Yep, we are back cooking more or less full time. Our menu this week was starting to show the influences of fall. The weather is still warm but now that the kids are back in school the house frenzy has returned. After months of not making this recipe I have forgotten how simple and satisfying it is.

Hearty Beef Stew - Here is the ingredient list:

Ingredients

1/4 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1 pound Beef, Top Blade Roast
1/4 cup Oil, Olive
1 Onions — diced
2 stalks Celery — diced
1 clove Garlic — minced
1/2 cup Wine, Table, Red
1/2 whole Tomatoes, Canned
3/4 cup Stock, Beef
1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
2 Carrots
1/2 pound Mushrooms, Button — small
1 tablespoon Butter
5 ounces Peas, Frozen

My quick trick is to purchase blade steaks rather than cubes of stew meat. I can quickly sear both sides of the meat in a hot pan, remove, cube on a cutting board and put it in the pot.

Then I add my nicely diced carrots, celery and onion

I saute them in the frying pan until they are slightly caramelized around the edges but I hold off on adding the garlic until the last minute, it’s so easy to burn garlic. Once the vegetables are cooked, I transfer them to my stockpot. Back in the frying pan I deglaze with my red wine and beef stock and I stir in my tomato paste until it’s well dissolved.

I pour my deglazing mixture over the meat and vegetables in the stockpot to which I add the thyme, mushrooms, canned tomatoes and bay leaf. I bring the pot to a boil and let it simmer for about an hour. Adjust the seasonings add the frozen peas and voila, done like dinner!

This recipe freezes beautifully, if you like potatoes in your stew just add them about 20 minutes before the stew is done. I prefer to serve my stew on mashed potatoes.