Parker's Beef Stew

Not one who is entirely in love with keeping up with pop culture (Minnesota Public Radio and South Dakota Public Broadcasting are #1 and #2 on my car radio with Minnesota Classical living at #5) I am very happy to raise my glass in a toast to the royal wedding. Prince William is ten months younger than I am so as I grew up I always heard about him and what he was doing. I have several friends who are getting married this year so I kind of lumped him into yet another friend’s wedding in 2011. While I will never know for sure, Will and Kate seem like the type of couple that Husband and I could have over for dinner and have a wonderful evening of food, wine and conversation. To celebrate their beginning of a (hopefully) long and happy marriage, I decided to make some tasty English food for dinner. 

Even though braised oxtail and Beef Wellington sound super yummy I sadly do not have the time or the butcher (for the ox) to make these dishes. You may be asking “G, have you ever actually eaten ox?” Yes, yes I have. And I liked it! A few years ago I met Husband in Helsinki to celebrate Thanksgiving while he was on a business trip. I wanted to eat as much traditional food as possible during my three day stay in Finland. I enjoyed Baltic herring, reindeer, lots of pickled yumminess, currant wine, and other goodies. We took a day trip across the Baltic to Estonia and it is there in a cute restaurant in Tallinn that I tried ox. So good, so very very good. Husband was envious of my meal and we still talk about it years later. Enough with the talk of ox since I’m not even cooking it!

I haven’t dabbled too much in English cuisine. I’ve made fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, cottage pie and beef stew. I do want to explore bubble and squeak, toad in the hole, Yorkshire pudding and such but for the time being I will stick with beef stew to celebrate. I watched Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) make this one day before we said goodbye to DirecTV. I printed the recipe of and added it to my menu for the next week. After the first bite I was in LOVE! This is what beef stew should taste like.

READ THE RECIPE – MARINATE YOUR BEEF OVERNIGHT! TRUST ME! I use 1 cup of flour, 1 ½ tsp. salt and 1 ½ tsp. of pepper to dredge the beef. I can always add more if needed. I had one huge onion so I used that instead of two smaller ones. I used the whole pound of mushrooms because I love mushrooms. I had to use dried rosemary – about half a tsp. I did not use sun dried tomatoes or the peas as I am not a fan of either. I did chop up a few stalks of celery. I cooked the celery right along with the other vegetables.

• 2 1/2 pounds good quality chuck beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 (750-ml bottle) good red wine
• 3 whole garlic cloves, smashed
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Good olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally in 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 1/2 pound white mushrooms, stems discarded and cut in 1/2
• 1 pound small potatoes, halved or quartered
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
• 2 cups or 1 (14 1/2-ounce can) chicken stock or broth
• 1 large (or 2 small) branch fresh rosemary
• 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas

Place the beef in a bowl with red wine, garlic, and bay leaves. Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Combine the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 tablespoon pepper. Lift the beef out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and discard the bay leaves and garlic, saving the marinade. In batches, dredge the cubes of beef in the flour mixture and then shake off the excess. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and brown half the beef over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Place the beef in a large oven-proof Dutch oven and continue to brown the remaining beef, adding oil as necessary. (If the beef is very lean, you'll need more oil.) Place all the beef in the Dutch oven.

Heat another 2 tablespoons of oil to the large pot and add the onions, carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Place all the vegetables in the Dutch oven over the beef. Add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved marinade to the empty pot and cook over high heat to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock, rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables in the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer over medium heat on top of the stove. Cover the pot and place it in the oven to bake it for about 2 hours, until the meat and vegetables are all tender, stirring once during cooking. If the stew is boiling rather than simmering, lower the heat to 250 or 275 degrees F.

Before serving, stir in the frozen peas, season to taste, and serve hot.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parkers-beef-stew-recipe/index.html