I picked up a package of stew meat from Costco a while back and shared half with my daughter. Then I split my portion and froze them in 1 pound portions so I could make smaller batches of stew. Last night was the night! I debated about several different beef stews I’ve made before. Jacques Pepin has a recipe for “quick” beef stew that starts with more tender meat so doesn’t require hours of cooking. Then there’s the beef stew with coffee, which was really good. And for a more upscale version you can try Kay Scarpetta’s beef stew with red wine and artichokes, which also has some V8 juice.
I went more pedestrian and plain last night, with this recipe from Katie Lee Joel’s The Comfort Table, which I see is available for a penny used on Amazon. Well worth more than that! I don’t remember adding celery to beef stew before but this was good. Potatoes, carrots, celery and onions, along with a bit of apple cider vinegar to scrape up the browned bits, which was a new twist for me. I roughly halved her recipe but used about 3/4 of the amount of liquid because I wanted to make sure there was lots of liquid to sop up with the good bread I had. If you like it thicker, just use 2 to 2.5 cups of broth. I use something similar to this cast iron Dutch oven (on Amazon) to cook stew in.
This hit all the right spots for us. Tender meat, flavorful broth and good vegetables.
Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean stew beef, cut in 2 inch pieces
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 potatoes, peeled and cut in 1 inch chunks
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 celery stalk, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 3 cups beef broth
- a sprinkling of fresh minced parsley optional
Instructions
- Salt and pepper the meat cubes, then toss with a tablespoon of the flour, saving the rest for later.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat and brown the beef on all sides, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Pour the vinegar into the pot and heat it while scraping up the browned bits.
- Add the broth and all the vegetables along with the browned beef. Bring to a very low simmer, cover. and cook about 2 hours, until the beef is tender.
- Add some of the broth to the flour and stir together until smooth. Add this back to the stew and cook another ten minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper, about half a teaspoon each. Sprinkle with the parsley, if using, then dish it up and serve it.
Leave a Reply