This is a fantastic slow cooking weekend comfort dish, or for a week night meal, add everything to a slow cooker. I’ve included a few steps that are optional (e.g. dry brining the beef)–keep them if you have the time, and skip otherwise.
This stew pairs well with my spätzli, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, or in this photo, a hint of winter giving way to spring with wild garlic tagliatelle.
You’ll need a Dutch oven or heavy pan with a lid that can be used on the stove top and in the oven. Alternatively, use a slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours on high setting or 6-8 hours on low setting after following the initial stove top preparation (steps 5-7).
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
- beef shoulder, whole: 1 kg/ 2.2 lbs (approximately), silver skin trimmed off, cut into 2 in/5 cm pieces
- salt and pepper: for the beef
- flour: 35 g/.25 cup
- olive oil: a few tablespoons for browning of the meat
- red wine .5 bottle (375 mL)
- onion: 1 medium, diced
- carrots: 2 large, diced
- celery: 1 large stalk, diced
- garlic: 3 cloves minced
- tomato paste (UK: puree): 2 Tb
- dried porcini mushrooms: 5 grams/.25 cup
- bay leaf: 1
- fresh thyme: 3-4 sprigs
- fresh rosemary: 2 springs
- beef stock: 1 L/32 oz, high quality, low salt
- fresh parsley: small bunch, chopped for final serving
- butter: 25g/2 Tb to add to the final stew
Optional Finishes
- bacon/ lardons: 170 g/ 6 oz
- mushrooms: 450 g/1 lb
- oil/butter for sauteing
- carrots: 450 g/1 lb: peeled and chopped, sugar: 1 tsp, salt: 1 tsp, butter: 1-2 Tbsp, water
STEPS
- (optional) Dry brine the beef. 2 to 24 hours before you start cooking, add a generous amount of salt to all sides of the beef pieces. Place the pieces on a tray or plate in a single layer and keep in the fridge, either uncovered or with a paper towel. (you can skip the brining stage but still coat the beef in salt before step 2)
- (optional) Allow the beef to warm. 45 minutes before starting to cook, remove the beef from the fridge and allow to warm up in the room covered by a paper towel.
- Preheat the oven to 325 F/160 C or turn on slow cooker to High
- Heat a dutch oven (if using to cook the stew) or a deep saute pan (if using a slow cooker) to medium high heat.
- Brown the beef. As the pan heats, Wipe any moisture from the beef that may have developed in the brining phase and coat all the pieces with ground black pepper. (if you skipped the brining phase, also coat all sides of the beef with salt.) Dredge the pieces in the flour to coat well, and when the pan is hot add the oil and allow to heat. Cook the beef in batches (keep the pieces from crowding in the pan) for a couple minutes on each side to brown and remove to a plate.
- Begin to cook the vegetables. Add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the pot along with the onion, celery and carrot. Lightly season with salt and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook another 4 minutes.
- Add wine. Increase the heat to high and add the wine and dried mushrooms. Bring to a boil and allow the wine to reduce by 1/3.
- Prepare to cook the stew. If using a slow cooker, add all ingredients from the pan into the slow cooker, then place the beef on top. For the dutch oven, place the beef on top of the existing ingredients. Add the rosemary, thyme and bay leaf (easiest to tie all of them together with string so it’s easy to remove later). Add enough beef stock to barely cover the top of the beef. If more stock is needed, you can also just add water.
- Cook the stew. Test the beef after 3 hours in the slow cooker or 2.5 hours in the oven–you should be able to cut it easily with a spoon.
- Slow cooker: Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.
- Oven: Cook for 2 hours with the lid on, then remove and cook for a further 30-60 minutes.
- Decide to keep or discard the cooked veg. Purists will say that the veg has given up all their flavor during the cooking and should be discarded. I normally don’t mind keeping it in for the texture. If you choose to discard, remove the beef pieces and pass the remaining contents and liquid through a fine mesh sieve and collect the al the liquid. Press hard on the ingredients to extract as much liquid as possible. Return the beef and liquid to the pot.
- Taste, season, and add butter and parsley. Add additional salt and pepper if you like in addition to the final butter and parsley.
Optional Finishes (during the last 30 minutes of cooking the stew)
- Bacon. Add the bacon to a cold pan on the stove top and heat on medium heat. Cook for 10-12 minutes until browned, but careful not to burn. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towels and drain all but 1 tsp of the fat.
- Mushrooms. Heat a pan (reuse bacon pan) to to medium high, add some olive oil and mushrooms. Cook for 7-9 minutes or until mushrooms are browned. Drain on paper towels.
- Carrots. Heat a shallow pan to medium high heat and add the carrots, sugar, salt, and just enough water to just cover them. Keep the heat to just a simmer. Cook for 7-10 minutes until the carrots are cooked through. Add the butter and stir to combine the remaining water and butter and coat the carrots. Add seasoning if necessary.
- Add the bacon, carrots, and/or mushrooms to the beef mixture individually when serving.