There are a few things you need for really good beef stew. The first is to simmer the stew meat for a long time. The second is wait to add the vegetables until the meat has been simmering for at least an hour. The third is, if you want potatoes in the stew, cook them separately rather than in the stew, and then add them only to the stew you are serving immediately. Or better yet, don’t put potatoes in the stew at all, instead serve them with Cream Cheese and Parsley Mashed Potatoes!
Stew isn’t the prettiest looking dish, instead it’s comfort food at it’s finest. Winter will be here before you know it, and this stew would be perfect for a snowy day.
Start by cutting up boneless chuck roast, trimming the excess fat off, into chunks no bigger than 1 1/2 inches. The smaller the pieces of meat, the quicker they will become nice and tender.
Then coat the meat in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and brown in a dutch oven with some olive oil, removing once browned. Add in beef broth and red wine, scrapping up the browned bits at the bottom of the dutch oven, then return the browned meat to the pot, add some tomato paste, bay leaves, and thyme, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer for an hour before adding your veggies. After an hour, add in chopped carrots and onions, but wait another half hour to add the chopped mushrooms and garlic. The mushrooms shrink really quickly!
Simmer for half an hour more, then remove the bay leaves (I forget to do that ALL THE TIME!) and serve.
You might wonder why I used 1 and 1/4 cup of red wine here, instead of just 1 cup. It’s because that’s exactly what was left in the bottle of wine, and I didn’t think my husband would be too happy if I only left 1/4 cup of wine in the bottle! Or if I drank it instead, then I would just want more, and then I’d probably decide to forget about the stew, and dinner wouldn’t happen, and it would just be a big mess. So, yes, 1 and 1/4 cup red wine!
- 3 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into chunks no bigger than 1½ inches
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 cups chopped baby portabella mushrooms
- 2 cups chopped carrots
- 1½ cups chopped red onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1¼ cup red concord grape wine
- ½ cup flour
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- In a shallow bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. Place cut chuck roast on a large plate, sprinkle the flour mixture over the beef, tossing with your hands to coat evenly in the flour. Shake off excess flour. Add two tablespoon olive oil to a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, brown the beef, working in batches, adding additional olive oil between batches. Remove browned beef to a large plate, set aside.
- Once all the beef is browned, add the beef broth and red wine to the dutch oven, scrapping up the browned bits from the bottom with a large spoon. Stir in tomato paste. Return the browned beef to the dutch oven, add the bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- After 1 hour, add the chopped carrots and onions to the dutch oven, continue to simmer, uncovered for ½ hour. Add the chopped mushrooms and garlic, simmer for an additional ½ hour, uncovered, or until the beef and carrots are tender. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
