Sunday Dinner

Sunday dinner is one of those things that is an intergral part of the Southern lifestyle.

I'm already a stickler for every evening meal being a fully set table with everyone in attendance,

candles lit, and music to match the cuisine.

But Sunday is even more special.

Last Sunday, Momma hit the kitchen, and I whipped up a family favorite:

Stew with Steamed Dumplings.

We're going to simultaneously make 2 batches, one with beef and one completely vegetarian. 

Thom eats no meat, and Savannah is trying to cut it out of her diet.

For Southern Beef Stew you will need:

1 1/2 pounds of stew meat, cubed to bite size

32 ounces of beef broth

2 cups of Marsala wine

2 cups of Cabernet Sauvignon (aside from whatever you're drinking)

1 package onion soup mix

1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning

1 tablespoon roasted garlic

1 sprig of fresh rosemary 6 to 8 inches long

3 onions coarsely diced

5 carrots cut bite sized

4 potatoes cut into small chunks

3 cups of peas

3 cups of corn

3 cups of sliced green beans

5 mushrooms, quartered

2 ribs of celery, chopped

Canola oil

1 cup of flour

I used a large roasting pan so I'd have a lot of real estate on top for dumplings. Spray your pot with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium high heat, drizzle in canola oil to just lubricate the bottom. Toss the meat with flour and Adobo in a bowl until well coated. Add it to the oil. Sautee until the beef begins to brown. You'll get some residue sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is a good thing, I assure you.

Add the onions and garlic and sautee for 5 more minutes, until the onions soften.

Now, pour the Marsala into the hot pot and scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot up, stirring as you go to thicken the base of your sauce. Pour in the beef broth, add the onion soup mix,

and allow this to simmer.

Next pot please. For Vegetarian Stew, you will need:

32 ounces of vegetable broth

2 cups of Marsala wine

2 cups of Cabernet Sauvignon

1 package onion soup mix

1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning

1 tablespoon roasted garlic

1 sprig of fresh rosemary 6 to 8 inches long

4 onions coarsely diced

3 carrots cut bite sized

3 potatoes cut into small chunks

2 cups of peas

2 cups of corn

2 cups of sliced green beans

Thom isn't a fan of mushrooms

2 ribs of celery, chopped

Canola oil

1 cup of flour

To make our base, we're going to give the onions the same flour and seasoning treatment the beef got and sautee until they begin to brown.

Add the garlic...

...and deglaze the pan with Marsala as before, scraping up the fond (little brown bits) from the bottom of the pan. See that gorgeous caramel base? 

Add the vegetable broth and onion soup mix and bring it back up to a simmer.

Now just add the rest of the ingredients to each pot.

 Put the lids on and go find something to do for an hour.

Dumplings
6 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoon salt
12 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon pepper

3 eggs, well beaten

9 tablespoons melted butter or other shortening 

Milk (about 2 cups)
Sift dry ingredients together. Add egg, melted shortening and enough milk to make a moist, stiff batter.

It will be a sticky dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It will not, however, be orange, unless of course you substitute circus peanuts for some of the flour. I have no clue what's up with this weird color. The dough was biscuit colored. I swear.

Remove the rosemary sprigs from both pots.

Drop the dough in little balls on the surface of the bubbling stew. 

Cover the pots and let it bubble for about 18 minutes, until the surface of the dumplings looks a little dry.

Um...

...YUM!

Dish it up! You don't need anything else to serve with it.

One pot each, minimal cleanup, easy, and OMG delicious! And that's a lot of veggie servings right there.

Shall I add insult to injury?

I made Chocolate Bread Pudding  for dessert.