This was a tasty dish and I was glad to finally get to use cipolline onions in a recipe. I have often eyed those cute little onions but have never used them. On the practical side, this recipe had too many separate components which created a lot of dishes. I ended up making this on a Monday night and it was just too much fuse for a week night meal. I should have cooked the beef longer since it was not as tender as veal but I was afraid of drying out the rest of the dish. It really did not have much liquid. I don’t know where all that liquid comes from in the picture especially since you are suppose to drain the canned diced tomatoes. I wish I had added that liquid.
On another day I made Not-Just-For -Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake from Baking From My Home to Yours. It was deemed the best item I have baked from a Dorie cookbook. I think this one will be making a repeat, maybe even for Thanksgiving.
Since I was joking with Mary about cemeteries, I thought I would throw one into the mix. This cemetery is located on the island of Isla Mujeres off of Cancun, Mexico. We took a vacation to Cancun in 2005 and came across this very colorful and quaint cemetery.
These recipes are part of an international cooking group working our way through Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. To see what others did go here.
CafeMomCooks 
Diane, I had a similar issue with the pork and the lack of liquid (what there was tasted so good!). I think next time I'll double the liquid-y components or halve the amount of meat. I also forgot how fussy it was to do the veggies separately as I made the meat part earlier in the day. As for that cranberry shortbread, I haven't made it yet, but I do keep cranberries in the freezer just from having read the recipe. 🙂 With your review, it looks like I'll have to make it sooner rather than later.Love that photo of the cemetery: pretty colors!
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Not your fault that the directions didn't specify say to add the liquid from the tomatoes. I never drain anything so it wasn't a problem for me. Next time try just browning the meat and putting everything in a slow cooker, it comes out great with only 2 pans to clean.
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Uh I missed the cemetery joke… I didn't drain my tomatoes much either and there was no problem – next time, right?
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I used beef also and after 30 minutes I knew it was was not going to do it, addedanother 20, and then another 30 minutes. I know my husband's level of cooked stewmeat. Thank goodness the veggies were not added at this point. That said, this was one delicious meal.
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No kidding on the dishes! I had every burner going and kept my dishwasher quite busy that night. Luckily I didn't attempt it during a weeknight though, or I might have gone a little crazy. Your cake looks delicious. Everyone is posting makeups of desserts today and it's making me sad that I don't have a nice slice of cake lying around:-)
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I didn't have much juice with my veal either. But it was still tasty. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Diane – I did add a few fresh (peeled and diced) tomatoes to the mix, along with the canned ones since I know that everyone in our house is a very serious sauce lover – there were a lot of dishes that´s true but in the end worth the trouble – glad to read that it works equally well with beef. Your Shortbread Cake looks delightful – that would be great with my afternoon cup of tea today!Have a great weekend,Andrea
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Yep, I hear ya on the number of dishes and the time it took. I'd looked at making it once before, looked at all the steps, then shut the book and made something else. I liked it very much in the end though.
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Thank you for the cemetery picture, Diane. What I discovered after writing my Post last week is that many others (plus, birders) like to wander through cemetaries also. Looks like fun to be buried in that one. It's Cancun, after all. Yep, all the minuses about this stew are exactly on my list. Too fussy. I needed to cook my beef longer also but did not have enough sauce to do that and enjoy the sauce also. I actually 1/2-ed the beef , added extra wine and still didn't have enough sauce (in my opinion). I think Dorie's Baking cookbook is phenomenal. It's a classic, that's for sure. Nice cake.
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I didn't drain the tomatoes, as I was worried about the liquid (especially as I quartered the recipe). Oh, that cake looks amazing! I haven't made much from My Home to Yours and I need to rectify that.
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Diane, I didn’t drain my tomatoes, and I cooked the mushrooms and small onions in the pot with the meat. I also cooked mine for quite a bit longer because of the beef. I actually had plenty of sauce. Hard to believe that draining the tomatoes would make that much of a difference. It might be the mushrooms, as they cooked they produced a lot of liquid.Whatever the reasons…we loved this stew! Your cake looks delectable!
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Your 'Not-Just-For -Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake' looks divine… could be next on my to-do-list! I totally forgot to drain the tomatoes hence I did enjoy extra sauce!
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That is one might fancy cemetery!That cake looks delicious – although, I think the cranberry crackle tart from Baking Chez Moi is now my favorite cranberry dessert 🙂
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Ooooh. Thanks for the cake recommendation. It sounds delicious! I threw all of this into the slow cooker, but the recipe as written definitely had too many components.
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Just catching up post vacation. I didn't bother to drain the tomatoes since the liquid in my can seemed thick and not much came off, so I just dumped the can in. Sounds like a wise decision because my sauce was quite liquidy. I loved all the parts of this and will definitely make it again.
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Your presentation of the stew is wonderful. It makes the onions looks especially good. You know, I didn't drain my tomatoes because I was worried about not having enough liquid, and it worked out well. I agree about this not being a weeknight meal! We ate pretty late the night I made this.
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