Saturday Night Let-It-Sit Stew...

Greetings, Dear Reader. I was really in a quandry about what to post for Recipe Tuesday. See, I made stew Saturday, then Sic_un made roast for Sunday, and I really didn't feel like cooking tonight. SO what to do for Recipe Tuesday... It's, well, it's stew or roast or an untried recipe.

Then I thought about how I ended up making the stew. New cooking trick for me, so...

Saturday Night Let-It-Sit Stew

1 1/2 pound chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2x1 inch chunks
3/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped (1/2" pieces)
1 tablespoon oil
***
1 1/2 onions, medium chop (1/4" pieces)
4 carrots, sliced into 1/2" thick pieces
3 stalks celery, chopped into 1/4" pieces
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
***
5 cups beef broth
1 can navy beans, rinsed well
4 potatoes, cut into large bite size chunks (I ended up cutting them in 1/2 lengthwise, then 3/4 inch chunks)
2 cups frozen green beans

To start the stew, mix your seasoning into your flour. Coat the beef chunks with the flour. Heat the oil in the bottom of a large soup or stock pot over medium-high heat until shimmery. Sear the meat chunks in batches with small amounts of the coarsely chopped onion, removing each batch to a plate to catch the juices. You will not be cooking the meat through, just searing it for color and texture. Be sure to drain as much of the oil off the pieces and leave it in the pan.

After searing the meat, throw the onions, carrots and celery into the pan. After approximately 5-7 minutes of cooking (you want the veggies barely softened), sprinkle approximately 3 tablespoons of your coating flour over the top of the veggies, stir well. We're cooking the flour rather than cooking the veggies as much. Keep stirring. Once the flour reaches a nice golden color, stir in the reserved beef, the worcestershire sauce and the 5 cups of beef broth. You should notice it getting thicker once it gets to the bubble point. At this point, turn it down and let it simmer for about 1/2 an hour. Taste it for seasonings, add to your heart's content. I threw in about 1 teaspoon of Jane's Crazy Pepper, which gave it an immediate bite and flavor boost without a whole lot of 'hot'.

After it's simmered for a 1/2 hour or so, add in your beans and potatoes. Add water to cover veggies if necessary. Bring it to a bubble. Simmer it on medium heat, at a bubble, stirring occasionally. After a half hour, turn it off. Yeah, yeah, I know. "Don't keep food in the 'danger zone'". We went to G&D's to pick up equipment and kick back for a few. It ended up being 2 hours. But that 2 hours? The pot held the heat really well, the stew held it's temperature really well, and the flavors just BLENDED. You could stop at this point, pour it into a bowl and let it refrigerate overnight, but let it REST.

When we came back home, we popped the heat back up, brought it to a boil, turned it down to simmer, threw in the green beans, and let it just bubble at a lower heat for about 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with the bread and salad of your choice.

It really is a stew, thick and rich and peppery. We had about 6-8 servings left over that we froze for future 'Don't wanna cook' nights. You can thin it down with broth or water, add in more veggies (how good would corn be in this?), add some tomato (we didn't want the acid in it), throw in some V8.... Play with it, but as is, it's a very thick and rich hearty stew OH so good for days that start out like this:
Enjoy Recipe Tuesday, folks! Changes to it are on the way, including adding in SiO2's recipes :)