This Weeks Recipe

Daddy’s Hearty Farm Beef Stew
A great meal my Dad always made for St. Paddy’s Day
Prep time 30 mins.
Cooking time 1 hr. 30 min.
Serves 8

Ingredients
1-1/2 lb.  boneless beef round steak, trimmed, cut into bite-size pieces
2 Tbsp.  flour
2 Tbsp.  Oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) beef broth
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 clove fresh garlic minced
Salt & pepper to taste
½ teaspoon chives
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon oregano
1 Tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 Tablespoon of butter (dad’s secret ingredient) do not use margarine
1 lb.  red potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
½ head of cabbage cut into 1 inch chunks
3 carrots cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 cups hot cooked noodles
1 Tablespoon of parsley for garnish.
Directions:
Coat meat with flour.  Heat oil in Dutch oven or large deep skillet on medium-high heat.  Add meat and onions; cook and stir 5 to 8 min. or until meat is evenly browned.  Stir in broth, tomatoes and seasonings, sugar & butter.  Bring to boil, stirring occasionally; cover.  Simmer on low heat 15 min., stirring occasionally.
Add potatoes, cabbage and carrots; simmer, covered, 45 min. or until meat is tender and sauce is thickened, uncovering after 30 min. and stirring occasionally. In the last 10 minutes of cooking prepare noodles according to package directions. Then serve beef stew over noodles garnish with a little parsley.

Note: You can also use whole beef brisket or a 1 ½ -2 pound  beef roast in this recipe just place in the dutch oven  with 2-3 cups of water and seasoning bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes then add the remaining vegetables & ingredients and let bake for 2 hours or until meat is tender and ready to fall apart.

My dad was the cook in our family, often making something from nothing when I was growing up. He said he learned to cook by watching his mother during the depression and she too never wrote down a recipe just as my dad never did. For years I tried to mimic my dad’s wonderful beef stew recipe but he purposely left out one ingredient that just eluded me. My dad was very good at this for he said it taught us to ponder and use our brain to figure things out and develop our taste buds. It was a couple years after I married I was still trying to figure out his secret ingredient to a great stew. Then one day after making a batch I thought I’ll try butter and see if I can replicate his tasty stew. Bingo-that was the elusive ingredient.  When dad came for dinner on that Sunday after one taste he beamed and said “you figured it out punkin.” Of course growing up with dairy cows we churned our own butter and it is much better with fresh butter but the real butter you can purchase from the store will work too.