Hearty New England Beef Stew

This is a good old fashioned stove top Hearty Beef Stew with potatoes, carrots, onion, green pepper and turnip. We are not fans of turnips, and I don’t like green peppers, so I left them out.

Cut the beef into 1” cubes discarding any bone or large pieces of fat. I was told by a butcher never to buy beef for stewing as he cuts up a chuck roast for the stewing beef. My freezer has plenty of chuck roasts, so I used one of them.

Place the beef cubes into a medium bowl and pour the flour, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper over the top.

Toss with your hands until all of the meat is coated and all the flour is used up.

Put the shortening, or oil, into a large Dutch oven over medium heat and melt the shortening.

Pour the coated beef cubes into the Dutch oven.

Cook the beef until it browns but don’t worry about the crusty bottom, that is where all the flavor is and it will incorporate into the stew as you simmer and stir it. Just don’t let it burn.

Once browned, add the water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 2 hours covered tightly and stirring occasionally scraping the bottom of the pot.

Add the vegetables, bay leaf, salt to taste and bouillon. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover tightly and simmer for 1/2 hour or until vegetables are tender.

Place into serving sized bowls and enjoy!

Hearty New England Beef Stew

http://www.InDianesKitchen.com

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp shortening (or vegetable oil)
  • 2# stew beef (I use a chuck roast and cut it into pieces)
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 6 cups water
  • 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” cubes
  • 1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into 1” cubes
  • 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1” slices
  • 1 green pepper, seeds removed and cut into strips
  • 3 celery stalks, cut into 1” pieces
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
  • 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
  • 2 tsp instant beef bouillon, or 2 cubes (I used beef Better Than Bouillon and eliminated the 1/2 tsp of salt)
  • 1 large bay leaf

Directions

  1. Cut the beef into 1” cubes discarding any bone or large pieces of fat. I was told by a butcher never to buy beef for stewing as he cuts up a chuck roast for the stewing beef.
  2. Place the beef cubes into a medium bowl and pour the flour, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper over the top. Toss with your hands until all of the meat is coated and all the flour is used up.
  3. Put the shortening, or oil, into a large Dutch oven over medium heat and melt the shortening. 
  4. Pour the coated beef cubes into the Dutch oven. Cook the beef until it browns but don’t worry about the crusty bottom of the Dutch oven, that is where all the flavor is and it will incorporate into the stew as you simmer and stir it, just don’t let it burn.
  5. Once browned, add the water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 2 hours covered tightly and stirring occasionally scraping the bottom of the pot.
  6. Add the vegetables, bay leaf, salt (to taste) and bouillon. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover tightly and simmer for 1/2 hour or until vegetables are tender then serve.

http://www.InDianesKitchen.com

32 Comments »

    • Were you brought up on the turnips? We never had turnips as a kid. As for green pepper, when my mom made stuffed green peppers she had to put my filling in a small dish separate from the stuffed peppers. Lol

  1. Ah, reminds me of such a stew my late Irish mother used to make. Been thinking recently that ‘I am in good need’ of a stew. Will give it a go Diane. Thanks for the prompt. 🙂

  2. In Fla we don’t eat this that much except in the cold weather it’s always hot. We need stuff like we just we just don’t we need salads a lot of salads. Publix Publix Publix

  3. Looks so good, Diane! Chuck roasts are the best. For some reason, they are hard to find here and so I use regular stewing beef instead. Love cooking stew over the stove top now, over the pressure cooker. Something satisfying about the slow cooking process!

  4. Stew is a good on a cold Winter’s night … even though it was 57 degrees yesterday, it’s 20 degrees colder and been snowing off and on all day. Winter has not left us yet.

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