Thursday, January 23, 2014

Soup's On: Beef Stew

My husband has subscribed to Western Horseman magazine for as long as I can remember and every once in awhile he'll hand it over to me with a dog-eared page and ask me to make one of the recipes in the back. That's how I came upon this recipe for beef stew. It's one of his very favorites (mine too) and I make it a lot during the winter months. It goes great with a pan of my Nana's cornbread.

Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2-3 pounds of stew meat
28 oz can stewed tomatoes, undrained
4 carrots, sliced
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
3.5 Tbsp flour
12 oz jar brown gravy
1/4 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
10 oz package frozen corn
10 oz package frozen peas
10 oz package frozen green beans
water
salt and pepper to taste

Sear the stew meat in a large dutch oven or skillet over med-high heat. Add all remaining ingredients except gravy to Dutch oven or crockpot. Mix thoroughly. Cover and cook on low heat for about 4 hours (dutch oven) or 6-8 hours (crockpot), stirring occasionally and adding water if necessary to desired consistency. Remove bay leaf, stir in gravy and let cook another 20-30 minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8.

My notes:
Sometimes I'm lazy and don't sear the meat; it's still delicious.
I've never made this in a dutch oven, only my crock pot and it's perfect every time.
I buy two 14oz cans stewed tomatoes for this recipe because I've yet to find a 28oz can. :)
I routinely omit the carrots and onion. The original recipe calls for mushrooms and celery. I leave those out too. Here's the original recipe if your family likes those veggies and/or you want to boost the nutrition.
I also routinely leave out the 3.5 Tbsp flour because I don't want the gluten. It doesn't get as thick when I omit it but it still works.
I can't bring myself to buy gravy in a jar (too processed) so I make my own and add to the stew at the end. I usually use cornstarch vs flour to make it gluten-free.
I also add frozen, diced hash brown potatoes or canned, cubed potatoes because I can't peel potatoes (weird allergy thing).

1 comment:

Michele said...

Thank you. I'm always looking for new tried and true recipes to try. I think I may make this today or tomorrow. It's cold here in the south (27 degrees), so it would be perfect for tonight.