This is the best beef stew you will ever taste. With the combination of the beef, red wine and all the other ingredients this stew has delicious flavors that cause it to be a great comfort food.
Beef Stew is a great comfort dish to serve to your friends. It can be made up ahead of time and then heated just before they arrive.
It is important to allow yourself plenty of time to prepare the stew. It is going to take about 2 ½ hours to prepare and cook. You will start by chopping your vegetables. I recommend slicing your carrots very thin. I like to use the baby carrots that are already peeled. This makes a perfect size circle. I will cut my celery down the middle one or two times to reduce the size of the celery. It should be slice no more than ½ inch. I use a yellow onion and chop it to a ¼ inch cube. I do the same with my garlic. Since I am chopping my potatoes ahead of time, I put them in water to keep them from browning.
You can use an inexpensive cut of beef for your stew. I tend to use round steak, flat iron, or top blade. You can buy the stew beef that is already cut, but the pieces will need to be cut down into 1 inch cubes. We brown our meat on all sides to seal in the juices. Then we set it aside for later in the recipe.
We will want to caramelize our onions, so be sure to cook on medium low. We will only cook our garlic for 30 seconds, just enough to allow the flavors to come out and not cause it to become overly browned.
We are going to slowly stir in our flour to this mixture. The flour is going to be our thickener. Once it has slightly browned we start stirring in our wine and broths. We want to make sure and scrape the bottom with our spoon to gather up all of the tasty bits left behind from the meat. Now we will simmer this mixture for 1 hour.
After the stew has simmered for 1 hour, bring it to a boil and add the vegetables. The vegetables should be tender in about 20 minutes. Now don’t forget to remove your thyme and bay leaves. This stew is very impressive and is complimented by serving it with a bold red wine and some sour dough bread.
Recipe
The Best Beef Stew
Servings: 4
1 ½ lbs. beef round steak, or flatiron cut into 1 inch cubes
4 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces or 2 oz. salt pork cut into 1 inch cubes
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup of onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp. flour
2 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 cups Beef broth
3 bay leaves
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 to 3 cups potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups celery, cut into ½ by 1 inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large stew pot, brown the bacon or salt pork. Then remove to a bowl for later. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil to the pan. Put half of the meat into the pan and brown on all sides over medium high heat. When the meat is browned on all sides remove to a bowl for later. Brown the remaining half of the meat and place it in the bowl for later. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and the onions to the pan and cook over medium heat until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds stirring. Stir in 3 tbsp. flour. Lightly brown the flour. Then add wine while stirring. Add chicken and beef broth bringing to a boil. Add bay leaves and thyme. Cover and reduce the heat to allow the stew to simmer. Let the stew simmer for 1 hour. Add carrots, potatoes and celery. Cover and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and thyme. Salt and pepper the stew to taste. Serve in bowls with sour dough bread.
