# VERY good and EASY Beef Stew....



## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

The weather is finally starting to get colder and it looks like Winter may actually show up soon. I subscribe to a cooking magazine called "Everyday Food". It's a nice little mag that has some easy and good recipes in every issue. In the October '06 issue the cover recipe was Beef Stew. It looked good and I've been wanting to try it and yesterday I just figured it would hit the spot so I gave it a try. It was very good and I'm looking forward to leftovers tonight. Here's the recipe....

*Beef Stew*
Serves 6
*Prep time:* 15 minutes *Total time: *2 hours 45 minutes

3 lbs. Beef chuck trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1-1/2" cubes
1/3 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 lb. medium onions (about 2 cut into 1" chunks)
1 lb. (about 6) small white or red new potatoes well scrubbed and halved if large
1 lb carrots cut into 1-1/2" lengths
6 garlic cloves smashed
2 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 350. 
In a dutch oven (5 quart) with a tight fitting lid, combine beef, tomato paste, vinegar, and flour. Season with salt and pepper.

Add onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, and 3 cups water. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven and cook until meat is fork tender and if desired, season with salt and pepper before serving.


I used small red potatoes but quartered them so they'd cook better. It worked well and were perfectly done. I also just used a small 1 lb. bag of mini-carrots because it's easier than peeling and cutting large ones. They also cooked just right and weren't mushy. Another change I made was that I used a small 6 oz. can of tomato paste which is probably a good 1/2 to 3/4 cups but I didn't have a use for the extra so I used it all. It added a nice flavor to the stew. One thing I may try next time is to throw in some fresh mushrooms too. I love mushrooms and think that would add some good flavor.

This dish is very easy to do and my wife and son loved it. So next time it's cold and nasty out and you want a nice hot bowl of stew give this one a shot.

Oh yeah, a nice hot batch of Grands Biscuits went very well with it also. 

Enjoy

*P.S. I bet this would work very well with Venison!*


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## PrtyMolusk (Aug 13, 2000)

Howdy-

I dunno, John; being more of a 'traditionalist' I tend to cringe at the thought of any tomato products in my stew.

And balsamic vinegar? I'll have to cogitate on this one a while....

...although I must say, I've never been steered wrong by one of your recipes yet!


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Maybe the vinegar is to add acid to help tenderize the meat, since it won't be cooking all day?


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

ESOX said:


> Maybe the vinegar is to add acid to help tenderize the meat, since it won't be cooking all day?


That's what I'm thinking Paul. But I just finished a bowl about 15 minutes ago and it's even better tonight. The meat is very tender and flavorful.

I was leary about the tomato paste also but it does give it good flavor.

John


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## walleyeman2006 (Sep 12, 2006)

tomatos and vinigar are both acidic and both cut your cooking time down but in the end a lot of the acid boils off just like alcohol.....most recipes that call for tomato paist and or vinegar you can simply marinade the meat in tomato juice over night and forgo the vinigar and paist ....if you dont care for the acid taist .....a couple tble spoons of sugar just before your done cooking works great too ...gets rid of any brassy taist


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## baydog2 (Jun 14, 2003)

Sound good now that cold weather finally hit us. Don't forget to remove the bay leaves after cooking. They kind of have a bad taste and texture if bitten into :yikes: for somebody that does not cook with bay leaves.


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