Go Wild - Rice Salad

Wild rice (also called Canada rice, Indian rice, and water oats) are four species of grasses forming the genus Zizania, and the grain which can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both North America and China. While it is now a delicacy in North America, the grain is eaten less in China, where the plant's stem is used as a vegetable.

Wild rice is not directly related to Asian rice, although they are close cousins. Wild rice grains have a chewy outer sheath with a tender inner grain that has a slightly vegetal taste.

The plants grow in shallow water in small lakes and slow-flowing streams; often, only the flowering head of wild rice rises above the water. The grain is eaten by dabbling ducks and other aquatic wildlife, as well as humans.

Ingredients

1 cup of your favorite wild rice blend 

1 cup of vegetable stock

3 bay leaves

1/2 yellow Pepper (roasted)

1/2 orange Pepper (roasted)

1 cup chopped wild asparagus ( regular is fine, but use small stalks)

1 carrot peeled and diced

1 stalk of celery diced

2 stalks of green scallion thinly sliced on bias 

1 small green zucchini

1 stalk of broccoli - break crown into small florets, peel stalk and thinly slice. 

2 TBSP of chopped fresh Mint

1 lemon zested

1 clove of wild garlic minced

1/4 cup of frozen corn

4 TBSP of butter

Directions:

Cook rice according to package instructions, substituting 1 cup of vegetable stock for water and add three bay leaves. Place in bowl and let cool to room temperature.

In a large sautee pan on medium low heat  2 TBSP melt butter, add carrots and garlic cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add celery cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Add asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, corn and remaining butter ( its ok to have this mixture a little wet from the butter, it will keep the rice from sticking).  cook for 2-3 minutes.  DO NOT over cook the vegetables, keeping them el dente.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked vegetables to rice mixture, add mint, lemon zest and 1/2 of chopped fresh green scallion.. Toss gently together and place on serving dish, garnish with remaining scallion.  This dish does is best served at room temperature

Chicken Pot Pie with Buttermilk Biscuits

A pot pie is a mixture of meat pie ingredients made in a pot, hence the name "pot pie". It usually consists of flat square noodles and other ingredients such as meat and vegetables. Chicken is a common type. A pot pie is commonly served as a main dish.

Often confused with pie, a type of baked savory pie with a bottom and top completely encased by flaky crusts and baked inside a pie tin to support its shape, a pot pie is stewed in a pot on top of the stove rather than baked. It lacks a crust. More rarely, some types of pot pies are baked in a deep casserole dish lined with crust but the more common traditional type is crustless. Many food manufacturers and restaurants mistakenly mislabel meat and vegetable pie (e.g., chicken) as "pot pie" for marketing purposes to evoke a homemade feel for their food products. An American pot pie typically consists meat (particularly beef, chicken or turkey), gravy, and mixed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, green beans and peas).

This is one of my favorite things to make when I have left over chicken.  I rarely cook a chicken to make a pot pie, but if I do I cook legs and thighs, since when it is in the sauce you cant really tell the difference and its the tastiest meat.  This meal is super fast and easy, perfect for a Monday night.  If you don't have time to make the biscuits, you can cheat and use Pillsbury instant one, but I have a biscuit recipe further down this blog just in case you want to go all out on a Sunday.  I start my biscuits first and while they are in the freezer, yes the freezer, I make the pot pie. 

Ingredients - Pot Pie Filling

• 2 cups of shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup of sliced carrots
• 2 cups of potatoes in 1" cubes
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 1 cup of sweet kernel corn
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 onion diced
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 3 TBSP of flour
• 3 TBSP butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp fresh chopped thyme 
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F with rack on the bottom

In a medium size pot cook potatoes and carrots until tender, drain (reserve 1 cup of the water) and return to pot.  

