Blackout Stew

I got a phone call last night from my sister. She was leaving work early during a major power cut and called me on her cell phone (don't you just love Skype?!).
"I wanna make stew, something beefy. I've got potatoes, carrots and parsnips. What kind of beef do I need?" The easy to cook without power type I though, but then I remembered her cooker is gas.
After some trans-atlantic translation (she's in the States I'm in Ireland) we worked out that chuck steak would be a good start. The ACME supermarket was on back-up generators, providing atmospheric mood lighting and they had locked up the fridges to save power. The lady on the meat counter went in the back and came out with diced chuck beef or what was possibly chuck beef. The recipe is below, blackout optional, and I'm waiting to hear back about how it went...


Blackout Beef Stew.

INGREDIENTS
Olive or sunflower oil, for frying
1 & 1/4lb Chuck steak (or whatever you can find in the dark) cubed 1" pieces
2 handfuls plain flour
Salt & ground black pepper
2 medium onions, diced postage stamp sized pieces
2 large carrots, scrubbed & cut into 2" thumb sized pieces
3 medium parsnips, scrubbed & cut into 3" pieces
6 potatoes (fist sized), peeled & cut into quarters
1 pint beef or veg stock, stock cube is fine
2 tsp beef seasoning, McCormicks Beef rub, Schwartz Steak seasoning etc
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Few drops Tobasco sauce (optional)
1 tblsp Dijon mustard, smooth or grainy - your choice
1 large tbsp gravy granules, cornstarch or cornflour

METHOD
Put the flour on a plate and add good pinch of both salt and pepper, mix it in and add the beef. Toss it around until it's all coated. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over a medium high heat and, shaking off the excess flour add 1/3 of the beef and using a spatula move the beef around fry for 5-7 mins until browned on all sides. This gets a bit noisy and spitty but the heat should stay quite high. Remove the beef from the pan, tip onto a plate and add a little more oil if needed and another batch of beef, do the same again with the last batch. NOTE: This process is called 'sealing the meat' it makes the meat more tender and it's the only colour the beef gets, so don't rush it or you'll have aenemic looking stew. This is not good unless you're also eating it in a blackout (with very good teeth).
Heat the oven to Gas 5. In a medium to large sized heavy saucepan (about the size of a dinner plate), your stew pot from now on, heat 3 tbsps oil and over a medium heat fry the onions until they start to get soft and turn golden brown. Add the sealed beef with any juices left on the plate, carrots, potatoes, seasoning/spice mix, Worcester sauce and Tobasco. NO PARSNIPS! These get added in later so they don't overcook and turn to mush. Mix everything well so everything is nicely coated in spicy juices and pour over the stock. There should be pieces of stew sticking up through the liquid - don't drown it completely. Turn up the heat and when it starts to boil, put the lid on and put it in the oven for an hour or so. You can ignore it at this stage, it doesn't need you for a while.
After an hour, take it out of the oven and add in the parsnips and mustard. Move things about with your spatula so the parsnips are covered about, but don't stir it madly or everything will disintergrate. With a sharp knife test if the potaotes and carrots are cooked they should be soft when you peirce them and the meat should be tender, a sample always helps at this stage, but remember it's hot (burnt mouth not fun). Put it back in the oven for 20 minutes, then take it out and add the gravy granules or cornstarch, mix it well but gently and it's back in the oven for 10 minutes. These will make the stock into a lovely glossy sauce.

Serve it in warm bowls or plates, sprinkle over some chopped fresh parsley if your trying to impress anyone (including yourself) and maybe add some crusty bread to mop up the juices. Enjoy!