Slow and steady wins the race. At least that is what I have always heard and that's the one thing you will want to remember when making this beef stew. One of the ingredients is time, mainly cooking time. Depending on how quickly you are able to chop vegetables, the prep time can take a while too.
It's SO worth it with this one.
This particular stew is from an old family recipe. If you have one of those old cast iron stew pots with a lid and a wood burning fireplace and are brave enough to use it, you are in for a serious treat to the taste buds. I have the fireplace but no cast iron stew pot... yet. It is great cooked on the stove too and either way will fill your house with the wonderful smell of comfort food.
Use fresh ingredients. I can't stress that enough. Fresh ingredients make all the difference in the world when you are cooking and this stew will only get better after a day or two in the fridge. Warmed up home made beef stew IS fast food in it's finest form.
Freeze the left overs after you have had your fill and you have a quick, delicious meal at your fingertips. It's definitely better than anything you'll get out of a box, through a drive-thru window or anything pre-packaged at the grocery store.
How Long Does it Take?
Prep time: 2ish hours Cook time: 3 hours, 30 minutes Yields: About 6 servings
Ingredients You Need
- 1 pound of beef, dried with a towel
- 4 medium potatoes cut into bite size cubes
- 5 carrots, cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil for browning the meat
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 6 oz. water
- 4 1/2 cups beef broth
- salt and pepper to your taste
How to Put it All Together
Cube the meat into bite size pieces and dice up the onion. Cut the carrots, potato and mushrooms into bite size pieces and set aside.
Pour the oil into a dutch oven or a cast iron stew pot and put it over medium heat.
Add the onions and garlic to the pan once the oil is hot.
Dry each individual piece of meat with a towel before putting it into the pan. You have to do this for the meat to brown nicely! You'll see why later.
Cook the meat and the onion over medium heat. You will see a liquid form in the pan, keep cooking and occasionally turning the meat and stirring the onions and garlic. You want them caramelized but not burnt. The liquid will start to evaporate and there will be a nice glaze forming on the bottom of the pan.
Once the liquid has all disappeared and the bottom of the pan has that beautiful glaze on it, it is time to de-glaze the pan. Pour in the tomato paste and stir for about 30 seconds to pick up some of the glazing.
Add an equal amount of water to the pan a little bit at a time while constantly stirring to remove the glaze and mix it in.
Add the carrots, potatoes and mushrooms then give it a nice, gentle stir.
Add the broth and any salt or pepper that you want and give it a nice stir.
Cook for at least three hours over medium heat while occasionally stirring to prevent anything from sticking to the bottom. The starch in the potatoes will thicken the stew for you but if they fail for any reason, you can take 1 cup of the broth and mix it with either 1 tablespoon cornstarch or 1 tablespoon of flour, then pour it back in while stirring constantly. That's a little trick I learned from my grandmother! ;)
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