Beef Stew

Mother never used a recipe to make stew, but we recently used this one as a guide and found it pretty tasty.

• 2 lbs. top sirloin steak, diced (or stew meat)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, halved
• 3 T. flour
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 2 1/2 cups beef stock
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch chunks
• 2 T. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Season meat with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add meat to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until evenly browned, about 6-8 minutes. Set aside.

Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Add garlic and mushrooms and cook about 3-4 minutes.

Whisk in flour and tomato paste until lightly browned, about 1 minute.

Stir in wine, scraping browned bits from bottom of the pot.

Stir in beef stock, thyme, bay leaves, and meat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until beef is very tender, about 30 minutes.

Stir in potato. Simmer until potatoes are tender and stew has thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Stir in parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The no-recipe version:

Dredge stew meat in seasoned flour.

Brown meat in oil in batches (don’t crowd the pan).

Add chopped onion, carrot, potato, celery. Cover with water. (or beef broth)

Simmer until meat is very tender – perhaps 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Other seasonings: garlic, a touch of nutmeg.

If the broth seems thin, stir a bit into leftover seasoned flour until lumps are mostly gone and add to the stew pot.

Sometimes I add a can of tomatoes, or other leftover veggies.

Serve with cornbread.