Heat a large 12" deep sided pan on medium heat and saute onions and celery until tender, 8-10 minutes and add to potatoes and carrots.  Mix roux of 3 TBSP flour and 3 TBSP butter and add to skillet. Cook for 2- 3 minutes until lightly brown.  Slowly add chicken stock while whisking to prevent lumps.  Add chicken gravy to the pot with the potatoes and carrots.  Add cooked chicken, peas, corn, bay leaf, and thyme and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes. if gravy is too thick add some of the reserved potato water to make thinner.  While filling simmers make biscuits.  If you are in a hurry and want to take a short cut - open the tube of Pillsbury Flaky Biscuits and  follow instructions below.

Place hot ingredients into a deep baking dish, (I used a souffle dish).  Line the top of the pot pie filling with  6-8 1 inch biscuit dough turned sideways, brush with melted butter and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Buttermilk Biscuits - Everyone has a "secret" to making biscuits, I don't keep it a secret I share it.  the trick to great flaky biscuits is keeping everything really really cold and not substituting any of the butter for margarine.  

Ingredients:

• 21/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 TBSP of vegetable shortening (I use Lard- yes lard) cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 8 TBSP of unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/8 sliced and lightly floured (this is really important if you want the layers)
• 1 1/8 -1 1/4 cups of cold buttermilk, (if you don't have buttermilk you can use whole milk only with 1 TBSP of vinegar added to it and let stand for 15 minutes)  
• 2 TBSP melted butter cooled

NOTE:

This dough is very sticky when it comes out of the bowl and the first couple of turns, so don't panic or over mix it, but you will use about a cup of flour for dusting the counter and rolling out.  

Directions:

Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 

1. Add shortening or lard to the flour mixture, break up chunks with your fingers until only small pea sized pieces remain.  
2. SECRET number one revealed-  working with only a few pieces of butter at a time drop butter pieces into flour mixture and toss to coat.  Pick up each slice of butter and press between well floured finger tips ( I squeeze it between my finger and thumb) into flat nickel/dime size pieces. Repeat this process until all butter pieces are are incorporated, then toss to combine.  I know this process is a bit tedious, but it is sooo worth it in the end.
3. SECRET number two reveled- place the bowl and flour mixture in the freezer for at least 15 minutes, you can't leave it in there too long but you can take it out too soon.
4. Sprinkle counter top with 1/3 cup of flour to form a very thin coating.  Remove flour from freezer.  Add 1 cup and two TBSP of milk to the flour mixture and stir briskly with a fork until a ball forms and no dry bits are visible it add the remaining two TBSP of buttermilk as needed.  dough should be stick but clear the sides of the bowl.  With a spatula remove the dough onto the center of the prepared counter, dust the surface lightly with flour and with floured hands, bring the dough together into a cohesive ball.
5. Pat the dough into a 18x14-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick, dust the dough and rolling pin as needed.  Use a bench scrapper or a metal spatula to fold the dough into thirds.Brush away any excess flour from the surface of the dough.  you should now have a 6x14-inch rectangle.  Fold this into  thirds again to form approximately a 6x4-inch rectangle. Rotate 90 degrees. dusting counter underneath with flour, then roll and fold dough again two more times.  
6. after the last fold roll into a 10x10 square about 1/2 -3/4 inches thick.  I use a 4 inch biscuit cutter, I wouldn't go larger, but a 3 inch cutter is fine too.  Flour your cutter and cut out 9 biscuits.  flour your cutter after each biscuit.  DO NOT TWIST YOUR CUTTER!  Gather dough scraps into ball and roll and fold once.  you should get another three more biscuits.  
7. SECRET number three - place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.  Before you bake your biscuits place 6 on your sheet with an inch between each biscuit, and brush brush on  cooled melted butter, bake for 15 to 17 minutes in a  preheated 450F oven 

Moussaka or Musakka, Potato, Patato - either way its delish

Moussaka is an eggplant and/or potato-based dish popular in Balkan and Mediterranean cuisines, with many local and regional variations. The same name and recipe is found throughout the lands that were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. In Greece, the dish is layered and typically enjoyed hot. In Turkey, it is sautéed and served in the style of a casserole, and is consumed warm or at room temperature. In Arabic countries, a variant of the same recipe is eaten cold.

