Old fashioned stew, the smell fills your house with mouthwatering aromas. The trick to good stew is seasoning the meat, browning the meat and of course what you add to the broth. The fun thing about stew is you can add any kind of vegetables you love to eat. My stews are usually full of onions, carrots and small red skin potatoes, I even add mushrooms, celery, and sometimes at the end of the cooking period I will throw in a box of frozen peas. My sauce will usually thicken as it cooks but if it does not, you can thicken it at the end of the cooking time with a roux. Search roux in the search box for instructions. I use boneless chuck for my meat because it becomes so tender when cooked it melts in your mouth. But you can use beef round.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 pounds of boneless chuck *(pot-roast) cut into 1 inch cubes
• ½ cup seasoned flour in a large zip lock bag as follows:
  • ½ cup flour
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt or powder
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning (or paprika)
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large onions cut into quarters
• One bag of mini carrots or 4 large carrots cut into chunks
• About 6 small red skinned potatoes cut in half or 1 lb. of regular white potatoes quartered
• 3 ribs of celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound of mushrooms, cut into halves or quarters (depending on size)
• 1 large garlic bulb, cloves separated and paper removed
• 4 cups of beef broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut all your vegetables and gather into a bowl, set aside.
2. In small batches place meet cubes in the zip-lock bag and shake to coat, remove from flour mixture and put on a plate until ready to use.
3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Be sure the oil is hot (rippling but not smoking) before adding the meat in small batches. Brown meat on all sides, remove with a slotted spoon to a dish and add another batch of meat until all is browned.
4. After the meat has browned, turn heat to medium low.
5. Add the cut-up vegetables to the hot oil in the pan, there should be only about a tablespoon of oil left in the pan, if not, add and let get hot.
6. Cook about 5 minutes stirring once or twice until lightly browned.
7. Add the beef broth, tomato paste, and mustard, stirring to scrape up browned bits. Bring to a boil.
8. Return the browned meat to pot, reduce heat to low.
9. Cover and simmer for about 4 hours, or until meat is cooked through, and tender.
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.