Here's a fantastic yet easy to make recipe for beef stew. The beef is tender and the seasonings are good enough for a great restaurant. This recipe is also adaptable to the vegetables you have on hand. For example, I recently made it with carrots, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli stems, parsnips, asparagus, and cauliflower; it's a great clean-out-the crisper drawer meal!
You can make this dish either in a cast iron Dutch oven or in a roasting pan. For roasting pan instructions, see the end of the recipe.
What You Need:
Flour (all purpose or whole wheat)
2 lbs. beef stew meat, cut into approximately 1 in. chunks
2 tablespoons bacon grease or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
16 oz. can chopped tomatoes in liquid
10 1/2 oz. beef stock
3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
2 large garlic cloves, chopped or minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
2 bay leaves
6 medium carrots, chopped into 2 in. pieces
3 medium potatoes, chopped into 2 in. pieces
1 cup chopped (1 in. pieces) celery
Cast iron Dutch oven or roasting pan and skillet
Shallow bowl
Tongs
How to Do It:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the Dutch oven on the stove over medium high heat. Add the bacon grease or oil.
3. Pour some flour into the shallow bowl and stir in some pepper to taste. Dredge the beef in the flour, covering all sides of the meat. Using tongs, drop the meat in the warmed bacon grease or oil. Brown on every side and cook until you can see no more red on the meat.
4. If there is excess fat in the pan after cooking the beef, drain it and return the meat to the Dutch oven using tongs. Add the onion, tomatoes (with their liquid), beef stock, tapioca, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper to taste, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil.
5. Remove the Dutch oven from the stove, cover, and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
6. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and stir in the carrots, potatoes, and celery. Cover and bake until vegetables are tender, about 1 hour. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
To make this stew in a roasting pan, first brown the meat in a skillet. Using tongs, move the meat to the roasting pan, and add the ingredients from step 4. Lay the roasting pan across two stove burners and bring to a boil. Then cover the roasting pan and place it in the oven.
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