FABULOUS FAMILY MEALS – FAST! By Christy Rost I am passionate about family meals. They are the glue that helps keep our family close and connected. The dinner hour is the one time of day when we are guaranteed time together as a family, because gathering around the table over a meal has become a priority in our lives. While sharing family dinners each evening, we have the opportunity to talk about our day, swap stories, plan activities, and discuss the latest in computer hardware and software (Sorry, I live in a family of computer geeks). Through the years, our family meals have also provided me the occasion to try out newly developed recipes on my toughest critics – Randy and our sons, Timothy and Bob. I have fond memories of numerous “name that recipe” nights, when normal dinner conversation was relegated to second place in favor of concocting a title for a new recipe. The title would be used in a column I was writing or on my Fort Worth television cooking show, Just Like Home, so it had to be worthy of being published. We enjoyed many hilarious moments around the dinner table coming up with suitable recipe titles. With a new school year underway, it is still possible to enjoy the closeness of family meals without resorting to fast food. All it takes is flexibility, a bit of planning around everyone’s school and activity schedules, and an arsenal of everyday meals that cook quickly, taste great, and are nutritious. This week’s recipe for Beef and Mushrooms in Wine Sauce may sound elegant, but this rich, tasty skillet meal goes together fast for everyday meals. Thin strips of lean beef chuck roast are dredged in a seasoned flour mixture and quickly sautéed. The brown bits of beef left in the pan after sautéing then become the basis for a delicious wine and mushroom sauce. No additives or preservatives in this meal – this is old-fashioned made-from-scratch cooking which has been updated for today’s busy families. Served over egg noodles or rice, with a vegetable or salad, and you can have a complete dinner on the table in 30 minutes! Beef and Mushrooms in Wine Sauce Ingredients: 2 pounds beef chuck roast 3 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil ½ cup dry red wine ½ cup consommé ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire 1 ½ cups sliced white mushrooms Cooked noodles or rice 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley Select a very lean boneless chuck roast. Slice beef into ½ -inch wide strips. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a large plastic food storage bag, close bag, and shake to mix. Add beef strips to flour mixture and shake well to coat. Pour oil into preheated skillet. Transfer half of floured beef strips to skillet, raise heat to medium-high, and stir fry about 3 minutes until beef is rare. Transfer cooked beef to a serving bowl, cover to keep warm, and stir fry remaining beef in skillet. When beef is rare, transfer to bowl. Reduce heat to medium. Deglaze pan with wine, stirring to loosen bits of beef from bottom of skillet. Add consommé, Worcestershire, and mushrooms, stirring until mixture thickens slightly. Reduce heat to low. Return rare beef to skillet, cover, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over noodles or rice. Garnish with chopped parsley. Recipe serves 6. You’ll find more quick family meals in Christy’s forthcoming cookbook, The Family Table: Where Great Food, Friends and Family Gather Together, to be published October 2003 by Capital Books, and by visiting Christy’s website at www.easyentertain.com . Get more of Christy Rost's recipes in her archives. Click here. Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions? Email: jwdineline@aol.com