Tuck into stew before you tuck into sofa

Posted at 3:35 PM Dec 11, 2008

By Andrea Grimes

Is it finally winter in Texas? Seems so. After weeks of "fall" days with temperatures near 80 degrees, I was sure that we Southerners were going to be bearing the brunt of global warming by getting our Christmas celebration tips from the Aussies. Santa in Bermuda shorts? Que sera, sera.

Here in Austin, the low tonight will be near freezing, which is as good a reason as any to put on a nice pot of stew. I don't mean Campbell's, I mean real, beefy, hearty stew. Stew with soul. Stew with gusto. Stew with chutzpah. Who makes such stew? Ina Garten does, and you can all thank the Food Network for airing her Barefoot Contessa beef stew-pisode and inspiring this post.

The last time I made stew was this summer, and I'm (not that) embarrassed to tell you that the pot holding the leftovers was still in the bottom of my fridge, under some homemade salsa and a wedge of Manchego. See, I have a food storage problem. I forget about things, and then, after far too much time has gone by, I remember about them. And then I visualize them, and I get scared and forget again, and the problem feeds on itself. I don't want to go into too much graphic detail before I encourage you to whip up a bowl of something tasty, but let's just say that this Le Creuset's contents could have passed for a Chia Pet.

TMI? Just be glad I'm not telling you how long it's been since I got laid or how I prefer my personal landscaping. One garden hose, a messy parking lot and a round of thorough boiling later, this messy Doll is ready for her first stew of the season.

Ina Garten marinates her beef in red wine (not a euphemism!) and uses rosemary and bay leaves for seasoning--I tend to just throw in whatever fresh holiday herb sprigs are on sale at the grocer's. But my favorite part is her use of sun-dried tomatoes, which bring in a nice tartness to the dish. It cooks in the oven for a couple of hours and comes out smelling just like winter.

You've got plenty of time to hit the store on the way home and have a late dinner on. Won't you join me? Success and disaster stories welcome. I'll be uploading a picture of my stewy goodness when it's still steaming.