Another Cooking Post

I love soups and stews. A great hearty beef stew makes me a very happy and jolly man. I like to throw a whole bunch of vegetables in there and simmer them until they are tender. My mom made an Italian Beef Stew that was so delicious that I went back for fourths! Not just two servings, but four servings. Let’s start off with my recipe and the recipe that my mom uses. My ingredients aren’t as fancy. As a matter of fact, they’re pretty crude compared with my mom’s fancy stew, but it still tastes good and satisfies.

1) Vince’s Beef Stew – Ingredients: Stew meat cut into chunks, flour, diced tomatoes, potatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, beef broth, onions, celery, carrots, assorted vegetables (whatever you want to throw in), salt, pepper, chili powder, basil. Once you have your ingredients, let’s begin. Sorry I don’t do amounts. With some practice and tasting, you’ll get it down pat. Of course it won’t taste exactly the same every time you make it, but it’ll be close and yummy nevertheless.

1. Grab your ingredients and start cutting away! This is the prep stage and it makes everything a little easier as you move along. I don’t like the skins on my tomatoes because of the texture clash, but you can keep the skins on if you wish. If you want to remove them, boil a pot of water. Plop your tomatoes in there and boil for 1-2 minutes. Fish them put and immerse them in cold water. The skins should slide right off!
2. Dice up your tomatoes. If you like skins on your potatoes, just dice them up and set them aside as well. If you don’t like skins, then skin them and then dice them up. I like a mix, so I make a stripped pattern on the potato. That way there will be some with skin and some with none.
3. Take your onions and celery and dice them up as well. It doesn’t matter if they’re fine or not. If you like chunky soup like I do, leave them in larger pieces.
4. With the carrots, you can use whole baby carrots. That way you won’t even have to cut them. If you use large carrots, peel and cut to a size that you desire. Baby carrots are relatively cheap, good tasting, and don’t need to be cut. I’d definitely prefer those baby carrots. They’re perfectly suited for plopping straight into your mouth. You can also cut these baby carrots in half if need be.
5. Let’s get started with your stew meat! We’re gonna pan fry them with some flour to seal in the juices when we simmer it later on. The texture is preserved if you take care with this step. Get some flour in a bowl. Salt and pepper the flour and mix well. Take your meat pieces and cover it with flour. Put some oil in a skillet and pan fry all 6 sides of your stew meat (since it’ll be cubed). Do this with all of your stew meat.
6. Once you’re done with your stew meat, grab your stew pot, put a little bit of oil in the bottom and add your meat into the pot. Cover with beef broth and throw in half of your onions and celery. Then also throw in your potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots. Make sure it is covered with broth. You can also throw in some water for good measure. Simmer this mixture until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
7. Once your tomatoes and carrots are tender, check to make sure that you have enough liquid. If you don’t, either add more broth or water. Next part is thickening and adding your tomato paste. The tomato paste and ketchup is mainly for flavor and color. Add some of both. If you want, you can also add in some hot sauce. Season with salt, pepper, chili powder, and add some basil as well.
8. Simmer for a while longer to let the flavor set in. Then, turn down the heat on your stove. Take a bowl with warm water and add flour to it. Mix well, ensuring there are no chunks of flour. Then add this mixture to your pot and stir well! Eyeball it and make sure that it is thick enough! That’s that. Enjoy!

2) Italian Beef Stew – Ingredients: stew meat cut into chunks, flour, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, dry red wine, green bell pepper, onions, carrots, zucchini, green beans, celery, potatoes, garlic, oregano, olive oil, black pepper, salt. See all these ingredients? Sounds good already. I’ve included a link to the site with specific measurements for ingredients. Hope you have fun making it. It’s delicious!

1. Trim the fat off the meat
2. Dredge meat in flour and shake off excess
3. Slice and dice vegetables
4. Brown meat in oil
5. Add garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper
6. Add wine and simmer for ten minutes.
7. Add all vegetables and stir
8. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water to cover
9. Simmer for an hour, half-covered

Simple, easy, mouth-watering goodness. I think I’m going to have to try this and perfect this recipe. That way I can add it to my belt of tricks. Enjoy!

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