My Rustic Beef Stew

Photo: msbuenavida here

A hearty beef stew is a popular dish. Definitely, comfort food, which many of us grew up eating, often in winter. I made a pot over the weekend using ingredients I had on hand. It turned out especially delicious! Sooo. I'm sharing the recipe for a purely selfish reason ... so I'll remember how to make it again. I can always come back here to look it up! Here are all the ingredients that went into the pot:

Rustic Beef Stew (my style, um, um!)

Ingredients: 

1 ½ - 2 pounds of beef, cut into cubes (chuck, top round, London broil, or whatever is on sale)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper (12 turns of the pepper mill)
1 tablespoon flour

1 onion, chopped, big chunks

3 stalks of celery, diced

4 carrots, cut into big bite-size pieces

2 parsnips, sliced
3 medium potatoes cut into chunks
1 tomato, diced.
1 teaspoon dried garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon dried rosemary

sprinkle of thyme
sprinkle of nutmeg
5 cups water

1 big bay leaf
dash of dried cilantro
dried parsley

A tiny sprinkle of red pepper flakes (Adds a kick without the heat. Careful: Too much adds heat.)

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (Sprinkle and just eyeball the amount.)

2 large beef, or chicken bouillon cubes (Doesn't really matter which flavor.)

1 teaspoon vinegar

Optional: I had a handful of mushrooms in the refrigerator, so they went in, but don't go to the store for them; you have enough beef and vegetable chunks and flavor without mushrooms. In the spring if you have asparagus, dice and toss it in. Sometimes I have a turnup or lima beans or peas I add. Stew is a good dish enabling a cook to get rid of vegetables.

Directions: 

1) Sear the beef cubes with a tiny bit of olive oil in a 6-quart enameled cast iron pot until golden brown. While browning, salt and pepper the beef.
2) Next add the onions, celery, carrots, parsnips and spices as listed. Saute for about 5 minutes.
3) Add the water, bay leaf, cilantro, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon cube and vinegar.
4) Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour.

5) Cut the potatoes into big chunks and dice the tomato; add to the pot and let simmer on low heat for another 1/2 hour, or so. Garnish with iron-rich parsley.

6) When the beef and vegetables are tender, dissolve 2 - 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour in water and carefully add it to the pot to thicken the stew. Simmer on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

Tips: In cooking, if you want vegetables to disappear into the sauce, dice them up small. If you want the vegetables to remain spearable-with-a-fork, cut them into big pieces. With this stew, the only vegetables I dice small are the tomato and celery.

This evening a cup of green beans, a cup of peas and carrots, baby carrots, parsnips, potatoes, a big onion, and celery went into the beef stew.

The cooking time may vary, depending on the cut of beef you use. Cook until the meat is tender. Lean cuts of beef (for example top round London broil) are cheaper, tougher, and require a longer cooking time to break down the tissues, but are very flavorful when tender. Lean is good!

Extra tips: If you have frozen peas in your freezer, throw a cup or so into the pot at the end of the cooking time. It adds nutrients and a pop of green to the dish. Frozen peas and carrots and frozen green beans are perfect complements.

Click here to learn more about beef cuts.

Needless to say, beef stew is scrumptious on day 1 and excellent as leftovers. Serve with cornbread or hard-crusted, whole-grain bread.

My next post will address how to reduce your grocery bills, so check back in a couple of days for tips.

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