German Beef Stew

I love beef stew. My mother makes a wonderful traditional beef stew, with potatoes and peas, etc. It's really good. But I found this recipe over 25 years ago and have loved it ever since. It doesn't replace the traditional, but it's a nice addition to my stew repertoire. It has grated apple and carrot in it which almost melts into the stew. Between the apple and carrot and the red wine, this dish has a wonderful intensity of flavor. The original recipe called for a teaspoon or so of a product called Kitchen Bouquet at the end of cooking, which I found deepened the color of the stew, but not much else, so I've chosen to omit it.

The recipe also calls for serving the stew over noodles that have been sprinkled with poppy seeds. I generally use store-bought egg noodles, but I decided to try my hand at making egg noodles myself this time. I found a nice step-by-step illustrated recipe at About.com showing how to make them. They turned out well, though I wish I would have rolled them a little thinner. They were still really good, so I'll definitely make them again!

German Beef Stew

• 1-1/2 pounds beef stew meat (1-inch cubes)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 large apple, pared and grated (approximately 1 cup)
• 1 medium carrot, grated (approximately 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup beef stock/ broth
• 1/3 cup dry red wine
• 1 small bay leaf
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 4 cups medium noodles, cooked and drained
• 1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds

Brown meat in hot oil. Add apple, carrot, onion, beef stock, wine, garlic, bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours or until beef is tender. Remove bay leaf.

Combine cornstarch and the cold water; add to beef mixture. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve over hot noodles that have been sprinkled with poppy seeds.