This hearty Beef Stew will take the chill off the coldest winter nights. It is chock full of fork tender meat, sweet carrots, potatoes, and savory onions. And best of all, it is gluten free, so everyone in your household can enjoy it.
To make it gluten free, I use potatoes as a thickener instead of the usual flour that most recipes use. To do this, I mash up half of the potatoes, one by one against the side of the pot (use a potholder!) about 90 minutes into the cooking. The potato starch combines with the liquid in the pot to make a thick, stick to your ribs stew.
Another bonus is that most of the cooking is hands off, as the stew braises in the oven for the majority of the cooking time.
Classic Beef Stew
Equipment
- dutch oven
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef chuck
- 1-2 tbsp grapeseed or other high-heat oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 cups carrots sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cups celery sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1.5 lbs potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 12 oz red wine (something you would enjoy drinking)
- 3 cups beef stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 5-7 sprigs of thyme leaves removed, coarsely chopped
- 4-5 sage leaves coarsely chopped
- 2 sprigs of rosemary leaves removed, coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- Kosher salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°(F). Trim the external fat and silver skin from the beef and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Heat the grapeseed oil over med-high heat in a Dutch oven (pot). Season the beef with a generous pinch of salt. Add enough beef to only cover the bottom of the pot. Don’t overfill the pot or the meat will steam instead of sear. Sear the meat in two batches if necessary. When the beef is browned on all sides, remove it from pot.
- Immediately add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the pot and lower the heat to medium. Add another pinch of Kosher salt and saute until veggies release some of their moisture. Add the tomato paste and stir into the veggies. Sauté for another 1-2 min. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to release the fond (the browned bits at the bottom of pot). Add the beef back to the pot, then the potatoes and stock. Add the chopped herbs, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. Bring stew to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then cover.
- Place the pot covered, but slightly tilted so that a little steam can escape, into the oven, on the lowest rack. Cook the stew for 90 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven, and using a metal or wooden spoon, mash half of the quantity of potatoes against the side of the pot (you will mash the potatoes one by one). This is what will thicken your stew. Once have the potatoes are mashed, stir the stew. Place the pot back into the oven with the lid on but slightly tilted for another 45-60 minutes. At this point stew should be nicely thickened and the meat very tender.
- If you want to thicken the stew more, place the pot on the stove, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, so that the liquid reduces but nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Season stew to taste with Kosher salt and black pepper and serve.
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