Submitted by Cynthia Harrington, NV

This is my own personal recipe from my restaurant days. It received recognition at the time in Nations Restaurant News. The buttons worn by the servers read, "Hey Buddy... wanna buy a hot stewdabaker!?"

Basically, this is beef (or chicken or turkey) stew ladled into a large baked potato.

Chop up a cup of celery, carrots and onions very finely and saute them in a pan until translucent. Dredge stew beef in a plastic bag... then add it to the skillet with the finely chopped aromatics. Brown the beef quickly on all sides... then add beef broth or stock to cover. Cook for
about 1 1/2 hours until beef is nice and tender.

Slice up more carrots, onions and celery into big chunks and boil them in a separate pan... then add them to the beef and gravy that you've been cooking. Let the beef stew continue to cook until the larger vegetables are fork tender. (The reason I blanch the large aromatic vegetables in a separate pan is so that they will maintain their own individual flavor.)

Split the baked potatoes down the middle length-wise; use a knife to cut into both sides of the
exposed potato meat and then add a generous amount of butter or margarine. Then ladle in the beef stew... and serve. Yuummmm!