Easy Beef Stew for Two

jessicadpaxton
jessicadpaxton @jessicaDP
Austin, Texas

Or maybe more. This is a great basic preparation that can be played with ingredient-wise but there are some vital ingredients. Potato carrots and celery are traditional. Avoid pre cut "stew meats" as they are usually too lean. Find a chuck shoulder that is nicely marbled with ribbons of fat. Get a nice dark caramelized color on the meat for richer flavor. Take care to use a high quality broth. Many would suggest replacing one cup with red wine.

Cutting potatoes in varied sizes with allow the smaller pieces to naturally thicken the broth as well.

Served with cornbread or a warm yeast roll and you will be in comfort food heaven

Easy Beef Stew for Two

Or maybe more. This is a great basic preparation that can be played with ingredient-wise but there are some vital ingredients. Potato carrots and celery are traditional. Avoid pre cut "stew meats" as they are usually too lean. Find a chuck shoulder that is nicely marbled with ribbons of fat. Get a nice dark caramelized color on the meat for richer flavor. Take care to use a high quality broth. Many would suggest replacing one cup with red wine.

Cutting potatoes in varied sizes with allow the smaller pieces to naturally thicken the broth as well.

Served with cornbread or a warm yeast roll and you will be in comfort food heaven

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Ingredients

2-4 servings
  1. 1-2 lbswell marbled beef chuck shoulder, in 2" in chunks
  2. Salt & pepper to season
  3. 3 tablespoonsolive oil
  4. 1yellow onion, largely diced
  5. 3 clovesgarlic, rough chopped
  6. 1 tablespoonbalsamic vinegar
  7. 1 tablespoontomato paste
  8. Handfulflour
  9. 3 cupsbeef broth
  10. 1bay leave
  11. 1 teaspoondried time
  12. Couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
  13. 4-6carrots, cut into 1" medallions
  14. 4-6celery stalks,cut 1" pieces
  15. 1large potato, skinned and cut into 1" pieces
  16. 1 (14.5 oz)can stewed tomatoes with juices
  17. 1/4 cupchopped parsley

Cooking Instructions

  1. 1

    Trim any large fat caps off your meat and cube meat into large bites, season liberally with salt and pepper. Set aside. The salt will encourage natural sugars to come to meats surface for better browning.

  2. 2

    In a large stock pot, heat a tablespoon of olive oil on med high heat until nearly smoking

  3. 3

    In three batches, pat meat dry and drop into hot pan and sear each side a couple minutes to get a dark brown crust. Do not crowd all the meat into the pan or it will simply steam. Add more oil for each batch. Set browned meat aside.

  4. 4

    Add onion, then garlic to the pan and saute a couple minutes. Add balsamic and tomato paste and stir a minute longer. Scrape any bits from bottom of pan.

  5. 5

    Add meat to back to the pan and dust liberally with flour. Stir to cook flour 2 minutes.

  6. 6

    Add broth, bay leaf, thyme, and Worcestershire. Reduce heat to low.

  7. 7

    Add vegetables and can tomatoes with juices. Stir and cover.

  8. 8

    Cook on a low simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally until meat is fork tender. Add parsley at the finish.

  9. 9

    Add more broth if needed or to thicken mix one tablespoon of flour with a little broth and add to pot and continue cooking.

  10. 10

    Check at the end for needed salt or pepper. Remove bay leaf before serving.

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jessicadpaxton
jessicadpaxton @jessicaDP
on
Austin, Texas
Self taught chef using organics and nonprocessed ingredients whenever possible
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