Greece Most versions are based primarily on sautéed eggplant and tomato, usually with minced meat. The Greek version includes layers of meat and eggplant topped with a Béchamel ("white") sauce, and baked. The modern Greek version was probably formulated in the 1920s. It has three layers that are separately cooked before being combined together for the final baking: a bottom layer of sliced eggplants sautéed in olive oil; a middle layer of ground lamb lightly cooked with chopped or puréed tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices (cinnamon,allspice and black pepper); and a top layer of Béchamel sauce or savoury custard. 

Turkey Turkish musakka is not layered. Instead, it is prepared with sautéed eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and minced meat. It is eaten with cacık and pilaf. There are also variants with zucchini, carrots and potatoes.

Balkans Serbian, Macedonian and Bulgarian (countries formerly part of the Ottoman Empire) versions use potatoes instead of eggplants, pork mince, and the top layer is yogurt mixed with raw eggs and a couple of spoons of flour. The Romanian version is made usually with potatoes or eggplant or cabbage. The layers start with the vegetable, then the layer of meat (usually pork), then vegetables, until the pot is full. Sometimes bread crumbs are used for toppings, sometimes slices of tomatoes and crushed cheese. The pot is then filled with tomato sauce. In the rest of the Balkans, the top layer is often a custard: this is the version introduced in the UK by Elizabeth David's Mediterranean Cookery and where it remains as the "classic" presentation. Grated cheese or bread crumbs are often sprinkled on top.

This recipe has taken into account all three methods. I use potatoes on the bottom layer to create a crispy potato crust, but you can easily substitute eggplant for the potatoes in the recipe, as I quite often do. I eat it warm with a side salad of fresh garden vegetables.

Ingredients:

Filling :

1 lb of minced meat, Lamb or Beef
1 medium onion minced
1 clove of garlic minced
2 stalks of celery minced
1 small zucchini chopped
1 tsp of oregano
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of all spice
1/4 tsp of tumeric
1/4 tsp of hot chili peppers
1/2 tsp of smoked hot paprika (optional)
2 tomatoes chopped
2 lbs of potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
salt & pepper
2 TBSP of olive oil

Bechamel:

1 Qrt or liter of Whole Milk
5 TBSP of butter
5 TBSP of flour
2 cloves of garlic crushed but not minced (optional)
2 sprigs of thyme (optional)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese

Filling

Heat large skillet on medium heat.  Add oil, onions, celery, garlic, and spices.  cook until tender about 8-10 minutes.  Remove vegetables and place in a bowl.  In same pan cook meat, making sure it is finely crumbled.  Add tomatoes, zucchini and cooked vegetables and simmer on low while you cook potatoes and bechamel sauce. 

Peel and rinse potatoes.  Slice very thin about 1/4" on a mandoline.  Rinse again and pat dry.  You have two choices here - you can fry them in a pan until tender, or roast them.  I am lazy and prefer to slow roast in the oven while I make my sauce.  I toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and place them on a cooling rack then on a cookie sheet in a 350o oven for about 15 minutes.  i like the flavor when they are a little crispy from roasting, but the choice is yours.  The most important thing is the potatoes are cooked until they are tender - THEY WILL NOT COOK IN THE OVEN when you bake the Moussaka.

Bechamel Sauce:

Melt butter in large sauce pan over medium low heat add flour and stir.  Cook until lightly golden brown, about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally  so it doesn't burn. Increase heat to medium high and slowly add milk and stir with a whisk to prevent lumps. Add garlic & thyme, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15- 20 minutes while sauce thickens and infuses with flavor.  Remove from heat, remove garlic and thyme.  Add parmesan cheese.  Adjust flavor with additional pinch of salt if needed. 


Grease a 9x9 baking pan. Place a few TBSP of filling on the bottom of the pan, this is just to prevent the potatoes from sticking.  Layer pan with two rows of potatoes.  Cover with filling and repeat process.  Make sure your top layer is meat.  Add bechamel sauce, covering entire pan.  I like to tap the pan on the counter and add more sauce if I have it.  Cover with a sheet of wax paper  sprayed with a bit of cooking spray to prevent the sauce from sticking and turning grey.  Add foil and place on a baking tray and in a 375o oven for 40 minutes.  

