Laura Cooksey’s Beef Stew

Do y’all remember this darling face from one of my recent posts?

She’s Laura Cooksey, and she’s on the Women of Faith worship team. The girl can SAAANNNGGG, but I discovered the other day that she has another talent. I follow Laura on Twitter (@LauraBCooksey if you’d like to follow, too) and the other day she mentioned that she’d made a pot of beef stew. She showed a picture of it, with a caption that said something like “You either love it or you hate it. We happen to love it.” Well, at the Hill Hangout we happen to love it, too. So I asked Laura if she minded sharing the recipe. The recipe (and the picture) looked so yummy that I tried it out the other night. It was a winner. Sweet Laura was kind enough to allow me to share her recipe with you. As per my usual, I didn’t have everything on hand, and I was not about to drag two kiddos out to the grocery, so I improvised. Hope you like it as much as we did.

1 1/2 lbs lean stew beef
1 package of cut carrots
2 medium onions, chopped
Yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1 can Amy’s cream of tomato soup
1 cup cabernet or burgundy
salt, pepper, thyme to taste
1 can Le Sueur english peas

Mix together everything except the Leseur peas and place in baking dish.

I use my Emile Henry covered dish that I got from Williams-Sonoma, but any kind of covered dutch oven-type baker would do.

Bake on 225 degrees for 5 hours. After 4 hours, add a can of Le Sueur english peas.

Mine looked a little soupier than hers, and I think that’s because of the ingredients I switched up. Instead of the Amy’s cream of tomato, I used the last of a pot of Edie’s Spicy Tomato Soup I’d made last week. The flavor was delish, but I’m betting the Amy’s was thicker, making the beef stew thicker. I also used just a half package of the carrots. I used Irish potatoes instead of the Yukon golds, and I think the Yukon golds would have been better. They have a better texture when slow-cooked, and I’ll definitely use them next time. And darn if I didn’t forget to add the Le Sueur peas! I hate that because we love those peas. I probably could have just thrown them in at the end, but I didn’t realize they were missing until I was almost finished eating it. They will DEFINITELY go in next time.

Even with all the modifications I made, this beef stew was still delicious. It will become a part of the regular rotation at our house because it was quick to assemble. I served it with the corn muffin recipe I told you about the other day, and it was a very easy, filling meal. Hope y’all enjoy it. If you do, pop over to Twitter and thank Laura!