Week 3 basic beef stew

so I already owe you a stew.  I apologize, but I started school last week and honestly, I was overwhelmed.  I'm taking two classes which is my max just now.  Next quarter I'll be taking three classes, so I'm thinking making stew will be good so Michael has something to heat up during the week.

anyway, tonight I'm headed over to my friend Kendra's to hang out and I offered to make a stew.  she said "beef stew, just some kind of beef stew".  okayyyy, that's easy enough.  So here it is, nothing fancy, basic beef stew.

Week 3


standard beef stew.

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut in 1-inch cubes
3 glugs olive oil
3 small to medium onions, peeled
4-5 stalks celery, not the greenest outer stalks
4 large carrots
5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt plus to flavor
black and or white pepper to taste
pinch cayenne pepper. be conservative, you can always add more
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
3 bay leaves
2 cups broth plus to cover (any reduced sodium broth with no msg, beef or veg make most sense)
1/4 cup crushed tomato
light 1/4 cup wine or balsamic vinegar
Preparation:

heat one glug olive oil in a dutch overn or heavy skillet over medium-low heat; pat beef dry on paper or kitchen towel.
add to dutch oven and brown.
As with any recipe that calls for browned beef, don't overcrowd!
In a large bowl, combine salt, flour, black and or white pepper and conservative pinch cayenne.
As smallish batches of beef finish browning, remove to a bowl with dry ingredients, allowing as much oil/drippings to remain in pot as possible.
Add onions and celery to Dutch oven with about 1/2 cup of broth. Stir and scrape to dissolve the browned drippings clinging to the pot.
Add flour coated beef, bay leaves, mustard and remaining stock and bring almost to a boil. Add tomato, reduce heat to low and cover.

After about an hour add carrots and any additional root vegetables plus the vinegar. Check/adjust seasoning. cover but leave a gap so the stew can reduce a bit.  depending on the quality of the stew meat, simmer 3-5 hours.  you can also bake for 3-5 hours at 325degrees.   I took photos today, I'll post a link in a little while.

* A quick note about stew meat.  all of my favorite chefs at Food Network champion the virtues of knowing your butcher.  For some time now I have been attempting to cultivate at least an acknowledgement from the butchers at Treasure Island (high quality meat directly on my route to my car after work, SCORE).  I finally succeded today, but he didn't have any "stew" meat left in the back.  He was super sweet though, and handed me the three packages he thought looked nicest.  I have to admit, I hardly had to trim anything.  My Dog Charlie was a little disappointed.
So yeah, get to know your butcher, no more guesswork about what meat to buy for what.  :)