It was a dark and stormy night – and beef stew was on the menu. OK I know that is a little cliché but there is something about a classic beef stew on a rainy, cool night that is the ideal comfort food. It happens to be the first day of Fall today in the suburbs of Toronto in 2021, much cooler than it has been in months, and raining like crazy, so stew is in order for dinner tonight. It is also a perfect time of year to go to my local market to get some wonderfully fresh vegetables to add to this meal. That’s the great thing about stew. There is no perfect combination of veg and you can mix it up depending on what you like – and what you have in your crisper. This recipe calls for stew beef, onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms and really fresh small new potatoes.
Stew is kind of a classic old-time meal that has been done a million times before, so the stew recipe I am going to share is not really new and everyone can always take their own spin on it by mixing up the veg, but is an excellent staple to have in your recipe line up. I have used this stew recipe as a stand-alone meal and also used in beef pies and beef pasties.
Classic Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb beef stew cubes
- salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
- 1 medium white onion chopped
- 1 10 ounce container of mushrooms coursely chopped
- 1 beef bouillon cubes or to taste
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- 1 litre beef broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 coursely chopped carrots
- 2 coursely chopped celery stalks
Instructions
- Add oil to a large dutch oven or cooking pot and bring to medium heat.
- Depending on the size of stew beef cubes, you may want to chop into smaller even sizes and season with salt and pepper. Add cubes to dutch oven and sear until evenly browned.
- Add Worchestershire sauce, bay leaves and let simmer for about 5 or 10 minutes.
- Add chopped onion and let cook until and softened and translucent.
- Add chopped mushrooms and let cook until lightly browned.
- Add chopped celery and let soften.
- Add red wine to the mixture and let simmer until it cooks down a bit.
- Add the bouillon cube and tomato paste and let simmer until both are mixed in. Dust mixture with flour and stir evenly.
- Pour in about half of the beef broth and whisk so the broth and flour are evenly distributed and starts to thicken. Add in remaining beef broth and stir until smooth.
- Toss in carrots and potatoes, cover and let the mixture simmer for about 1 to 2 hours or until beef is tender.
Leave a Reply