My family likes to make everything stew.
You start with a base, usually meat and legumes or potatoes, and then throw in leftovers and whatever odds and ends come to hand.
The one dad made when he was in a residential hotel from the breakfast foods is still legendary. Sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, omelettes, ham, hashbrowns, biscuit . . .
Here’s the latest.
My wife made lentils. I added hamburger from the cow we bought from my cousin and an onion and flowering chives from my wife’s herb garden and garlic.
To that we added
2 left-over baked potatoes, cubed
A leftover something, it could have been a cauliflower mash or a roux, hard to say
¼ of a cabbage that was in the vegetable drawer
19 egg whites (some of the family are eating raw egg yolks for health reasons)
Half a no. 10 can of green beans left from Sunday dinner
About two to three servings of pumpkin soup
Pot liquor from frying pollock plus a few fish scraps
It was good.
It was even better the next day when we let it simmer on low on the crockpot over night. Everything Stew benefits from long simmer times. The flavor blends together and you fill the house with the hearty smell.
The original stew
12 hours later . . .
Everything Stew never tastes the same way twice but it always tastes meaty, hearty, and full of body.
We usually add one of vinegar or mustard or cooking wine or soy sauce. This time we added soy sauce.
If it still doesn’ t quite have the flavor you are looking for, add cream or cheese.
Good for thrift and family togetherness.