Crock Pot Beef Stew Perfect for a Rainy 'Summer' Day

All year long I look forward to going to our cottage, which is strictly a summer place and we have to use a boat to get there. There's no insulation and we use an efficient fire place for heat. Every morning in July and August, I take my cup of tea out to my deck and sit under my umbrella and read. From my vantage point right at the edge of the lake I get a pretty good view of the wildlife around me. Chipmunks, red squirrels, snapping turtles, mink, ducks, loons, hummingbirds, and this year a beaver are pretty frequent visitors. Usually.

Apparently, summer has decided to bypass our bit of Ontario wilderness. The day we left Toronto the city was sweltering with a temperature of about 30C and we arrived at the cottage and instantly jumped into the pristine lake to cool off. And then it started to rain. And then it got cold. It has rained every day for the last eleven days, sometimes so hard that we can't have a conversation because the rain on the tin roof is so loud. My mother-in-law and my daughter have been going back to bed after breakfast because it's the only place that's warm. I actually love a good rain storm at the cottage, but even I am getting water logged.

I have been stubbornly going out every day to grill our dinner, because it's the summer and that's what I do. I keep standing in the rain turning over the vegetables I'm cooking that day. Finally, I decided it wasn't going to get any warmer or drier, and it was time to break out the crock pot. And then I proceeded to make a decidedly winter meal—beef stew. I lightened it up a bit by leaving out the potatoes and red wine. I thought I would make a Thai-style stew, but in the end the flavouring was more like Indian food, but it was still delicious. Just the smell of it filling the cottage all day made us feel warmers. Like all good stews, it was even better the next day. Like most of my own recipes, this is a guideline, toss in any vegetables or spices you like.

Crock Pot Beef Stew

1 onion, coarsely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled

1 inch of ginger, peeled and sliced

1 carrot, sliced

1 rib of celery, sliced

1 lb stewing beef

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp coriander seeds or ½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp curry powder

1 cup chicken or beef stock

¼ cup fish sauce

¼ cup soy sauce

½ cup light coconut milk

1. Heat oil in a large post. Add onions, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. Remove and add to the crock pot dish.

2. Add beef to the pot in batches and brown. Add spices and stir, cooking for 2 or 3 minutes. Add beef to the onion, garlic and ginger in the crock pot dish.

3. Add stock, fish sauce and soy sauce to the beef in the crock pot dish. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours or on High for 4 hours. About a half hour before serving, add the coconut milk.

Difficulty Level: Easy