There are zillions of beef stew recipes in the world, so why would this one be special? Well, the "critic" in the title was my father, who depended on me to visit him once or twice a week in his late nineties. I would bring comfort food like fish chowder or beef stew for his lunch. I treasured his praise.

I like to group the dry ingredients together (spices, for instance), mix them well, and then add them to other groups of ingredients such as liquids, canned stuff, etc, after which everything just gets brought to a boil and then simmered at low heat for a while. You don't need great technique to pull this recipe off. Just have the right ingredients and some measuring spoons and cups, and a soup pot or Dutch oven.

Instructions

Put the olive oil in the bottom of a cooking pot. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and a quarter cup of wine, equal to about four tablespoons.

Mix the following spices together and stir them into the water:

• 1 cube of beef bouillon
• ½ tsp of thyme
• 1 tsp of paprika
• 1 tsp of dried marjoram
• 1/2 tsp of salt if desired
• 6 peppercorns, or pepper to taste

Then put a four-ounce can of corn and a four-ounce can of mushrooms into a blender with one cup of water and puree them.Pour the puree into the soup pot and add half a pound of beef. Stew beef works well, as long as it is in manageable chunks that don't require a lot of cutting with a knife and fork. Turn the burner on (low heat) so the mixture can be simmering while you prepare the rest of the vegetables.

Now you will need to get busy cutting and chopping the vegetables:

• 1 medium Idaho baking potato or red potato, peeled and chopped
• Half a pound of cut green beans, fresh, frozen, or canned
• One or two onions, chopped
• 3 large carrots or 12 baby carrots, sliced
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• Other vegetables such as broccoli or garbanzos or zucchini if desired

Add the vegetables to the soup pot along with a can of low-sodium tomatoes. Stir everything well. If the mixture seems too thick to stir easily, add some water. Turn up the heat, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes.

Serves 3 to 8, depending on how many extra ingredients you have added. It's good for leftovers too.

Paulh

27.03.23 Front Page

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