This slow braised beef stew is the perfect cold weather recipe, and uses a few simple ingredients combined with the element of time to create a dish with incredible depth of flavor.
One of my favorite things to do in the colder months is to slow braise meat. I’m not a huge meat eater on a regular basis, but there’s just something about slow cooked meat, how it absorbs all the flavors that you cook it with and it becomes almost melt-in-your-mouth, that I absolutely love. And there’s nothing better than a rich, hearty bowl of stew on a cold day. So in honor of the streak of chilly (and very rainy) weather that’s we’ve had this past week here in New York, I’m posting one of my cold-weather favorite recipes: slow braised beef stew.
This slow braised beef stew is a simple recipe to make, but it does take a little bit of time to cook. But that’s all part of what makes this recipe so cozy; while the stew cooks, you can cuddle up with a cup of tea (or my s’mores hot chocolate) and a good book or movie, and wait as the house fills with the aromas of red wine and tender beef. And while simple to make, there’s something that feels very fancy and impressive about this recipe. That’s the nature of braised meat. When you use good but simple ingredients and add the element of time (the “slow-cooked” part), those ingredients become more than the sum of their parts. Their flavors – sweet carrots, savory onions and leeks, tangy red wine – condense and meld together to form a dish with more depth of flavor than just about anything you’ve eaten.
BRAISING MADE EASY
I have a couple of braised meat recipes that I’ve posted before; my sweet and spicy braised pumpkin short ribs and a braised pork banh mi sandwich. And I’m not gonna lie, most braised meat recipes are pretty similar. But that’s part of what I love about making recipes like these. They’re always similar because they’re so simple to make, and you can use pretty much any ingredients you have on hand. For this beef stew, I chose to braise with carrots and onions (traditional stew ingredients), along with leeks (which I happen to love when they’re slowly cooked), and used a broth made up of red wine and beef stock. But braising isn’t an exact science, and that’s what makes it so easy. All it takes is a few tasty ingredients and a lot of time to make a dish with an incredible depth of flavor.
You can essentially use any vegetables you have on hand for this recipe. In fact, while I love the flavor that tomatoes bring to a stew, I really used them because I happen to have a few late season tomatoes still growing in the garden. You might choose to use parsnips or potatoes instead of carrots (I would have included potatoes in this stew only I chose to make mashed potatoes on the side, recipe coming soon), or load your stew up with garlic instead of onions. And the same goes when it comes to a braising liquid. I love using red wine in this recipe because it pairs so well with beef, but any wine, beer, any kind of stock, or even a bit of vermouth are all incredible braising liquids.
Slow Braised Beef Stew
Equipment
- dutch oven
Ingredients
- 2 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1-2 inch cubes
- 1/4 cup flour
- 4 carrots
- 2 leeks
- 1 onion
- 3 plum tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup red wine
- 3 cups beef stock (plus 1 cup more if needed)
- 2 bay leaves
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300.
- Heat the Dutch oven over medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Liberally season the beef with salt and pepper, then dust with a thin coat of flour. Once heated, sear the chunks of meat in batches in the Dutch oven until they develop a browned crust, about 5 minutes per side. Once browned, set aside on a plate.
- While the beef browns, prep your veggies. Peel and cut the carrots into 1 inch chunks. Peel and clean the leeks and cut the white and light green parts into 1/2 inch chunks. Peel and dice the onion into small pieces. Dice the tomatoes.
- Once all the meat has been browned, remove it from the Dutch oven and set aside on a plate. Reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped onions to the pot. Sauté until beginning to brown, 2 minutes. Then add diced tomato and tomato paste, stirring until thickened, 2 minutes.
- Add the wine and the beef stock to the pot and scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Add back in the beef with all its juices, the carrots, leeks and bay leaves. Place the lid on and carefully move to the oven.
- Bake the stew until the beef is tender and easily shreds apart, about 4 hours. Check the stew at each hour mark, adding more beef stock if the liquid is reducing too much. Allow to cool completely, then serve on top of mashed potatoes or rice.
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