After 40 minutes turn oven to broil, remove foil and waxed paper.  gently brown the top of the bechamel sauce.  this happens fast so keep a watchful eye.

Remove from oven, and let rest for 15 minutes.  Prepare a side salad and serve.  Enjoy

Shepherd's Pie

Cottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.

The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cf. "cottage" meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers).

In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.

The term "shepherd's pie" did not appear until 1877, and since then it has been used synonymously with "cottage pie", regardless of whether the principal ingredient was beef or mutton. More recently, the term "shepherd's pie" has been used when the meat is lamb the theory being that shepherds are concerned with sheep and not cattle.

This is by far one of my favorite winter dishes and over the years I have come to modify and update the traditional recipe a bit, but remain true to the original. Here is a copy of my most recent recipe and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients:

Meat Filling

• 1 lb of minced Lamb
• 1 pkg of white or crimini mushrooms
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 TBSP Flour
• 2 TBSP Butter
• 1 clove of garlic finely minced
• 1 TBSP fresh rosemary
• hot pepper flakes
• canola oil for sauteing

Vegetable Layer

• 1 large carrot minced and steamed in microwave until tender
• 1 can of peached and cream kernel corn
• 1 cup frozen peas

Mashed Potato Crust

• 1.5 kg Potatoes peeled.  Russet potatoes are best, but any white potato will do
• 2 egg yolks
• canola oil for sauteing
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1/4 cup of cream
• 4 TBSP of butter cubed
• 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• Paprika
• Pepper

Meat Filling

Heat oil in a 12" saute pan on medium to medium high heat.  

Wash, dry and thinly slice mushrooms and add to oil, season with salt & pepper and cook until lightly browned,about 8-10 minutes (don't worry if they sweat,and set aside.)

Mince celery and onion and add to pan, add more oil if needed, season with salt and pepper and cook until 

soft, 8-10 minutes and add to mushrooms.

Crumble minced lamb into pan add garlic and rosemary and hot pepper flakes and cook until browned 6-8 minutes, add to above mixture.

Make a roux of 2 TBSP of flour and 2 TBSP of butter, add to pan and cook for about three minutes, it should be

a light golden brown, don't worry if it gets dark, it will give you a darker color gravy. Slowly add chicken stock while stirring with a whisk to prevent lumps, add wine and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, while continually 

stirring.  Add meat and vegetable mixture stir and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.  If your gravy becomes too thick add more chicken stock.

Mashed Potato Crust

Peel and rinse potatoes.  place in pot of cold water and cook on high heat until tender.  Drain water well and immediately return to pot. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or potato ricer ( I like to use a ricer it removes all chances of lumps. Add cream, butter, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, pepper and parmesan cheese.DO NOT ADD SALT IF USING PARMESAN CHEESE. Mix gently until mixed.  Add the first egg yolk and mix, if mixture is to wet do not add second egg yolk.

Vegetable Layer

Dice carrot and steam in microwave until tender, about 3-5 minutes.  Mix all vegetable together and lightly season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 425F and adjust the rack to the lowest level.

Place Meat filling in casserole dish, and cover with the vegetable layer. I like to pipe the mashed potato layer on top using a pastry bag and a very large star tip.  To do this cover the vegetable mixture with rosettes, continue to cover the rosettes with more rosettes until all the potatoes have been used. If you do not have a pastry bag you can scoop the potatoes on top, just make sure you make peaks or grooves with a fork. Sprinkle with paprika.  To get a nice golden crust like above, I lightly spray cooking oil over the potatoes.  

Place casserole dish on a baking tray and cook in oven for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are golden brown.  If you are making this ahead and cooking later, bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until gravy starts to bubble.  To brown the potatoes, turn oven to broil and broil until golden.

