Wee Kick Beef Stew

Total Time: 3 hrs 40 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 onions (peeled, halved, and thickly sliced)
• 2 cloves garlic (peeled and very thinly sliced)
• 2 carrots (scraped and cut into one-inch chunks)
• 2 celery ribs (halved lengthwise and cut into one-inch pieces)
• 8 large mushrooms (wiped clean and thickly sliced)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 lbs stewing beef, in large cubes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (approximate measure)
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1/2 cup red wine (i use merlot)
• 1 (10 ounce) can rotel canned diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
• 2 teaspoons bouquet garni spice (see directions)

Recipe

• 1 you'll notice there is no salt in this recipe, other than that used in the flour mixture; i typically use canned beef stock and i find it salty enough.
• 2 if you cannot find rotel, use a can of mexican stewed tomatoes (but it likely won't have the kick); if you don't want any hot-pepper flavour in your stew, use regular stewed tomatoes, or just leave them completely out.
• 3 canned stewed tomatoes are typically in larger tins than the rotel, but the extra won't matter; don't worry about it.
• 4 i use the bouquet garni spice from penzeys for this, which is a spice blend containing savory, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, dill, marjoram, sage and tarragon; if you don't have a similar spice mix, i recommend using savory, rosemary and thyme to make up the two teaspoons.
• 5 okay, let's start the prep work.
• 6 first, thickly slice the onions and place on a plate; on the side of the plate place the thinly sliced garlic cloves; set aside.
• 7 next, place the other vegetables in a bowl as you chop them, and set aside.
• 8 now you'll have to cube the beef, if you haven't bought it already cubed.
• 9 in a clean plastic bag (check to make sure it has no holes), place the flour, salt, and pepper; shake the beef cubes in the flour mixture so each piece is lightly coated.
• 10 preheat oven to 300f.
• 11 now, the cooking starts: get out a large dutch oven and put in on your burner over high heat; lightly coat the bottom with olive oil.
• 12 brown the beef cubes in the oil, removing them to a plate as they brown--you will likely have to do this in about 3 batches, depending on the size of your pot; add olive oil to the pot as needed.
• 13 when all the beef has been browned, add the onions to the pot (adding some oil, if needed, to prevent them from burning or sticking) and let cook, stirring a bit, for about one minute; then add the garlic slices and stir them around for a minute.
• 14 reduce heat to medium and add about 1/2 cup of the beef stock and about half of the wine; let bubble, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to get up and dissolve all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan (where a lot of flavour lives; you want that in your stew, not on the bottom of the pot).
• 15 now add everything else to the pot, including of course the browned beef, stirring well to combine.
• 16 put the lid on the pot and place in the middle of the preheated oven and cook for a minimum of two hours (3 is even better); beef should be very tender.
• 17 check and stir once every hour; after two hours, taste the stew (be careful, it's very hot) and add a sprinkle of salt if you think it needs it.
• 18 when done, you can serve as is, or thicken it on top of the stove with a little flour-water mixture if you wish; it all depends on your personal preference.