Beef & Mushroom Braised Stew

Beef & Mushroom Braised Stew

     I just received my Taste of Home magazine last week. It has all these wonderful fall recipes that I want to make. My husband and I dogeared several pages of recipes last week when we were camping and this is just one of many recipes we wanted to try.

    Now I know the weather is not quite fall weather. In fact it has been downright steamy out. I just couldn't wait to make this. It is that comfort food that on a cold or rainy day makes you feel all warm inside. Even though it was still hot out my family gave it the thumbs up. They all really liked it.

     It is not your normal stew. This "stew" has a scoop of mashed potatoes served with it. Sounds a little weird, but it is very good.

     I changed the way it is cooked. Instead of baking it in the oven I just cooked it on the stove top. I also used stew meat instead of a chuck roast. I also used canned mushrooms and I left out the brandy and red wine. I don't think my family would have like it otherwise.

Beef & Mushroom Braised Stew
2-3 lbs stew meat
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
3 T olive oil
2 -4oz cans of mushrooms
2 medium onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (32 oz) beef broth
1 T tomato paste
1/4 t each dried parsley flakes, rosemary, sage and thyme
3 T flour
3 T water
Hot mashed potatoes

Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. In a Dutch oven heat oil over medium heat: brown beef in batches. Remove from pan. In the same pan, add onions and cook until tender. Add mushrooms and garlic. and cook for about 1 minute.
Stir in broth, tomato paste and spices. Return beef to pan and bring to a boil. Turn down to a low simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until beef is cook through.
In the meantime peel and boil potatoes for mashed potatoes. When potatoes are tender enough for a fork to pierce them easily they are ready to drain and mash. Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Add milk and butter and mix with a hand mixer until smooth.
Once beef is cooked through it is time to thicken it. In a small bowl put flour in and add water. Stir together and then slowly add to beef mixture. Let it cook and it will thicken. ( I personally like to use cornstarch instead of flour. It thickens up better without getting lumpy).
Scoop potatoes into bowl and then add beef mixture.