Slow Cookin'

On the urging of several friends and my sister who've jumped onto the slow cooker bandwagon, I finally caved and bought a crockpot a couple of months ago. I took it out of the box, washed it, and it's been sitting on my counter since. I had a friend coming over for dinner tonight so I decided it was time.

I wasn't really sure what type of cut to buy but I was lucky enough to encounter one of the butchers while he was stocking the meats. He suggested I stay away from the leaner cuts if I was slow cooking, and suggested a cut called blade shoulder.


Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2 lb. piece of blade shoulder beef
I cut it into three portions, where it was easy to cut, removing some of the fat. Made a rub with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and applied to all surfaces of meat. Heated olive oil in skillet and seared meat on each side for about two minutes. Added it to crockpot.

Add the following to the pot:

three small brown onions, sliced
10 carrots, peeled, cut into thirds
4 small red potatoes, whole, peeled
one cerrano, whole, sliced down the middle
several green onions, sliced
ginger paste
garlic paste
few tbs crushed tomatoes
rub -paprika, black pepper, salt, cumin
pinch cardamom powder
piece of cinnamon bark
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
couple tbs white vinegar

I threw all of it into the pot before going to bed, and voila! -it was all ready by the time I woke up in the morning. Okay, it was almost that simple. I did do a tasting and added a bit more salt and pepper to my liking.