Where I live, in Atlantic Canada, we are still in winter’s cold and snowy grip. As I look out the window I see the landscape covered in a thick blanket of snow and a quick check of the outside thermometer reads minus 12 C. We have more snow in the immediate forecast and the temperatures are not expected to improve by much. All of this cold, stormy weather makes me long for a big bowl of hot, flavourful, vegetable packed, beef stew!
The finished beef stew just waiting for the hungry masses!
Tossing the beef cubes in the flour, salt and pepper mixtures seasons the meat and also helps it to achieve a crispy sear.
Make sure your oil is hot when you add the beef, don’t overcrowd the pan and turn meat to brown all sides.
Be sure to scrap all the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan, those bits are full of flavour.
Deglazing the pan with red wine. Not only does the wine deglaze the pan it also helps to tenderize the beef.
Caramelized onions and beef.
Cut your root vegetables into one inch chunks and your cabbage into small wedges.
Don’t forget the bay leaves, oregano and rosemary.
The finished stew, ready to be heaped into waiting bowls!
- 2 pounds stewing beef, cubed
- 1 Tbsp. flour
- 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 3 large onions, each cut into 6 pieces
- 4-5 large potatoes, peeled & cut into 1" cubes (I use yellow fleshed potatoes)
- 1 turnip, peeled & cut into 1" cubes
- 4-5 large carrots, peeled & cut into 1" rounds
- 1 small green cabbage, remove outer leaves, cut into 6 wedges, remove tough core.
- 1 cup red wine (if desired you may substitute beef broth for wine)
- 4 -5 cups beef broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt & Pepper
- 2 Tbsp.cornstarch
- ⅓ cup cold water
- ½ cup frozen peas
- Toss beef cubes in flour that has been seasoned with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper.
- In a large pot or dutch oven, cook beef in oil over medium heat until brown. (Brown beef in small batches, overcrowding will inhibit browning and cause meat to steam)
- Remove browned beef to a bowl and brown onions, if necessary, add more oil.
- When onions have browned, deglaze hot pan by adding wine (or broth).
- Put meat back in pan. Add potatoes, carrots and turnip to pot.
- Pour enough beef broth over these vegetable to just barely cover them.
- Put cabbage wedges on top.
- Add 2 bay leaves, rosemary and oregano. Season vegetables with salt and pepper.
- Dissolve cornstarch in cold water and stir into stew.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, Cover and simmer 1 - 1½ hours or until vegetables are tender.
- Add frozen peas, stir into stew, cover and simmer 5 more minutes..
Another thing I love about this stew is, it’s not fussy. You can mix up the vegetables, most hardy root vegetables will work fine. You could add to or substitute with vegetables such as sweet potatoes, parsnips or celery, whatever you and your family like.
This is a wonderful meal for a cold winter evening and the great part, leftovers for tomorrow!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask and I will do my very best to answer.
Have you ever made beef stew?
What is your favourite one pot meal?
JoJo says
Meat has been so expensive, even chunks of stew beef, that I only made this once this year. But now that my recipes are all typed and organized, I’ve been making lots and lots of hearty stews, esp. the night that my fiance’ gets home from his weekly trucking trips. He’s usually frozen to the bone, between the cold weather and lack of sleep, so I like to fill him up with something nice, hot and hearty. A lot of my soup recipes are, or were, vegetarian, but I’ve been converting them to meat based for him.
Patricia says
Hmmm, have been wondering what to have for supper, now I know. as luck would have it, all the necessary ingredients are in my pantry. :-)
Jill says
This looks so delicious and warming for winter! Can’t wait to try, all the family will enjoy it!
Monica Parlee says
It is perfect for a cold winter day Jill, hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Stephanie LaPlante says
Looks very delicious. I’m totally a stew fan.
Darlene Schuller says
omg this looks soo good. I love stews/soups/chilli’s during this horrid winter season. This just looks amazing my tastebuds are going insane. I’ve saved the recipe thank you so much.
Monica Parlee says
Thank you and I know exactly how you feel Darlene. Nothing chases away the winter blues like a big pot of stew/soup/chili simmering on the stove!
Darlene Schuller says
you got that right!! I try to freeze some too but it never lasts, we make it then live on it for 3 days lol.
Elva Roberts says
I often make Beef Stew and I have learned a couple of tricks from the way you make yours-deglazing the pan with red wine being one of them. Thank you for this recipe. I will add it to my file and I look forward to trying it out.
This is one of my favourite one-dish recipes.