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Carbonnade flamande over horseradish mashed potatoes. © Ryan Schierling |
The winter weather here in Austin has me supremely torn. I love that I can wear flip-flops, jeans and a t-shirt to the grocery store when it's a seemingly-freakish 70-degrees mid-January. But, there's a part of me that absolutely hates it's mid-January and I'm making salads and agua fresca instead of a fiery chili, a hearty rib-sticking ragu, or Julie's ghetto mac-n-cheese. The rest of the country is in a deep freeze, and we've still got lettuce happily bursting out of the garden. There is no chill to stave off.
Thankfully, there are some temperature swings and dips here and there, and after throwing a few logs in the fireplace, I take advantage of the kitchen and the cravings that come along with a (slightly) chilly day.
This recipe came out of a recent evening where the temps dropped into the low 30s, and knowing it wouldn't last, I was bound and determined to open all the windows and make chili, or a stew, or some seriously thick, thick soup. I wanted warm and comforting, rich and delicious. I also wanted a familiar feeling, but a little challenge with something I'd never made before. Something foreign. As it turns out, the recipe I needed was The (other) National Dish Of Belgium – not moules frites, but a Belgian beef and beer stew called carbonnade flamande (or a la flamande).