Sherried Beef

 I like casseroles. I've always liked casseroles. They are easy to make and they reheat well. This recipe came off of a card written out by my great aunt Joan. I picked this one to try because of the sherry in all honesty. Sherry is one of those alcohols that I wouldn't want to drink. Even good sherry is oddly cloying, but put it in a dish with other flavors and sometimes something magical happens. I happened to have part of a bottle of sherry in the cupboard and this seemed like an interesting way to use it. 

The recipe is dead easy and basically comes down to mix all the ingredients and bake for a really long time. The result is a thick creamy stew that is perfect served with noodles. It's so easy that I can guarantee that I will make it again, although I think I'll sub in fresh mushrooms for the canned variety. For one thing, they are cheaper which actually dates the recipe a bit. While the card is dated 1988, I suspect that the actual recipe is from the 70's or even 60's.

Sherried Beef

• 3 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 2 6oz cans mushrooms (I'm going to use 1 lb fresh in the future, cleaned and sliced)
• 1/2 pkg onion soup mix (I used Knorr)
• 3/4 cup dry sherry

1. Mix all ingredients (you don't have to brown the meat)
2. Braise, covered for 3 hours at 325 degrees. (I ended skimming off some oil that came to the top)
3. Serve over noodles or rice

Serves - a lot (at least 10)

This is great as is, but the recipe could be upgraded by browning the beef and using fresh mushrooms. Adding in some sauteed onions would also punch up the flavor a bit too.

Seems like it would be pretty easy to convert to a slow cooker as well.