This week I found a nice slab of my old friend beef chuck on sale, so I decide to make some beef stew in my crockpot. For this recipe you will need:
- a slab of beef chuck, or if you’re feeling lazy, pre-cubed stew meat
- a few cups of red wine
- vegetables you like in stew– onions, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, etc…
- a can of beef broth
- a can of stewed tomatoes
- your favorite seasoning– I use Montreal steak seasoning, salt and pepper will work fine too
- a bottle of Worcestershire sauce
- a few tablespoons of corn starch or flour
First you’ll need to cut your big slab of meat into cubes, about one to two inches in size works well. You can cut out some of the fat if you want. Obviously if you buy precut stew meat you can skip this step.
Add some oil to a pan and toss in some of the cubed meat, along with some onions if you have them. This step is somewhat optional, if you’re feeling uber lazy, you can just toss all the ingredients directly into the crockpot. But I think it’s worth doing, browning the meat adds a subtle bit of flavor to the stew. Toss the browned meat and onions into the crockpot.
Next we deglaze the pan with red wine. This again adds a subtle flavor to the stew, since it picks up all the little caramelized bits of beef and onion that were stuck to the pan. Plus it makes the pan easier to clean. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. If you were lazy and didn’t brown the meat, that’s totally cool too, just dump the wine directly into the crockpot.
Next add whatever stew vegetables you have. I typically use potatoes, carrots, onions and mushrooms and cut them down to about an inch in size. If you’re feeling lazy and don’t mind a bit of chunkiness in your stew, you can toss baby carrots in without cutting them, and use fingerling potatoes, just rinse them well and break them into manageable pieces with your hands. You can toss the mushrooms in without cutting them (they shrink anyways.) Then you wouldn’t even need a knife.
The ratio doesn’t matter too much, just use whatever feels right. I’m a meat and potatoes sort of guy so I go pretty heavy on the potatoes and beef, and then add a bit of other vegetables just so I don’t feel like a super fatty.
Add one can of broth and one can of stewed tomatoes. Spray on a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle on a bit of your favorite seasoning (I use Montreal steak seasoning), but try to err on the bland side, you can always adjust later. Set your crock pot on high and take a nice long nap for an hour or two.
Wake up from your nap. By now the veggies and meat have all released some of their juices into the broth, so the whole thing should look kind of soupy. Scoop out about a cup of the juices into a bowl. Now would be a good time to taste and adjust the seasoning. Let this cup of juices cool down– you can toss an ice cube in or put it in the fridge if you’re in a hurry. then add a few tablespoons of corn starch to it. Mix well then pour the slurry into the crock pot. Mix the everything in the crock pot well, then set the crock pot to low. The soupiness should turn into a sort of gravy. Leave the crock pot on low for at least another couple of hours or just let it go overnight.
The end result is a nice hearty stew. It stands pretty well as a meal on its own, but it’s great with some nice crusty bread or over some noodles or rice.
