This weekend I tried out a new recipe (a twist on beef stew) and it was a huge hit.
It even had vegetables in it any my brothers didn’t pick them out or take several hours to eat their dinner!
An even bigger shock? After dinner, Branden came up to me and asked if we could have that more often. And considering this is the first time we’ve had it… having it ever again would be more often lol.
No, but really, I almost had a heart attack. They almost always find any little thing to complain about when it comes to the food I make… even when my dad is raving about it, but they both gobbled this up.
And it was relatively easy to make, so I thought I would share it with you all!
You will notice that my onion and celery are precut in baggies. This is because I find that we are less wasteful if I precut our vegetables and freeze them when I am having a good day. This ensures that vegetables don’t get a chance to go bad in the fridge. It also saves me time and energy on those nights that I just don’t have it in me to stand at the counter for 10 or 15 minutes cutting vegetables before cooking dinner.
If you choose to precut and freeze your veggies, make sure to pull them from the freezer and defrost just the amount that you will need for your recipe about an hour or two before you start cooking. If you sauté frozen vegetables (particularly frozen celery because celery is mostly water) they will release a large amount of water and you will end up boiling the vegetables instead of sautéing them.
You will need the following ingredients:
- 2-pound boneless beef chuck roast
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons pink Himalayan salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ yellow onion
- 1-cup celery
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1-pound carrots
- 1-14.5 ounce can beef broth
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1-8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ¼ cup peas
Cut beef roast into 1-inch cubes, removing any significant pieces of fat.
Turn Instant Pot to SAUTE. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil into the bottom of Instant Pot. Allow the oil to heat through (hint: you can tell that the oil is heated thoroughly by getting your fingers wet and allowing a drop or two of water to drip into the oil. If oil sizzles, your oil is hot enough, if it does not sizzle, it’s not).
Once your oil is up to temperature, add the cubed beef, Himalayan salt, and pepper. Allow the meat to brown all the way through, stirring occasionally. This process will take 10-15 minutes.
While the meat is browning, dice the onion and mince the garlic. You can set that aside together in one bowl. Then peel and cut the carrots into ½ inch pieces, wet that aside separately.
Once the meat has browned all the way through, turn the Instant Pot off use an ovenmit to remove the hot metal Instant Pot bowl from the Instant Pot and pour the contents of the Instant Pot bowl into a strainer and replace the Instant Pot bowl back in the instant pot. This will strain the fat that melted off of the beef roast. After you have strained the liquid, put the meat in a bowl and set it aside.
After you set the meat aside, you will return to the Instant Pot and turn it back on SAUTE. You will drizzle more extra virgin olive oil into the bottom of the Instant Pot and wait for the oil to heat through, sauté the onion and celery and garlic.
Once the onion, celery, and garlic are sautéed, add the beef broth, cubed beef and any juice that has settled to the bottom of the bowl that was holding the beef, the soy sauce, parsley, oregano, and carrots. Stir thoroughly.
After everything has been thoroughly combined, top with tomato sauce and do NOT stir. Then replace the Instant Pot’s lid, locking in place. Make sure that the vent knob is set to seal and set the instant pot to pressure cook for 35 minutes.
Once the timer goes off, I do not recommend using the quick release as it can cause the beef broth and other liquid to shoot out of the lid. Instead, allow the pressure cooker to naturally release the steam on its own for around 10 minutes. After 10 minutes you can quick release any remaining pressure.
While you are waiting for the Instant Pot to naturally release the pressure, you can mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with ¼ cup of water and mix thoroughly.
After removing the lid, mix in the peas and allow them to heat through. Then mix in the cornstarch to thicken.
Serve over white rice or mashed potatoes.
Bumpy Back Roads 