It’s very cold where I live right now. We’re talking scraping ice off your windshield in your -6°F  driveway cold.

If it’s cold where you live as well, there’s a good chance you’re looking for something to warm you up at dinner tonight. When I want a hot, hearty dinner to help me forget about scraping off my windshield in my -6°F  driveway I think about beef stew.

This classic meat and potato dish has many delicious variations to tempt your taste buds, but even the simplest version is sure to make for happy tummies all around.

Time tends to be a problem for me when I’m craving a specific dish. As any working parent will know, getting dinner on the table at a reasonable time on a weeknight can be a little tricky sometimes. This doesn’t have to stop you from having a healthy, delicious home cooked meal. And this version of beef stew is quick and easy enough to pull off on a week night.

Of course, meat needs time to cook to tender, so you may have to switch up your afternoon schedule a little bit. For me, this means prioritizing dinner first when I get home from work, and then getting to things like dishes and helping the kids with homework later while the beef stew simmers.

Another nice thing about beef stew is that I typically have all the ingredients at home already. The last time I made it I only had to pick up the beef. With that said, here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 tbs. Vegetable oil
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 lb. Beef Chuck Roast
  • Cut into cubes
• 2 tbs. Minced Garlic
• 1 tsp. Thyme
• 1 tsp. Oregano
• 1 cup Chopped Carrots
• 2 tbs. All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup Red Cooking Wine
  • Something off the grocery store shelf will work, but if you’re going with a wine from the liquor store, something like a Pinot Noir goes great with beef
• 3 cups Beef Broth or Stock
• 2 Cubed Potatoes
  • With or without skin
• 1 Chopped Medium Yellow Onion

Obviously, feel free to use less or more of any ingredient. For instance, I really go ham on the garlic 😀

Step one

Heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat in a large non-stick cooking pot.

Step Two

Sprinkle the beef cubes with a generous amount of salt and pepper, and add to the pot.

Step Three

Add the garlic, thyme, oregano and carrots to the pot, and continue to cook until the beef is browned on all sides.

Step Four

Next you’ll sprinkle the flour over the meat and carrots, and stir it around until everything is coated. Let the flour cook a couple minutes.

Step Five

Now add the wine to the pot, and allow it to simmer while you stir, getting any browned bits that may be stuck to the bottom of the pot. 

Step Six

Once the alcohol has cooked away, your stew should take on a pasty sort of consistency. This is when you’ll stir in the broth, and add the potatoes.

You can also add the onions here, but I find that if I add onion at the same time as the potato, it ends up mushy by the time the stew is done. If you also like a little more texture to your onion, wait to add it until there’s about a half hour left of cook time. 

Lower the heat to simmer, and cover the pot with a lid.

Step Seven

This is the easy part, because now you just have to wait. Go do a load of laundry, read a little, watch a show, make a dessert with your kids, whatever you feel like doing. Just don’t forget to enjoy the smell coming out of that pot.

The stew should be left to simmer at least an hour. However, bearing in mind that the longer it’s allowed to simmer, the more tender the meat will be, I’d say let it go for two hours if you can get away with it.

I like to serve a bread with my beef stew. A nice dinner roll, or a biscuit are both good options.

Enjoy

This is the kind of dish that warms you inside and out, leaving you full and comforted. Maybe even ready to brave the freezing -6°F weather again. Though personally, I’m more likely to be ready to brave an evening with the tv.

Thanks for reading!