Pea season is in full swing here in DC and I couldn’t be happier. Peas are one of my favorite vegetables and I practically OD on them when they are in season.  Last year, I froze a huge batch of fresh English peas which lasted me almost all Winter.  But nothing beats picking up a big container of fresh peas from the market on a Saturday morning.  Last Saturday, Garner’s Produce had English peas in the pod for the first time this season.  Although I like shelling peas, I was happy to pick up two boxes of shelled peas for a recipe I saw online during Snowpocalypse.  The recipe was from one of my favorite celebrity chefs, Mario Batali.

Mario’s recipes always highlight the flavors of his ingredients, letting the most mundane of them shine brightly.  I admit peas are not all that glamorous…they tend to get the short end of the stick really.  Whenever you see a child on television, gloomily sitting over his half eaten dinner, there’s a high chance peas are on his plate.  I personally blame that kid’s parents for this situation. Peas, when not properly cooked, can taste bland and downright mushy.  But when you do right by them, they will do right by you.  And this recipe truly knows how to seduce the lovely flavors from fresh peas.

I whipped this dish up for dinner tonight in less than 40 minutes…BUT I made my pappardelle from scratch. If you just use store bought pasta, this comes together in under 20 minutes.  If you don’t have access to fresh peas, frozen will do in a pinch. But for the love of God, stay away from those canned monstrosities in the “vegetable” aisle of the grocery store.  Trust me on that one…

Much to my sheer and utter excitement, the 14th & U Farmers Market opened for the season this past Saturday.  To say I’ve missed the familiar sights and sounds of this little market would be an understatement.  Some of my favorite Chesapeake foodshed farmers sell their amazing fruits, veggies, meats and cheeses at the corner of 14th & U.  And I’ve been dying for some of Panorama Bakery’s fresh, sliced multigrain deli bread all Winter long.  So on Saturday morning, I was more than eager to grab my shopping bags and head down 14th Street to mingle among my favorite vendors.

We got to the market a bit early because I was anxious to get my hands on the seasons first crop of strawberries from Garner’s Produce.  The brief spurt of Summer like weather in the beginning of Spring led to an earlier-than-usual bounty of my favorite berries.  As we walked up to Garner’s table, I could smell the fragrant aroma of the berries wafting towards me.  I wanted to dive right into the table of red jewels, but decided to show a bit of restraint.  Garner’s Produce also had some big, floral bouquets of spinach that instantly inspired an idea for a simple, cool spinach salad (more about that later).

I had resolved to pick up a bag of stinging nettles in an attempt to be more adventurous (yes, I consider trying new produce adventurous) and found some at Mountain View.  Rich in iron and calcium, stinging nettles have been touted as a wonder food, especially for women.  Unfortunately, the word “stinging” doesn’t really make people jump to cook with this plant.  When touched with bare hands, raw stinging nettles have tiny hairs (called trichomes) that turn into needles and can release several chemicals that result in a stinging sensation.  These stinging agents are neutralized once they are cooked, even for only a few minutes.  So it was with care that The Boy and I picked out two bags of them and placed them in our shopping totes.  While chatting with one of the Mountain View vendors, she suggested a recipe for French Nettle Soup.  I filed it away along with her recipe for a Nettle-Walnut Pesto Crostini.

Asparagus was at almost every vendor table, much to my delight, as were radishes:

And just when I thought I was going to faint from farmers market happiness, I stumbled upon sunchokes AND the season’s first rhubarb at Kuhn Orchards!

Kuhn also had fragrant and delicate lilac stems and my favorite pink lady apples.  I couldn’t resist the lilacs, especially after inhaling their hypnotic scent.

And speaking of plants, there were plenty of herb and vegetable plants for the urban gardener.  Still a little gun shy after last Spring’s failed windowsill herb garden, I opted to wait before buying any more plants.

We picked up some eggs from Pecan Meadows, who also had duck and goose eggs for sale.  Even though I was tempted by the duck eggs (lately they seem to be on every restaurant menu in DC), I knew I needed chicken eggs for some whole wheat pasta I planned to make.

