I had planned to make beef stew last night, but since we didn't get home until nine and had already filled up on snacks we just had Frosties (what? this is not healthy).
Fortifying myself with ginger ale and massive amounts of asprin, I pulled up the Real Simple Recipe for classic beef stew that my Mom emailed (we had it at home over the Holidays and it was Yum).
Ok. So as the name implies- shouldn't this be "real simple" to make? I browned the beef which was fine, although some of the pieces were big so I had to cut them with scissors. Then I sauteed the onions, although I had quite a lot and some of them fell out of the pan. The tomato paste was not as runny as I had imagined paste to be, so rather than chance it by stirring it into the already overflowing pot of onions, I just dumped the onions into the pot, then the paste.
And then I cut up an avocado and ate it. After I ate my avocado I felt much less stressed. Until I realized that I was to pour red wine into my pan and scrap out all the brown bits. Confusing, as I was using a nonstick pan. Where did the brown bits go? I don't have any brown bits.
So I panicked and just dumped everything into the pot.
And I read through the instructions just this moment and realized I was supposed to thaw the peas and add them at the end.
I put them in frozen with everything else.
This is why I don't cook.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds bottom round, well trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup olive oil (plus more if needed)
- 2 large onions, diced (2 cups)
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 pound potatoes, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
- 1/2 pound baby carrots (about 2 cups)
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
Directions
- Coat the beef in the flour. Heat a few tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the meat, a few pieces at a time, adding more oil as necessary. Transfer to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.
- Add the onions to the skillet and cook over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and coat the onions; transfer to the cooker.
- Pour the wine into the skillet and scrape up any browned bits; add to the cooker. Stir in the potatoes, carrots, broth, salt, thyme, and bay leaf.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7 1/2 hours, or on high for 4 hours. Add the peas and heat through.
