despite the fact that it was almost 60F degrees on saturday, the rest of the week was pretty freezing. i think when i woke up on thursday it was like 17F degrees, with a wind chill of 3F. woah.

the cold weather prompted me to want to cook soup or a stew. the stew won out. here's my go-to recipe for beef stew that i snagged from epicurious a few years back. i altered it a little by substituting beef broth for 1/2 of the amount of wine. so you may notice that my recipe differs a little bit from the original.

beef stew with red wine and hoisin
4 tbsp olive oil
4 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1.5-2" pieces
3.5 cups chopped onions (i normally use like 3-4 small to med yellow onions)
1 cup cabernet sauvignon (or whatever red wine you happen to have in the house i guess)
1 cup beef broth (i've also tried it with chicken broth and it turns out fine)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2-3 bay leaves
flour
s&p

1 lb slender carrots, peeled, cut diagonally into 1" lengths (or just use those baby carrots)
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp cold water (optional)
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

s&p the beef. lightly flour. heat 2 tbsp oil in heavy large pot over high heat. brown beef on all sides, doing in batches if necessary. remove from pot.

reduce heat to medium, add 2 tbsp oil. add onions and bay leaves and saute, adding a little bit of the wine to deglaze the pot. add meat (and meat juices) back into pot. add the wine, tomatoes with juices, hoisin sauce. bring to boil.

reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. add carrots and stock. cover, simmer 45 min, stirring occasionally. check to see if meat is done; if not, simmer a bit longer. when meat is cooked and tender, uncover, increase heat to high, and boil until the sauce is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes longer. if you want the sauce thicker, turn heat to medium, add cornstarch mixture and simmer until sauce thickens - about 10 minutes. season with s&p. sprinkle with parsley and serve.

(Can be made 1 day ahead. cool slightly. chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. bring to simmer before serving, stirring occasionally.)

here are some pictures of the process:

browning the meat.









browned meat resting in another vessel.









one last piece of meat to brown.









onions and bay leaves added to pot before deglazing with red wine.








browned meat added to onions and bay leaves.









i've just added hoisin, tomatoes, rest of wine.









finished product, after thickening with cornstarch.

Labels: beef, cooking, wine