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| Oct 31, 2009 3:39 pm |
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BJs Fall Recipes - Slow Cooker Beef Stew |
Bobbi Jo Woods
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Homemade Slow Cooker Beef Stew
I made this in September, when my grocery delivery service accidentally shipped me a 40 ounce cut of cbeef, chuck roast to be specific. I had actually not ordered it, but when I asked about the mistake, they let me keep it :) I did a check on the price, and it was an almost-15 dollar cut of meat!
So there I was, stuck with this giant piece of beef...which I normally do not buy. I tend to buy chicken, salmon, turkey and ground beef. Occasionally, I get steaks when they are on sale, but I am not the best cook when it comes to preparing beef.
I decided I would par-freeze the meat, cut it into cubes, and make do with that plus the potatoes and carrots I had in adbundance, to make a nice beef stew. With the Internet as my companion, I set about finding a recipe that was simple, but tried and true--because I didn't want to mess it up and waste all that lovely (and expensive) meat.
I found a recipe online at Recipezaar.com, and modified it a bit (I was out of Worcestershire sauce, and didn't have the bay leaves, or the red wine). It cooked up perfectly, lasted quite a few meals, and tasted AWESOME!
INGREDIENTS
* 2 pounds beef, cut into 1 inch cubes - I used 40oz chuck arm roast and cut it while partially frozen, which is easier than completely thawed
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt - I used Cajun season salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 3 potatoes, diced
* 4 carrots, sliced
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced - I used 2 1/2 tsp dried & minced
* 1 bay leaf - I was missing this
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 cup red wine
* 1 1/2 cups beef broth
DIRECTIONS
1. In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, salt and pepper; put meat cubes into gallon-size zip bag, add the flour mixture, then shake beef in bag to coat. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet and sauté coated beef in oil to sear, until just brown all over the outside (still bloody inside is OK). Then put the meat into the slow cooker.
2. In a small bowl or shaker, mix the beef broth with the Worcestershire, and add the red wine. Pour into hot skillet which was used to sear the rost (this will deglaze the pan) then pour over beef in cooker.
3. Add the chopped onion, potatoes and carrots and garlic to slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 hours, or on high 4 to 6 hours.
About halfway through, you may notice the potatoes and carrots not cooking as much as you might like. You can lift the lid and turn over the ingredients so that the meat and the juices it created are on top, and the veggies are on the bottom. This helps to allow all those lovely meat juices as they're cooking, to drip down and soak into the veggies for more flavor, and also thickens the sauce better.
This was a huge batch of stew! My slow cooker was full to the brim, and the stew lasted me for 2 weeks of lunches and dinners, including 3 servings for when my sis and my nephew came to visit. And my nephew is a huge carnivore--he will usually pick out & eat all the meat in a dish, then leave most of the rest--gobbled down every morsel of it and practically licked his bowl!Private Reply to Bobbi Jo Woods (new win) |
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