Enjoy Your Stew…

“Make hunger thy sauce, as a medicine for health.”

-Thomas Tusser

_ _ I’m a lady of a thousand faces. Most of the time I don’t know I’m making them but I undeniably wear my thoughts and emotions on my face… usually unattractively. I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam… I accept it. What does still embarrass me, is my many, many voices. I crack, squeak, and lisp at bizarre times (I don’t have a lisp, but certain words I enjoy saying with a lisp and now I can’t stop). What can I say, I entertain myself. It’s NOT entertaining when I don’t have control over my vocal changes, however.

_ _ The other night while I was working at the restaurant, a very attractive couple were seated on the far side of the room. All the female employees “subtly” stared at the man, while the male employees ogled his date. As luck would have it, I was the one to run their soup and salad course, and apparently their combined beauty made me nervous, for as I set down their plates, I said in a terrifying, croaky, monster voice “Enjoy your stewww!” …When I heard this come out of my mouth, even I was creeped out. I immediately turned, hunched my back and limped to the service alley, dragging my left foot behind me… Just kidding, but I did make a speedy exit and forced others wait on them the rest of the night. Lesson learned: treat beautiful people like eclipses (don’t look directly at them); and try to avoid saying the word “stew” like you’re Satan incarnate._

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Servings 4-5

Ingredients:

3 1/2 tbsp Butter

3 tbsp Flour

2 (14.5oz) cans Beef Broth

1/2 cup Beef Consommé

2 tbsp Tomato Paste

2/3 cup Yellow or White Onion, diced (chunky, not too small)

1 cup Carrots, diced

1/2 cup Celery, diced

2/3 cup Cremini Mushrooms, stems cut off and sliced

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 large (or 2 small) Yukon Potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cups Beef (Chuck Roast), cubed into bite-size pieces

Note: The great thing about stew is that these measurements are not strict, if you love carrots, add more! Adjust to your taste.

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If you don’t already have leftover steak to use for this recipe, this is how I prepared mine:

In a slowcooker, place a 2 – 2 1/2lb chuck roast. Pour 2 cans of beef broth over it (NOT the 2 cans you’ll need for the stew!) and place a beef bouillon cube in the liquid. Cook on high for 6-8 hours, until the meat shreds easily. This left me with extra meat, so you can always add more than the 2 cups to your stew, or find other ways to use it up like I did (in quesadillas etc).

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FOR THE STEW:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the potato cubes. Cook the potatoes for 10-15 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour until it forms a smooth roux. If it seems too dry add a little more butter. Allow the roux to brown and add in the beef broth, consommé and tomato paste. Whisk together to make sure everything is combined, and allow the liquid to come to a boil.

2. While the broth mixture is heating, in another pan (or the one you used for the potatoes) sauté in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, the onions, carrots and celery for about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for about another 5 minutes, stirring to make sure the vegetables don’t burn.

3. When the beef broth is boiling, add all of the sautéed vegetables, potatoes and the beef. Allow all of this to cook together for another 10 minutes or so, until everything is heated through.

*I served it with toasted asiago-sourdough bread brushed with olive oil. Enjoy your stew!