Beef Stew

Beef Stew

With the cold weather now in full blast, I thought it would be time to make a stew.  The easiest was a beefstew.  You can usually find beefstew at a ski lodge.  This is one of the best meals that can be eaten while skiing because it's warm, provides protein, and is filling.  This type of stew mainly consists of three parts.  The Beef, The sauce, and the vegetables.  Feel free to throw in whatever vegetables you have around the house.  The more the better.  For this particular recipe I used the following:

• 3 lbs of beef chuck, cut in 1" cubes, salt and pepper the meat.
• 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 cup red wine, 3 tbs dried parsley
• garlic, pearl onions, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, and a yellow onion

Start off by turning on the oven to 450 degrees.  Next in a high walled dutch oven (Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 7-1/4-Quart Round French Oven, Black Onyx is what I used) add some vegetable oil.  Sear the meat on both sides.Once that's done, remove the meat and add the diced garlic (handy tool I use to dice is  the Black & Decker HC306 1-1/2-Cup One-Touch Electric Chopper)

This was a wedding present that I had thrown onto our registry.  You can't beat this for quickly dicing any type of vegetable.  Side note: works great on powdering chocolate for hot chocolate drinks as well,   however, lousy for making confetti out of construction paper. After about a minute, add the yellow onion (sliced) for another minute.  At this point, you can add the wine mixture and can tomatoes.  Bring the whole thing to a boil, then add the seared meat and the rest of the vegetables (cut any way you like).  Practice those knife skills, but watch your fingers!  Let it come to a boil again and then turn off the heat.  Place a sheet of aluminum foil snugly over the pot a press down around the edges for a tight seal.  Put the lid on and pop it into the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.  Watch a movie.  Remove from oven, let it cool, then serve!  Great to serve over rice or egg noodle pasta.

Quick Summary:

1.  Sear the meat

2.  Add the liquid

3.  Put the Vegetables in.

4.  Cover tightly with foil and lid and pop in the oven.

5.  Out of the oven 1 1/2 hours later.