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Wonderful Instant Pot Beef Stew

Wonderful Instant Pot Beef Stew – I received a 6 Quart Instant Pot as a Christmas gift and finally got the nerve to open the box and put it through it’s paces. I had heard a lot of its capabilities and have seen a few tutorials on how it operates. It’s something when your appliances are smarter than you are. I decided for my first endeavour to make a simple beef stew. It has been raining cats and dogs in Los Angeles so that sounded like a good idea to me.

Cooking with a pressure cooker results in quicker cooking times with very tender meats . I reviewed a bunch of stew recipes, selected a little from several and came up with this one. I thought it came out great. I made it in a little over an hour with 35 minutes cook time and the rest for preparation. If you are familiar with the Instant Pot techniques, It may take less time.

Tips for a great pot of stew:

  • Sear the meat in the Instant Pot as directed for great flavor and juicy tender chunks of meat.
  • Use the natural release method to relieve the pressure for best results. Don’t ask me why.
  • Use cornstarch to thicken the sauce after the cooking process has completed.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Pounds Beef Stew Meat

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 Teaspoon Pepper

Louisiana Seasoning to taste

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

4 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1 Large Onion, Chopped

5 Large Carrots, Cut Into Slices

1 Pound Potatoes, Cubed

3 Celery Stalks, Chopped

1 Cup Frozen Peas

3 Cups Beef Broth

1/2 Cup Red Wine

1 Small Can Tomato Sauce

2-3 Tablespoons Cornstarch

2-3 Tablespoons Water

Instructions:

  1. Trim excess fat from meat and cut into cubes. Season with salt, pepper and seasoning. Add olive oil to pot and turn on the saute function. Brown meat in oil turning frequently to sear on all sides. Try not to crowd the pot. Brown in several batches if necessary. Remove meat from pot and set aside.
  2. Add beef broth and red wine to pot and use a wooden spoon to deglaze the pot bottom
  3. Return meat to pot, add the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, and tomato sauce.
  4. Close the lid and steam valve on the Instant Pot.
  5. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes, naturally release pressure for ten minutes before doing a quick release.
  6. Add additional seasoning if needed. Add frozen peas.
  7. Combine cornstarch and water, Add to pot and stir until thickened. Return lid and turn on keep warm cycle for 10 minutes

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Helping the homeless on skid row.

It’s rough out there.

In August of 2018 Trina and I started preparing sack lunches and distributed them to the homeless on Los Angeles’ skid row. It’s a small operation with me buying supplies from local shops and assembling the lunch sacks at home in our kitchen.

Lunch sack contents
Lunch sack contents

Our first distribution was twenty lunch sacks and canned soft drinks. We loaded them into the back of the SUV and headed downtown. We observed a sea of homeless people all over blocks and blocks of downtown. We completely underestimated the amount of need and the size of the problem.

We knew that we needed to do more but knew that we could never do enough. With the generous financial assistance from Reverend Tom Shriver and the good folks at Emmanuel Assembly of God Church in Arcadia we were able to expand our outreach greatly.

We set out today with our sixty sacks and soft drinks and water and made our way to 6th and San Pedro, right in front of the Midnight Mission. One would think that with all of the resources provided to the homeless by the mission, the area in front of the mission would be a tad bit more tranquil than other areas of the row. Nope. It’s the wild west at it’s best. It is unimaginable how all this is allowed to continue to exist. The city of Los Angeles has (reportedly) spent millions of dollars on the problem of homelessness but I can’t say it was money well spent.

DIdn’t see that coming.

We pull to the curb and open the rear of the SUV. Immediately a group of folks gather and I get them to form a line and begin handing out the lunch bags and sodas. You have to be on your toes and try to establish control immediately as things happen fast and you are interfacing with desperate people some of whom may be dealing with mental illness. Everyone is orderly and appreciative.

The line is about twenty-five people long and as I’m passing out the lunches I hear some commotion in the middle of the line and look up to see a disheveled middle-age white woman feverishly ranting about how she grew all the food or some other nonsense. Trina and I were busy handing out lunches to the person at the front of the line. Often the person may request a different type of drink or request another lunch for a person unable to get in line.

As I was giving out a sack to a black lady at the front of the line who looked like she was ready for anything, The lady that had been making all the noise stepped out of line and approached the front of the line and initiated a brief, very brief conversation with the black woman. I don’t know what they were talking about , but before I could say “Pepsi or Sprite?”, that black lady back-handed that woman in the mouth and knocked her back on her butt right there in the street.

Trina and I were astonished. Everyone else in line didn’t even flinch. We quickly handed out the two or three remaining lunch bags and drinks and packed up and left.

As we were heading back home, we reflected on what had just transpired. Dang, she went through all that and didn’t even get a lunch sack.

