1 hour ago, SavageBob said:And beef stew recipe? Yes please.
Not a particularly hard recipe, but a total novice will need some guidance. The only equipment you will absolutely need is a oven and stove safe lidded pot or Dutch oven. I used iron, but ceramic, glass, or clay works just as well.
- 2 1/2 pounds of stew meat. You can use a roast and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
- Salt and pepper.
- Olive oil.
- 1/2 onion.
- A few cloves of garlic.
- 2 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar.
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
- 1/4 cup of flour.
- 1 cup of red wine. I used a wind that pairs well with beef.
- 1 cup of water.
- 2 cups of beef (or vegetable) stock.
- 1 bay leaf
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme.
- 2 teaspoons of sugar.
- 2 carrots, peeled.
- 3 golden potatoes, peeled. Red potatoes would also work.
- 1-2 head of broccoli.
Prepare your vegetables. Peel potatoes and carrots. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on their size. Cut carrots and broccoli into bite-sized pieces.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees (Fahrenheit).
Dry the meat as much as you can with paper towels, then salt and pepper to taste. Heat the olive oil in your Dutch oven/oven-safe pot until it is sizzling--if you heat it to the point it starts to smoke, discard and try again. Sear a few pieces of the meat at a time on both sides, about 2 minutes each side (the meat should have a nice sear on it), and set the meat aside. Your pan should have a lot of burned fat and meat residue--that's what you want.
Once the beef is done, add the garlic and onion and cook in the pan for a minute or two, then add your Balsamic vinegar. With a wooden spoon, deglaze the pan with the vinegar--or, in layman's terms, scrape up the burned stuff (with a wooden spoon or spatula, not a metal one). After a couple of minutes, add your tomato paste and mix it in. Return the meat (and any juices) to the pan, mix in your flour, and let it cook for a minute or two.
Add the beef or vegetable stock, water, and wine. Stir in the sugar, then put in the thyme and the bay leaf. Put the lid on your pot and place in the oven for 3 hours.
In the last 30-45 minutes of cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the broccoli--that is, put the broccoli into the boiling water for about 2-3 minutes, then remove and put into an ice water bath. They should be a bright green color. Set aside.
In the same pot you used for the broccoli, add some more water and return to a boil, then add the carrots and potatoes. Boil until they reach a desired softness. The potatoes will take longer, so remove the carrots first with a slotted spoon or sieve.
If you time it right, the stew should be done by the time you finish the other vegetables. Remove the stew from the oven, and fish out the onion, bay leaf and thyme. Discard the herbs, but you can save and eat the onion if you desire.
Lastly, eat! Place your potatoes, carrots, and broccoli into your serving bowl and ladle the meat and broth on top. The hot broth should reheat the cooled vegetables.
NOTES: I hate stew, and this was fantastic. I had to adjust a few things on my end; I replaced the flour with gluten-free flour mix, which I didn't know had extra thickening agents in it, so my broth turned into a thick gravy, which was still delicious, and would be perfect to ladle over baked potatoes. I also used infused olive oils, but that's not necessary. If you like more vegetables in your stew, such as green beans or turnips or what have you, prepare them the same way you did the carrots and broccoli, by boiling (root vegetables) or blanching. For a little spiciness, you could add some chili peppers into the pot before putting it into the oven.
