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Italian Beef Stew from Cooking Light Magazine, January/February 2011
 Yesterday, someone commented thusly on the Fettuccine with Mushrooms and Hazelnuts post; "Second post of pasta with nuts." I hadn't thought of that before. Those sneaky folks at Cooking Light had actually gotten me to eat two meatless dishes in a row.And we've had so much flippin' chicken that I couldn't even remember the last time I had had any beef. Ok, I do remember because it was Michael Symon's Fat Doug Burger, which was delicious. But that was ages ago. I suddenly started going through beef withdrawal. So I made some. Specifically, I made the Italian Beef Stew from the same Cooking Light Magazine that has the 30+ chicken recipes. Now there are four beef recipes left untried. The biggest key to making a good stew, any stew, is letting is stew for a long time. In this case, it ended up being close to three hours. I know I could have made it in the slow cooker, but the directions were for stove top so that's how it went. As the three steps in the sidebar next to the recipe say, there are three parts to a great stew. The first is through proper prep; browning the meat and aromatics well. The second step is through using a good acidic; in this case wine, which is used to deglaze the pan and then reduced in order to concentrate flavor. The third step is a long simmer until the stew thickens and the meat tenderizes. I sometimes smile about how the authors of recipes decide on the name. I'm figuring that this is called Italian Beef Stew because it has oregano and basil in it. And maybe the cremini mushrooms over buttons? Other than those three things, it's very much like many other beef stews I've made before. I like the fact that the carrots make two appearances here. The first is as part of the aromatics; chopped in with onion and garlic and sautéed at the beginning of the process. The second is near the end, after the stew has simmered for an hour or so. Bigger slices of carrots are added and it all continues to stew for another hour (or so again) until the beef is fork tender. That produces a carrot that is cooked, but still firm and colorful. As you can see from the picture, I served this over boiled potatoes. There's just something about smooshing them up in the gravy and eating them that way that I love. And it was the very, very right thing to do. Hubby's response was pretty cute with his first bite; happy surprise. He told me after swallowing that he had fully expected the meat to be tough and was thrilled to find it so tender and good. All three of us really enjoyed this and ate our full servings (Dudette's much smaller than ours, of course). I fully expect that the stew will be twice as good when it's eaten as leftovers over the next few days. Dishes like this usually are. This dish fully met my meat expectations and fulfilled all flavor requirements while still being on the healthy side. I'm impressed with Cooking Light for this one. Italian Beef Stew 7 teaspoons olive oil, divided 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped carrot 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into cubes 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 cup dry red wine 3 3/4 cups chopped seeded peeled plum tomato (about 2 pounds) 1 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 1 (8-ounce) package cremini mushrooms, quartered 3/4 cup (1/4-inch-thick) slices carrot 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 1 tablespoon chopped parsley Heat a teaspoon of oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and chopped carrot and sauté 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sauté for a quick 45 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from pan to a bowl. Place 1/4 cup flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper; dredge in flour. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Add half of beef to pan; sauté 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure. Deglaze the pan with the wine and bring to a boil, scraping pan to get all the bits up. Cook until reduced to 1/3 cup (about 5 minutes). Return meat and the onion mixture to pan. Add tomato and next 6 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover, and stir in sliced carrot. Simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour or until meat is very tender, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaf. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, basil, and parsley.  related searches : Italian
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