May 12, 2010

Oven-Baked Beef Stew

"For-a-Crowd" Recipes, beef, carrots, main dish, One-Dish Dinners, potatoes, Stews

Presented by

48 ratings

Prep time: 28 minutes
Baking: time 4 hours
Servings: 8
Partner: Whole-Wheat Herb Bread

On busy days, Grandma counted on easy recipes like this to feed her family.

Ingredients

3 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into bite-size pieces
3 large potatoes, peeled, cut into quarters
12 small boiling onions
6 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups vegetable juice cocktail, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1

Preheat the oven to 275ºF.
2

Combine beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, salt, granulated sugar and black pepper in a large ovenproof skillet and mix well.
3

Pour 12/3 cups vegetable juice cocktail evenly over the beef mixture.
4

Combine remaining vegetable juice cocktail and cornstarch in a small bowl and mix well. Stir into the beef mixture.
5

Bake, tightly covered, for 4 hours, leaving the oven door closed for the entire baking time.

Grandma's Secret Trick

Grandma liked the flavor of parsnips, so she sometimes used 3 carrots and 3 parsnips in her stew. When she wanted to save a little money (and vary the flavor of the stew), she used 2 turnips in place of 3 of the carrots. She loved the way turnips become soft and sweet after cooking with beef.