2lbstrimmed beef chuck, cut into cubes or short strips, at least one-inch thick (use fresh, unfrozen meat when possible)
1/4cupflour tossed with meat, salt and pepper to taste
20small red potatoes
2 mediumonions
2slicedpeeled carrots (I use rainbow carrots)
2cupssliced celery
1largeparsnip, sliced and chopped
2cupsred cooking wine
2cupsorganic, salted beef stock
14.5ouncecan of diced tomatoes
1pintsliced fresh mushrooms
3bay leaves
1/2cupfinely chopped fresh parsley leaves or 1 tbsp dried parsley
1tbspfinely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1tbspfinely chopped oregano leaves or 1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Coat and sauté the beef.
Put the flour, salt and pepper in a large plastic storage bag and shake half the meat to lightly coat. If you need to add more flour, salt and pepper for the second coat, go ahead.
Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and heat to medium. Do not overheat the pan and scorch the meat or oil, or you may ruin the flavor of your stew. Brown the beef, turning gently onto all sides for about five minutes. You are not trying to cook the meat; you just want to brown it.
Split the meat into two batches, if all of the meat won’t fit in your pan in a single layer at once. Afterwards, put all the sautéed meat back in the pan and add the onions and garlic and sauté for three more minutes. Then pour in the red wine, beef broth, diced tomatoes, bay leaves and dried herbs if you are using them. If you are using fresh herbs, save them for later and only add the bay leaves now. Scrape the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks (always avoiding scorching) and bring mixture to a boil. Then turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour, stirring every quarter hour.
Add the vegetables and simmer.
Add potatoes, carrots, celery and parsnip. Stir and bring to boil. Then turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir once in the meantime. Afterwards, remove the bay leaves.
Finish the stew and let it sit.
Add the mushrooms and fresh herbs, if you used them. Bring mixture to a boil and then turn off heat. Allow stew to sit on a cold stove for several hours for the best flavor. Once cool, add salt and pepper to taste, and either serve or refrigerate.
Notes
*The whole process will go much more smoothly, if you do all the chopping first or if two people make the stew together with one person chopping and the other cooking. Have the butcher cut your meat and that will be one less thing to prepare.