One of our favorite fall and winter meals on a windy cold day is soup. There is something very comforting about a house with smells of a hearty beef stew cooking in the kitchen. I am expecting the man grand and great grand to be here for supper tonight and because I know how much man grand loves soup, I’m making the heartiest of stews I know how to make. My dad made it a lot and I get a little nostalgic making it. In a good way. We’ll start with the beef…
Hearty Beef Stew:
- 1 pound beef cut in small cubes
- 1 medium onion, diced and caramelized
- 1 small bell pepper, diced and caramelized with the onion
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced and caramelized with the onion
- 1 small bag of carrots, peeled and cut bite size or a small bag of petite carrots
- 1 large container beef broth (or chicken, doesn’t really matter)
- 1 large can diced tomatoes
- 1 small bag frozen corn kernels
- 4-6 medium-large white potatoes, peeled and cubed
- additional water to cover the ingredients
- salt and pepper to taste
- big pinch of ground chili pepper
- Keep in mind as you make this stew that substitutions are quite all right and additions are okay too. Its all about your taste buds. Prepare a Dutch oven or crock pot with a film of olive oil and turn on the heat. Soup is cooked low and slow, so start at least 2-4 hours before you plan to eat it. If you are a crock pot cook, cut/chop everything the night before you go to work, put it all together in the pot in the morning and eat it when you get home from work!
- I prefer to start by caramelizing the onion, bell pepper and garlic in a cast iron skillet. The smell will make you salivate!
- Now days I buy stew meat already cut in the market, but I also use inexpensive round steak cuts that are tenderized and even left over roast sometimes. Sear it before adding it to the pot. Searing will keep the meat moist and tender.
- Now add your prepared vegetables.
- Add the liquids next. The broth, can tomatoes and use the tomato can to add a couple cans of hot water. Enough to cover all the ingredients by a couple of inches.
- Season with salt, pepper and a big pinch of chili powder. Amazing what the chili powder does for the flavor.
- Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer for at least 2 hours. The longer it simmers the richer the flavors. It should not be boiling, you will lose liquids too fast and risk burning the bottom ingredients.
