Passionate Minutiae | Recipes for Disaster

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Recipes for Disaster

New cooking feature! Or rather I finally named it. I’ve decided I make so many befuddling mistakes while cooking (yet the food still turns out pretty good) that I should post it so that others can learn from my mistakes.

I made this recipe, and it was super goooooood. I will make it again in February.

Crockpot Beef Stew with Garlic, Olives and Capers.

Scene: Yesterday evening, in my kitchen.

4:30 PM I decide to start a crockpot recipe around 4:30 PM, cause it takes 2 hours to cook and I will be able to eat by 7 and have lots of leftovers for the week.

5:00 PM finally finish cutting up the beef chuck roast into stew pieces (NEVER AGAIN) start to brown the meat

5:30 PM put in the broth and simmer to reduce it. Later realized I reduced it way too much so I add additional water to the recipe.

5:45 PM realize that what I thought read 1 Clove of Garlic Sliced was actually 1 CUP of Garlic sliced. Realize I will have to run to the store for more garlic, and that dinner won’t be ready in time.

6:45 PM return from store, and also w/ dinner (chipotle - I had a gift card)

7:15 PM finally start cooking the stuff in the crockpot. Eat my own dinner.

8:00 PM decide to grill up some zucchini so it won’t go bad, and use my forman grill. (I was planning on roasting it in the oven, but broken oven). I’m making side dishes for my lunches.

8:15 PM realize that my forman grill is sloped and the zucchini is all sliding to the bottom. Fix it by putting two large coasters under one end so it is closer to flat.

9:15 PM Per the recipe, add 2 tbsp of tomato paste to the stew in the crockpot. Think it is done after that. NOPE. Reread the last line of the recipe ‘simmer for 2 hours after that’ Ooops. Forgot about that. Realize I’m not going to bed early.

9:15 - 10:15 PM be super productive.

10:15 - 1 (???) Watch Downton Abbey on tv (more on that in a different post), rewinding to watch the good parts, and then realize I cooked the food too long.

1 AM: taste the stew (SO GOOD!) and pack it all up for lunches, leftovers, etc. Clean crockpot

1:30 AM sleep, with the distinct smell of the stew all over my house.

Learning From My Mistakes: Always read the entire recipe. Assume that anything cooked in the Slow Cooker will be, well, SLOW. Which means more than 2 hours.

End Scene.

Yeah, I ate it for lunch today (SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!) and am now a bit concerned about THAT. MUCH. GARLIC. I brushed my teeth, but a little weird to realize I’ll be eating a cup of garlic over this weeks lunches. Also my house reeks of beef, olives, and garlic. Not bad, but sort of odd when I woke up this morning.

Tagged: recipes

Posted on January 9, 2012 with 3 notes
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