Bistro Stew

This came from our favorite soup book,The Big Book of Soups and Stews by Maryana Vollstedt. We have been using this book for years, but decided to try something we had never tried before.  It is a very hearty dish with lots of beef cubes and chunky vegetables.  We gave it a 10.







Printable Version: Bistro Stew
Ingredients:
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat
2 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cups red wine
4 cups beef stock or broth
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
4 cloves garlic, halved
4 medium new potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
3 cups baby carrots
6 baby pattypan squash, quartered I used zucchini
8 ounces mushrooms, halved
Mix flour, salt, and pepper on a piece of waxed paper. Roll meat in mixture to coat. Use all the flour.
In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add meat and brown in batches, about 5 minutes for each batch. Remove meat to a plate as it browns. Add onion and saute" until tender, about 5 minutes. Add more oil if needed to keep onions from sticking. Add wine and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits. Add stock, tomato paste, marjoram, and garlic. Return meat to Dutch oven. At this point, I put it all in the crock pot and cooked it on high for about 2 hours. Then I turned down the heat to low and added the potatoes and carrots and cooked it an additional 2 1/2 hours. Then I added the squash and mushrooms and cooked about 45-min. --1hour. Back to the recipe: Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes and carrots and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, 30 minutes. Add squash and mushrooms and simmer, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes longer. Taste for seasonings.