When the wind is blowing and it's pouring rain outside, nothing is better then a good thick stew to warm you up. This one has lots of hunks of roasted garlic, which adds a ton of flavor! We not only polished off our bowls but the leftovers make wonderful school lunches. I found that I kept the tetra pack of beef stock close by, because I didn't find that there was enough "juice" for my liking. That way I could eyeball it a bit and just add more if I felt we needed some! It's equally as good with just beef broth instead of the red wine.
Ingredients:
12 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 each carrots, parsnips, and Yukon gold potatoes (all peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes)
1 pound of stewing beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme and sage
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine or beef stock
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup frozen peas
Fry the garlic in a small amount of olive oil over low heat until soft and golden, shaking occasionally to move it around. Remove the garlic to a plate and keep the oil.
Sauté the stewing beef in a Dutch oven over medium heat with some of the garlic oil until browned. Remove beef to a plate and set aside. Add more of the garlic oil and saute the onions until soft and browned. Stir in the salt, pepper, 1 tsp of thyme and sage, stirring and cooking for about 2 minutes longer.
Add the stock, wine, tomato and paste, bringing it to a boil and the stirring to bring up all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Return the beef and it's juices to the pan, with the reserved garlic. Add the chopped vegetables, reduce the heat, and simmer until tender (about 1 1/2 hours)
Stir in the peas, remaining thyme and sage, then heat through.
Slow cooker directions
Follow recipe up to browning the stewing beef.
Put the garlic, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and meat in the slow cooker. Continue with recipe above by frying up the onions until soft, then adding the salt, pepper, 1 tsp thyme, sage, beef stock, wine, and tomato paste; stirring and scraping up the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until the beef is tender.
Increase the heat to high. Add peas, remaining thyme and sage, then let heat through.
Serves 8
Original recipe from Canadian Living Comfort Cooking 2007
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