There is probably nothing more satisfying to my family than a wonderful stew for Sunday dinner. This recipe I’ve been working on for many years. It’s perfect now! Just a few notes….don’t buy stew meat from the market. It’s generally just scrapes of all cuts of meat. What you want is the beef shoulder or what is called a chuck roast. It will remain tender after the hours of cooking. If you’ve ever made tough stew it is because you used the loin which doesn’t respond to long, low cooking. The other thing that I think made this rich with lovely complex tones was the porcini mushroom powder. I just used a cup of dried porcini mushrooms and put them in a coffee grinder to made a powder. Sprinkled on when I used the Porcini Mushroom Sous Salt. You don’t need to add the powder if you would rather just use the salt. This recipe is two fold you get to enjoy the smells of the house during the cooking and then the meal at dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon good olive oil
- 6 strips of dry cured center cut applewood smoked bacon, diced
- 3 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
- Sous Salt Porcini Mushroom
- 1/2 cup Porcini Mushroom powder
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
- 1 yellow onions, diced
- 1 1/2 cups of pearl onions (I used frozen defrosted pearl onion)
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
- 1/2 cup Cognac
- 1/2 bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
- 1 can (2 cups) beef broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 sprigs teaspoon fresh thyme
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps cubed
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat until lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.
- Pat the beef cubes dry with paper towels and then sprinkle them with Porcini Mushroom Sous Salt and pepper. If you are using the porcini powder sprinkle it on at this time and lightly dust with flour. This is not a dredge in flour just a dust. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set aside.
- Toss 2 of the carrots (cut in half as you are going to remove these after the first cooking and add sliced carrots to finish), onions, 2 teaspoons of Porcini Mushroom Sous Salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for apx 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic, tomato paste and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac, stand back, and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. Add the beef stock and wine and bring it up to a simmer. Tie the thyme and parsley in a bundle with twine and add to the pot.
- Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.
- Remove the carrots from the pot and add two sliced carrots and the pearl onions.
- Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew.
- Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.