After I picked up a fresh loaf of Panorama Bakery’s bread (and sniffed and squeezed it lovingly), I ran into Robin Shuster, the market manager.  That’s when I learned Keswick Creamery sadly had to bow out of all their Saturday farmers markets.  Robin assured me Keswick would be at the Bloomingdale Farmers Markets on Sunday and told me she was looking into finding another cheese vendor.  And just when I thought we were done, Robin insisted I pick up some pea shoots to try.  Since she’s never steered me wrong, I took her advice and bought a bag of them from Mountain View before heading home.  I decided to add the pea shoots to an asparagus and goat cheese pizza idea I had floating around in my head.

I know, I know…I usually post a Market to Table recipe at the beginning of the week. And well, technically this is still a market recipe – the asparagus came from Dupont Circle Farmers Market on Sunday.  But really, the star of this meal is the salmon.  And considering my once rabid dislike of seafood, that is saying a LOT.

Let me give you a little back story about me and seafood.  Until my twenties, I really wasn’t that much of a fan. In fact, my mother could only get me to eat fish if it was battered and deep fried beyond recognition (hello Long John Silver’s!).

On the rare occasions I did brave a nibble of seafood, it always tasted rubbery and fishy.  Why you may ask?  Well for one, it was often prepared in one of my hometown’s less than stellar restaurants.  And I’m almost positive I never had truly fresh seafood.  Then I moved up to DC…and started dating a boy from the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Mind you, The Boy doesn’t like seafood either…but he knows where to get quality (and fin slappingly fresh) seafood.  When we decided to try cooking more seafood at home, he started picking up fish at Annapolis Seafood Markets.  Since then, I have come to love cooking with fish…and eating it!

For my first foray into salmon (yes, I had never cooked salmon before – much to the astonishment of several of my foodie Twitter pals), I decided to try a simple recipe using flavors I loved.  When I stumbled upon this recipe from Food and Wine magazine, I knew instantly I wanted to try it. I LOVE hoisin sauce…and may have been known to drink it straight from the bottle (don’t you dare judge me).  So any recipe that involves hoisin sauce is a winner in my book.  It didn’t hurt one bit that the total prep time clocked in at under 30 minutes.  It also didn’t hurt that this was the BEST FUCKING SALMON I EVER ATE.  Not that I’m bragging or anything…

Recipe: Hoisin Glazed Salmon (from Food and Wine magazine) 

Ingredients

• Four 6 ounce salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs dry white wine
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, white wine, honey and garlic. Whisk the ingredients together to incorporate and set aside.
3. Season each fillet with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Heat the olive oil over high heat in a large, oven-proof skillet. Place the fillets skin side up in the skillet, being careful not to crowd the pan. Allow the salmon to brown on the fleshy side – takes about 30 seconds.
5. Flip the salmon over and spoon half of the sauce over all of the fillets.
6. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 3 minutes.
7. Pull out the oven rack slightly and spoon the remaining glaze evenly over all of the fillets.
8. Bake for another 3 minutes and then baste the salmon with the glaze oozing in the pan. Continue to cook until the salmon is done, about 2 more minutes.

For the roasted asparagus, I simply tossed 2 bunches of asparagus spears (with the ends cut off) with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of good quality balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  I roasted them for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then topped with a few shavings of a Parmesan cheese I got from Eastern Market!

P.S. I hadn’t planned on blogging this recipe, so I didn’t take any pictures of its preparation. However, after seeing the look on The Boy’s face after trying the salmon, I knew I had to blog it.  I snapped the above pictures with my lovely new point and shoot camera.  Oh yeah, those are point and shoot pictures!  And in BAD light!!

The Spring farmers markets are in full swing now!  When I hit up the Dupont Circle Farmers Market this past Sunday, asparagus was everywhere!  And that’s not an exaggeration…save for the dairy, meat and bread/baked goods vendors, asparagus was out on every vendor table.  And not just the lovely green asparagus either.  Spring Valley had asparagus the color of a deep lavendar dotted amongst the greenery.  Piles of the ‘gus jumped out from the tables, much to the delight of many market shoppers.  We picked up three bunches, one of which was the purple variety (how can I resist that color).

