A simple meal when company’s coming.

I started by chopping an onion and browning it in a cast iron pan. Once fairly brown, I added nearly two pounds of beef cut into small pieces, in this case sirloin (because it was priced right), but probably round steak would work well. I browned the meat, added some garlic, about 1-1/2 cups of red wine, another cup or so of beef broth, a sprinkle of thyme, some hot peppers. Then I covered the pan and put it into a 325 degree oven for about an hour and a half. I turned it up to 350 for about the last 30 minutes.

Then it was on auto pilot.

About 40 minutes before I expected the meat to be done, I cut some potatoes into thirds, unpeeled, in a pan, covered with water, set on to boil.

When the pototoes were cooked, they go into a bowl with a touch of margarine or fat free sour cream, then I whip with a hand mixer, adding fat free milk until they are the right consistency.

While Meda was mixing her dynamite watercress salad, I took the meat out of the oven, added some sliced mushrooms, which cooked just enough in the residual heat, and stirred in a little cornstarch mixture to thicken the gravy (it was easier to reach than the flour, which would have worked just as well).

If I had them, I might have added some small pearl onions and maybe a few baby carrots in the last minutes of cooking. But it was fine as is.

Then it was serving time. Mashed potatoes, a bit meat, and a healthy serving of gravy. Watercress salad. A few pieces of Costco’s sourdough bread, and a bottle of red wine.

A very tasty meal with a minimum of last minute work.

And, yes, it was very good.