Recently we bought 1/4 of a cow and our freezer is FULL of meat. I have been slowly making the switch to more organic and/or local foods but it is a slow process for a couple of reasons. First, it is more expensive so it takes some time to make adjustments in the budget for that. Second, not everything we eat can be purchased locally or organically. While we have made improvements, Joe will never completely give up his blue box of macaroni and cheese, nor do I really want him to if he doesn't want to. Meat has been one of the things that I have wanted to make the switch to buying more locally and we finally did it after a friend was selling her livestock for beef. We now have a freezer full of grain-fed, local beef. I ended up with a bunch of stew meat, but I don't really use it for anything but beef stew or beef tips. So, I went in search for something a little different and I found a keeper!
Pinterest was my friend once again and I found a recipe here for Irish Beef Stew and Mashed Potatoes. Oh my word...I thought we would have leftovers and we didn't really have much other than a bit for lunch the next day. I tweaked the recipe a bit because I needed to add more beef stock at the end and Joe doesn't like rosemary. This lovely recipe will certainly be going into the rotation!
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. stew meat
4 large carrots, peeled & chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 large bay leaf
2 1/2 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup frozen peas
DIRECTIONS
1. In large pot, brown stew meat in olive oil until browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.
2. Pour in onions, carrots, garlic and spices. Cook another 5 minutes.
3. Deglaze pan with beef broth. Cover and simmer 4 hours or until meat is very tender. (Next time, I am going to throw it in the crockpot and see how it turns out. I didn't much like babysitting it for 4 hours.)
4. In a small bowl stir softened butter and flour together until smooth and incorporated. Stir butter mixture into the stew with the frozen peas. Once the gravy thickens slightly, it's done. (I was skeptical of the whole "butter and flour thing" but other than using a bigger bowl to incorporate it, it worked really well!)
5. Serve hot over mashed potatoes.
It was really, really good! The flavor was amazing, the meat was falling apart...amazing!
