Beef Stew

When I was a kid I knew I was luckier than the other kids. I knew that everyday my mom would have something good to eat for dinner. One of my absolute favorites was her meatball stew. I've made a few modifications to make it a bit easier and quicker to prepare. Give it a try, your family and your taste buds will thank you!

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped coarsely

1 medium green pepper, chopped coarsely

1/4 cup dry roux *

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 cups water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add beef, 1/4 of the onion, salt, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Mix well.

2. Add vegetable oil to skillet and heat over medium heat.

3. Form beef mixture into meatballs. You should be able to make about 8-10 meatballs. Add meatballs to skillet and brown. Stir meatballs often to keep them from sticking. Cook time should be around 3-5 minutes.

4. Remove meatballs from skillet and set aside in a clean bowl.

5. Add bell pepper and remaining onion to skillet. Reduce heat to low and saute until onions become transparent. Move vegetables to one side of the skillet and add the dry roux. Add water to skillet and mix well with dry roux to remove clumps. Mix roux in with vegetables and increase heat to high and allow to boil for one minute.

6. Reduce heat to low and put meatballs back into skillet. Cover and allow to cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

7. Remove cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes if gravy is too thin.

8. Serve over steamed white rice with whole corn as a side dish.

* Note that you can make your own roux or use 'wet' roux if you have that on hand. I prefer using the dry roux as it is extremely quick to go from powder to ready to use.

About the Author: Charlie Thibodeaux is a native Louisianian and Cajun. He runs a cajun recipes website offering tons of great cajun cooking recipes as well as many

Thanks To : all clad copper core 14 piece cookware set all clad master chef 2 14 piece cookware set