There are fewer things better than a good hearty stew during a thunder storm. I’ve been watching a lot of older, classic movies lately. “Oliver!” being one of them. You know the old school 1968 musical version? It’s my favorite! What does this have to do with stew you might ask? Well there is one scene when Bill Sykes goes to meet Nancy in the Tavern and while she and the others in the Tarven start singing a number, she serve Bill some stew. He eats it while the musical number continues. This scene ALWAYS makes me want stew. Haha. Funny how movies can have that powerful an influence over us. I’ve never made stew in my life until this last week, after watching “Oliver!” for the first time in ages. This is also crazy but Bill Sykes is one of my favorite characters. If you’re familiar with the story of “Oliver Twist” then you probably think I’m crazy! But I can’t help it. I’m always drawn to the antagonists in stories and films if they are remotely attractive. I always like the villains haha. They’re just so much more intriguing and charismatic.
RECIPE
*This can be made in a stove top pot or a crock pot, I’ll be using a crock pot for this post.
*If you are starting out with an uncooked roast you will do one extra step.
Season roast well with preferred seasonings (garlic salt, and McCormick are mine). Bake in the oven at 400 F covered with aluminum foil for 30 min. Remove and finish the recipe as follows
For this recipe I used leftovers from my Hearty Sunday Roast
Slice leftover cooked roast into desired size chunks.
Combine in crock pot with….
5-7 Potatoes cubed
6-8 full size carrots largely chopped
1 yellow onion (can be sliced or chopped)
1 can tomato sauce
5 tomatoes largely chopped
4-8 cups water (depends on how thick/thin you want the consistency. More water=runnier)
1 packet brown gravy mix+drippings from roast if you kept them
cayenne pepper to taste (I do 1/2 Tbls)
Salt to taste
Let cook on low for 2 hours, or until vegetables are soft. *Until beef is cooked if started with uncooked roast.
Serve over brown rice!
