Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons light olive oil
2 pounds beef chuck steak or stew meat, get rid of any gristle and cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups or 1 medium diced yellow onion
1 can (23 ounces) of Campbells condensed tomato soup (surprise!)
1 cup diced celery
2 cups chopped carrots
2 soup cans (23 ounces each) of water
1/8 - 1/2 Tsp of garlic salt, to taste
2 whole bay leaves, I use the dried ones (yes, you need these)
salt, black pepper & red pepper flakes, to taste
1 1/2 pounds of tri-colored baby potatoes, chopped into medium pieces
2 cups chicken stock (surprise again…trust me, it works!)
2 cups frozen peas
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.
2. In a 6-quart Dutch oven or large ovenproof pot, set on stove on medium-high heat. Add butter and oil until melted.
3. Add beef and spread to make an even layer on the bottom of the pan. When one side starts to get some dark color (from searing) flip all the pieces over so that all of them have that delicious, caramelized color. Add onions and stir the meat/onion combination for 4-5 minutes to soften the onions a bit. Turn off the burner and add tomato soup (save the can). Add celery, carrots and stir everything together. Fill the soup can with water (twice) and add to the stew mixture. Stir in garlic salt, bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Cover and put into the oven for one hour. Your kitchen will smell good very soon!
4. When the hour of baking is over, remove from the oven, uncover the stew and stir. Add potatoes and red pepper flakes (I put about 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon in mine) stir to combine. Put back into the oven, uncovered and bake for another hour.
5. By this time the stew has baked for 2 hours and your kitchen and whole house smells amazing! But wait, there’s more! After hour 2, remove from the oven, stir and add chicken stock and peas. You should see the meat has soften significantly and the veggies are all enjoying their time in the stew hot tub. After adding the chicken stock and peas, stir and taste the liquid (careful, it’s hot!) to see if it needs more spices, S&P … etc. Adjust to taste and put the stew back in the oven, uncovered, for its final hour of baking.
6. It’s the end of hour three and you really want to eat this stuff! Take it out of the oven and stir. The meat should be tender, veggies and potatoes done and the liquid should have reduced to an almost gravy like consistency which really compliments the rest of the cast of the stew crew. Dish up and serve with fluffy biscuits or your favorite carb to sop up all that stew gravy. If you want to join The Dragon’s tradition, whomever gets a bay leaf in their serving has to do the dishes!
Enjoy!