Beef (Venison) Stew

Ok, actually, we use deer...venison for the more sophisticated of my readers. But rather than try to persuade those who may be opposed to venison, I thought it would be just as well to let the recipe rest under the beef stew umberella. Just know that if you have it at my house, you'll most likely be eating deer stew...and you'd never even know it!

• 1 - 1 1/2 lbs. beef or deer stew meat
• 1 cup flour
• season salt
• black pepper
• 2 - 3 TBS olive oil
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 28 oz. can crushed or stewed tomatoes
• 5-6 med. potatoes, cubed (unpeeled)
• baby carrots, each cut in half
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp each: crushed bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, paprika, and garlic powder
• S & P to taste
• pinch of ground red pepper

Lightly season flour with season salt and black pepper. Toss the meat and flour until meat is coated. Heat olive oil in skillet if you intend to use crock pot for the stew. Otherwise, just heat the oil in the soup pot. Once the oil is hot, add the coated meat and cook for a minute or two on each side, just till browned.

Deglaze (get the browned bits off) the skillet or soup pot with the beef broth, then add the rest of the ingredients to crock pot or soup pot. Cook on low forever. Well, maybe not that long, but the longer, the better.

Enjoy!

Em