It's winter, it's cold, it's snowing. I have the day off. My slow cooker is staring at me. Beef stew sounds like the perfect answer to all of these problems. I looked through a few cook books and couldn't find anything that stuck out so opted for the internet. I ended up on MarthaStewart.com cause she usually does me right. I found a recipe from her Everyday Food Magazine (which I subscribe to and thoroughly enjoy) that gave me a dutch oven option and a slow cooker option. Since I am a big advocate of "Set it and forget it", I went with the slow cooker. I did a run down of the ingredients and then went to my local grocery, Key Foods. Not my favorite place in the world, but didn't have the energy to run all the way into Whole Foods in the city.
The recipe was quite simple and doing it in the slow cooker made it even more so.
3 lbs beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1/3 cup of tomato paste
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 lb. medium onions (about 2), cute into 1 inch chunks
1 lb. small white or red new potatoes (about 6), scrubbed and halved if large
1 lb. carrots, cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves
Place beef in a 5-quart slow cooker. Distribute tomato paste, vinegar, and flour over beef; season generously with salt and pepper. Add onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves. Cover slow cooker; cook on high until beef is fork-tender, about 5 hours (or cook on low heat 8 hours). Serves 6.
Here's the link:
It was great! The beef was falling apart. The vegetables weren't over cooked. And the flavor was great. Definitely a keeper!
I ate that! I feel... a little famous.
ReplyDelete