Today we are going to see how to prepare a classic beef stew. A stew of the grandmother of those of a lifetime, stewing the meat over low heat and with the pot covered so that the meat becomes very tender and the flavors are well concentrated.
This meat stew is one of those spoon dishes so easy to prepare and that are so delicious that I am sure that if you do it at home you will have to prepare it many more times.
I like to make the stew by stewing the potatoes with the veal, so that they are tender and very very tasty. But sometimes I also like to pay homage to myself by serving this beef ragout with a good potato frit to dip them in the sauce.
Here is the recipe, but if you want to know more about stews, the different variants that we can prepare from this recipe, what meat is better to use for braising, how to prepare the stew with or without potatoes and some other things, do not forget read at the end of the recipe !!
HOW TO MAKE BEEF STEW WITH POTATOES
INGREDIENTS BEEF STEW WITH POTATOES:
1 kilo of beef cut into medium pieces
1 medium onion
1 large carrot
2 large potatoes
1 glass of red wine
2 glasses of broth (can be meat or chicken)
2 small tablespoons tomato paste (see note)
Half a teaspoon of dried thyme
1 tablespoon of wheat flour (see note)
olive oil
fine salt
ground black pepper
RECIPE BEEF STEW WITH POTATOES:
Sprinkle all the pieces of meat with salt and pepper and divide it into three piles and then brown it in three batches.
Put a pot on the fire and when it is very hot add a quarter glass of olive oil.
Add the first batch of beef to the pot and brown the meat over high heat but avoid burning. Take the time to make the meat well browned because this is where the best flavors of the stew are generated. When the veal is well browned, take it out and reserve it. Do the same with the rest of the meat.
Add the onion, well chopped and the carrot, peeled and cut to your liking. Sauté for a few minutes until the onion becomes tender.
Add the tomato paste (see note) and the thyme. Sauté for a minute.
Return the meat to the pot and top with a tablespoon of flour. Stir for a minute.
Add the wine and broth and cover the pot. Leave on low heat for 2 hours.
After this time, check the meat, if it is not tender, cover it again and leave a little more on the fire. When the meat is very tender, taste the salt and if necessary add a little more.
Add the mashed potatoes (cut with a twist of the wrist so that they break a little) and cover again (if you see that you do not have enough liquid to cook the potatoes you can add a little more broth or water).
Leave on the fire until the potatoes are tender.
With the potatoes already cooked, uncover the pot and if you want the sauce to be thicker, let it reduce a little, making sure that it does not stick to the bottom. And that's it …. out of the kitchen and eat !!!
NOTES:
In this recipe the quality of the red wine you choose to cook is very noticeable. My advice is that you choose a bottle of a wine that you would drink next to the plate.
If you don't have tomato paste, use four small tablespoons of tomato sauce (tomato sauce).
If you don't have broth you can simply use water and the stew will still be rich.
If you want to make the stew gluten-free, you can dissolve a small spoonful of cornstarch in a little cold water and add it to the stew.
At first we only add the salt of the meat and then before adding the potatoes we add the salt we need. You cannot put an amount since it will depend on whether the broth we use has more or less salt.
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