir and incorporate and then add back the beef and bacon. Cook covered the oven, for 3 hours. 

After 3 hours sauté the mushrooms and pearl onions in a tablespoon of butter, until they begin to caramelize, then remove the beef from the oven and add them into the pot and continue cooking uncovered for another hour.

Serve with potatoes, French fries or noodles. 

He had me at dumpling

His definition of "low effort" and mine differ slightly, but as good as this looks? I'll exert!

Spoiler alert: it's butter beans, not tofu. That actually sold me.

Recipe here.

A powerful blender or a way to seive the output is a must.

Climate change is a bitch and summer is coming. If you don’t already have an air conditioner and/or fans, NOW is the time to get them.

THINGS YOU SHOULD BE SHOPPING FOR NOW:

—clothes made of cotton or linen

—air conditioner

—fans

—frozen meals that can be cooked in the microwave

—potable bottled water; you want five days’ worth per person and pet in your household

—bottled fruit juices; it does not matter if these are sugar-added because you’ll want the electrolytes

—electrolyte drinks

—electrolyte pills (you can get these online, I get mine from Amazon)

—popsicle molds to use with fruit and juice

—ice cube trays

—nonperishable salty snacks like peanuts

—one charger brick per adult in case of rolling blackouts or power outages; charge these at the beginning of May, and drain them via use once a month if they’re not needed

YOUR TO-DO LIST:

—check your home’s HVAC system if you didn’t do it at the beginning of winter. Make sure all the filters are clean and replace them if needed

—check the seals on your sinks and bathtub in case you have to run water to handle shortages

—make and freeze meals you can cook in the microwave or simply defrost. Remember to select light summer fare, not hearty winter soups and gravies

—purchase and freeze lunch meats and cheeses you can defrost and use this summer for sandwiches when it’s hot

—assemble your check-in list: elderly, pregnant, disabled, and immunocompromised friends and relatives who may struggle to get things they need when the heat wave hits. Have this list posted and ready to go through daily once the heat gets high. DON’T JUST ASSUME YOU WILL REMEMBER. WRITE IT ALL DOWN.

—create a list of emergency contacts in case of fire, heat stroke, and other heat-related emergencies. This should include your local version of 911 (I think in most of Europe it’s 112, but don’t rely on me as an American, LOOK IT UP NOW before you need it), your doctor’s phone number, and two emergency contacts. Keep it in a place where it can be easily found if someone needs to make these calls on your behalf.

—ask your doctor for an additional prescription for any medications you take, and fill it now. Extreme heat can cause disruptions in the supply chain. Make sure you cycle these meds; that’s to say, always use your oldest bottle first so you don’t end up with expired meds in an emergency.

—stock your first-aid kit. If you don’t have one, now is a good time to make one.

—if you own a car, get your yearly maintenance done now. You don’t want to be dealing with an inoperable vehicle if you need to evacuate.

Low heat and a long time; you really cannot speed that process up. Keep things moving in the pan to prevent bitterness from burning, throw on a podcast, and expect to be chained to the stove for about an hour. No shortcuts for good onions.

You CAN however freeze caramelized onions and they reheat well so you may as well just make an entire giant pan's worth and then portion them out for the freezer.

I store them in little aluminum foil envelopes (this is the same way I store leftover tomato paste - IDK why so many recipes with tomato paste call for half of an already very tiny can but it's easy to make a packet and throw it in the freezer).

You do this by laying out a sheet of aluminum foil, placing the onions in the middle of the sheet, folding the ends together over the onions, then folding the open edges closed (do this while pressing the air out and fold the edges over a few times to make a decent seal).

I'd say that it works best to do that with no more than one cup of onions per packet.

“(baked beans with beef and mushroom, chicken enchiladas, and maybe some kind of noodle soup)” Please please please post recipes for these

Neither really has a recipe at this point, per se, but I’m happy to share how I make them!