SEMI-DRIED TOMATO AND POTATO STEW RECIPE FROM CURTIS STONE

Last night I was so ecstatic because I made my first stew and it was mighty delicious!!! Curtis Stone has made cooking so easy with ingredients you can just buy from Coles supermarket.  I have modified his ingredients to replace 1 celery stick with carrots and mushrooms.  These added extra sweetness to the stew because the semi-dried tomatoes were rather sour.

Ingredients include 500g of Cole's beef casserole steak diced into 2 cm cubes; 600g of Coles Carisma potatoes; 1.5 cups of Campbell's Beef real stock; 1 Tbspn of Olive Oil; 1/2 cup of water; 60g of semi-dried tomatoes; 3 sprigs of rosemary; a handful of mushrooms; 2 decent sized carrots; 1 brown onion; 2 Tbspn of parsley and 2 cloves of garlic.  The 2 decent sized carrots were not photographed because I decided to add the carrots after I took this photograph.

First up, simmer over high heat the 1.5 cups of beef stock in a small saucepan, then turn off the heat.  Place the 60g of semi-dried tomatoes into the saucepan with the two cloves of garlic and let it sit for 30 minutes to soften before you transfer it to a blender and puree until smooth.

1.5 cups of beef stock with 60g of semi-dried tomatoes and 2 cloves of garlic added

Place a larger saucepan over high heat. Add oil and heat until smoking hot.  You'll then have time to season the beef with salt and pepper.  Once seasoned, you can brown the beef on both sides for about 7-10 minutes.

Seasoned beef casserole steak heat over smoking hot larger saucepan

Add the diced onions and reduce heat to medium high.  Cook for 4-5 minutes until onions are soft then add the sliced mushrooms and cook for a further 3 minutes until they are soft too.

Mushrooms and onions added to the pan after beef cooked for 7-10 minutes

Add the semi-dried tomato sauce and rosemary, then cover with a lid.  Let it simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour to soften the beef.  Then add the potatoes plus the carrots and half cup of water.   Cover, then simmer for a further 20-30 minutes until beef is fork tender and both potatoes and carrots are cooked through.

Add sun-dried tomato sauce to sauteed mushrooms, onions and beef

3 rosemary sprigs added with potato and carrots to simmer for over an hour.  Make sure cover pan with a lid when you simmer the stew.

Remove rosemary sticks and then season.  Divide evenly into 4 bowls and garnish them with 2 tablespoons of parsley.  After 1.5 hours of preparation and cooking, here is the final finished close up of the semi dried tomato braised beef and potato stew.  Tadaa!!! 

Curtis Stone's Semi-dried tomato braised beef and potato stew

The stew was thick and saucy, the beef was tender and succulent.  The mushrooms, potatoes and carrots were soft and sweet. I rate this recipe highly and would make it again any day.

Curtis Stone has now inspired me try his other recipes because they are cheap and relatively seamless to make.  Coles supermarket has made a smart move asking Curtis to be the front-face and providing these easy recipes.  Curtis Stone, you are my hero :)!!!