Stew!

[deerminator]

Been making some good beef stew adapted from a recipe I saw Paula Deen make and thought I would share. I make some homemade sourdough bread to go with it. The bread itself is easy to make after you get the starter going and is a perfect compliment to the stew.

Ingredients

2 lbs stewing beef or venison (I hate to waste venison on stew meat, though)

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups beef broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 garlic clove , minced

Good dash of cooking sherry

2 bay leaves

1 medium onion , sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 dash ground allspice or 1 dash clove

One small bag of carrots sliced

1 bag frozen peas

One container sliced portobello mushrooms

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Fry up the beef in oil and then simmer it in the beef broth, worcestershire sauce along with all other ingredients except carrots, peas and mushrooms for an hour and a half. Remove bay leaves and add carrots amd peas for another 45 minutes. Then add mushrooms for another 15, thicken with the cornstarch with a little water, and serve up with bread!

[reinhard1]

one thing about stew meat i would suggest as far as flavor. when we used to cut up stew we packaged it extra lean or regular stew. the regular stew for the most part came from the shoulder area and the extra lean from the round. i have made stew with buying chuck roasts myself and cutting up myself. cheaper and chuck has the best flavor.

what i dont see much anymore is shank steaks. thats the shank sliced in approximatley 1 inch slices with the marrow bone in the center. this gives good flavor also and the shank meat after simmering awhile gets tender and the marrow bone adds some flavor. i like the recipe above and would probably add a few potatoes to it. i like the spices used as well. i just have to have a few potatoes in stew. been that way forever i guess. good luck