Ramps were also, well, rampant throughout the market.  Because of its limited growing season, ramps always get a huge push around this time.  Newspaper food sections, cooking/food magazines and the food media practically trip over themselves trying to give their readers ideas on how to use these lovely, pungent wild leeks.  As I was walking past Next Step Produce, I overheard a woman tell her friend to boil the ramps and use the resulting broth in a risotto.  While I must admit I was intrigued by the idea, the thought of boiling ramps seemed to be a waste of these gems.  I’ve made a sublime ramp risotto using homemade vegetable stock that threaded the rich flavor of the ramps throughout each rice grain.  No ramp “broth” needed.

Over at Sunnyside’s tables, I stumbled across a bunch of regular leeks and it struck me that I’ve never actually cooked with them before.  Sure I’ve done my fair share of wild leek cooking – from ramp biscuits to pan roasted ramps (shameless plug for this post).  But when it comes to the traditional leek, I’m still a virgin.  A vague recollection of a recipe for pizza using caramelized leeks urged me to pick up one of the bunches on the table.

Looking around for something to accompany the leeks, my eyes fell on the pearls of red cherry tomatoes on the other table.  Recalling the complex dance of sweetness and tartness from the roasted cherry tart (another shameless plug), it struck me how well they would pair with the leeks.  As I was carefully placing two boxes of the cherry tomatoes into a bag, my hand brushed against the green onions lying in close proximity.  And almost like a thunderbolt (okay, maybe not that cheesy), the idea for a Spring pad thai came into my head.

When I lived in Charlotte, I became really good friends with an older couple who shared my love of cooking.  Once a month, we would gather at their house, cook a meal from scratch and then spend hours talking over fresh brewed tea.  I learned a lot of different cooking techniques and the importance of quality ingredients from these get-togethers.  However, the most valuable lesson I learned was the art of a simple pad thai.  The husband was stationed in Thailand early in his Army career and the young couple embraced living in a foreign country.  They immersed themselves in Thailand’s culture and language and of course, its food.  One of the first dishes they mastered was pad thai, partly because of its ease and partly because it was so versatile.  They taught me how to make a chicken version of the traditional street food and encouraged me to play with the ingredients to come up with unique combinations.  With the asparagus and green onions in my bag, I knew I could turn out a Spring version of the dish.

Want other ideas for cooking market fresh asparagus? Try some of these recipes!

• Market Asparagus Salad with Bacon and Wild Mushrooms from Adventures of a Florida Girl in DC
• Savory Asparagus Bread Pudding from 101 Cookbooks
• Asparagus and Gruyere Tart from Closet Cooking
• Roasted Asparagus with Red Pepper Puree and Microgreens from the Garden Apartment
• Spring Grilled Chicken and Asparagus Linguine from Foodie Tots

 This past weekend in DC was a beauty and everyone seemed to be doing their best to take advantage of it.  I guess after the rather harsh Winter, DCites were more than happy to welcome Spring with open arms.  This was most evident at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market on Sunday.  During the Winter months, the market had its fair share of shoppers but it was never overly crowded.  Imagine my surprise to find pretty much all of DC packed into the small space that the market occupies along the Circle.  Lines wrapped around tables at the more popular vendors, while others meandered from stall to stall, anxiously looking for some signs of Spring produce.  And I was no different.  Although I had a list of specific ingredients, I was still keeping an eye out for anything that marked the change in seasons.  And that’s when I stumbled upon these beauties:

 I was looking around for salad when my eyes came across a small collection of grape tomatoes occupying a little space on a table.  I felt like I’d hit the jackpot! The tomatoes were a rich golden yellow, resembling little balls of sunshine packed into a container.  I stood there for a few minutes, trying to convince myself that I wasn’t imagining the tomatoes.  That’s also when I remembered a rustic, roasted cherry tomato tart recipe in the April issue of Food & Wine.  I snagged two pints of the tomatoes and got in line, looking around as if someone planned to steal them from me.  This is what happens when a locavore has been subsisting on tubers for months on end.

