THE BEST CROCKPOT BEEF STEW

Much to my husband's displeasure, I could have soup or stew for dinner every night from November to March and be perfectly content. Seriously. Especially when it's so cold outside- warming up with a hot bowl of stew is just perfect. Lucky for him I do add more variety to our meals, however that doesn't take away from the fact that I adore stew!

A few years ago I began hunting down a really good beef stew recipe. I tried so many and none were quite right. Finally! I found one... only it wasn't really for Beef Stew, it was for Beef Bourgignon which is a more complicated, richer version of a classic stew.

At any rate- I altered the recipe and the result is an easy, delicious beef stew that's made in the crockpot. I listed two methods for preparing this stew- to really get a nice, full flavor, I like to take about 15 minutes and do some pre-cooking on the stove. It's not necessary, but I encourage you to try both ways and see which one you like more.

The BEST Crockpot Beef Stew
Serves 8-10

4 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
2 lbs trimmed beef chuck, cut into 1-2-inch cubes, patted dry with paper towels
about 1/4 cup of flour {tossed with meat to coat}
10-15 small red potatoes {mine were pretty small, I used 14, cut into 1/8ths since I was serving it to small children}
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups sliced carrots {about 3 good sized carrots}
2 cups sliced celery {about 2-3 stalks}
1 cup of red cooking wine**
1 cup beef stock or canned beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes, drained {14.5 oz}
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp allspice
8-oz container of sliced mushrooms {optional}
meat tenderizer and about 2 tsp cornstarch

**If you don't have or don't like cooking with wine, you can use grape juice, apple juice or simply increase the beef broth to 2 cups instead. I use red cooking wine though- I think it adds a wonderful flavor!

Time Saving Tips:

The most time consuming part of making stew is chopping and dicing all the vegetables and meat. I take a lot of shortcuts here- I almost always have prepared homemade mirepoix {carrots-onion-celery} sliced and frozen. This saves a huge amount of time.

Defrost the meat a few days before, then the night before, dice the meat into 1"-2" chunks and sprinkle a generous amount of seasoned meat tenderizer on it. I just put it all in a large zip lock bag so that I can mix the tenderizer up with the meat easily.

Another task you can do the night before is to scrub and cut up the potatoes. The starch will cause them to darken, so make sure you submerge them in water to store them overnight. {I put them in a large tupperware, then just covered them with water- worked perfectly!}

So, you can do all this ahead of time... or the day you want to make it- it's up to you!

Quick Method for the Beef Stew:

Turn crockpot on low. Toss all vegetables and meat in the crockpot. Combine spices {except bay leaf}, oil, cooking wine, beef broth and whisk lightly to combine. Pour over meat and vegetables. Add in bay leaf. Give it all a light stir, cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours, medium 7-8 hours, high 6-7 hours.

About 30 minutes prior to serving, ladle out about 1/2 cup of liquid from the stew. Whisk in 2 tsp cornstarch and add it back to the stew, stirring gently to combine. This helps thicken it up! If you want it even thicker, you can repeat this process once, waiting about 15 minutes between to double check thickness.

15-20 additional minutes method:

As I said before, this just gives the stew a better, more developed flavor. It's really not difficult, just a few extra steps but it goes fast.

Put potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and celery in the crockpot. Have the beef broth and cooking wine measured out and ready.

Heat a frying pan up on high. Add in 2 TBSP oil. Add garlic. Once pan is hot, add beef. You're not trying to cook the meat all the way, you just want to sear it a bit. I let the meat cook for about 4-5 minutes, stirring about twice. You want the meat on the bottom of the pan to brown and even coat the pan lightly. Move meat into the crockpot.

Do not wash the pan! The technical term here is deglazing- we're going to add liquid that will help loosen up and remove the flavorful meat remnants on the bottom of the pan. Return pan to hot stove top and add remaining 2 TBSP of oil. Once oil is hot, add in the onions. Wait about 3-4 minutes until the onions are beginning to be translucent and are sizzling. Add in cooking wine and beef broth. While the liquid is heating up, add in the spices, except the bay leaf. Once the liquid begins to boil, turn off the heat and pour entire mixture into the crockpot.

Add mushrooms and bay leaf. Stir lightly to combine and cook on low for 9-10 hours, medium 7-8 hours, high 6-7 hours.

ENJOY!