Sunday, December 13, 2009

(Fairly) Quick Beef Stew


Q made fun of me for not writing down what I did last time to make the beef stew he liked so much. I call it "fairly" quick beef stew because it still takes about an hour to make, assuming the beef is thawed, but that's still pretty quick, since beef stew often requires all-day or at least a couple of hours to slow cook. We recreated another one of my off-the-cuff stews tonight, so here it is...

Cut 2 lb. beef (we used steaks, since there isn't a lot of simmer time I've been skeptical about actually using stew beef, but that will be the next experiment) into about 1x1x2 chunks. Dry it on towels.
Heat vegetable oil in a pan until hot then add 1 clove minced garlic. After about 15 seconds, add the beef. Cook until the beef is brown on all sides.
Add root vegetables (tonight was 3 carrots and three potatoes, I used 2 rutabagas and a turnip with the carrots last time).
Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of flour over the mixture and stir to coat. A nice, sticky floury mess should start sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Pour in about 3/4 c red wine and use this liquid to deglaze the pan. Add 1 1/2 c beef stock, 1 t rosemary leaves, 1 bay leaf, and about 1 T salt.
Simmer the stew for about half an hour. Determine whether to use the lid by how thick the sauce is. Add more flour if the sauce doesn't seem to be thickening up.

It doesn't end up with a lot of liquid and what it has is really thick so we eat it with bread and butter to sop up the gravy. Yay! Now I've recorded it and Q can't make fun of me for that anymore!


No comments: