beef stew

I've been craving beef stew for quite some time, but was forbidden to have Campbell's Beef & Barley because of all the preservatives... this left me with no option but to make my own. This was my first attempt and I was quite pleased with the result, now to figure out how to add barley.

Beef Stew
(adapted from For the Love of Cooking)
ingredients

• 1 lb stew meat (I used round cut into small chunks)
• 1 yellow onion chopped into large pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 can stew tomatoes
• 1-2 tsp dried thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups of beef stock
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 cups diced baby red potatoes (skin on)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 250F.
2. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add stew meat and onion then cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds before adding tomatoes, seasonings and stock. Cover and cook in the oven for at least 4 hours. (I actually only cooked it for 2 hours)
3. Remove pot from oven place on stove top over medium low heat.
4. Add vegetables to the stew and add more beef broth if low. Taste and re-season if needed. Cover and cook for 1 - 1 1/ 2 hours. If you want the stew to be thick, add a slurry of cornstarch and cold beef broth (mixing thoroughly) then pour into stew while it's boiling, stir then reduce heat to low.