Maggie is infusing the vodkawith kabocha and acorn squash for her cocktail and Esi just dropped off herfirst go at the pumpkin bread pudding with bourbon-vanilla sauce. And I havemade two, overly massive, rounds of the short-rib stew with mushroom andparsley dumplings. The second one pretty much nailed it. 

Save for the anxietydream in which I told the guests the wrong date resulting in no one showing up,I think everything is on course.

It seems things are goingwell in my universe. Things are stable. Work is picking up, I finally caught upon Sons of Anarchy and sleep, and an old, college friend, Frampy,stopped through town for a visit. That was nice. Mostly.

But let’s get back to thestew. And the dumplings. You see, I had never made dumplings before this wholeproject. I didn’t really know exactly what to expect. The recipe I used is fromThe Colony Club Cookbook: one of the dozen old school cookbooks I brought backfrom my recent trip to Richmond. The recipes in this – and many of thecookbooks from this place and time – are very archaic and very, very simple.They are made for people who were already familiar with the techniques andingredients that they require and also with how the end result should look,feel, smell, and taste. They are short and sweet.

But for someone like me, whois accustomed to SundaySuppers at Lucques, with recipesthat are pages long, these old school cookbooks are so simple that they becomecomplex.

For instance, with this stew (recipe originally from Gloria Brahany),after searing off the short ribs in their flour mixture, I am supposed tocombine four cups tomatoes, some garlic and a little Worcestershire, simmer forand hour and a half and pour over ribs. Fresh tomatoes? Canned tomatoes? This is my stock?  No red wine? No chicken or beef stock? The rest of the directions instruct me to add sliced carrot, onion, potato, and simmer forforty-five minutes. Well, that’s hardly enough time to get the veggies all softand smushy. Where’s the bay leaf? Where’s the thyme? Hell, where’s the salt andpepper?

Apparently the good folksusing this cookbook needed only some bare bones, a skeleton off of which theycould riff. And it’s true, a basic beef stew is not rocket science. But what’sthe point of a cookbook then, right?

So first off the lack ofanything except tomato that would create liquid bemused me.  But the tomatoes quickly became a viable stock, if a bit toosweet. And too tomato-y. Also, Maggie thought that we should do mushroom andparsley dumplings rather than just parsley dumplings. Without thinking I followedthe recipe for parsley dumplings and did not compensate for the amount ofmoisture the mushrooms would add. The dumplings fell apart if you merely looked atthem too hard.

Okay. Round two. This time Ibegan with marinating the short ribs in red wine, salt and pepper overnight. Ithen used about half the tomatoes but added two cups of home made chicken stockand a quarter cup of the marinade wine. I doubled the garlic, added a bay leaf,a sprig of fresh sage, a little thyme and a generous amount of salt and pepper. For the dumplingsI compensated for the moisture by adding a great deal more flour, less milk and a dropmore salt. I also made the dumplings considerably smaller as they poof up twicetheir original size once they steam up. They still looked weird to me, butafter I did some research online, they looked exactly the way they weresupposed to. 

Another example of howstripped down the instructions in the cookbook are. There is no description ofhow things are supposed to turn out.

The fact that I used LindyGrundy’s meat the second go ‘round also made a world of difference. I wouldhave used theirs the first time but they were closed on the day I needed to getstarted. Of course, their meat will be used for the stew at the dinner party.

So, in the time it’s takenme to write this, the sun has come out and the sky is clear and bright blue. I’vestill got that extra hour. It’s perfect.

But we are full-on in thethroes of Fall and Winter is three weeks away. The holidays are not far off. It’stime for stew.

Serves 6

Cut 2 lbs beef short ribs into serving pieces. Marinate in red wine overnight.

Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tbsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper; dredge ribs in mixture and brown on all sides in 2 tbsp hot fat.

Combine ribs with 2 1/2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes, 2 cups chicken or beef stock, 1/4 cup marinade wine, 4 cloves of chopped garlic & 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. 

Add 4 sliced carrots, 2 medium onions, chopped, 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped, 1 bay leaf, a sprig of fresh sage and a tsp of thyme. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 2 more hours.

Skim off the fat and season with salt & pepper to taste.

Sift together 1 1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt. Add 1/4 cup chopped parsley and 3 tbsp chopped mushrooms. Combine 1/4 cup milk and 2 tbsp vegetable oil, and add to dry ingredients. Stir just until flour is dampened. 

Form small, large-marble sized balls atop bubbling stew. Cover tightly and bring to a boil. Reduce heat (do not lift cover!) and simmer for 15 minutes longer.

One year ago today: SugarFISH
Two years ago today: Scallops with Wild Mushroom Risotto & Rosé Fonduta