Thursdays Are For Cooking….
This recipe comes from Damn Delicious. It’s a good, simple recipe, easily prepared and no fuss is involved. And who doesn’t love a good bowl of stew?
It’s a chilly, rainy day where I live, which makes this kind of easy cooking and good ingredients attractive to a hungry soul. And a good beef stew fills the house with a welcoming fragrance. The nice part about the slow cooker is that you put the meal together and let it take care of itself, then go do whatever you have to work on, and when you come back indoors from being out in the rain (or snow) and cold, it makes you glad you took the time to put this together.
N.B.: If you don’t have smoked paprika, substitute regular paprika. You will also add some subtle flavor by caramelizing the onions before you add them to the stew pot. As always, adjust seasonings to your personal taste.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 pound baby red potatoes, quartered
- 4 carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Season beef with salt and pepper, to taste. Add beef to the skillet and cook until evenly browned, about 2-3 minutes.
- Place beef, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire, thyme, rosemary, paprika, caraway seeds and bay leaves until well combined; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour and 1/2 cup stew broth. Stir in flour mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until thickened.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
The reason God gave us chuck roasts. Thanks, Ex.
You got that right, First Class!
Nuuuummm, nuuuummm! We were waitin’! Let’s eat! Had to make me a p’nut butter with honey and grape jelly to tide me over. Ain’t hardly nothin’ that can beat a crockett pot of beef beast stew that has percurlated lowly for 6, maybe 9 hours. The beef beast just falls slam apart and the flavors marry up so very harmoniously with the veggies. I guess it goes without saying that a loaf of that good crusty bread or a pan of them cat headed biscuits goes real well here to sop up that pot lickher?
Full disclosure. I tried smoking some paprikas one time. Didn’t.even.get.a.buzz! Even worse than oregano, and EVERYBODY knows that sh^t wouldn’t get a fly high. 😉 (ht 2 C & C)
Baby Sister coming out to Fire Base Magnolia this weekend. She wants to rustle up a suitable feast in celebration of The Gun Bunny Birthday, coming up next Tuesday. Make a note of it. Who’d a thunk he’d make this many revolutions. Her plan is for Country Style Cubed Beef Beast Steak (some call it chicken fried), swimming in a skillet of brown gravy (eat your heart out Dave Hardin), pot full of homemade smashed taters (there is a difference in smashed, whipped, and creamed taters), squash and zookeeny w cheese cassi-role, crockett pot of simmered butter peas, and, naturally, a skillet of real cornbread dressing. They’ll be a pan of catheads too. And a peach cobbler…with vanilla bean ice cream. All of it prepared just like our Mama and Older Sister used to make for me. Y’all come on, they’ll be a gracious plenty!
Tanks Ex.
For smashed taters, you use that handy dandy thingy called a potato smasher that looks like a Running W cattle brand of some kind.
Otherwise, you just throw them into the food processor thingy and buzz them up with some cream or whole milk and a little seasoning.
Happy Up & Coming B’Day, Gun Bunny!
Now let’s hope that you can “hop to it” and have the breath endurance to blow out that many candles.
How many candles? Let’s just say that when Gun Bunny “lights ’em up”;
1) he’d best have a 20 pound fire extinguisher at his side, pin pulled and at the ready,
and
2) He needs to warn NASA so they can warn their orbiting astronauts to put their sun shields in place.
Tanks Bro. I gots the Fire Dprt on standby with a pumper truck…and my welding goggles. Got a burn permit from the Forestry Boys. I just hope I’m not charged with contributing to GloBull Warming. It’s a balmy 74 F with a slight breeze coming from the west/south/west out of Alley-damn-Bamy.
You needs to stop by, Homeboy just dropped off a Mason Jar of that Good Apple Jack Stump Water. It was aged for nearly a week.
For those who like to cook under pressure…. In our never ending “battle” within this series, we are upping the ante….. Beef Stew with Bacon 4 oz Bacon cut into 1 inch pieces 1 1/4 lb Beef Chuck cut into 1 inch cubes for beef stew Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste 2 Red Onions vertically cut into 1 inch slices 2 Carrots roll cut into 1 inch pieces 2 Parsnips roll cut into 1 inch pieces 8-10 cloves Garlic chopped 2 Tbsp White Miso Paste 2 Tbsp AP Flour 1 bottle Red Wine less one glass for sipping 1 tsp Dried Thyme Leaves 1 tsp Dried Parsley (If you are a ‘tator fan, substitute or add tators.) Roughly cut your carrots and parsnips into inch-long pieces. If the veggies are particularly thick, you may need to halve or quarter the pieces to be more bite sized. Peel onions and vertically slice them into roughly inch wide pieces. Smash and roughly chop the garlic. If necessary, cut your stew meat into roughly 1-inch cubes. Open wine, pour yourself a glass to sip on, then set the rest to the side for the stew. Set the Instant Pot to sauté over medium. Using sharp kitchen shears, cut your bacon into 1-inch pieces to drop into the metal insert. Render the fat from the bacon, stirring occasionally to cook it from all sides. Remove browned bacon from the pan and set aside, leaving the fat in the Instant Pot. Liberally sprinkle your meat with kosher salt and pepper to season. Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, brown the meat on all sides. Remove the browned beef to the same plate or bowl as your cooked bacon. Add your onions to the Instant Pot. Leave them undisturbed for 2-3 minutes to get some char, then stir. Continue cooking until the onions are beginning to soften and become translucent. Add the carrots and parsnips, along with a five finger pinch of salt. Stir, using the resulting juices to help scrape up some of the browned bits on the bottom of… Read more »