i made beef stew! i made beef stew! i made beef stew! in case it wasn’t clear, i am very excited to have successfully made beef stew.  i don’t remember having stew of this type until i got to the states.  at home we kind of make stew meat, it would be called a guisado but it is not quite like stew - it does not have as much liquid, it is less soupy i guess.  once in the states i remember having stew at school but let’s be honest, dinning hall food does not count (unless it is breakfast on the weekends, but that is a story for another time).

i am certain that the first time i had proper stew was during my first trip to ireland.  we went to a wedding and the next day drove south for a music festival in gorgeous county cork.

gorgeous county cork!

we stopped to say hi to the mom of one of the irishman’s friends on our way into town.  oh wait, before i go on, here is something to know about this trip.  as i mentioned before, this was my first trip to ireland. on this trip i met for the first time a bunch of the irishman’s friends as well as his sister. i knew i had nothing to worry about but i was very nervous nonetheless.  this nervousness made me very cold (temperature wise), as soon as we landed in ireland i was cold, this was in august and the temperatures were actually very nice and mild - but still i shivered.

now, back to the story… so we stopped by the house even though they were not expecting us (another way in which dominicans and irish are alike!) and as soon as the introductions were done they put in front of us a heaping bowl of stew with a side of spuds and a nice cup of tea.  once i tried the stew i started to feel warm again (also at this point i was in ireland for about 4 days and was starting to understand some of the accents. by then i had also met the im’s sister and friends and they were so wonderful and welcoming that of course i felt warmth!) oh.my.god. that was some stew! it was delicious, i was definitely thinking about it for months after i got back to america.  not joking, months. so needless to say i wanted to learn to make it.  it took me a while to actually do it, probably because i was afraid i would mess it up. but after finally cooking it, i realized there was no reason to be afraid.  making stew is easy! i got the hang of it right away and made it again three days later.  

the pictures in this post are from the first time i made stew, so here it is - recipe for beef stew!

INGREDIENTS:
1lb of cubed beef for stew
3 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 large white onion
3 cloves of garlic
3-4 dry bay leaves
1 teaspoon of dry thyme leaves
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
sugar
beef stock or beef bouillon cubes
*optional red wine (i used merlot) 
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour 

INSTRUCTIONS:
heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large deep pot.  clean the beef of excess fat but leave some. you want beef with plenty of marbling in it. cook it in the hot oil. at this point only sear each side. 

now, grab your knife and cutting board.  it is time to chop up all the vegetables. the onions

the celery

the carrots

by now the beef chunks should be seared so take them out and put them aside.  lower the heat in the pan and add the onions. 

cook the onions until they turn translucent. then add a cup of wine or beef stock if you don’t drink wine, 2 or 3 whole garlic cloves and a few leaves of dry bay leaves. 

also add all of the spices and a tablespoon of sugar.  the sugar helps tone down the acidity of the wine. 

add 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce.  (i ended up adding a bit more once it was almost done for a little sass)

mix that well and add the beef

add the celery

and the carrots

mix it well and cover with beef stock. an alternative is to dissolve two beef bouillon cubes in hot water and add that.  if you don’t have either of those double up on the spices. 

cover your stew and cook for an hour. check it.

cook it some more. 

once it is ready, so once the beef is cooked throughout and it is tender enough to be able to separate it with a fork, take about a cup of the liquid and mix in 2 tablespoons of flour.  beat the flour well so there are no lumps.  add that flour mixture to the stew.  

cook that for another 30 minutes or the stew thickens to your preference.  serve it with some mashed potatoes and a glass of red wine. 

when i cook during the week i plan on saving the leftovers to bring to work the next day. that way we save on food plus since it is home made we know what is in it.  it is a good plan…

well, sometimes plans do not go as expected

take this stew for example… i cooked what seemed like enough to feed a small army. i was sure that we were going to have leftovers the next day.  well my friends. that. did. not. happen. 

this was so yummy!

so please, if you are choosing only one of my recipes to cook choose this one. please. i beg you. i promise you will not be sorry.  

thanks for stopping by, now go make this!