Once I got home, I looked over the recipe again and was a bit surprised at its simplicity.  The tart dough was easily assembled using my food processor and is hands down my new go-to tart dough.  The recipe didn’t call for any additional preparation of the cherry tomatoes besides washing them.  At first I thought about dressing up the tart with caramelized onions but decided against it.  I’m glad I showed restraint, because had I added the onions, they would have masked the loveliness of the tomatoes.  Roasting them brought out their sweetness while still maintaining a bit of their tart bite.  A few ribbons of basil, some salt, some pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil were all these tomatoes needed.  This was the introduction to Spring my taste buds needed.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart (adapted from Food and Wine – April 2010)

Ingredients

• 2 pints cherry (or grape) tomatoes, washed and drained
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 2 tbs basil, cut in strips
• For the dough:
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 7 tbs unsalted butter, cold and cut in cubes
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Add the flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Place the butter cubes around the flour and pulse until a crumbly mixture is formed.
2. Slowly add the cream while still pulsing the flour mixture. Keep adding the cream until the dough comes together into a bit of a ball (you may have a little bit of cream still left over, which is fine).
3. Remove the dough from the food processor and move to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough a few times until it is smooth.
4. Wrap up the dough and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (can stay in the refrigerator overnight).
5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9 inch tart pan (can be a round one or a rectangular one) with a removable bottom.
6. Once again on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 14 inches. Press the dough into the tart pan and trim off any excess dough.
7. Toss the tomatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper and pour them into the tart shell.
8. Bake for about an hour and 45 minutes or until the shell is evenly browned.
9. Take the basil leaves and roll them into a cylinder. Using a sharp knife, cut the basil into strips. When the tart is done, pull it out slightly from the oven and sprinkle the basil over the tomatoes.
10. Put the tart back in the oven, turn it off and let the tart sit for five more minutes. Then remove the tart and allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. The tart can be served warm or cold!

Recipe: Roasted Tomato Tart

Ahhh Spring…it’s right around the corner and DC has gotten a preview of it these last few days.  People have shed their many layers of coats, sweaters, long johns and snow boots in favor of more Spring like fare.  And I have looked down at my thighs and discovered all of my Winter indulgences have given way to, shall we say, squishiness?  With thoughts of shorts, skirts and capris dancing in my head, I realized I had to finally take some serious steps to get my weight back under control.  I joined a gym near my office, hired a personal trainer and have started trying to incorporate healthier whole grains into my diet.  Sure I want to eat healthier, but I don’t want to sacrifice taste! Life isn’t worth living if I’m forced to eat rice cakes (which I actually like, so maybe that’s not a great example).  So it was with delight that I received a recipe for Farro Risotto via my Twitter pal Nicole.

The recipe intrigued me because I had just recently fallen in love with farro.  While there may be some disagreement about what exactly constitutes farro, everyone can agree that it is the whole grain of certain types of wheat.  Because of its hearty texture, Italians use it frequently in soups and as a substitute for arborio rice in risottos.  I had already tried using farro in a salad and knew it paired well with vegetables, so Nicole’s recipe sounded perfect.  Only problem?  I’ve never made risotto before and have actively been avoiding doing so for years.  Stories of being chained to a stove for 40 minutes, stirring constantly, have put risotto on my “no-fly” list.  But after reading the recipe, I decided to give it a try one night after work (while I was yelling at Glenn Beck on the television…I blame my friend Mazzie for that).  Turns out risotto is nothing to fear and using farro made it that much healthier.  We’ll ignore the 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese I added to the risotto…it’s for the best really.

What a night…what a fabulous, wine filled night (St Clair Mimbres Red to be exact).  The Boy and I had a group of our dearest friends (known affectionately as the Twitterati…no that’s not dorky) over for a potluck dinner last night and let’s just say a good time was had by all.  And unlike most potlucks which invariably involve green bean casseroles, ham loaf and some sort of jello/fruit abomination, this was a potluck of foodies.  Since dinner was over at our house, I offered to make the main course.  And I knew immediately what I wanted to make: Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon (recipe here)!  After making coq au vin, tackling the boeuf bourguignon wasn’t as difficult as I anticipated.  Sure it was rather time consuming, but Julia’s recipe was very straightforward and the results were a hit with the Twitterati.

