Game Night Family Stew

by Lizsa M.
(Oregon)

Does this Game Night Family Stew taste good or what! Serve bowls of this with bread sticks when you have family and friends in for a night of cards or board games. I just love the word play here, using "game" in two ways!

Ingredients:

* 2-3 lbs game meat (moose, elk, venison, etc.) cut into 1 inch cubes
* 2 cups flour
* 1 Tablespoon seasoning salt
* 1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
* Vegetable oil to coat bottom of pan
* Water to cover meat in soup kettle
* 1 can tomato sauce
* 4 large potatoes, cubed
* 1 pound bag carrots, thickly sliced
* 1 entire stalk celery, sliced
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, chopped
* salt and pepper to taste
* corn starch, if needed for thicker gravy

Directions:

Mix the flour, seasoning salt, and Cajun seasoning together in a bag or bowl. Add the meat cubes. Shake the bag or spoon the flour mixture over the meat to coat it. Fry in small amount of oil until browned on all sides. Place the meat in large (20 quart) stock pot and cover with water and 1 can tomato sauce. Save the leftover flour mix.

Simmer on low heat for 3 hours. Add onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and celery. Turn heat to medium and cook for an additional half hour or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Mix the remaining flour mixture with a cup of cold water. Stir or shake it until the flour is dissolved and there are no lumps. Stir this into the hot stew. Continue stirring while it cooks and the gravy thickens.

If you want a thicker gravy in your stew, you can thicken it more with cornstarch. Take out about a cup of the gravy and add a tablespoon of cornstarch to it. Stir it until it is smooth and then add it back to the stew.