Beef Stroganoff

I am always keeping my eyes out for mark downed meats.  Most people over look the tougher cuts, but with a little simmering in the oven, these can become the best dinners.  When I saw this nice cut, my husband and I both said beef stroganoff.  It's not difficult to make and your house will be filled with wonderful aromas as it cooks.

You will need:
2 pounds chuck roast, (stew meat, or similar), cut into 1 inch cubes and patted dry
1 Tabs. each salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour
3 Tabs. vegetable oil
2 Tabs butter
1 jumbo, (or 2 large) onions diced
2 garlic cloves, (minced)
1/2 pound mushrooms, (sliced)
2 Tabs. paprika
2 cups beef stock
3 Tabs. tomato paste
2 Tabs. dried parsley
1 Tabs. Dijon mustard
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, and pepper.

Add the chopped meat.  Lightly dust the meat with the flour and shake off the excess flour.

In a dutch oven, (over medium high heat), add the vegetable oil.  When the oil is hot, add the beef and cook until brown on all sides, turning as it cooks.  When the meat has browned, remove from pan and set aside.

 Add the butter to the dutch oven pan and melt.

Add the chopped onion and minced garlic.  Cook, (stirring frequently) until the onion is translucent, (about 2 or 3 minutes).

 Add the mushrooms and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Add paprika and cook for 1 more minute, stirring constantly.

Add the tomato paste, and stir well.  Cook for 1 minute.

Add the beef broth.

Add the Dijon mustard.

 Add the dried parsley


Note: If you have fresh parsley on hand, feel free to use it.

 Add the browned meat back to the pot.

Stir well  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, (make sure to scrape up the bits from the bottom of the pan).  Cover the pan, place in the oven, and cook for 2 to 2 - 1/2 hours until meat is tender.

Once the meat is cooked, remove from oven

Add the sour cream, and stir well.  Your stroganoff is ready to serve.

Some people like to enjoy their stroganoff served plain.

In our house, we like to serve our stroganoff on top of egg noodles.  You can also top it off with another little dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy !

Beef Barley Vegetable Stew (Crock Pot Version)

The weather has turned cold, and the mountains are already getting their first dusting of snow - so that means it's time to pull out the crock pot and start turning out some satisfying tummy warming stews.  This dish doesn't really have a recipe, but I'm pretty sure I can show you how to give your family a pot of beef barley vegetable stew that they will come back wanting seconds on, and it won't take much of your time or money to prepare.

First, plug in the crock pot and turn it on high so that it's warmed up and ready to go when you put the meat and vegetables in to cook.

 For this recipe you will need:
1 pound of beef chuck, or stew meat
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
2 medium onions
2 medium potatoes
2 medium tomatoes
2 roasted Hatch chilies (optional)
2 - 3 cloves garlic (large sized)
2 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 can (6.5 oz) sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup pearl barley
2 Tabs. flour
olive oil
salt / pepper
cumin / dried basil flakes / dried rosemary /
dried oregano / dried thyme /

 In a small bowl combine:
2 Tabs. flour
1 teas. each of  salt / pepper / cumin / oregano /
1 teas each of basil flakes / rosemary / thyme

Cut the meat into 1/2 inch pieces

Cut the carrots, celery, onions and potatoes into 3/4 inch - 1 inch sizes, (you want the vegetables to hold up during the cooking process - so they need to be rather large).

Peel, but don't chop the garlic very much.

Coat the meat with the flour mixture.

Into the hot crock pot, pour 1 3/4 cups beef broth, (you will still have 1/4 cup leftover), also add the 2 cups water and your vegetables.

In a pot, over medium high heat, heat 2 Tabs olive oil and brown the meat chunks.

Once the meat is browned, add the remaining 1/4 cup of beef broth and stir up the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  (Boy does this smell wonderful!!).  It's already starting to form a nice gravy base.

Now pour the meat and the gravy base into the crock pot with the vegetables and the beef broth.

Add more of the herbs -  1 Tabs each of basil / oregano / thyme / rosemary, 1 teas each of salt / pepper / cumin.

Stir everything.

Put the lid on the crock pot, and let it cook for 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

 I like to add chopped roasted Hatch chilies that I picked up a couple months ago, and have in my freezer.  This is an optional thing - it doesn't add heat, only another depth of flavor.

