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This recipe is a revise of Grandma Vivien’s 6 Hour Stew, which she made often during summer visits to Santa Barbara. I remember her starting stew prep well before lunch, which I always thought odd. The stew would come out of the hot oven by dinner time, all thick and bubbly. It was simple and easy, salty and rich.
Grandma’s secret? Campbells soup cans… Cream of Celery soup and French Onion soup. Going dairy and gluten free (and having high blood pressure) meant no more can-soup receipes for us! The key to this replacement recipe was finding a creamy soup alternative, using g-f flour as thickener, and replacing the 6-hour oven time with a mix of stove top and oven together.
JUST ABOUT 2 HOUR STEW
1 1/2 to 2 lbs Stew Meat, cut up
1 large onion, sliced thin and cut
10 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
1 Qt (32 oz) beef broth, low sodium
16 oz box of Creamy Potato-Leek soup (“Imagine” brand)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour
1/3 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed
Spice mix (about 1 Tbsp ground cumin, 2 tea paprika, 2 tea black pepper)
Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Mix flour and spices. Coat cut up stew meat with flour/spice mixture. Brown all sides of stew meat, about 2-3 minutes per side. Mix in sliced onions and garlic, stir. Cook about 3-4 minutes longer.
Add about a cup of broth at a time to the meat and onion mixture, stirring in between. Add potato-leek soup, stir. Add carrots. Preheat oven to 300-degrees. While oven is pre-heating, simmer stew on stove top about 20 minutes on low heat, with lid partially covering.
After 20 minutes, close lid fully and take dutch oven off of stove top. Put in oven about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent bottom of dutch oven from burning.
After about 1 1/2 hours, stew should be thick, carrots soft and meat tender. Serve over rice.
Makes between 6 and 8 servings, depending upon who is eating!