We’re due to get a big snow storm this weekend. Welcome to New England in the winter.
In anticipation of the snow days, I’m laying in all the cozy supplies. Warm blankets, cozy sweatpants, candles, new books, wood for the fireplace, and ingredients to cook up some comfort food, like this beef stew. This stew is so easy to make and delicious. We don’t make a lot of stews so I’m always amazed how easy they are. They may take some time to cook but that’s no big deal, especially when you have nothing but time on a snow day. It’s always a good idea to eat stew with some biscuits. We enjoyed it with cheddar drop biscuits, but sourdough biscuits or rolls would also be delightful.
What’s your idea of a fun snow day?
Beef Stew Recipe
(Makes 4 to 6 servings)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt (divided)
- 1 and 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups beef broth (I used low sodium. If you use regular then you may want to reduce the amounts of salt in the rest of the recipe. You can always add more at the end, to taste.)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
Directions:
- In a big bowl, add the all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cubed meat and mix everything together, making sure that all sides of the meat pieces are well coated.
- In a large pot, on Medium/High heat, heat the oil.
- Add the flour coated meat pieces to the pot and cook them until they are browned. You will want to turn the pieces over to get them browned on both sides.
- Add the chopped onion and minced garlic and continue to cook until the onion is soft.
- Add the beef broth, sugar, allspice, paprika, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and bay leaves. Stir everything together. Reduce the heat to Simmer/Low, cover the pot with a lid and cook for about 40 to 50 minutes or until the meat feels tender. (See Note below.)
- Add in the pieces of carrots and potatoes. Stir everything together and continue to cook for about 15 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are fork tender. (See Note below.)
Note: Every stove is different and even one number setting off can alter the cooking time. The “Simmer” setting on my stove will double or triple the cooking time that the recipe calls for so I have to make sure to use a higher setting to get a “real” simmer. I wanted to mention this because if your stew seems to be taking longer, don’t worry and keep cooking it until you get what you need as described in the step.
Source: Soup Night
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