Saturday Night Beef Stew

I've cooked curry, both dry version and wet version. I've cooked chicken stew too. But I've never cooked beef stew before. Yes, I know right! What have I been missing all these while? Hehe...

And so I thought it's high time I tried to cook beef stew with the aid of Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman. She is known for her sense of humour in her blog posts making it very fun for readers to enjoy her recipes with her. And not to mention her step by step pictures that are very pretty ;)

From her latest book, Food from My Frontier, this recipe serves 8 pax so please alter accordingly. See my modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon (14g) Butter
• 2 pounds Beef Stew Meat (chuck Roast Cut Into Chunks)
• Salt And Pepper
• 1 3 whole Medium Onions, Diced (I used red onions instead of the yellow ones)
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 4 ounces, weight Tomato Paste
• 4 cups Low Sodium Beef Stock Or Broth, More If Needed For Thinning
• many splashes of worcestershire
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 4 whole Carrots, Peeled And Diced
• 2 whole Turnips 4 stalks celery, Peeled And Diced
• 2 Tablespoons Minced Fresh Parsley

Method:

1. Salt and pepper stew meat. 
2. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add butter, and as soon as it melts, brown half the stew meat until the outside gets nice and brown, about 2 minutes. (Turn it as it browns.) Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon and put it on a plate. Add the rest of the meat to the pot and brown it, too. Remove it to the same plate. Set the meat aside.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the pot, stirring it to coat it in all the brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Cook for two minutes, then add the tomato paste to the pot. Stir it into the onions and let it cook for two more minutes.
4. Pour in the beef stock, stirring constantly. Add the Worcestershire and sugar. Add the beef back to the pot, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.
5. After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, add the diced turnips and carrots to the pot. Stir to combine, put the lid back on the pot, and let it simmer for another 30 minutes. The sauce should be very thick, but if it seems overly so, splash in some beef broth until it thins it up enough. Feel free to add beef broth as needed!
6. When the carrots and turnips are tender, stir in minced parsley. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve piping hot in a bowl with mashed potatoes, letting the juice run all over everything. Sprinkle with extra minced parsley at the end.

Personal Notes:

• You may add some water instead of beef stock when you feel there is very little liquid in the pot as beef stock may be pretty salty.
• After simmering, the beef stew will become thick.

I love how hearty this stew tastes and to go with it, I also baked rosemary buttered rolls. That combination together tastes smashing!! Mr G said hmm, these taste very good together and it's an interesting recipe as I've never tasted something like this before. Thanks PW!!!

I am submitting this post to the monthly event, Cook like a Star hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out, Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join us, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Ree Drummond websites or cookbooks for the whole month of September 2013. You can link your posts at any one of the hosts' websites.

Your post must be a current post for September 2013 - please do not link older posts. Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

I'm also submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #4 organized by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.