This is a basic stew recipe but with my own twist. If you're eating stew out of a can (blasphemy!) you really ought to try making it yourself. It's so easy and most times you have the ingredients in the house already except for the meat! It'll taste much better too!
Twitchy's Out of this World Beef Stew
Note: all ingredients are measured by 'eye' or 'pot size'. I kind of 'wing it' when I make stew! Try to leave your pieces of food as big as possible for the best flavor but not so big you can't pop it in your mouth comfortably.
Ingredients:
2 pounds or so of stewing meat cut into bite sized cubes
3 - 4 med sized potatoes, skins on, cut into big bites sized chunks (white potatoes hold up nicely without breaking down)
3 Celery stalks - cut into bite size chunks
4 or so carrots, washed, SKIN ON, cut into bite size chunks
Two large onions
Flour
Butter
Salt & pepper
Worcesterchire sauce
Bay leaves
Enough beef broth (or water) to cover all ingredients and then another inch or so more extra above.
beef boullion if you don't use stock or broth. About 6 - 8 cubes or spoonfuls
Frozen peas
Frozen green beans
Chop and prepare all your vegetables except one onion and put them aside in a bowl.
Save the frozen peas and beans until the very end.
Take one of the onions and cut into slices. Put aside.
Cube your meat.
Take a cup of flour and put it in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. I like to use allot of pepper. The flour should look a little like it has fleas from the pepper.
Toss in the meat chunks and coat each with flour lightly.
Heat a BIG pot and throw in some butter or olive oil, not much, just enough to keep the meat from sticking.
Toss in the meat and onion you just sliced up. Keep these moving and brown the meat. You want to do this on a HOT temperature and do the browning FAST. Like wok style.
Let that gunk on the bottom that builds stay there!
Once the meat is nice and brown and you got some good gunk on the bottom, take out the meat and onions and put them aside a minute.
Take about 1/3 cup of the broth and use it to deglaze the pan while it's still hot. Loosen up all that good gunk! It's your flavor and it's wonderful.
Now, toss in all the rest of your veggies and the meat you just took out, fill with broth to cover and add more to keep the liquid about 1 -2 inches above the food. You want to be able to stir this as it cooks easily.
Use a pot big enough so the food is not crowded in there.
Toss in your bay leaves, more salt and pepper if you wish and let this boil SLOWLY until the potatoes are tender. Throw in like 10 good shakes of the Worcestershire sauce as well.
When the potatoes are tender you can now call it almost done. Toss in a fistful of peas and a fistfull of beans and let them simmer while you prepare your roux for thickening the stew.
In a separate pan, put equal amounts of flour and butter. Usually I use 6 Tbsp each.
Let this blend on a low flame and let it 'cook' a bit till it turns a little brown. This gives so much flavor to your stew too. The more you let the roux brown, the more flavorful it is. Just don't over-do it!
Now, once this is done, VERY SLOWLY add this to your stew pot and keep the liquid moving as you add. Add a little at a time until it's thick enough! Don't toss it all in at once or it can become too lumpy or too thick.
Serve hot with nice rolls on the side and a garden salad.
This batch should make enough for dinner, leftover dinner the next night and lunch in between!
Leftover stew tastes better the next day too!
Twitchy's Out of this World Beef Stew
Note: all ingredients are measured by 'eye' or 'pot size'. I kind of 'wing it' when I make stew! Try to leave your pieces of food as big as possible for the best flavor but not so big you can't pop it in your mouth comfortably.
Ingredients:
2 pounds or so of stewing meat cut into bite sized cubes
3 - 4 med sized potatoes, skins on, cut into big bites sized chunks (white potatoes hold up nicely without breaking down)
3 Celery stalks - cut into bite size chunks
4 or so carrots, washed, SKIN ON, cut into bite size chunks
Two large onions
Flour
Butter
Salt & pepper
Worcesterchire sauce
Bay leaves
Enough beef broth (or water) to cover all ingredients and then another inch or so more extra above.
beef boullion if you don't use stock or broth. About 6 - 8 cubes or spoonfuls
Frozen peas
Frozen green beans
Chop and prepare all your vegetables except one onion and put them aside in a bowl.
Save the frozen peas and beans until the very end.
Take one of the onions and cut into slices. Put aside.
Cube your meat.
Take a cup of flour and put it in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. I like to use allot of pepper. The flour should look a little like it has fleas from the pepper.
Toss in the meat chunks and coat each with flour lightly.
Heat a BIG pot and throw in some butter or olive oil, not much, just enough to keep the meat from sticking.
Toss in the meat and onion you just sliced up. Keep these moving and brown the meat. You want to do this on a HOT temperature and do the browning FAST. Like wok style.
Let that gunk on the bottom that builds stay there!
Once the meat is nice and brown and you got some good gunk on the bottom, take out the meat and onions and put them aside a minute.
Take about 1/3 cup of the broth and use it to deglaze the pan while it's still hot. Loosen up all that good gunk! It's your flavor and it's wonderful.
Now, toss in all the rest of your veggies and the meat you just took out, fill with broth to cover and add more to keep the liquid about 1 -2 inches above the food. You want to be able to stir this as it cooks easily.
Use a pot big enough so the food is not crowded in there.
Toss in your bay leaves, more salt and pepper if you wish and let this boil SLOWLY until the potatoes are tender. Throw in like 10 good shakes of the Worcestershire sauce as well.
When the potatoes are tender you can now call it almost done. Toss in a fistful of peas and a fistfull of beans and let them simmer while you prepare your roux for thickening the stew.
In a separate pan, put equal amounts of flour and butter. Usually I use 6 Tbsp each.
Let this blend on a low flame and let it 'cook' a bit till it turns a little brown. This gives so much flavor to your stew too. The more you let the roux brown, the more flavorful it is. Just don't over-do it!
Now, once this is done, VERY SLOWLY add this to your stew pot and keep the liquid moving as you add. Add a little at a time until it's thick enough! Don't toss it all in at once or it can become too lumpy or too thick.
Serve hot with nice rolls on the side and a garden salad.
This batch should make enough for dinner, leftover dinner the next night and lunch in between!
Leftover stew tastes better the next day too!
![[Image: PancakeBunny.jpg]](http://www.twitchinkitten.com/myphotos/PancakeBunny.jpg)
I have no idea what you're talking about so here's a bunny with a pancake on it's head