Stock & Crock

Must be getting cold out because I had to make both beef stock and a pot roast. This is to the end of making a killer beef stew this weekend.



The roast is a monster, almost 4 lbs, and it's in my crock pot with a few carrots, potatoes, onions, some diced tomato, minced celery, a couple bay leaves, black pepper, salt, rubbed sage, and four cloves. Oh, and about a tablespoon of minced garlic and a half cup of Glen Ellen Cab Sauv.



In the stock pot, we have some oxtails and beef soup bones, browned in olive oil with some onion, then covered with water and a cup of the same wine. A bunch of parsley, some carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, tomatoes, garlic (lots of it), cloves, rubbed sage, salt, peppercorns, thyme, and so on.



I suppose I could have used 'cooking wine' instead of the Glen Ellen, but I remember someone saying you shouldn't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink, and I wouldn't drink cooking sherry. Glen Ellen's cabernet isn't very dry, and it isn't very refined, but you can drink it (I proved this by drinking what I didn't include with the roast and the stock). At $5.28 a bottle, it's affordable without being awful.



Boy, does my house smell good tonight!