One of our friends recently went Veggie and her husband is a bit bungled by the new cooking parameters.  We were all out for dinner together and he was asking us if we “always cook two separate meals” and “wasn’t that frustrating” and “don’t we wish we could just make one thing that both of us could eat??”

The easy answer to all of the above is, of course, “no” and our cheesy explanation is that cooking meals that work for both of us is one of our favorite things to do together.  If we had the time and the money we would probably do that every single night.

The practical addendum to this is that Z is more than willing to eat Veggie and A is more than willing to not have a meat substitute — but when we decide to make parallel meals, what we’ve been doing recently is splitting the ingredients into two different pots and swapping out only the crucial parts.

This latest beer and beef/seitan recipe (and we hope we aren’t boring you with our new favorite combo) does just that.  Even with having an extra pot to clean it was still totally worth it.

Beer and Paprika Beef Stew

1 lb chuck steak cubes

4 cups beef broth

1 1/2 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 beer

1/2 onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp butter

2 carrots

4 new potatoes

Start by prepping the onions and the garlic. We did a very lazy dicing of each.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a cast-iron or heavy bottomed pot.  Brown the beef on both sides and set aside.

Throw the onions into the pot and let them soften for a few minutes.  Add the garlic and incorporate.  Let it sit for another minute.

Now add your liquids:  add the beer and beef stock first (again, we used Better than Bouillon here), then add the paprika, Worcestershire, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and sugar.

Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Slice the carrots into rounds and cut the potatoes into large wedges.  Add to the stew and cook for another half hour.  Add more broth if necessary.

Beer and Paprika Seitan Stew

1 lb seitan

4 cups veggie broth

1 1/2 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 beer

1/2 onion

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp vinegar (we used champagne for lack of other options)

2 carrots

4 new potatoes

The seitan is similar, of course.  Prepare your onions and garlic and then heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy bottomed or cast-iron pot.  Drain the seitan, if necessary, and brown it.  This may take 5-10 minutes.

Remove the seitan.  Put the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter in the pot.  Throw the onions into the pot and let them soften for a few minutes.  Add the garlic and incorporate.  Let it sit for another minute.

Now add your liquids.  Add the beer and veggie broth.  Next add the paprika, chili powder, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Slice the carrots into rounds.  Cut the potatoes into chunks.  Add both to the stew and cook for another 30 minutes.

For people who eat it all, or for those couples that are only omnivores when their palates are combined, we hope that either or both of the stews would be good enough to satisfy your hunger for a good meal.

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