The boeuf bourguignon was but only a small element of a rather bawdy night.  Some of the other highlights?

These amazing blue cheese and black pepper gougeres made by The Black Dog.

Four crusty, hearty French baguettes from Cowgirl Creamery (along with the best butter I’ve ever tasted), brought by Thrifty DC Cook.

A triple chocolate mousse cake whipped up by Brian that had us all swooning (and me changing into my stretchy pants).

And did I mention the red wine? There were five of us and we managed to polish off two bottles…which may be the reason the conversation turned to some of these gems:

• Peter North and Ron Jeremy’s rather, uhmmmm, unique asset
• This very odd Batman onesie
• This unique salute to a rather troublesome human resource issue
• And of course, kitten mittens

There was a lot more discussed, most of which repeating would violate some FCC laws.  And although a few of our Twitterati comrades were missing (Mazzie, Carmen and JMC), we still managed to laugh until our sides hurt.  Good food, good wine and great friends are always a great combination, don’t you think?

Hey, Mother Nature? Can we talk for a minute here?  See, I am usually the first one who loves a good snow storm.  I was positively giddy as I read the reports of historic snow accumulations this past weekend.  And when I woke up to a Winter wonderland on Saturday, I happily jumped outside to make a snow angel.  And I really appreciate the snow day today, I really do.  I don’t hold the idiotic local “Blizzard 2010″ snow coverage against you…how were you to know anchors got punchy and stupid after hours of sleep deprivation.  But now I’m hearing reports of another significant snow storm set to hit the area tomorrow afternoon…and I’m starting to get a little, well, annoyed.

First of all, have you watched daytime television lately?!? It’s mind numbing to say the least.  And I don’t care what Comcast commercials tell you, their On Demand service does NOT help you through cabin fever.  I can only watch the last few tired episodes of CSI: Where-the-Fuck-Ever so many times.  And Comcast, you STILL haven’t updated your service with the latest episode of Archer (asshats).  And as much as I love the Boy, I’m this close to bouncing a Swingline stapler off his head (no offense, dear).  One can only take so much togetherness…

Look, I know I’m sounding a bit unhinged right now but you’re really starting to test my patience.  I was fine when Tony Perkins told me not to worry about the precipitation on the extended forecast for Tuesday.  But you’ve turned Tony into a liar…a LIAR!!!! I.NEED.TO.GET.OUT.NOW!!!!

Call it jumping on the “Julie & Julia” bandwagon if you want, but I have finally added the seminal work “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” to my ever expanding cookbook collection.  Amazon was having a sale right before Christmas, offering both volumes for a pittance – $40!  What foodie in their right mind would pass up a bargain like that – well, unless they already had said cookbooks.  I waited anxiously for the books to arrive, anticipating all the fancy recipes I would be making and impressing my friends with at parties.  What I didn’t expect was to find the books to be such a joy to read.

From the start of the book, Julia and Simone (and I guess Louisette too) systematically explain every aspect of French cooking – from how to use a knife to selecting the right cooking equipment.  I was in heaven!  While some may not find the intricacies of souffle molds riveting, I couldn’t have been happier!  This was the book I’ve been waiting for my whole cooking life.  And I couldn’t wait to tackle some of her recipes.  I just wasn’t sure exactly where to start.  I contemplated making the Boeuf Bourguignon for a dinner party (and will definitely still do so before Winter ends) but was slightly intimidated by the many steps and ingredients.  That’s when I stumbled upon the section on souffles.

The very thought of making a souffle has always struck fear in my heart.  I’ve seen one too many chefs crying on television because their souffles didn’t puff up to perfection.  I always assumed a souffle was out of my culinary ability range and wrote them off.  But as I continued to read Julia’s recipe, I was struck by how approachable she made them.  In essence, a souffle is a base sauce and whipped egg whites combined together.  What makes them so difficult is ensuring the egg whites are properly whipped and folded into the sauce without over stirring them.  It’s all about precision – something I’m not known for in the kitchen. But with Julia’s instruction, I felt a bit more confident in my ability to pull off a cheese souffle.  So I headed out to Cheesetique in Virginia with Olga and Thrifty DC Cook on Saturday in search of the perfect cheese (more on that fun little trip later).  After consulting with the cute cheesemonger, I settled on an Emmenthaler cheese, a nutty flavored Swiss cheese.

