my friend was telling to me about her cholent (a traditional jewish stew that cooks through til shabbat) on Saturday, i don’t believe i am a cholent girl. but the idea of a hearty vegetable filled beef stew, slow simmering in my dutch oven sounded like the perfect alternative for me for the cold weather.
what i love about this recipe, as well as most of mine is nothing is too precious. this is not baking and it is difficult to have an error.
Here is how i made it:
ingredients:
1.5lbs (i would do 2lbs next time) of stew meat. i went to McCalls Meat & Fish
1 glug of olive oil for searing meat
1 c red wine (i used pinor noir for the acidity)
3 tbspns red wine vinegar
4.5 c beef broth
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried)
2 tbspns tomato paste
1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
6 carrots (cut however you want, add more, add less)
3 celery ribs
2 handfuls of potatoes ( i cut Weiser Family Farms fingerlings in half)
salt & pepper to taste
method:
if meat was not cubed at the butcher, cube your meat to equal size pieces
dry meat on paper towel
heat dutch oven to high and add olive oil
sear all sides of beef in pot, no crowding the meat
add more oil if needed til all sides are beautifully seared
remove beef from pot
add red wine and vinegar to deglaze the pan, getting all of the cooked bits off of the bottom, a wooden spoon works best to help you with this
add beef back in, broth, tomato paste, and bay leaves.
bring to a boil then let simmer, cover and return in 1.5 hours
add in onions, carrots & celery cover for 10 min
add potatoes and let simmer for 30 more.
flavor builds over time, so you can simmer til you serve.
salt to taste
please let me know how yours turned out!
fingerling potatoes from the Weiser Family Farms at the Santa Monica farmers market
The Garden Of Carrots sitting pretty, before being eaten