Homemade Sirloin Tip Stew

If my son’s had their way they would have pizza, burgers, and hotdogs every night, this is my way of getting them to eat there vegetables. I would call this Sirloin Tip a soup but it is so thick and chunky you could eat it with a fork, so I call it a stew. It is simple to make but it is not a quick meal taking 10 hours from dicing the ingredients brazing the beef to when you serve it up for dinner.

8 cups (2 litres) water

1 pound (454 grams) sirloin tip diced

½ pound mushrooms (227 grams)

3 medium carrots, diced about 1 ½ cups (⅓ litre)

1 medium onion, chopped about 1 cup (¼ litre)

1 medium stalk celery, chopped about 1 ½ cups (⅓ litre)

4 medium tomatoes, diced about 1 ½ cups (⅓ litre)

3 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon dried chives

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

¼ teaspoon dried crushed or ground rosemary leaves

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Virgin olive oil

A 6 quart slow cooker

A large frying pan

Start by dicing and brazing the sirloin tip, onions, mushrooms, and garlic, in a frying pan. You want to get a light browning on the edges of the sirloin tip and the other ingredients. This puts a nice roasted flavor in the stew.

In a large frying pan add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Place the pan on the stove on high and wait for the oil to get hot.

When the oil is hot add the diced sirloin tip, onions, mushrooms, and garlic stirring frequently to keep the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When the meat and other ingredients have a light browning on the edges pour them in a 6 quart crock pot or slow cooker. This step should only take about 5 minutes.

After adding the brazed sirloin tip to the 6 quart slow cooker add the diced carrots, tomato, and celery and add them to the slow cooker.

Add all the spices but the salt to the slow cooker and mix all the ingredients. You do not want to add the salt to your stew until about 20 minutes before serving or the salt will draw all the moisture out of the meat and the sirloin tip will be tough.

Add the water, cover and cook on medium heat setting for 8 hours or until the vegetables are tender.

After about 8 hours of cooking in the slow cooker the meat should be so tender it fall apart on your fork and the vegetables should be tender. Add the salt and wait 20 minutes before serving.

Then serve with toast or crackers.