Needs Salt (Beef Stew 2.0)
Sep. 2nd, 2009 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aseI've been sitting on this icon for a while, and I still don't like the text, but I can redo it later. I have a reason to use it!
Beef and Vegetable Stew, V2.0
Based on a recipe culled from Cook's Illustrated.
~2 lb stew beef, cubed
Pepper to taste
1 - 2 onions (~2 cups) chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 - 2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 cup (1 can) reduced salt beef broth
4+ cups water (I started with 3 1/2, and added more while simmering)
4 celery stalks, chopped
4 carrots (two smallish), sliced
5 potatoes (all small-to-medium), cubed
Dig out your largest pot. No, larger. The one that lives in the Rubbermaid doubling as a foot rest. Maybe clean it out a bit first.
Turn stove to medium high heat, heat pot, and add olive oil. Pepper beef cubes, and brown beef in two batches, about 5 minutes each. Set aside browned beef, and sautee onions in the same pot for 4 - 5 minutes (the CI recipie says "until almost softened", I lean on time because I am iffy on what "soft" means here). Drop heat to medium, add garlic, and sautee the mess about 30 seconds more. Stir in flour and cook until lightly colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Add stock, water, bay leaves and thyme, scraping up all the delicious brown gunk now sticking to the bottom of the pot. Bring to a simmer. Add meat, return to a simmer, and let it go for an hour.
Incidentally, what a great time to chop your remaining vegetables!
After an hour, add celery, carrots and potatoes, cover, and simmer until meat is just tender, about 1 hour. Pull off heat, add garnishes or other greenery (K. likes to add frozen peas for a quick cool-down), and stuff yourself.
The beef was, indeed, meltingly tender, and boosting the spices was a really good idea. (Some day, I am likely to throw vegetables, potatoes, beef and curry mix into a pot to see what happens.) I didn't add any salt above the salt in the beef broth, which really wasn't enough. I didn't think so, M. really didn't think so - M. made puppy eyes at the cookpot all night, so I did all the work and we both had beef stew for lunch. I will bribe her to take me to the store one bitterly cold January night with the magic phrase "but M., stew beef is on sale!" - so next time I may unbend enough to add a whole teaspoon of salt for flavor. I may also ask M. to donate her wine stash - untouched for many months and counting - to the beef stew cause.
Beef and Vegetable Stew, V2.0
Based on a recipe culled from Cook's Illustrated.
~2 lb stew beef, cubed
Pepper to taste
1 - 2 onions (~2 cups) chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 - 2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 cup (1 can) reduced salt beef broth
4+ cups water (I started with 3 1/2, and added more while simmering)
4 celery stalks, chopped
4 carrots (two smallish), sliced
5 potatoes (all small-to-medium), cubed
Dig out your largest pot. No, larger. The one that lives in the Rubbermaid doubling as a foot rest. Maybe clean it out a bit first.
Turn stove to medium high heat, heat pot, and add olive oil. Pepper beef cubes, and brown beef in two batches, about 5 minutes each. Set aside browned beef, and sautee onions in the same pot for 4 - 5 minutes (the CI recipie says "until almost softened", I lean on time because I am iffy on what "soft" means here). Drop heat to medium, add garlic, and sautee the mess about 30 seconds more. Stir in flour and cook until lightly colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Add stock, water, bay leaves and thyme, scraping up all the delicious brown gunk now sticking to the bottom of the pot. Bring to a simmer. Add meat, return to a simmer, and let it go for an hour.
Incidentally, what a great time to chop your remaining vegetables!
After an hour, add celery, carrots and potatoes, cover, and simmer until meat is just tender, about 1 hour. Pull off heat, add garnishes or other greenery (K. likes to add frozen peas for a quick cool-down), and stuff yourself.
The beef was, indeed, meltingly tender, and boosting the spices was a really good idea. (Some day, I am likely to throw vegetables, potatoes, beef and curry mix into a pot to see what happens.) I didn't add any salt above the salt in the beef broth, which really wasn't enough. I didn't think so, M. really didn't think so - M. made puppy eyes at the cookpot all night, so I did all the work and we both had beef stew for lunch. I will bribe her to take me to the store one bitterly cold January night with the magic phrase "but M., stew beef is on sale!" - so next time I may unbend enough to add a whole teaspoon of salt for flavor. I may also ask M. to donate her wine stash - untouched for many months and counting - to the beef stew cause.
