Not a lot on my mind today – the usual morning routine but I did start a batch of stew for us to have over the weekend. I’ve been enjoying cooking quite a bit lately and have been trying some more “advanced” techniques lately. I’d like to get the kitchen to a state where I can have a pot going 24/7 for vegetable stock. I’ve also wanted to play around with bone broth as I have been reading that it can be quite beneficial on top of being tasty.
My stew recipe is pretty simple: meat, veggies, beef stock, and vegetable juice. This time I braised the veggies first, rather than just tossing them in the crockpot, to see how it turns out. An extra few steps and additional time, but I suspect that the extra effort will be worth it. I do cheat a bit when it comes to thickening it at the end – I don’t make a roux or use cornstarch, I use instant mashed potatoes. I found that it thickens everything up just right and doesn’t alter the taste.
Maybe I’ll start posting some of my recipes – though I guess that would mean I’d actually need to measure things instead of eyeballing things.