Dave's Beef Stew You will need: 2 Lbs Beef Top Round of Chuck Steak 46 oz. Bottle of V8® Juice Flour Olive Oil 1 Tbsp. Minced Garlic or a couple cloves of fresh Garlic, crushed 1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning 3 Beef Bullion Cubes 2 Onions Celery Stalks Carrots Potatoes Mushrooms (optional) 16 oz. package of Frozen Baby or Petite Peas Noodles or Rice (if you like to serve your stew over one of these)

Start with about two pounds of Beef chuck or top round steak. Don't bother buying stew meat as sold in your grocery store, they usually sell the scraps as stew meat and they aren't trimmed well. Trim off the fat and gristle. Cut into small cubes. Divide the beef into two equal portions. In a large plastic bag, coat half the beef with a mixture of flour and maybe some salt and pepper. Meanwhile, in a large stock-pot, heat a splash of olive oil, and some crushed or minced garlic on Medium High. Brown the first half of the floured beef well, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen the flour on the bottom of the pan to prevent it from burning. Set aside the first half of the beef, and brown the second half the same way, adding more oil if necessary. While the second portion of beef is browning, finely chop one small onion. Now, add the first portion of beef back into the pot along with the chopped onion. Now pour in one 32 oz. bottle of V8® Juice and season with some more freshly ground Pepper, some more salt, about one tablespoon of Italian seasoning, crushed, a couple Bay Leaves, and three Beef Bouillon cubes. Let come to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for one half hour. While the pot is simmering, cut up a few stalks of celery, several carrots, and another onion. Add the vegetables and simmer for another hour or so. While that is simmering, peel and cut up several potatoes. (For this batch, I'm trying Yukon gold potatoes, which I'm not planning to peel). The number of potatoes depends on their size, a few big ones or lots of small ones. After the hour, add the potatoes, and maybe some sliced mushroom, if (You're like me and add mushrooms into everything where they MIGHT fit!). Simmer for another 45 minutes or so. By this time, the Gravy should be starting to thicken up quite nicely. I like to serve my Beef Stew over Rice or Noodles. If you do too, now is the time to prepare the Rice or the Noodles according to package directions. At about the time, you start the rice or the noodles, pour in one 16oz. bag of frozen baby or petite peas. Keep the stew simmering. When the Rice or Noodles are ready, spoon some Rice or Noodles onto your plate(s) and spoon over some of the best stew YOU EVER HAD! ENJOY!   Back to cooking page: