Beef Stew Remix

The other day Dana was craving Beef Stew. It was cold outside and I thought it was a great idea. So I went to the store found a great deal on some chuck steak and went for it. Watch out when you go to the store. If they have pre-cut stew meat, ask the butcher. It will be round steak 9 times out of 10. It will work, but chuck is the best for stew. A whole roast will be a tad more, but it will be worth it. Trust me. Now that I had the meat I had to decide how to make my stew. Some are just beef broth, some are tomato based, how was I to proceed. I decided to do a base of Beef Broth and then add a bit of tomato paste for just a little bite. We served it up in some bread bowls and we were on for a great meal. It was a great beef stew.

Beef Stew

• 3 pounds chuck beef, cubed
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup red wine
• 4 cups beef stock or broth
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1  bay leaf
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Dash ground cloves
• 3 large carrots, sliced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 3 tbs cornstarch

Heat a large dutch oven over high heat.  Add the oil and brown the meat.

Once the meat has browned, remove the meat to a bowl.  De-glaze the pot with the red wine.  Make sure that you hold the bottle tightly.  As you can see, I dropped my bottle.  The bottle did not break, but the wine did shoot out the open end.  It was all over my cupboards and even hit the ceiling.  Oops.

Then add the beef stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaf, onion, salt, thyme, sugar, pepper, paprika, and cloves to the pan.

Reintroduce the meat to the pan.  Then add the onions, carrots and celery.  I add these now as like them the super soft. If you like yours to have a little crunch, add them with the potato later in the recipe.  Cover and simmer for 2 hours.  If you did find yourself using a round cut, it will take a tad bit longer to cook.  In this case you should cook for 2 1/2 hours.

After the two hours, remove bay leaves and garlic cloves. Add the potatoes. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer.

To thicken the stew, make a slurry of cornstarch and water and add it to the pot.  To do this combine 1/2 cup water and cornstarch and mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and serve.

This was an awesome stew.  It was thick and full of flavor.

Plus the meat was melt in your mouth tender.