Throughout the summer the barbeque is the king of dinner. As the weather cool the crock pot comes out and the beef stew start too cook.
This is just a basic recipe but it is easy enough to modify to suit your own taste. Once you have this basic version mastered you can change it up as you need to.
The first thing is to heat up the crock pot with some hot tap water. Fill the pot with hot tap water and start to heat it up. I don’t like to heat up the crock pot without liquid in it. I don’t want to crack it.
Add some oil to a large stock pot and and let heat before adding meat. The goal is to seer the meat and lock in the juice. Keep turning the cubes so all the sides get browned. Keep an eye on the heat , you don’t want to burn the beef to the pan. I generally use about 6 on my stove. Cook the meat about half way and then remove from heat and set aside.
Before adding the carrots and other veggies add a bit more oil to prevent the veggies from sticking. Get everything moving around so everything gets covered in the oil. You also want to scrape off the bits left on the pan from seering the meat. Cooking Tip: There is a ton of flavor left in the “pan drippings”.
Allow these veggies to start to cook down. You don’t want the saucepan to get too hot or to have the veggies start to dry out and stick. You can add a half a cup of soup stock to cool things down. Add the meat once the veggies have heated and started to cook through. Add about a half teaspoon of salt now also.
Time to add a liquid to this~Now you can add some liquid}. It is ideal to use beef or vegatable stock for this but hot water will work also. Add enough liquid to cover all the veggies and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and reduce heat. It can simmer away for about 20 minutes.
By this time the crock pot is ready. Pour out the water and add the soup, be real careful. I have been splashed and it hurts so I have started to use a laddle until almost all of it is in the crock pot.
I let the stew cook for an hour or so on high and then I taste it and start to season. Add some salt pepper and even some ground garlic. The flavor can be enhanced with some beef stock cubes or onion soup mix. At this point you can also add some frozen corn and green beens or whatever else you want.
Let cook in the crock pot for about 5 hours on low and 2.5 or on high. Just before you serve it will need to be thickened. I use about 3 table spoons of flour mixed in 3/4 of a cup of milk. Pour in and stir. Let cook for another 20 minutes or until thickened.
Let leftovers cool and put into the fridge or freezer and enjoy when ever you fell the need for some comfort food. More Great Cooking Tips
