Beef Daube

Posted for the Zaar World Tour 2006-Canada. From the "Best of International Cooking" cookbook. Note: prep time does NOT include soaking time for dried beans. UPDATE: I posted this recipe for the Zaar World Tour having never made it before. I have since made this recipe and discovered that it needs a lot of tweaking. It is rather bland, lacking in flavor. When I have time to mess with it, I will post the changes I made.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 10 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1  cup dried great northern beans (can use navy beans or white kidney beans)
•  water, enough to cover beans
• 2  tablespoons  vegetable oil
• 1  onion, finely chopped
• 1 3⁄4 lbs beef round steak, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 1  tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3  tablespoons tomato paste
• 1⁄3 cup dry red wine
• 1 1⁄2 cups  beef stock or 1 1⁄2 cups beef broth
• 2  bay leaves
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
•  salt, to taste
•  black pepper, to taste
• 1⁄2 lb fresh carrot, cut into 2-inch pieces

Directions

1. Soak beans in enough cold water to cover for 12 hours.
2. Heat oil in a large stovetop casserole. Add onion; sautè until tender. Add beef; sautè until lightly browned. Sprinkle with flour; sautè 3 to 5 minutes longer. Stir in tomato paste, wine, stock or broth, bay leaf, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
3. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Add beans and soaking water to beef mixture. Cover and bake 2 hours or until beef and beans are tender.
4. Meanwhile, cook carrots in salted water until crisp-tender. Remove and discard bay leaf from stew. Stir in cooked carrots. Serve hot over noodles.