Beef Stew

This is another perfect example of how you can turn one dish into another without compromising the flavor. Most of the time we don’t think much about left-overs, but if you take a closer look at what’s inside your refrigerator I bet you can come up with another dish using what your family ate the last couple of nights.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to using left over food. The only thing you have to consider is the flavor. The rule of thumb when it comes to left-overs is to only cook dishes that are similar to one another.

In other words, don’t use Adobo and try to convert it to Sinigang. I guarantee no one would eat it. The dish I am going to cook is Beef Stew made from left over Nilagang Baka. The ingredients are very similar and the best thing about this is that the meat is already tender which means the cooking time is a lot less than cooking it from scratch. Another thing about this dish is not only are we converting it to another dish, but we are also going from Filipino food to American food. Beef stew is quite popular here in the U.S. especially this time of the year when wintertime is lurking around the corner. So let’s get cooking!

Ingredients:

1 Lb. Left over Nilagang Baka

1 ½ Cup of diced potatoes

½ Cup diced carrots

3 Cups of left over broth strained

1 Cup of water

1 large onion peeled & diced

1-11oz. Can of whole kernel corn

1-14.5oz. Can of cut green beans

1 Packet of McCormick beef stew seasoning mix

2 Stalks of celery w/ leaves sliced diagonally

1 Tsp. Salt

½ Tsp. Ground black peppercorns

1 Tbs. Corn oil

Directions:

In a large pot heat oil and saute onions and celery until onions hit the shiny stage. Add beef and let it saute for 3 minutes. Then add the left over broth. Drain both green beans and corn, rinse the green beans, and add both to the pot along with the potatoes, carrots, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl pour 1 cup of cold water, dissolve the beef stew mix, and add it to the pot. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Adjust the taste by adding salt & pepper if needed. Serve with saltine crackers and Colby-Monterey jack cheese. Enjoy your beef stew!

Tip 1: Use a strainer to remove the solids from the broth.

Tip 2: Use cornstarch to thicken the stew if needed.