Beef Stew with Crust

Left-over Stew with Crust. When cooking, the crust should cover the Stew !

STEW:
Cut some kind of meat up in cubes. Put flour and seasonings in a plastic bag (I used seasoning salt, pepper, Garlic Plus and Paprika.) Add meat and shake to cover. (I mean shake the meat in the bag. You yourself don't have to shake.)

Meanwhile, add Canola Oil to pan, heat and add floured meat. Fry up until brown on all sides, then add onions, celery, mushrooms, water, and Onion Soup Mix. Pop in oven for about an hour and a half, then add some frozen veggies and a couple of chopped up tomatoes. At this point in time, mine looked a bit too thick, so I added water. I should never have done that. (Yes, I know I don't have amounts or anything. Go with your instincts - it's Stew, for goodness sake, not  some fancy French stuff like Carbonnadeiilig.) Cook for about a half hour more, then pop the crust on top.


CRUST:
In bowl, mix:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt


Add:
1/4 cup cold butter, cut in small chunks. Blend in with pastry blender, two knives, or you own little (washed) fingers.


Add:
1 cup of water. Mix with fork until all is sticky. Tip out on a well floured surface (like a table, not a floor) and  pat it lightly a few times, using more flour if needed and forming it into a circle that will almost fit the pan you are using. Carefully lift it and place it on top of the hot stew. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until it's brownish on top and cooked all the way through.


This is so yummy. When you are cooking a roast of beef or pork, make this and cover the meat during the last 20 minutes or so of cooking. Make sure you have enough liquid in the roaster, as the pastry that sort of droops over the sides of the roast will soak up some of the liquid and become the most sought after (and fought over) part of the meal. We had one 'vegetarian' dinner guest once who couldn't stop eating it, much to our distress. Although it was a bit funny.