Mustard-Herb Beef Stew- BHG

Its Oscar night!  I love awards shows.  I love the red carpet, the dresses and interviews, the lame speeches.... everything about it.  I definitely wanted to make a new recipe tonight and thought that something that can be made ahead would be key so that I was free to sit on my couch at 6:30 when the red carpet started getting good.  My shopping trip was a little light this week because we're heading to Disney (!) for a week on Saturday.  Friday will be a take out night, as it is before every vacation, and we need to try and use up what we have that is perishable over the course of the week to waste as little food as possible.  I had some baby potatoes on hand, a few onions, and a bag of baby carrots.  I decided a stew would be perfect to use these items up and have something to simmer during the day.  I went through my books and binders and narrowed it down to this recipe, which was clipped from an old Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  The photo looked tasty, and the process seemed easy.  One thing that I've started doing on a regular basis is looking up my clipped recipes online for reviews before I make them.  I like getting peoples thoughts and opinions and, more importantly, they often share variations or suggestions to make it a little better.  One of these was to add frozen peas, which I did, and to go a little easy on the mustard, which I didn't.  We both like mustard so I kept it as suggested. 

The set up for this meal took me way less time to do than I thought it would.  I combined some flour, chopped fresh Italian parsley, dried thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl with a lid.  I then cut an eye round roast into 1 inch pieces and dropped them in the flour, one piece at a time.  I put the lid on, shook it up a bit, and then stirred it a bit more to make sure that the pieces were all coated.  I used a nonstick dutch oven, so I only used a tablespoon of oil versus the 2 tablespoons that the recipe called for.  Once the meat was browned, I added the baby potatoes, baby carrots, and wedges of sweet onion; stirred it for a few minutes, and added tomato paste, spicy brown mustard, beef broth, and a bottle of Yeungling lager.  Brought it to a boil, added the frozen peas and a bay leaf and let it simmer, covered, for an hour or so.  I wish I could have added the cremini mushrooms that the recipe called for, but I'd be eating the stew myself if I did that. 

The recipe says to simmer the dish, covered, for an hour to an hour and a half, or until the meat is tender.  Knowing that stews taste better the longer they cook, I let it go for about 2 1/2 hours before serving.  My first thought was that the gravy was a touch watery and I let it sit for another 20 minutes off the heat.  It didn't thicken much, but it didn't matter.  Wow.  This dish was amazing.  The meat was perfectly tender, the vegetables were perfectly cooked, and the gravy was delicious.  I could taste hints of the pepper in the aftertaste, pleasantly, and the other flavors blended well with nothing really standing out over the other.  I served it with a loaf of sourdough bread and just couldn't stop dipping my bread in the gravy.  The recipe suggests to serve it with crusty bread, but seriously- they need to put it in bold, capital letters.  Serve with crusty bread!!  It was really, really tasty.  I can't wait to try it again for lunch tomorrow.  I can imagine that the gravy will thicken and the flavors will blend even more. 

Definitely a keeper!

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/stews/mustard-herb-beef-stew/