Hearty Beef Stew

I love The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cooks Illustrated.

Here's the link on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Best-Recipe-All-New/dp/0936184744/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298240068&sr=1-1

If you know someone who likes to cook or is learning to cook this is a great book. It's big and heavy and is like a combination cookbook, science book and encyclopedia. They have tested, tested, and retested every recipe. You learn exactly how and why each ingredient and each step is important.

It was cold and rainy here in AZ yesterday so the Hearty Beef Stew was just the ticket. This recipe has the stew cooking in the oven instead of the stove top. Fortunately Mr. H got me my awesome Le Creuset dutch oven which is the perfect pot for this recipe. This is the first time I have made beef stew in the oven and I must say the beef melts in your mouth and the sauce is wonderful.

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 300. Starting with the beef, they found that a chuck roast trimmed and cut into cubes was the best choice (3lbs pre-trimmed).

Dry the cubed beef thoroughly with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 1 TBS vegetable oil in dutch oven over med-high heat til shimmering. Add half of the meat and cook, not moving the pieces until the sides touching the pot are well browned, 2-3 minutes:

Using tongs turn the pieces and cook til most sides are well browned, about 5 more minutes:

Transfer the beef to a bowl, add another TBS of oil and brown the remaining beef. Transfer to the meat bowl and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, add TBS of oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add 2 chopped onions and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook, stirring frequently and vigorously with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits until the onions have softened, 4-5 minutes. Add 3 garlic cloves minced or pressed and cook for 30 seconds:

Stir in 3 TBS flour and and cook until lightly colored, 1-2 minutes. Add 1 cup of wine, scraping up the remaining browned bits from the bottom and edges of the pot and stir until the liquid is thick. The book says choose a fairly inexpensive young Chianti or Zindanfel.

Gradually add 2 cups low sodium chicken broth, stirring constantly and scraping the pan edges to dissolve the flour. Add 2 bay leaves and 1 tsp dried thyme and bring to a simmer. Add the meat and return to a simmer. Cover and place pot in oven for 1 hour.

About 15 minutes before the hour is up I diced the carrots (1 lb sliced 1/4 inch thick) and potatoes (4 medium or 1 1/2 lbs peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes).  Make sure the carrots aren't too thickly sliced-mine were a little thick and had a bit of a crunch in the center.

Remove the pot from the oven and add the potatoes and carrots. Cover and return to the oven. Cook until the meat is just tender, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. The recipe calls for adding 1 cup frozen peas thawed here but we are not big fans of peas in stew. So it's up to you. If you do add them just drop them in, cover and and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley and serve with a good crusty bread. (oh and don't forget to fish out the bay leaves unless you have a tradition of giving a prize to the person who finds one). Here it is:

 Enjoy!