Beef stew, yes. A little different? Yes. Delicious? Yes.
A dear sweet gal, Susan, volunteers her home when a group of us gather for a cooking class each month. Last time as we were collecting our stuff to go, leaving her behind with a mound of dirty dishes and detritus on the floor from the cooking demonstration with Tarla, she mentioned that she had dinner ready to go into the oven. Oh, what was it, we asked? Parker’s Beef Stew, from Ina Garten. She went on to explain that she’s been making it for years, and that it’s hers and her husband’s favorite stew. No other will do.
I promptly came home and looked it up. It appeared in 2008 in her book, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients
The unique thing about this stew is that the beef stew meat is marinated for about 20 hours or so in an entire bottle of red wine (along with some bay leaves and garlic). The marinade is reserved (minus the bay and garlic) and added back in later. The meat is dried off and dredged in a flour/salt/pepper mixture and browned. I made mine with just one pot, my big Le Creuset pot. I browned the meat, removed it, then browned the veggies (carrots, onions, mushrooms and a few potatoes), removed that, then started the layering of the meat on the bottom, then the veggies added on top. The wine is poured in, along with some seasonings, more fresh garlic, a jot of Worcestershire, a few sun-dried tomatoes (which add a good umami taste to the stew), some fresh rosemary AND some chicken broth. Chicken broth, you ask? In a beef stew? Yep. The article in Ina’s cookbook doesn’t explain, but I followed the recipe.
I veered off just a little bit – because my cousin was coming to visit, and he eats GF, I didn’t dredge the meat in flour, choosing to thicken the gravy at the end, just before serving, with cornstarch instead. And, I didn’t put in hardly any potatoes (because I prefer it that way) but doubled the mushrooms. Otherwise, I stuck to the recipe more or less. I didn’t happen to have any sun-dried tomatoes, but I did have a sun-dried tomato tapenade in the pantry, so I used that instead. AND, because I had a little packet of dried mushrooms on hand, I rehydrated them, and added them into the stew also (minus the water from it).
The stew is baked in a slow oven for 2 hours. Knowing that my oven runs hot, I turned down the temp to 275°F, so the stew would not bubble-simmer (it wants to be below that). And once removed from the oven, the beef was fork tender and the juice/sauce was just delicious. Also knowing that stew is better when reheated, I cooled it down and heated it up the next day, adding in the frozen peas at the very last minute. They add a lovely texture and bright color.
What’s GOOD: altogether delicious rendition of stew. The broth/gravy part is really flavorful since it’s mostly red wine. If there’s anything that’s really unusual about this, it’s the marinating of the beef in a bottle of red wine. It almost gives the resulting broth a French beef bourguignon flavor. Loved that part. When I served this to guests I cooked more onion and carrots in a little bit of butter and water and added them into the stew to give the mixture some additional vibrant color. And I sprinkled the top with some chopped Italian parsley too.
What’s NOT: only that you have to start this at least 24 hours ahead.
printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 file (click link to open recipe)
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Parkers Beef Stew
Recipe By: Adapted slightly from Ina Garten’s recipe, 2008
Serving Size: 6
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck — good quality, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 bottle red wine — (750 ml) like a Zinfandel or Cabernet
2 whole garlic cloves — smashed
3 whole bay leaves
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil — as needed
2 large yellow onions — cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound carrots — peeled and cut diagonally in 1-inch chunks
1 pound white mushrooms — stems discarded and cut in half
1/2 pound potatoes — small, halved
1 tablespoon minced garlic
14 1/2 ounces chicken stock
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes — chopped
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
More salt and pepper as needed to season
10 ounces frozen peas
NOTES: Use a very hearty type red wine, like Zinfandel or Cabernet – the more full bodied the wine, the more full bodied the sauce/stew will be. I also added a 1-ounce packet of dried mushrooms to the stew, after rehydrating in hot water for about 20 minutes, chopped up, fluid discarded. I also used double the fresh mushrooms and half the amount of potatoes, so you can adjust to suit your family’s preferences. The calorie count assumes you consume all of the flour, salt and pepper, which you won’t.
1. Place the beef in a heavy duty ziploc bag with red wine, garlic, and bay leaves and refrigerate overnight.
2. About 4 hours before you are ready to eat, remove bag from refrigerator and preheat the oven to 300°F. [I did mine at 275°F – see notes below under #11]
3. Combine the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 tablespoon pepper.
4. Lift the beef out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and discard the bay leaves and garlic, saving the marinade. Blot the beef dry with paper towels.
5. In batches, dredge the cubes of beef in the flour mixture and then shake off the excess.
6. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and brown half the beef over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Place the beef in a large oven-proof Dutch oven and continue to brown the remaining beef, adding oil as necessary. (If the beef is very lean, you’ll need more oil.) Place all the beef in the Dutch oven.
7. Heat another 2 tablespoons of oil to the large pot and add the onions, carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
8. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Place all the vegetables in the Dutch oven over the beef.
9. Add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved marinade to the empty pot and cook over high heat to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon.
10. Add the chicken stock, rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables in the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer over medium heat on top of the stove.
11. Cover the pot and place it in the oven to bake it for about 2 hours, until the meat and vegetables are all tender, stirring once during cooking. If the stew is boiling rather than simmering, lower the heat to 250° or 275° F.
12. Before serving, stir in the frozen peas, season to taste, and serve hot. May sprinkle chopped Italian parlsey on top if desired.
Per Serving (assumes you consume all the flour and the S & P in it, which you won’t): 784 Calories; 40g Fat (46.1% calories from fat); 41g Protein; 64g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 109mg Cholesterol; 1862mg Sodium.
hddonna
said on January 16th, 2018:
I’m eager to try this. It sounds wonderful!
It’s good. Maybe because of the wine marinade, it’s better than some. I’m not a huge fan of stew, in general, usually too many carbs in it. Let me know what you think . . . carolyn t
hddonna
said on January 17th, 2018:
As often happens, it will no doubt take me a while to get around to it, but I really like the idea. Kids are coming this weekend, and it would be perfect, but my daughter-in-law is allergic to wine, so it will have to wait. I’ll get back to you when I do try it, though.
hddonna
said on January 17th, 2018:
Regarding the carbs–when you mentioned stews having too many carbs, I checked the nutritional information and was shocked that it said there were 64 grams of carbs–until I saw that it called for two cups of flour. I would follow your lead and cut out the flour, for sure! My carb guidelines are for the starchy and sugary carbs only, meaning I’d have to count the potatoes, peas, and flour, but I’m allowed as many non-starchy vegetables as I like, so without the flour, it shouldn’t be too bad.