This recipe serves eight people. It's nice for serving to a large crowd but if there is no crowd for dinner there will be an ample amount to provide leftovers for the next day's dinner. That's a good thing since stew tastes better the next day! The wine and herbs give lots of flavour to the stew and turn it into an irresistible meal for a cold day.
A good way of preparing beef for stew is to let it sit in a plain rub for about an hour. Season the beef with salt, black pepper and oregano, cover well and set aside at room temperature for one hour. Once the hour is up you can either begin to cook it or let it chill in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
Ingredients for the stew:
- 2 lb cubed stew beef, such as bottom round roast. I have discovered that this cut of meat is excellent for stew and I find it preferable to chuck roast.
- Salt, black pepper and oregano
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large red onion, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped, washed well, white and light green parts only
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 or 4 tablespoons of flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup of good wine, and there is nothing wrong with using white wine when cooking beef stew
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 cups chicken broth plus some extra on hand to add if the liquid evaporates to the point where the stew will start to get dry. I use chicken broth because if find it brings to the stew a lighter taste .
- a few sprigs of thyme
- 1 long sprig of rosemary
- some sprigs of parsley
- some kitchen twine
- 2 bay leaves
- one or two leaves from the green part of a leek (washed really well to get the sand off)
- 1 & 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into pieces.
- 3 carrots, scrubbed well, left unpeeled, sliced into pieces
- 1 cup frozen flat Italian green beans (optional)
- 1 cup frozen peas
Directions:
- Make a bouquet garni: envelop the thyme, rosemary, and parsley with the green leek leaves, and tie them up with kitchen twine.
- Make sure the meat is at room temperature.
- Trim the meat of fat and cut into 1 and 1/2 or 2-inch pieces.
- Season with salt, black pepper and oregano.
- Dredge in the flour.
- Preheat the oven to 300 F.
- In a Dutch oven heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and while mixing, sauté the onions, celery, and leek. Once the onions become translucent, mix in the garlic. Sauté for one minute. Remove from the pot and reserve.
- Heat some more olive oil and brown the meat well on all sides. Make sure you do not overcrowd the meat because it will start boiling and steaming. What you want instead is browning, therefore you may need to cook the meat pieces in two batches. If needed, when cooking the second batch add some more oil to the pot.
- When the meat is browned well, remove it from the pot, cover and set aside.
- Add the tomato paste, mix it around in the pan, then add the balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Stir for about one minute.
- Add the wine and bay leaves. Stir to deglaze the pot as you allow the alcohol in the wine to cook off.
- Return the meat and the onion mixture to the pot.
- Add the broth along with the bouquet garni.
- Season with salt and black pepper, bring to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven.
- Cook for two hours.
- Remove from the oven, add the potatoes, carrots (and if using, the green beans). Mix well.
- Place back in the oven and cook for another half hour to forty-five minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
- Ten minutes before the stew is finished add the peas and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Remove and discard the bay leaves and bouquet garni.
- Plate the stew; ready to serve!
This photo shows the version with the green beans. I also added extra tomato in this rendition, however it was not to my liking. I find that beef has a substantial enough taste to stand on its own, without tomatoes. But it's all a matter of individual taste, isn't it?
