The separation had to happen, it was our only solution. Julie went her way, and I went mine. We both knew that it would work out in the end.

I think I just wrote a bit of click-bait, so sorry about that. A few months ago we accepted an invitation to go to a nearby family campout from my family, and a few weeks after that we received an invite for my nephew’s baby shower in Minnesota. The kids and Julie went to Minnesota, and I went local to my side’s gathering.

I would be arriving home before noon, and the rest of the family would return around 3 PM. I wasn’t sure which one of my kids would be staying for dinner, but I did know that they would be hungry. I also knew that I didn’t have time to shop, so it was time to shop my freezer. That is the advantage of always having basic staples on hand.

I found a couple of packets of stew meat that I vacuum sealed almost a year ago that I could quickly defrost. I also had some vegetables on hand. Their combination would make a decent stew in my electric pressure cooker.

I’m following a recipe from the Salty Marshmallow loosely. I be using the recipe as a guide, but I will be making adjustments. When it comes to soups and stews there is a lot of leeway.

Here is the recipe

Let’s get started.

I defrosted the meat and then patted it dry using a couple paper towels. This will result in less spattering when I brown it. I also seasoned it with a little Season all. Salt and pepper would also work. Like a lot of stew meat that is precut, these chunks are large. If I cut them into smaller pieces they will pressure cook faster. However, I need to make a quick and easy dinner so I’m leaving them as is.

I placed my pressure cooker (EPC) on saute and I added some cooking oil. I browned the meat in batches. If you crowd the meet too much it will steam and not brown properly. I removed the meat to a plate after it was browned.

While the meat was browning I chopped up some vegetables. This is one onion, 3 stalks of celery, and 4 carrots. You can vary the amounts within reason. I’m cutting the carrots large because I’m leaving the meat chunks large. It will take longer to cook the meat and I don’t want the vegetables to turn to mush. I could also partially pressure cook the meat under pressure, depressurize, and add the vegetables for another round. That is a better idea, but it is also more work. This option works too.

In goes the onion. I’ll cook it until it softens, just a couple of minutes. You may see some burnt food on the bottom of the pan. That is actually call fond and will add flavor to the stew. I will need to scrape it off in a process called de-glazing. Otherwise, it may cause the pot to give me a “burn” warning. A burn warning shuts down the pot, at which point I would have to scrape off the bottom anyway.

I’m now adding a heaping tablespoon of garlic (really jarlic, as it is jarred garlic), as well as approximately one teaspoon (rounded) of Italian seasoning. I’ll cook this just until I can smell the spices and then go on to the next step. As far as spices are concerned, there are many options: thyme, rosemary, oregano to name a few. They could be used singly or in combination. A bay leaf could be added, but I didn’t because I was in a hurry. You can also use just salt and pepper if that is what you have on hand. Bonus tip: you could use dehydrated onion instead of the onion, and garlic powder instead of the jarlic. This will alter the flavor a bit, but the stew would still be delicious. If you were using dehydrated onion and garlic add them when you add the broth.

I’m adding about one-half of a cup of a dry red wine and scrapping off the fond. Acidic liquids are great for de-glazing. If I didn’t want to add the wine I could have use some of the beef broth. That works well enough.

Now a tablespoon or two of Worcestershire Sauce. Worcestershire Sauce adds umami to a dish.

I’m now adding around 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. I’ll also add around the same of salt. I always go light on salt because I use bouillon for broth, and that is already salty. I’ll adjust for salt at the end of cooking.

I added a bit over 3 cups of beef broth that I made from beef bouillon.

The recipe calls for 10 ounces of tomato sauce. I had a 15 oz can, so that is what I added. It is all good. Instead of tomato sauce I could have used a can of diced tomatoes, or even a can of condensed tomato soup. It is fine to be creative if you stay with similar substitutions.

Back in goes the browned stew meat. I had quite a bit of stew meat as I wasn’t sure how hungry everyone would be. I’ll add a bit more broth than what was stated in the recipe to compensate for this increase.

Now the vegetables that I chopped earlier.

I had these baby potatoes around, so I used them. They are prewashed, making my life a bit easier. I did examine them and cut off any dubious parts. I’m keeping them whole for the same reason that I cut the carrots large. It will take them longer to cook this way allowing me to add them at the start of cooking. I could have used regular potatoes cut up and peeled if I wanted to.

This is what we have; it already looks pretty tasty. Note that I’m below the max fill line. Pressure cookers need some space to create steam.

The recipe called for 35 minutes at high pressure. I usually manually put in the pressure cooking time, but this time I used the preset button. If I had cut the meat and vegetables smaller I would have lowered my time to around 25-30 minutes depending on how soft I wanted the vegetables and meat. Remember to put the exhaust valve to “seal.” I had a lot of liquid volume so it took around 15 minutes to reach pressure. After the pressure cook time completed I waited 5 minutes for everything to settle before I moved the exhaust valve to “vent.” I made sure that no more steam was venting and that the float valve was down before I attempted to open the pot.

I tasted and adjust the seasoning. I needed a bit more salt. I put the pot back n saute. I mixed up a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch with the same about of cold water and mixed it into the bubbling stew to thicken it.

Earlier in the day I made a basic white bread in a bread maker. However I added 1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning to turn it into a herb bread.

The herb bread baked up beautifully. I’ll serve it with the stew.

Here is my rustic stew served up with my homemade herb bread. Everyone said it was delicious.

Peace

Mike