| 3 tablespoons olive oil |
| 1 tablespoon butter |
| 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut smaller if necessary |
| salt and pepper |
| 1 (small or medium) onion, diced |
| 2 teaspoons minced garlic |
| 1 tablespoon tomato paste |
| 1 box beef broth (32 oz) |
| 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or Steak Sauce |
| 1 teaspoon sugar |
| 2 celery stalks, chopped |
| 2-3 carrots, chopped |
| 1/2-1 cup frozen green peas |
| 1-3 tablespoon cornstarch (dissolved in water), optional |
| 1 tablespoon dried parsley |
| mashed potatoes (from approximately 5 pounds of raw potatoes, see tips at bottom of post) |
If you are using prepackaged stew meat I
would suggest cutting the pieces once or twice to make them more bite
sized, since they usually come quite large. Salt and pepper stew the
meat. Heat oil and butter in large pot over medium heat. Brown just the
outside of the stew meat (do not cook) and remove from pot. Add onion
and garlic and saute for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tomato
paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add broth, Worcestershire sauce, sugar,
and celery.
Bring to boil and reduce to low simmer. Add back stew meat. Cover
and simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Add carrots and peas and simmer covered for
the last 30 minutes. Add 1-3 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in
cold water to bring stew to desired thickness, if desired, or add more
beef broth to thin, if desired. Salt and pepper to taste and stir in
parsley. Serve over mashed potatoes.
How I Make My Mashed Potatoes
| 5 pounds potatoes |
| 1 stick butter |
| milk |
| sour cream (optional) |
| salt and pepper |
Bring large pot of salted water to full
rolling boil. You want the potatoes to have lots of room and water to
boil in. While waiting for the water to boil, peel the potatoes. Then
cut small potatoes into 4 pieces, medium potatoes into 6 pieces, and
large potatoes into 8 pieces. Transfer to colander and rinse with cold
water to remove any dirt.
Boil potatoes, in a rolling boil, for approximately 10-20 minutes.
Start checking them at 10 minutes and every 2-5 minutes after to prevent
overcooking. Potatoes are done when very easily pierced with a fork but
not mushy or completely falling apart. Drain water off potatoes.
Return potatoes to dry pot and return to burner on low heat. Add
butter (I usually use about 1 stick of butter for 5 pounds of potatoes)
and continue stirring to melt butter and to evaporate excess water from
the potatoes. You want the moisture to come from the butter and milk,
not from the water. When potatoes start falling apart and getting a
little dry and powdery you can turn off the heat and start adding milk
and continue stirring and mashing. Continue adding small amounts of milk
(and or sour cream) while stirring and mashing until desired
consistency is reached. Salt and pepper to taste.
Use a hand masher for 80-90% of the mashing. Then transfer potatoes
to a large plastic bowl and use a hand mixer (on medium to high) and
whip them for about 30 second to fluff them up and remove any big lumps.
Overmixing with the electric mixer will result in a glue like texture.
Transfer to serving dish and enjoy!
