Winter Stew

On Saturday, my roommates, our friends Shiv and Ra, their dogs and I piled into the hippie van and drove out to Beaver Creek to find a couple of Christmas Trees. The forecast called for snow at about 1000 feet and boy did it ever. For the better part of an hour we ran around the tree farm, throwing snowballs at each other, chasing the dogs, and eventually cutting down a couple of trees, all the while it flurried around us. It wasn't until we got back into the van that we realized how cold we were. We figured the best thing to do was to make a big pot of buffalo stew to warm us back up.

Inspiration: Tree Hunting
Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Super easy
Special equipment: Cast Iron top dutch oven (enamel coated a plus)
Servings: 6-8

Ingredients
2 lbs stew meat (beef, buffalo, or venison)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbs flour
3 tbs olive oil
4 cups beef broth
1 pint dark beer (such as porter or stout)
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh oregano
2-3 bay leaves
3 medium carrots, peeled and chunked up - bite sized
3 celery stalks, chunked up - bite sized
3 Yukon gold potatoes, chunked up - bite sized

1. Toss the stew meat with the flour and salt and pepper until coated. Over medium high heat, cook the stew meat in the dutch oven with oil in batches until browned on all sides.

2. Once browned, add all stew meat back into the dutch oven. Add in broth and beer and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Using butchers string, tie the herb sprigs together and add to the simmering pot (this makes it way easier to remove the sprigs later). Add in the bay leaves. Cover and let simmer for 2 hours. (check on this occasionally to make sure that it's simmering and not a rolling boil.)

3. About 20 minutes before you're ready to eat, add the potatoes, carrots and celery into the pot and continue to simmer. As soon as the carrots and potatoes are soft, remove the bay leaves and the sprigs from the stew. Serve hot.