Enjoy     

  

Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna

Lasagne are a wide, flat pasta shape, and possibly one of the oldest types of pasta. The word also refers to a dish made with several layers of lasagne sheets alternated with sauces and various other ingredients.

Lasagne originated in Italy, in the region of Emilia-Romagna. Traditional lasagne is made by interleaving layers of pasta with layers of sauce, made with ragù, bechamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. In other regions and outside of Italy it is common to find lasagne made with ricotta or mozzarella cheese,tomato sauce, various meats (e.g., ground beef, pork or chicken), miscellaneous vegetables (e.g., spinach, zucchini, mushrooms) and typically flavored with wine, garlic, onion, and oregano. In all cases the lasagne are oven-baked.Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions, where semolina was not available, with flour and eggs. Today in Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durum wheat, commercial lasagne are made of semolina (from durum wheat).


This recipe is made with oven ready noodles, this means the bechamel is a little thinner. I purposely omitted parmesan cheese in the bechamel sauce, to reduce the amount of fat, but certainly not the taste.  Feel free to add 1 cup of parmesan to the bechamel but make sure to omit the salt.

Mushroom & Spinach Filling 

Ingredients.

1 lb of white mushrooms sliced

2 Bunches of spinach ( or two packages)

1 small onion finely chopped

2 cloves of finely minced

1 tsp of red pepper flakes

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of fresh pepper

 oil for sauteing 

Clean and slice mushrooms, and rinse spinach.  Heat oil over medium heat add onions and cook until tender, but not brown.  Add garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

In the same pan turn heat to medium high add oil. Add sliced mushrooms, don't worry about over crowding  and the mushrooms sweating as they cook, you don't want them to brown.  Remove from heat and drain excess moisture.  in same pan add oil and spinach.  Cook until wilted.  Remove drain and chop.

Bechamel Sauce (cheeseless)

Ingredients

1 liter of milk

4 TBSP of butter

4 TBSP of flour

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

Melt butter in a large sauce pan, sprinkle flour over butter.  Cook and stir for about 4/5 minutes, to remove the raw flour taste.  Slowly add milk and whisk constantly. add garlic & onion powder, salt & pepper.  Simmer for 5 minutes whisking constantly to prevent lumps.  Reserve 1 1/2 cups and set aside.  add mushrooms, garlic, onion and spinach, (making sure not to add any on the drained liquid to remaining bechamel). Stir and remove from heat.   

Riccotta Filling

Ingredients

2 300g of ricotta cheese

1 egg

salt & pepper

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl until the egg is well incorporated 

1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese 

1 package of oven ready lasagna sheets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x9 in baking pan.  Scoop a couple of TBSP of mushroon mixture on to the bottom of the pan.  line pan with first layer of noodles.  Cover noodles with 1/2 of the mushroom & spinach mixture.  Line the pan with second layer of noodles and cover with riccotta filling.  Cover with third layer of noodles followed with remaining mushroom and spinach and 1/2 cup of cheese.  Place the final layer of noodles over cheese and cover with the reserved bechamel sauce.  Cover with foil, and bake on the lower rack of the oven for 30 minutes until sauce starts to bubble.  Remove pan from oven and remove foil. Turn up oven to 500F. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over bechamel and return to oven. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven, lightly cover with foil and rest for 15/20 minutes.  Serve with a side salad or garlic bread  

Country Style Beef Stew

A beef stew is a combination of food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the reduced gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, turnip, parsnips, onions, celery and tomatoes, etc.), meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as shoulder and butt cuts of beef.  While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, wine, stock, and beer are also common. Seasoning and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (simmered, not boiled), allowing flavors to mingle this is the single most important aspect of making a stew - long and slow.

This makes it popular in low-cost cooking. Tougher cuts having a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry. It is always best to cut your own stew meat.

Stews are similar to soups, generally, stews have less liquid than soups, are much thicker and require longer cooking over low heat. While soups are almost always served in a bowl, stews may be thick enough to be served on a plate with the gravy as a sauce over the solid ingredients.