It’s rough out there.

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My Gumbo Recipe

This gumbo recipe is a combination of chicken, fresh sausage and seafood. It by no means is the only way to prepare gumbo but rather the method I have found to yield a very tasty pot indeed. There are three parts to this gumbo. The stock, the roux and the pot. I will detail each in the following paragraphs. Both the stock and roux can be prepared in advance. In fact I would recommend making the stock a day ahead and store it in the refrigerator. Making the stock and the roux and the gumbo in one day makes for a long work day. Good gumbo takes  time and it is best spent wisely.

For the stock

A rich hearty stock is essential for a good gumbo. Do not skimp on this step. Some recipes call for chicken stock or even water. Those will not provide the depth and richness you want for your gumbo. I smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving and saved the carcass for this gumbo. That along with the smoked turkey neck provided a good foundation for the stock. You could use about 6 pounds of chicken parts (backs, necks..) or even a whole chicken to make this stock also.

  • 8 quarts water
  • Smoked turkey carcass or 5 lbs chicken parts, cut up and skillet browned
  • Shrimp shells, reserved from the 2 pounds of shrimp that have been peeled for the final step of the gumbo.
  • 1 large brown onion
  • 4-5 stalks celery with leafy tops, chopped
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 2 heads of garlic, cut in half
  • Sack of spices- inside cheesecloth bag or pouch place the following:
  • 2 tsp of black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • About ½ tsp each of dried tarragon, basil and oregano leaves

If using chicken parts, remove skin and cut into 3 or 4 inch pieces and brown in a skillet with oil. Put the turkey carcass or chicken pieces in the stockpot along with the water and bring to a simmer. Allow the parts to simmer for at least two hours.

Add the carrots, celery onion, garlic and spice sack. Prepare the sack of spices and tie together using kitchen twine, leaving a foot or so of twine to secure the sack to the pot handle for easy removal. Simmer for another hour then add the shrimp shells and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Strain thoroughly and skim fat from surface. Allow to cool and refrigerate if using later.

For the roux

  • 1 ¼ cups flour
  • 1 cup oil

Blend together in a heavy skillet over medium high heat stirring constantly until the roux gets darker in color. I like to get mine to the color of peanut butter. You should turn the fire down as the roux approaches the right color because the heat from the pan will continue cooking it. Add your onions to the roux as it’s near the end of cooking to arrest the cooking process and to soften and caramelize the onions (this is the way I like to do it). KEEP STIRRING. Once the roux is at the color you want add the bell peppers and celery and continue to stir until the roux is relatively cool. Also remember that the roux can be prepared in advance, and refrigerated or frozen.

For the pot

  • 1 chicken, cut up
  • 1 to 1-1/2 pounds Pete’s Louisiana hot sausage or if not available, andouille sausage, sliced about 1/4″ thick on the bias, browned
  • 2 pounds of shrimp, peeled and cleaned
  • 1 pound of snow crab leg clusters
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 bell peppers, chopped
  • 5 ribs celery, chopped
  • Several cloves of garlic, minced
  • Several bay leaves
  • ½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
  • Creole seasoning to taste
  • Tabasco or Louisiana hot sauce
  • 1-2 tablespoons filé powder
  • Cooked long grain rice

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with Creole seasoning and brown in the skillet. Slice the sausage and brown, pouring off all the fat (especially if you’re using fresh Creole hot sausage).

Add the roux to the stock. Add the chicken and sausage, add the bay leaves and Creole seasoning to taste, Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for at least 45 minutes, adjusting seasonings as needed. After an hour or so, remove chicken from pot, set aside to cool and remove meat from bones.

Add the crab leg clusters, chopped parsley and chicken meat to the pot and simmer another 30 minutes. Add the cleaned shrimp as the last step and allow to cook for about 15 minutes or just until they turn pink, Do not overcook. Skim any surface fat.

Serve over steaming bowls of long grain rice. Sprinkle a small bit of filé powder over individual bowls for additional flavor.

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Simple CSS Navigation Bar

Try this.

The HTML

The markup is very simple. It’s an unordered list, with each link in a separate list item:


<ul id="nav">
<li id="nav-home"><a href="#">Home</a></li>
<li id="nav-about"><a href="#">About</a></li>
<li id="nav-archive"><a href="#">Archive</a></li>
<li id="nav-lab"><a href="#">Lab</a></li>
<li id="nav-reviews"><a href="#">Reviews</a></li>
<li id="nav-contact"><a href="#">Contact</a></li>
</ul>

The CSS

First of all, I set the margins and padding of the list and list items to zero, and tell the list items to be displayed inline:

#nav {
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
#nav li {
display:inline;
padding:0;
margin:0;
}

See the resulting page SimpleNav