Hearty beef stew

For tonight's dish, Dear Reader, I ended up settling on a hearty beef stew. Simple ingredients, one pot and a total cook time (prep to finish) of about 1 hour, this isn't the shortest dish I've ever made, but it is good, it is filling, and it makes great leftovers. I do recommend prepping the veggies first, with the exception of the potatoes, which are added the last 1/2 hour of cook time. Simple flavors can be the best, and the basic ingredients mean anyone can make this. The picture here to the right shows the differences. Moving from the left, the first plate is the finely minced veggies, the chunked carrots at the top, then the coarser veggies on the very right. Enjoy!


Hearty Beef Stew

(I recommend using a stock-pot type pan for this, at least 8 quarts)
2 stalks celery - Chop 1 stalk about 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces, 1 stalk should be finely minced
1 onion - Chop 1/2 the onion into a fine mince, the other 1/2 should be julienned
5 peeled medium carrots - Chop 1 carrot into a fine mince, 1 carrot into 1/4 inch pieces and 3 carrots into 1 inch chunks
3 cloves garlic chopped or minced fine
8 new potatoes (the super-thinned red skinned variety), quartered (save the quartering until right before you add them in)
1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch chunks (make sure the beef has a good marbeling for flavor)
3 1/2 cups beef broth (2-14.5 oz. cans)
2 cups water
1 cup tomato sauce (8 oz. can)
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
3 Tablespoons flour
3 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon basalmic vinegar (the cheap stuff is FINE for this. Do not use the $40/bottle basalmic vinegar!)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and Pepper

First, season the beef with salt and pepper. Brown the beef in olive oil over medium-high heat. The goal is not to cook the beef through, but to get a good sear. Remove the beef to a plate once it's seared. Do not drain the pan.




Still working over medium-high heat, add the minced celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Add a pinch of salt, add a pinch of pepper. Cook this about 2-3 minutes, or until the veggies are soft. Since they are minced fine, they should cook up really quickly.


Stir in the flour, being sure to coat the veggies well. Cook an additional 2 minutes, stirring as you cook. Deglaze the pan with about 1/2 the beef broth (or 1 can), stirring well to combine. You shouldn't have any noticeable lumps. Be sure to scrape up any fond from the bottom of the pan.

Add the bay leaves and the rosemary. Bring to a boil, and reduce by half. This should only take about 10 minutes if you're working still on medium-high heat. Stir occasionally.

Add worcestershire sauce, basalmic vinegar, tomato sauce and 1 cup water. Stir to combine, continue boiling for approximately 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining beef broth, water, add the beef back in, and the remaining vegetables. Taste, add salt and pepper as needed. Boil uncovered for approximately 5 minutes.

While this is boiling, quarter the potatoes and season with salt and pepper.

Add the potatoes to the pot, lower the heat to medium and simmer over medium uncovered (light boil, really) for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Taste about 1/2 way through the cooking time and salt and pepper as needed. Stir occasionally.

Serve hot.

Hearty Beef Stew

Notes:
When I say season or add salt and pepper, season it to your specs. Keep in mind you can oversalt, but over-pepper is hard to do. If you do manage to oversalt this by the time you've let the potatoes get soft, just stir in a small handful of brown sugar and another dash of basalmic. It'll neutralize the salt.
In deglazing the pan, I've gotten really used to using a spatula or pancake turner. The flat edge really helps get all the fond up from the bottom.
If you add the broth and the water before the potatoes and notice that it's really really thin, you can take out about 1/2 cup of the juices into a bowl, stir in 1 tablespoon flour into the bowl (mix it REALLY WELL) and stir that slurry back into the pot. This will help thicken it up.
If you really want to, you can chop all your veggies the same, but the mincing helps distribute the flour throughout as well as disintegrates as it cooks, thickening. The coarser chop adds more texture throughout, and the chunked carrots give you something besides potato and beef to chew on.