Cold Day Beef Stew

This is one of the easy comfort food recipes. It’s easily prepared, basic techniques, doesn’t require exotic ingredients. Once you are comfortable with the basic method, you can put your own twist on it.

Ingredients:

2 lb beef chuck roast, cubed into 1 inch chunks.  Doesn’t have to be exact on the weight, a bit more or a bit less doesn’t really make much difference in the final product. Chuck roast is a great cut for beef stew, the connected tissues will break down during the cooking process and the meat will be tender and flavorful.

1/4 c plain flour, salt and pepper to taste

2 carrots, peeled and roughly cut into chunks.

3 golden potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into rough chunks about 1 hours into cooking process. Or you can cut them early and soak in water to prevent browning.

1 large yellow / white / sweet onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

1 large sprig of rosemary and 2 sprigs of thyme, perfect aromatic for beef stew. If you don’t have access to fresh herbs, use about 2 tsp of dry herb instead, no biggie

about 3 cups of beef stock, or water (or 1 cup of red wine + 2 cups of stock / water, flavor would be much deeper)

1 tbsp tomato paste

Method:

In a large bowl, season beef with salt and pepper, mix to combine. Dust flour onto beef cubes, mix to even coat beef with flour. This will help thicken the sauce in the end. Heat a dutch oven or a heavy bottom stew pot on medium high heat, drizzle about 2 tbsp mild flavored oil until oil is heated up. Drop beef cubes in and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Brown beef cubes in batches if needed, please do not crowd the pan, otherwise the temperature will drop too much and beef won’t be properly browned. Don’t be tempted to move the meat around, just drop the beef in, and let them alone. Once the beef is browned, they will be much easier to be turned. There will be some darker bits at the bottom of the pan, don’t worry about it at all, it’s all good flavor. Put browned beef cubes into a bowl and set aside.

Drop in onions and sweat in the same pot, no need to clean after browning beef! Moisture released by onions will help loosen up the brown bits in the pan, just scrape the bottom of the pan as needed with your spatula or wooden spoon, while moving onions around. After a couple of minutes, add in garlic. Again, no need to finely chop, the long cooking process will break them down for you beautifully. In about 30 seconds, you can smell the aroma of garlic. Add carrots and cook for a couple of minutes. Push the veggies towards one side, add the tomato paste into the open area and let the heat “wake up” the flavor. Move it around with the spoon, and mix with the veggies after about 10 seconds. Drop in herbs, let them wake up. Add red wine, if you are using it. De-glaze the pan and give the alcohol a chance to cook out. Add the remaining liquid in a couple of minutes. Mix it together. Add beef back into the pot, juices and all. Mix and bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and walk away.

Return after about 1 hour,  add potatoes into the stew, mix to combine. Lid back on and let it simmer for another 40 minutes or so. Stir every 10 minutes or so to make sure nothing is stuck at the bottom and there is enough liquid. When the stew is done, taste and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.

I’d like to serve the stew over white rice, pasta, or with nice warm tortilla, make a beef stew taco! You can also mop the juices with dinner rolls, use left over beef chunks on pizza, make empanadas or even enchiladas! The possibility is truly endless.

How do you like your beef stew, and how would you serve it?