Beef Stew: a perfect one pot meal

Our picnic table, photo taken by my neighbor Cathy

Just when I thought it was too late for winter comfort food, we get another 3 inches of snow, I am choosing to look at the bright side. Don't get me wrong, I am still holding on tight to the Spring fever that gripped me last week, I'll just have to wear my fabulous new wedge sandals in the house for a couple more weeks. Sitting at my kitchen table eating stew. That's called making the best of it, people.

My favorite thing about winter is comfort food. Big surprise, I know. There are a number of AlphaChef dishes we only eat when it's cold, and they happen to be some of his best. My favorites are a Mexican pasta dish we haven't named yet, but will post, Thai sweet green curry, chicken soup and beef stew. This stew takes a little planning and foresight, but is simple to execute, using the Minnesota favorite slow cooker aka Crock Pot. The best thing about AlphaChef's stews is he frequently uses fruits and vegetables most people wouldn't think about putting in. My favorites have apple, dried cherries, sweet potatoes and parsnips. Once you get the technique down you can use anything you want, the key is to think out of the box, meaning beyond carrots, red potatoes and celery. How boring. Ironically, this recipe follows the boring, standard fair, but is really delicious. You can add anything, as I named above, or you can stick to the tried and true. What is special about this dish is the broth. AlphaChef uses a technique used in Beef Bourguignon, a French dish which uses wine to marinate the meat and for half the broth. This allows for a layering of flavor that elevates it beyond the typical dish of stew. I'll forgive him for not using fancy ingredients...this time.

He does all the work the night before and the slow cooker does the work all day. Start with beef, we used a pound and a half of chuck, sliced into 2-3" pieces. The traditional way is to marinate the raw meat overnight and then braise it in the morning. AlphaChef is more efficient and wanted to be able to pour it all in the slow cooker in the morning, so he braised the beef first and then put in the dish to marinate with red wine overnight. It turned out amazing, so the shortcut worked. Don't worry about the quality of the wine, in fact if you use good quality red wine, you're wasting it. An inexpensive $5-$8 bottle is fine.

To braise the meat: heat a frying pan to medium high, add 2 tablespoons of oil, like peanut oil which won't smoke and not olive oil. Cut the meat into 2-3 inch sections and throw the meat into the pan. Brown each side of the meat using tongs to turn it. Repeat until the beef is browned on all sides and remove. In a dish with a cover or zip-lock bag , pour red wine over the beef until it's covered. Marinate the beef overnight.

AlphaChef puts all of the following ingredients into the slow cooker where is sits overnight in the refrigerator, next to the beef, marinating in red wine (got it?). For this stew he used some baby carrots, grape tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, 1 sweet potato cut into chunks, 3 cloves crushed garlic, 1-2 bay leaves, 4 cloves, 1 onion chopped into large pieces- sauteed in beef fat (from the braising) until clear. In the morning, put all the vegetables and the marinated, braised beef into the slow cooker. Cover the beef halfway with one part beef stock and one part red wine. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 10 hours (while you're at work, or whatever you do all day). About 30 minutes prior to serving, add salt and black pepper to taste, 1 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 tbsp dried oregano and mix.

I live in Minnesota, where the cold is very cold and stays around much longer than we like. There is nothing like the energy of Spring and Summer in the Twin Cities, which actually (sometimes just barely) makes the winter worth it. Warm fireplaces, dinner parties with friends, hiring someone to shovel the snow and, for me, rich, warm comfort food, are strategies for getting through. Right now my tulips are peaking out, (yes, they will survive the snow) which means Spring is coming and my fabulous new sandals will soon see the sun.