Very good, but I made a couple of mistakes which I'll point out as we go.
Ingredients:
1-2 pounds lean stew beef
Two medium sized russet potatoes
Three medium onions
Half a bag of baby carrots
Box of beef stock
Flour
Ideally this whole thing would be done in a Dutch Oven. Unfortunately we don’t have one, so if you don't either then you’re going to lose water which means a) you'll need to use more beef broth (a whole box was enough for us) and b) you might not need to thicken the gravy with flour at the end (we didn't). Anyway, heat olive oil in the bottom of the pot and add DRIED (a paper towel will work) stew beef with a bit of flour on it.
Try to get a single layer of meat so all of it is touching the pot; if you can't then brown the meat in shifts. When the meat has browned add beef stock until the meat is covered and throw in a bay leaf and a generous portion of thyme. SIMMER, don't boil, for 2-3 hours, or until the meat is very soft.
When the meat is done, place aside and try to keep warm. Add the onions quartered and add more stock if needed. This takes a little while. One the onion is nice and soft, set that aside with beef and add the potatoes (cut them in something like inch and a half cubes, doesn't have to be perfectly even). DON'T overcook the potatoes like I did--the nice gravy you're making will turn into potatoey broth as the potatoes disintegrate. One they're done, set aside with beef and onions and add the carrots. Once those have shimmered until their done, throw everything back in the pot, add a bit of flour if too if the broth is too thin or more broth if too thick (mine was the latter) and salt and pepper to taste.
Yummy with baguette!