If you don't have roasted Hatch chilies, you can also buy canned green chilies at the supermarket, (I think this small can cost me about 75 cents).  Of course the roasted Hatch chilies have so much more flavor, so next year keep your eyes open and pick up a bag when you see them and you can pop them in the freezer to use during the winter.

OK, my stew has been cooking for 3 1/2  hours, the carrots and potatoes are just starting to soften, so now I'm adding my rough chopped tomatoes, the can of mushrooms, and chopped chilies. At this point if your were just making beef stew you would only need to cook the vegetables till they were tender.  BUT, we are also adding 1/2 cup of pearl barley to make it a little more heartier.   Give it a stir and put the lid back on for another hour.  The wonderful smell is hard to resist, (I want a small bowl of this now.)

OK, it's been 1 hour and everything is cooked, the barley is plump, nice and soft.  The meat is well cooked and the vegetables are also cooked through.  We are ready to serve our dinner.  Give it one final taste for seasoning.  Does it need a little more salt and pepper??

Tonight, we're having a tossed salad, dinner rolls, and beef barley vegetable stew.  And I didn't have to stand over the stove all day.  I was able to throw everything in the crock pot, go out on some errands and when I came home I just added the last of the ingredients and we now have a large pot of stew that will feed 6 - 8 people easily for very little money.  And this tastes even better the next day, for lunch.

You can also substitute pork for the beef, (or chicken), depending on your family's taste and what you happen to have on hand.  Now go make a big pot of beef barley vegetable stew and warm your family's tummy.

ENJOY!!

Beef Stew

Sometimes when the weather is rainy or cold and you want something substantial to warm you up and fill you up, a bowl of beef stew is just the thing.  You can let it cook on the stove top for a couple of hours, filling the house with wonderful aromas and when it's time for dinner the anticipation of spooning a mouthful of the delicious meat and vegetables from the bowl into your tummy delights all your senses.  And you won't have all those artificial preservatives in this meal.  Let's get started.

1 pound of beef, (you don't need anything expensive since the meat is going to stew and get tender)
3 - 4 carrots
3 stalks of celery
3 potatoes
1 onion
1 Anaheim pepper
1 cup peas
2 Tabs oil
4 Tabs flour
salt / pepper / garlic powder / onion powder / chili powder / cumin / dried rosemary / oregano /  parsley

 On a plate, (or pie tin), place your flour, and about 1 teas each of salt, pepper, chili pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder,  (you want to get some good seasonings on your meat).

 Next cut up your beef into 1/2 inch size pieces, (or bite size).  Now coat your meat with the flour mixture.

In a dutch oven pot, heat 2 Tabs oil over medium heat and add the flour coated beef.

Cook the beef until it has a nice brown outer crust, and the inside is no longer pink, (about 5 - 7 minutes).  Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the bits of wonderful brown flavor up off the pan.

 Add 4 cups of water and make sure to give the meat a good stir.  Add in more of your seasonings, (1 Tabs each of rosemary, oregano, garlic powder, and parsley).  Cover the pot and let the meat cook for about 45 minutes over medium-low heat until tender.

While the meat is cooking, now is the time to chop your vegetables.  Cut your carrots into 1/2 inch size pieces.

Cut the celery into 1/2 inch pieces

 Chop up the onion

Slice the Anaheim pepper into 1/4 inch slices.  (I add the Anaheim pepper for flavor, but it's not necessary to add it if you don't want it in your stew - it add flavor not heat).

Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces, (about 1/4 inch size).

 I usually put these vegetables into a container, so that when I'm ready for them I can add them all at once.

It has now been 45 minutes, (the meat is tender), and you will notice that the water has reduced down about 1/2 and we already have a nice rich brown broth.

Add 3 more cups of water and your chopped vegetables.  Stir everything well to mix up the beef and vegetables.

Cover the pot and cook for one hour until the vegetables are tender.  Make sure to stir the stew about every 20 minutes.

Once the carrots and potatoes are cooked, add  the 1 cup of peas.  Stir the stew well and continue cooking for another 20 minutes, to cook the peas.

And now you have a wonderful pot of beef stew ready to feed 6 - 8 people.

 I'm going to serve this with a slice of homemade cornbread and a fresh green salad.  Yummy!!  You could also make this stew with pork or venison - both of those are good choices.

Let me know how your stew turned out.