This is a meme hosted by BethFishReads to be found here.  Yesterday I made what was called a casserole – Beef, Mushroom & Thyme Casserole to be exact, but it was more what I would call (and maybe I’m dating myself here so I haven’t heard the term in years) an oven stew.

The recipe is one that I clipped to my Evernote recipe book from Woman and Home Magazine’s recipes.  This is another online resource that I use quite a bit for recipes.

The full recipe is found here.  It had a wonderful layering of flavors, red wine, beef stock, sherry, onions, thyme, garlic, tomato puree  and… yes, anchovies.  When cooked like this anchovies provided a depth of flavor without being fishy at all.  I suppose you could substitute anchovy paste.  I used beef chuck and cut it into pretty decent sized chunks, maybe 2 inch by 1 or 1-1/2.  I did this rather than use any of  the pre-cut “beef stew meat” because:

1. I could control the quality of the meat…what exactly is beef stew meat??
2. Due to the long cooking time 3 1/2 hours plus, I wanted the cubes big so that they did not get tough or alternatively break down

I also substituted baby bellas for chestnut mushrooms because I have never found them here.

 

Picture courtesy of Woman and Home, my own attempts at food photography have been sadly lacking.  Mine came out looking very similar with the exception of just a little less liquid.  I think you can see why I would call it a stew more than a casserole.  I served it with smashed red skinned potatoes.

Good reliable recipe, that has the added bonus of tasting even better the second day when the flavors have really melded.

Hope everyone else has had a wonderful time cooking (and eating) this weekend!  Off to read other posts.