Dave's Fifth Inning Stew

David mentioned to me earlier on in the week that WE should make a stew. I agreed, but suggested that HE make the stew. I only gave Dave one rule when preparing this meal: Use as many CSA veggies as possible because the root veggies are starting to pile up, and we need to start making a dent. So, on Wednesday night, as I was snoring through the 5th inning of the Phillies game, Dave slaved away in the kitchen. (Normally, I'd be in the kitchen back-seat driving, but I'm pregnant, and seem to have mellowed out a little in the control-freak department. I did manage to open my eyes long enough for the last few innings and NLCS victory!)



We served Dave's stew over egg noodles and it was delicious. Lots of vegetables and lots of perfectly cooked, falling-apart meat. Dave forgot to add any liquid to the crock pot when he turned it on Thursday morning, and I thought it was going to be a burned mess by the time we got home. However, the juices from the meat and veggies saved the day. It came out like a really good stew-version of pot roast. I think I'd still recommend adding a cup or so of beef/vegetable broth or water, so there's more gravy to the stew, especially if you're using a lean cut of beef, but David demonstrated that it's really not necessary with the sirloin tips he used.

As you can tell by the title, this only takes an innings' worth of time to toss together. Feel free to add more veggies at will, and don't forget to freeze the leftovers!

Recipe: Dave's Fifth Inning Stew

You'll need:

• 2 lbs of beef (sirloin tips in this case)
• 6 medium-sized potatoes, 3 yukon gold and 3 red
• 1 LARGE turnip
• 1 large yellow onion
• 3 large carrots
• 3 pinches of dried rosemary
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp pepper
• flour

Cube the beef in one-inch chunks and coat in flour that's mixed with some kosher salt and pepper. Place beef at the bottom of the slow cooker. Wash carrots and potatoes, wash and peel the turnip and cut into generously-sized chunks. Peel onion and slice into eighths. Peel and halve garlic. Layer veggies over beef. Add spices, salt and pepper. Cover and turn on low for 8 hrs.

When stew is ready, season with salt and pepper, as needed. Serve over freshly cooked egg noodles.