Look at me, cooking during the day! I actually get to take photos with sunlight. Notable for using the first bottle of red wine I’ve ever bought. Based on an NYTimes formulation.

Edit 11/23: see Thanksgiving post for legit beef stew.

Beef Stew (Edit 11/23: nullified)

• 1 lb stew beef, cubed. Coat in 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp pepper. Brown on all sides, Remove.
• 1 cup red wine, (2 tbsp red wine vinegar), to release scraps from pan.
• Replace beef. 2 bay leaves, 3.5 cups beef broth.
• Simmer covered for 2 hours. 40 min before end, add 1 onion, 5 carrots, 4 stalks celery. 30 min before end, add 2 potatoes.

This turned out wetter than anticipated. Thus, when I tried reducing it, it was much much starchier from the potatoes. Consider cutting back on wine and broth, and adding potatoes later to account for the cooking time from the de-skinning by boiling protocol.

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To offset the very heavy nature of the stew, I decided to make a light salad, and because I have canned chickpeas…

Chickpea Salad

• 1 can chickpea washed, 2 roma tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes), 1 cucumber seeded, 1/4 red onion, 2 tbsp parsley, 1/2 lemon of juice, drizzle olive oil. Cut. Combine.

I roasted the chickpeas with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp olive oil, in a skillet, 375 F, 45 minutes. Shouldn’t have. Oh well.