This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was beef stew.

I’m loving cooking with the Dutch oven. I bought it to accompany my Julia Child cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but find myself using it for meals that are neither French nor Dutch. It’s perfect for meals that begin with a sear and sauté on the stove top, then go slow and low in the oven (like Osso Buco and short ribs). While the food’s in the oven, the smells that emanate throughout the house seem to say, “It’s cold and miserable out there, but comfy-cozy in here. Eat this and warm up.”

Here’s this week’s food sources:

• stew beef from New Boston Beef in N. Grosvenordale, CT
• dredging flour from Wild Hive Farm
• bacon grease, reserved from Greyledge Farm bacon
• onions from Shenandoah, Easton, CT
• garlic from Holbrook Farm
• tomato puree from Don Taylor Farms, Danbury, CT (from the Late Bloomers 2009 freezer collection)
• Vista Reposa red wine from McLaughlin Vineyards
• cranberry potatoes from Maple Bank Farm
• carrots and celeriac from Riverbank Farm
• dried thyme from here
• bay leaf — local from a NY farm
• beef broth, salt, and pepper from away

Since there are potatoes in there, you don’t need to serve it with a carb, but it really does go well over fettuccine noodles. I’ve also seen it served in a bread bowl. I suppose having it over fettuccine with dipping bread on the side would be pushing it.

Of course, a glass of McLaughlin Vineyards Vista Reposa wine compliments the dish rather nicely.