|
|
Beef Stew
Hearty Homestyle Slow Cooker Recipe
Servings: 6 | Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 5-8 hrs
How to make thick, hearty beef stew in a slow cooker. Large chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini, and onion in a tomato beef stock... Gorge and get gratified. This stew is beefy, chunky, rich, and full of flavor. A favorite comfort food. Use a slow cooker and you've got an über easy one-pot meal ready at the end of the day.
Here, we use a 6-quart slow cooker. For tender, falling-apart beef cubes, this slow and low heat is key. For really tender meat, select beef cubes that are more marbled rather than lean. For a bold intense gravy, we start by browning the beef cubes. Getting them nice and browned not only seals in the beef flavor, but also adds deep complex flavors to the stock. After browning the beef, we'll make use of all the pan juices by making a gravy in the same pan, scraping all brownings and then adding it to the slow cooker. This will serve to thicken the stew and pull in added flavor. We add red wine for a rich, earthy flavor. We use a cabernet sauvignon, but you may also consider merlot or pinot noir, whichever you enjoy drinking. And don't worry about feeding kids this stew, because the alcohol content would have evaporated by the time it's finished cooking with four plus hours of cook time.
Great for a robust, any-day-of-the-week meal or a perfect vacation-day dinner. Imagine a hot crock pot full of beef stew at the end of the day after skiing, snowboarding, river rafting, or hiking. After a fun but exhaustive day, here's an easy way to feed hungry active people who've been out all day. Imagine the aroma welcoming you at the door and not needing to still worry about grocery shopping and what to make for dinner. It'll make your day that much more relaxing. It just takes a little preplanning and a slightly earlier morning. You'll be rewarded with delicious gratifying beef stew.
Want to minimize prep time in the morning? Clean, chop, and refrigerate the vegetables the night before. Submerge potatoes in water but drain before use. Having your veggies ready to go will allow for quick morning assembly. If you're really short on time, you may opt to skip browning the beef stew cubes. But your gravy won't be as flavorful. And you'll miss out on some bold complex flavors. Just know that. Don't skip this step and expect it to taste as good. But at the end of the day, it's still beef stew and it'll be ready to eat!
• 3 lbs cubed beef stew meat
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 TBSP vegetable oil
• 2 TBSP butter
• 2 large russet potatoes, 1 1/2" cubes
• 3 celery leaf stalks, 1/2" slices
• 3 large stewing carrots, 1" slices
• 1 large zucchini, halved lengthwise, 1" slices
• 1 medium yellow onion, coarsely diced
• 2 TBSP minced garlic
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted
• 32 fl oz beef stock, low-sodium, intense flavor
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/8 cup worcestershire sauce
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• tobasco sauce
- Set slow cooker on high. Set aside beef, flour, oil, butter, tobasco sauce, and reserve 1 1/2 cups of the beef stock. Put all other ingredients into slow cooker. Allow to warm up.
- Meanwhile, dredge beef cubes in flour, shaking off excess. Set aside remaining flour. Do not discard.
- On the stovetop, heat 1TBSP oil in large pan. Over medium heat, brown dredged beef chunks in two even batches, second batch with the other TBSP of oil. Let sit and brown, about 5 minutes. Flip beef chunks and brown other side another 5 minutes or so.
(You can speed up cooking time by using two pans simultaneously.)
- Add browned beef to slow cooker. Return to the same pan to make roux. Melt butter. Add leftover flour (approx. 1/4 cup) and stir constantly to get make a smooth roux. Add the reserved 1 1/2 cups beef stock to pan slowly while stirring and allow to thicken, scraping all earlier beef drippings. We've essentially made gravy to thicken the beef stew. Add to slow cooker. This also makes use of all that beef flavor from the pan earlier.
- Stir to distribute contents. Cook in slow cooker on high for 5 hours -OR- on low for 8+ hours. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired. When done, locate and discard bay leaves and thyme.
- Serve beef stew with french bread or over rice. Also surprisingly good with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Serve with tobasco sauce, individually adjusting for heat and tartness desired. Enjoy!
|
| |
|
