Beef Stew
A hearty, classic beef stew featuring tender chunks of beef, root vegetables, and a rich, savory broth enhanced with red wine and Scotch. Perfect for cold nights or meal prep, this stew is deeply flavorful and satisfying.
Ingredients
- 2 pound top round (use bottom round or stew beef cut into 2 inch pieces)
- 1 Coarse Kosher Salt
- 1 Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 cup Unbleached All-purpose Flour
- 1 tablespoon Unbleached All-purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoon Canola oil
- 1 Onion -– Peeled and Diced (Large)
- 1 Rib celery, diced
- 1 clove garlic (peeled and finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup Scotch Whisky (or bourbon)
- 1 cup Red Wine (preferably a cabernet)
- 3 cup Beef Stock (or Chicken Stock)
- 1 bay Leaf
- 1 sprig thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
- 1 pound carrots (peeled, trimmed and cut crosswise into 2” chunks)
- 1 pound fingerling potatoes (scrubbed (or large taters cut into 1 ½” pieces))
- 6 ounce Shiitake Mushrooms (wiped clean with paper towel, Stems removed, quartered)
- 1/2 pound green beans (cut crosswise into 2” pieces)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest (finely grated fresh)
Instructions
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1
Preheat Oven to 300 (skip If not using oven, You can use stovetop)
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2
Generously season the beef on all sides with salt and pepper. Place ½ cup flour into large zip lock bag. Add the beef, seal and shake till beef is coated in flour. Remove beef and shake off any excess flour.
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3
Heat the oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat until shimmering. Working in several batches, add the beef in a single layer and cook it until darkly browned on all sides. 6-8 Minutes. Don’t over crowd the pot; you should leave at least 1” between pieces of meat (if overcrowded beef will stew and not sear to a rich brown). Transfer the browned meat to a platter. Work in batches.
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4
Pour our and discard all but roughly 2 tbsp. of fat from pot. Add onion, celery, and garlic and cook over medium heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes, stirring with wooden spoon.
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5
Add Beef back to the pot. Add Scotch and boil over high heat until reduced by half – 3 to 5 Minutes.
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6
Add the wine and bring to a boil over high heat. Add enough beef or chicken stock to cover the beef by 1” and let come to a boil, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add the bay leaf and thyme. Cover pot with a tight fitting lid and place it in the oven for 1 hour (you can cook on stovetop if you prefer)
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7
Remove the pot from the oven and uncover. Using a ladle,or soup spoon, skim off any fat or oily residue from the surface of the stew. Stir in the carrots and potatoes. Add more stock or water as needed so all of the ingredients are covered. Re-cover and continue baking (or on stovetop) for 1 hour.
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8
Stir in shiitakes, green beans, and 1 tsp of flour. Continue baking the stew uncovered, until the beef and vegetables are tender and the sauce is concentrated and flavorful, another 30 minutes, about 2 ½ hours in all.
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9
Remove and discard the bay leaf and thyme sprig. Place the Worcestershire sauce and 2 tsp of water in a small bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of flour to make a smooth paste. Stir this paste into the stew and place the pot on a stovetop burner. Let come to a boil over medium high heat; the sauce should thicken slightly. Stir in the lemon zest. Let the stew simmer and meld flavors (5 min). Taste for seasoning. Serve stew from the pot.