Simple Stew on Foodie Friday

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I have a humble offering for Foodie Friday -- The World's Simplest Stew.

I found its original years ago in an issue of Cook & Tell, a cooking and foodie newsletter put together by Karyl Bannister at her island home off the coast of Maine. It's a lovely newsletter ... click here to visit.

World's Simplest Stew

I lost the original recipe, but have made it so many times that I am reasonably sure what follows is accurate.
Heck, how far off course can you drift with these ingredients?

You will need the following ingredients; quantities aren't very important:
Beef. . . I buy London Broil on sale for $1.99 a pound, and cut it into stew-beef-sized cubes.
Onions. . . Plain old onions, peeled and cut into big chunks.
Carrots. . . Scrape 'em, and cut 'em up -- small or large, depending on your preference.
Celery. . . Get rid of the strings, and chop up a few stalks. I don't always include celery; it's not vital, and I'm not crazy about it.
Other additions (all optional): Mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, sweet potatoes (highly recommended!) or white potatoes (add them 1/2 way through the cooking process)

(Yikes. Those are some sad-looking veggies I pulled out of the vegetable crisper. Ick.)

And the secret ingredient: Chili Sauce.

Do not buy this (below)! It's for shrimp, not stew.
(Sadly, I speak from experience. . . .)

Not Cocktail Sauce (like above), as that contains horseradish, just Chili Sauce.
I don't have a bottle in the house, therefore: no picture, sorry!
House brand is OK. Buy at least 2 bottles, and get 3 if you have a lot of stew.


Here's the really easy part: turn on your oven to 375-degrees, put the cubed meat and the raw veggies into a nice heavy stockpot or Dutch oven, and mix them up. Then, dump in the Chili Sauce. (See note below.) Put it all in the pot, and pop it into the hot oven. You are done. Go read a magazine.

(Note: I usually need 2 bottles of chili sauce to give enough liquid. You can add some wine or stock to make it a little moister. The ingredients should not be swimming in liquid, just moist, and you should be able to see the sauce if you push aside some meat & veg and peek down.)

Let it bubble away in the oven until it is done. The meat should be fall-apart tender.
I find that usually takes about 3-1/2 hours, sometimes a little longer. Stir every once in awhile. I begin the process with the stew covered, then uncover it for the last hour or so. You may need to add liquid, but probably not.

No browning the meat beforehand. No fiddling with seasonings; it's all in the chili sauce.
Makes its own gravy! (Okay, who remembers that commercial?)

I guess you could simplify it even more by using pre-cut stew meat, and frozen vegetables; I just haven't tried that yet. It would probably work in a crock pot, too.

You can serve it as-is, especially if you've added white potatoes, but it is also good with broad egg noodles. Even my Girl Scouts liked this stew, way back when I had Girl Scouts.

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this blog post, and also to Karyl Bannister of Cook & Tell in case I have totally butchered her original recipe!

Enjoy Foodie Friday.
Have a lovely weekend. . . Cass

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