Beef Stew

This is a fairly easy beef stew. It's pricey because of the cut of meat I'm using, but honestly all beef is pricey right now. It will probably work with a cheaper cut of beef, though I've never tried it.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 pounds of beef flank steak, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 2 tbs of flour
• One white onion, diced
• garlic
• olive oil
• two sticks celery, sliced
• two carrots, sliced
• about a cup of peas
• salt, pepper, Umani spice blend
• Beef or vegetable broth (I use Better than Bullion mushroom base)
• One or two potatoes, cubed, peels left on

Steps:

(1) Heat oven to 275F/135C

(2) Cut the flank steak into bite-sized bits, then brown it in some olive oil over medium heat in an oven-proof fairly large pan. (I use our Le Crueset Dutch oven, about six quart.) You probably need do this in batches, so as not to crown the pan. Move browned beef to a plate. While it's browning, dice your onion.

(3) Add a little more olive oil, lower the heat a bit, and saute the onion for five or ten minutes, until it's softened. Add the garlic, cook for another minute. Ass the celery and the carrots, as well as the spices, stirr some more until the spice wakes up.

(4) Add the flour and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Add the broth, stir and scrape the fond off the bottom of the pan. 

(5) Add meat back in, stir well. Cover with broth. You want it just barely covered.

(6) Bake in the pre-heated oven for about two hours.

(7) After two hours, add in the potatoes. I use frozen peas, and add them at the end. If you're using fresh peas, add them at this point. Don't use canned peas or I will come to your house and smack you.

(8) Cook for another hour or hour and a half. It's done when the meat is tender. Taste and adjust spices as necessary.

Serve with this bread, which you should have started last night, or with any bread you have handy, or over rice or noodles. Or popovers! Popovers would be perfect.