eglamkowski's Journal: recipe of the day

And now it's time for a slow cooker beef stew. Obviously you can create endless variations of this, but here's a basic one that works out fairly well.

6 medium russet potatoes (2 lbs), peeled and cubed
6 medium carrots, peeled and biased sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 onion, coarsley chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
2 lbs lean, bonless beef stew meat, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
14.5 oz. can of diced peeled tomatoes
1 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
salt & pepper to taste

(the recipe doesn't call for it, but you absolutely must add garlic and bay leaves - 2 cloves of garlic and 1 bay leaf should be considered minimum...)

In a 5 or 6 quart crockpot, mix the potatoes, carrots, onion and celery.

Toss the beef with the flour to coat evenly and add to crockpot.

In a bowl mix together the tomatoes, wine, mustard, thyme and pepper. Pour over top of beef.

Cover and cook on high heat for 1 to 1.5 hours, then reduce heat to low and cook 7-8 hours longer, or until beef is tender.