The Stew Doctor is In

The first tastes of the Italian Beef Stew were underwhelming to say the least. The word "bland" comes to mind. I created the stew in a slow cooker as directed and to the letter. Two ingredients I used but hadn't worked with prior to were fresh fennel and prosciutto ham. The recipe called for the entire fennel bulb chopped and boy could you taste it. It was seriously strong. The recipe just didn't work for us as prepared.

We really liked the ingredients, though, so we decided to rescue the stew. My old friend from college, Michelle Grimsley Tallman is a seasoned cook who tries recipes than deconstructs them to see what worked and what she can improve on. This is an ability I want to attain but I wonder if it's learned or if it comes naturally. We realized that the stew was overwhelmed by the fennel. It called for the entire bulb, chopped. So we doctored. Added veggies and corn and some garlic powder, oregano and Italian seasoning. Keith then said and I quote, "Now we'll let it fester a bit." I suspect he will not be hosting his own cooking show soon. We improved the stew immensely and were happy with it in the end. I'm not sharing the recipe as I didn't feel it was successful in it's original state. But when the doctorin' began.....it was fun to create goodness from disappointment. Not only did we rescue the dish but it keeps me motivated despite a bland setback.

I really dug bein' able to rescue a dish. No food waste is a good thing. All hail the Stew Doctor.