Stewing

Wow! Three posts in one day. SOMEONE had a little catching up to do. This was actually tonight's dinner and dang, it was tasty (at least for my first attempt at "beef" stew!). I can't say I invented this one completely on my own. Since I've never made a stew before, I looked at a bunch of different recipes to see what the common factors were and went from there. It'll need some tweaking, but I'm happy with my start!

Ingredients:

1/2 leek, sliced finely

medium yellow onion, diced

4 medium size carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices

2 large celery stalks, sliced finely

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 rosemary sprigs

3 bay leaves

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch cubes

2 tbs flour, divided

1/2 bottle red wine

4 cups veg. stock

1 package seitan

salt and pepper, to taste

4 tbs canola oil, divided

Season seitan with salt and pepper and coat lightly with 1 tbs flour. Heat a dutch oven over medium heat and add 2 tbs oil. Add the seitan to the oil and saute until browned. Remove seitan and set aside. Add onions, celery, and leeks to the remaining 2 tbs oil and saute until golden brown. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Stir in the seitan. Cook for another two minutes, then cover with remaining flour and stir to coat. Add red wine and stir. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots, bay leaves, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour and a half.

Remove rosemary sprigs and bay leaves before serving, kids! Enjoy!