Beef Stew

I am so behind on blogging the new recipes I have tried it is ridiculous.  I am pretty sure that I have forgotten to put a couple of them on my "to blog" list and since the Day Zero Project website has (in my opinion) majorly messed up the way they have people record things, those recipes might be gone for good.  Clearly if they were that great I would have remembered them, right?

Well, this recipe is one of those recipes.  I have made beef stew many times before with varying degrees of luck.  Usually my complaints are one of two; either the meat isn't fall-apart good or the gravy/juice/broth isn't the right consistence.  I finally had found a recipe that I liked but it still wasn't what I wanted.  Enter...a bottle of red wine.  

I am not much of a wine drinker.  Whites are too dry for me and reds remind me too much of church.  But, I was out for work one night and someone ordered a bottle of Syrah and my beef stew is forever changed.  (For the record, I didn't run home and make stew that night...it is just where I found a wine that I liked.)

The original recipe can be found here at AllRecipes.  If you click over there, the first thing that you will notice is that I cut the recipe in half...I don't need 12 servings of beef stew.  It doesn't freeze well because of the potatoes and there is only so much leftover stew I can eat.

Ingredients


2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound of stew meat
6 small boiling onions
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 can of beef broth
1 1/2 cups of red wine

Directions

1. In a large pot heat oil over medium high heat. In a resealable plastic bag mix together the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add a small handful of meat at a time and shake until well coated; brown in hot oil, about 1 minute per side. Remove the browned meat and continue until all the meat is browned.

2. Lower heat to medium and add onions. Brown onions on both sides, about 3 minutes per side, then remove from pot and set aside. Drain excess fat from pot.

3. To pot add potatoes, carrots, celery, reserved onions, browned meat, broth, and wine. Stir all together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

I served it with some delicious crusty bread and salad.  It was amazing!