On Sunday morning, I rolled up my sleeves and tackled Julia’s cheese souffle.  I hummed along as I used the food processor to shred the cheese (mistake one) and marveled at how easy it was to put together the base sauce.  In fact, the sauce was the easiest part of the recipe.  Following Julia’s ingredient list exactly, I came away with a flavorful base for my souffle.  Bobbing away in the kitchen, I noticed a comfort in Julia’s methodical approach to cooking.  There was none of my usual haphazard measuring or last minute “Oh my God, I need {insert important ingredient I forgot here}.”  No, I followed Julia’s advice and had all of my ingredients carefully measured out and my equipment at the ready.  All was going well…and then came the egg whites.

I felt a bit smug because I had my lovely Kitchen Aid stand mixer to whip the egg whites for me.  And therein lies the problem…I overwhipped them!  Sure, a sweep of the whisk proved the egg white peaks could stand up as the recipe suggested.

But I had whipped the effectiveness right out of them.  Because the egg whites were so stiff, their rising power was reduced, resulting in a souffle that didn’t (gasp) rise high!  It also didn’t help that the souffle dish I was sold was exaclty the WRONG type of dish for a souffle.  Mon Dieu!

And remember my joy at using my food processor to grate the cheese? Well….I probably should have used my box grater and not the food processor shredder disc.  I had to bake the souffle longer than the recipe suggested because the cheese wasn’t fully incorporated into the batter.  Le sigh.

But even though the souffle didn’t rise to my expectations, it did taste wonderful.  The emmenthaler cheese was the perfect choice, giving it an undercurrent of tangy awesomeness (I think that’s the proper term for it).  Had the flavors not been there, I probably would have written off ever making a souffle again.  But with those lovely flavors still in my head, I decided to tackle the recipe one more time.  But this time, I’m getting a Charlotte mold from Amazon and I’m getting a little help from Julia herself.  Wanna give the souffle a try?  Let Julia help you too – and please tell me how your souffle adventure goes!

My only ray of light came from my favorite foodie resource, Twitter (don’t hate…I’ve learned how to make fudge, found duck fat, discovered great hidden restaurants AND formed friendships from the little blue bird).  Anna sent out a tweet about making her green chili stew for the upcoming cold days.  Being ever curious, I asked her for the recipe.  She was more than happy to send it along (thanks again) and before I knew it, I had a great recipe to fight the cold.  This is a wonderfully organic stew that can be amended to suit your tastes.  For example, Anna said to use either ground beef or cubed pork.  I decided to instead use some beef stew cubes from Smith Meadow Farms to give the dish a heartier texture.  And although I couldn’t find any New Mexico chilis, I did find the Anaheim chilis she recommended at Whole Foods.  I also opted not to peel the potatoes and found some Yukon Gold ones with a thin skin.  The result of my dabbling around with the recipe was a comforting beef stew with the Southwestern flair of roasted green chilis.  I served the stew with some homemade tortillas, which made me almost forget how cold it was outside.  Notice I said almost….

Recipe: Green Chili Stew

Ingredients

• 2 pounds cubed beef or pork or ground beef
• 6 medium Yukon Gold potates, diced
• 6-8 roasted and peeled green chilis (anaheim chilis unless you can find quality chilis from New Mexico), diced – here’s a post on how to roast peppers!
• 2-16 ounce cans stewed tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed and diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2-3 cups water
• 2 tbs olive oil

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, saute the meat and potatoes until the meat is browned. Drain the fat from the meat and potates and set aside.
2. In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions start to soften.
3. Add the meat and potato mixture to the Dutch oven, along with the tomatoes and water (add up to 3 cups of water, depending on how thick you like your stews).
4. Bring the stew to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes or until the stew reaches your desired consistencey (I like my stew thick).