Ah, Betty Crocker! How I love your picture cook book!I have made the following recipe a few times now and wanted to share it. I wanted to stress a couple if things:
* All-natural beef tastes the best. The very best time I did this, I got stew meat from the organic/grass-fed guy at my local farmer's market. Second best was from the butcher's case at the grocery store... not the "one size fits all" cheap meat from the general case. It costs more, but has less fat, less chemicals, and tastes cleaner.
* I hate bell peppers. I can't say why, but maybe it's my Southwestern taste buds evolving. I used the dark green anaheim chilies. They are mild, but add a little more flavor than green peppers (they're also available locally!). I have done the stew with no peppers and it tasted fine... a little milder overall. The peppers enhance the beef's flavor.
* Try to find bouillon cubes without MSG. They taste better.
Here's the recipe:
1. Take stew meat, trim fat if desired and cut into cubes. Roll beef in seasoned flour. To make this flour, take 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp Paprika, and mix with 1 cup flour (I use unbleached)
2. Brown meat throughly in olive oil (Betty's original calls for fat (lard!)). I do this in the bottom of a large pot to do less dishes.
3. Cover with 1 qt. of hot water.
4. Simmer 2 hours, adding water of necessary.
5. Add...
- 3 medium potatoes, diced (aprox. 2 cups)
- 1 cup diced turnips
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup diced parsnips
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
6. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
I've done this in a slow cooker. I've also cooked the vegis a lot longer than 30 minutes and it has come out fine. I often serve as a soup... you can also thicken the broth with additional flour if you like a thicker stew. I often serve it with egg noodles- the combination of the two works great!
What I love best about this is that it reminds me of the stew my grandparents made. Every time I serve it, people go back for thirds!
