Two Tipi Produce carrots, check.

One pound Wind N Oak Farm mushrooms, check.

Red potatoes from Igl Farms, check.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, check.

As I rifled through my double box on Saturday it hit me: Beef stew. And not just any beef stew, but a full-on boeuf bourgignon. It was cold and grey outside, and I had a six-DVD set of original episodes of Julia Child’s The French Chef just begging to be watched. All that was missing was … the beef.

Later that day I swung by the Empty Bottle farmers’ market and picked up three pounds of grass-fed stewing beef from Wisconsin’s Black Earth Meats. And, well, I had to hit the Jewel for a bag of pearl onions. Nobody’s perfect.

And then, back home! I’ll spare you the play by play — Julia’s entire recipe can be found here in pdf form — but I will note that  the instructions on the page vary significantly from those she provides in what I discovered was her inaugural television show.

Quick it’s not — grass-fed beef cooks faster than corn-raised, but even so this was at leasst a 3-hour endeavor. And, frankly, it’s pretty rich for everyday eating. But served with potatoes dressed with parsley and a salad of red leaf lettuce (all also out of the box, natch) this was an immensely satisfying winter feast for two, and then some. The leftovers should last several more days.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with that celery root.