Stews have been made since ancient times. Herodotus has been quoted as far back as the 8th century BC discussing about how to cook stew. Ancient Romans recipes from the cookbook Apicius (believed to date back to the 4th century) have recipes for lamb and fish stews. My recipe may not be as old but I assure you the warm feeling you will have in your tummy will be the same as the ancients had experienced. 

This is perfect if you have a slow cooker! If you want to take a few minutes to prep the meat and vegetables ahead the night before and store in the fridge you will have the greatest reward the next day for dinner. Don't buy pre cut stew meat, it's too lean and will dry out. Always cut your own meat when making stew. In this case the fattier, the better.  Using a Turnip (rutabaga) is my secret ingredient.

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs of Beef, chuck or rump roast, cut into 1" cubes
• 2 cups of Yukon gold potatoes -cut into 1" cubes
• 2 cups of sliced carrots
• 2 stalks of celery sliced
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 cup of turnip cut into 1" cubes **my secret ingredient***
• 1/2 cup of sliced parsnips
• 1  medium white onion thinly sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 clove of garlic crushed (optional)
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• 1 tsp of onion powder
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tsp of hot pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 TBSP of summer savory or greek oregano
• vegetable oil for sauteing 
• 4 cups of beef stock (you can substitute water, but you will need to use beef bullion cubes see package for instructions)
• 1 cup of red wine - Cabernet Sauvignon, or Shiraz are my favorites since they are full bodied
• 2 TBSP of flour
• 2 TSBP of butter

Directions:

Cube meat into 1" pieces, remove any excess fat, place in a bowl and mix with garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and salt.  Seasoning your meat at this stage will reward you with flavourful nuggets of meat.  Let rest while peeling, slicing and cubing your vegetables.  You may wish to soak your potatoes in cold water to keep from turning brown

Heat a 5 Quart stock pot or dutch oven with 1 TBSP of vegetable oil on medium high heat, ( if using a crock pot to make your stew, you can use a frying pan to cook your meat) 

Cook you meat in small batches, this may take a couple of minutes, but its what will make your stew everyones favorite. Do not over crowd the pan, you want to sear the meat on all sides, not steam it. Set the seared meat aside on a place with a slight lip, you want to save any juice that seeps out.  You will repeat this process until all the meat is cooked.  

* Important note.  You want a nice brown fawn to develop on the bottom of your pan, but you don't want it to burn. After the second batch, I deglaze my pan with a bit of stock and pour it over the reserved cooked meat, and continue the process. 

After final batch of meat is cooked, reduce heat to medium and add onion, carrots, turnip, parsnip and celery, cook for 2-3 minutes scrapping up any fawn on the bottom of the pan. Add flour mixing with the vegetables for 2-3 minutes add butter and stir until melted.  Deglaze your pan with red wine and 1 cup of beef stock. If you don't like red wine in your stew just use and additional cup of beef stock.  Turn heat up to high and bring to a boil, for two minutes, add remaining stock, beef, bay leaves, hot pepper flakes, garlic and summer savory and reduce heat to low and cover

*Note - You have two options to finish your stew and I've used both.  You can place your pot in a preheated 300F or keep it on the stove on low heat and cook for 1 1/2 hours.   I use the oven on days that I make biscuits (recipe can be found on blog with chicken pot pie)

After 1 1/2 hours add potatoes and cook for an additional 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and return to stove to medium heat. Add frozen peas and cook for 3 minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste, remove Bay leaves  and serve.

This next step is up to your preference of how thick your like your gravy.  I generally like my gravy on the thicker side.  If it is too thin when I remove it from the oven I will turn the heat up to medium to bring it to a gentle boil.  Mix 1 TBSP of flour to 1/2 cup of cold water in a jar with a tight lid and shake to make sure there are no lumps.  to prevent lumps make sure you add the flour to the water, and not water to the flour.  Also make sure your stew is gently boiling when you add the flour water slurry.  Slowly add while stirring for two to three minutes to thicken.   

Adjust salt and pepper to taste 

.