Granny's Beef Stew

velvet_sj's Note:

The recipe is based on the stew my granny used to make, over the years I’ve made a few changes. You can make it without wine, just increase the amount of broth, but the wine really brings out the flavor of the beef. If you happen to have Trader Joes in your area, their two buck Shiraz or Merlot work fine for this recipe.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 lbs beef stew meat
• 3 russet potatoes
• 1 lb carrots or 1 lb baby carrot
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 2 cups flour
• 1 bay leaf
• salt
• granulated garlic
• pepper
• oil

Directions:

1. Put about two cups of flour on a plate, or layer of foil, and season well with salt, pepper and garlic. Heat about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet. Flour meat in small batches and brown in hot oil. Transfer meat to soup pot, and continue until all meat is browned.
2. Add onion, 2 cans of broth, about a cup of red wine, tomato sauce, and bay leaf to soup pot, bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer at least one hour. Remove bay leaf. Taste the broth of the stew at this point and decide if it needs a little salt or pepper. Also decide if there is enough broth, and at this point you can add more wine or beef broth.
3. Peel carrots and slice into disks about ¼ inch thick (or you can use the little baby carrots - then you won’t have to slice them etc). Add to pot, let cook about a half hour.
4. Peel potatoes and cut into pieces about the same size as the stew meat chunks. Add to pot, let cook until potatoes are tender.
5. Now you need to thicken the broth just a bit. Easiest way is to take about two tablespoons of flour, in a small bowl, and add about a tablespoon of oil. This will make a paste - add enough of the broth from the stew to this mixture to thin it out, to make it almost pourable. Add this mixture to the stew, stirring constantly as you pour it in (or it will lump up). When it’s mixed in well, put the cover back on and let it cook about 10 more minutes.