Beef Stew

My mother-in-law makes the most wonderful beef stew.  The broth is so good.  I just want to drink it.  I'm pretty sure the divine yet simple flavor comes from a combination of beef broth, juice from the tomatoes, and the browned meat.  It has really simple, normal ingredients that I always have on hand, with the exception of stew meat.  And I guess this time I didn't have the noodles on hand either.  That's what happens when I shop hurriedly through my grocery list; I have to make my own stinking noodles.  They were good, but more work than I wanted to do yesterday.  Ah well.  The stew was delicious anyway.

Beef Stew
recipe from Lana Danner
Printable version of this recipe

1 pound stew meat
¼ cup flour (more or less)
3-4 tablespoons cooking oil
4 russet medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
6 cups beef broth (or 6 teaspoons beef bouillon and 6 cups water)
1 can green beans, drained
16 ounces diced tomatoes, undrained (my mother-in-law swears by the S&W brand)
½ cup dry egg noodles (the home style kind)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut stew meat into pieces. Remove the fat and any membrane. Lay the meat on layers of paper towel and pat the meat dry. Roll meat in flour.

You can do the rest one of two ways. Decide if you want to use a crock pot, or if you want to prepare the stew in a stock pot. Both turn out nicely. The meat is more tender when using a crock pot, but the noodles take longer to cook. In a stock pot everything cooks faster, and you use one pan to prepare and cook the stew, but you have to add ingredients at different intervals while the stew cooks. You will also need to continue adding beef broth to the stock pot because as the stew cooks, the broth boils and evaporates a lot—at least it does in my stock pot.

Stock Pot Directions:
Put a 3 quart stock pot on the stove top and turn the heat to medium high. Once the stock pot is heated, add 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add the meat to the heated skillet and cook until brown. Reduce heat to low. Add chopped potatoes, carrots, and broth to the stock pot. Cover and let simmer for 1 ½ hours. Add the green beans, undrained tomatoes, and egg noodles. You may also need to add more broth at this point. Simmer and cover for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Crock Pot Directions:
Put a large skillet on the stove top and turn the heat to medium high. Once the skillet is heated, add 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add the meat to the heated skillet and cook until brown. Transfer the meat to a crock pot and turn the heat to low. Put some hot water in the skillet and return it to the stove top.  Stir to remove the browned meat residue from the pan.  Once the water is bubbly and brown pour it into the crock pot.  Add the potatoes, carrots, broth, green beans, undrained tomatoes and egg noodles to the crock pot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste.