Beef for stew, or stew beef, can be rather tough unless simmered for a good while, so I decided to try and create something in my crock pot. Below is a recipe, that for the first trial, came out very good and I hope you will try it with your own "twist" of spice and other ingredients.
With cooler temperatures and a steady rain in the forecast for the weekend, I bought some stew beef for some crock pot stew at Old Towne Butcher. Some of the stew meat needed to be halved due to size, but what I also found was the meat did not need to be trimmed of any fat, hence almost no waste. Equally important it had a great marbling and my hope was the flavor would be good. I perused some recipes, decided on one, changed it up a bit and went to work.
1 1/2 pounds stew meat cut into 1” cubes
1 1/2 red pepper coarsely diced
1 jalapeno diced including ribs and seeds
2 onions coarsely diced
7 baby potatoes quartered
1 rib celery chopped coarsely
4 carrots peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 bulb fennel finely diced
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. red wine (I used Cab Sav)
2 cubes beef bouillon
2 bay leaves
1 c. flour with black pepper and other spices of your choice, blended in.
1/4 t. ground thyme
1 1/2 red pepper coarsely diced
1 jalapeno diced including ribs and seeds
2 onions coarsely diced
7 baby potatoes quartered
1 rib celery chopped coarsely
4 carrots peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 bulb fennel finely diced
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. red wine (I used Cab Sav)
2 cubes beef bouillon
2 bay leaves
1 c. flour with black pepper and other spices of your choice, blended in.
1/4 t. ground thyme
Place meat in a gallon baggy, add flour with spices and lightly dust the meat. To give the meat some color, brown it in canola oil being careful not to over crowd skillet (did mine in 2 skillets). Drain meat on paper towels. Put meat in bottom of crock pot, add all vegetables and the bay leaves, beef bouillon cubes, and sprinkle lightly with ground thyme. Pour in water and wine mixture and cook on high for 5 hours.
Tastes great. Meat is
tender, flavorful, and leaves me wanting more.
Place ingredients in crock pot according to recipes and you are ready to eat in 5 hours.
ENJOY
