Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew

This blog has seen quite a number of stews and it is not stopping there. I love stews. I can't explain why. Someone, I once met, told me there's no need to go ga-ga over a bowl of mashy meat and vegetables. But that bowl of mashy meat and vegetables describes comfort and nostalgia. It is something that I would start searching when life goes awry, which is pretty much every alternate days now.

When I was growing up, my mom would make a big pot of stew with potatoes and carrots in it almost every week. Once the stew was done, she would haul up all the ingredients and then mash everything up with a fork to make a huge mould of yummy mash. Holding our spoons in eager anticipation, we would stand around the table waiting to dig in. But, hang on, ... That's the best part of it?? Of course not!! Stir in a generous helping of Brovil. Real beef Brovil, mind you. We were a bunch of happy kids sitting at the table wolfing down our moulds of mash and sipping the wonderful broth.

The strange thing is that I have never attempted to recreate this stew in my own kitchen. In fact, I have never ventured into anything that my mom makes so well. Perhaps I fear I would tarnish the image of that dish in my memory. Those areas are like No-Fly zones.

With so many bowls of stews that I have put away, I could only hope to create my own version that would create happy memories for my little princess.

Perhaps I have not tried eating out in many places, for I cannot recall any place that sell any sort of decent stew here. When I talk about stews, I am expecting a bowl of brothy goodness with hunks of delectable meat and a range of assorted tasty vegetables cooked to al-dante in it. Alas, everything succumb to economics - demand and supply. But give me a bowl of stew any time and I would be a happy camper for the day. Anyone knows of a good place here for stews?

The stew from this recipe is quite different from my previous stews as it uses only tomato paste, not canned diced tomatoes. The sauce is visibly lesser and thicker. It cooked to a deep brown colour instead of red which I thought good stews ought to look like. I also got to work with new ingredient - parsnips. They are like carrots except they are cream in colour. It has a strong taste, almost overpowering when the mouth encounters a big chuck of it.

Another eight more days on this book and so far I have turned out 8 recipes. Not as many as I would like, but at least this book got a shot at my undivided attention for the past 3 weeks. (^.^)