Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Easy Oven Beef Stew



This is a great easy recipe you can start in the early afternoon and have ready when everyone gets home for dinner.

Easy Oven Beef Stew

2-lb stew meat (I usually buy a roast and chunk it up)
1 medium onion - chopped
1 stalk celery (I omit this because my family isn't wild about celery)
4 carrots - cut into chunks (I buy the bag of baby carrots and cut them in half)
1 T. sugar (I half this because I don't like it so sweet)
2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. tomato juice
2 T. minute tapioca

Mix meat, onions, celery, carrots in a large pan. Mix together sugar, salt, tomato juice and tapioca. Pour over meat and vegetables. Cover with foil tightly, then a lid. Bake at 250 degrees for 5 hours. Serve over mashed potatoes.

note: When you pour the liquid over the meat and vegetables it appears there will not be enough, but it will make enough gravy to serve with the mashed potatoes. Real mashed potatoes are the best but instant do well in a pinch.

6 comments:

Steff said...

Yum, I made this a while ago and it was really good. It was nice the day I made it because my friends invited me to go on a walk about an hour before Matt got home from work. I was able to go because my dinner was already prepared and cooking in the oven. PLUS, Matt really liked it. Good recipe. Thanks Lorri.

Josie said...

Lorri--I'm Matt's sis-in-law (I would type favorite, but...). This recipe looks great and I was so planning to make it, but going down the ingredient list--tapioca? Where we live there is no tapioca :(. Substitute? It's to thicken it right? Josie

Tfamily said...

It is called Kraft Quick Cooking Minute Tapioca. It comes in a small red box (8 oz) and I find it above where the jello is. They almost look like the potatoe pearls from the cannery but smaller. Yes it is used to thicken. I read that it is used to thicken pies and gravies that cook a long time because it prevents it from breaking down. Here is some substitues that I found. Hope that helps. Let us know if you try something else and how it worked out. Good luck.

Substitutes: regular tapioca (Use twice as much. Puddings made with this will have larger gelatinous balls in it.) OR tapioca starch (This is also used to thicken pie fillings.) OR tapioca pearls (Pulverize these first with a blender, coffee grinder, or food processor) OR cornstarch (Use half as much. Cornstarch breaks down if it's mixed with acidic ingredients, cooked for a long time, or frozen and thawed.) OR arrowroot (more expensive) OR flour (Use a little more.)

Josie said...

So...I have flour. Maybe next time I'm in the states I will buy some tapioca and bring it back. Thanks! Thanks for this site too.

Melissa said...

Can't wait to try this!

Tfamily said...

Just wanted to throw out that I have made this without the tapioca and it is fine. The gravy might not be quit as thick, but due to my daughters eating restrictions, she can't have the tapioca. She just leave it out. I also now leave out the sugar or substitute it with half the amount of honey. It is very forgiving, so don't panic and give it at try with what you have :)