I Made it Myself: Tamari Beef Stew
So, you know, I don’t do recipes, right? I learned how to cook from watching my dad, who was a self-confessed clean-out-the-fridge chef. I do tend to do the same. So if you want to replicate my psuedo-recipe, wing it, ‘kay?
The night before, I took an outside marinating steak - about 8 inches around and half an inch thick - and I marinated it in a combo of 2Tbsp olive oil, 1Tbsp tamari, 2tsp garlic powder and 1/2tsp cumin. After a coupla hours, I flipped it so that all edges got a sponge bath in the salty, oily goodness.
Today, I cubed that steak, coarsely chopped half a medium yellow onion and 4 cloves of garlic and let it sit and marinate together for another hour.
Toss that in a large pot on just above medium for the onions to soften and the meat to cook almost all the way through. Don’t worry about stirring too much - I never do - you know, the whole ADD factor…
While that’s browning up and starting to smell real damn good, toss some washed baby carrots and yellow nugget potatoes in a cereal bowl - yes, that’s how I measured it. We want a nice rounded pile o’ veggie goodness.
Once the meat was nearly done, I added around three cups of water and the veggie pile and turned up the heat to cook everything fast for about 10 minutes, covered. Then let it simmer for a halfer. The water should just barely cover the bulk of the ingredients upon boiling time - too much and you’ll be reducing for half an hour, leaving veggies soggy and meat gray. And, ew?
Potatoes cooked through, carrots a glorious shade of orange, I’m ready to congeal with my bad self. Measuring cup and fork, 2/3 cup of warm water, 2 heaping Tbsp whole wheat flour and 1/2tsp cayenne or red pepper flakes and I’ve got liquid stew gold. Poured it on top of the already almost gravy, mixed it around a bit and thinned it to the consistency I desired - adding about 4Tbsp warm water.
And what does it taste like? Winter, sans your Aunt Esther with the hairy mole on her face. What is it missing? Less cooking on the ‘taters (they got a little mushy, as they always do for me) and some black pepper. And maybe a nice herbed, cheese foccacia bread to go with?
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