Italian Beef Stew

The weather here has dropped about 30 degrees this week. And i can think of nothing better than some beef stew on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I was particularly impressed with this beef stew, it is chocked full of flavor. In keeping up with my new lighter diet this fits in pretty well. Lets just say there were no leftovers. It looks a little time consuming but it was rather easy, say warm and enjoy

adapted from Cooking Light Magazine.

Recipe:
1 tsp / 2 tbsp oil oil divided
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 chopped carrot
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 lbs boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into cubes ( i used a venison loin)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup dry red wine or marsala cooking wine
1 package grape tomatoes quartered
1 1/2 cups low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup water
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp thyme
1 package mushrooms quartered
3/4 cup sliced carrots
2 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
5 to 8 fingerling potatoes quartered


Heat your dutch oven or just a pot to medium-high heat. Once heated add 1 teaspoon oil. Add onion and chopped carrot, saute 8 minutes stirring occasionally. now add in your garlic, saute 45 seconds. Remove, and transfer to another bowl and set aside.

Next add 2 tbsp oil to the pan. Dredge your cubed meat in the flour . Transfer meat to pain to sear. While meat is cooking. all your salt and pepper to it. This process takes about 6 minutes until meat is brown on all sides, Remove your meat from the heat by transferring to another bowl and set aside.

Add wine to pan. Bring wine to a boil scraping the remnants on the pan to mix while the wine boils. Cook until reduced to about 1/3 cup, this takes about 5 minutes. Now add your meat and the onion carrot mixture back to the pot with your wine, as well as the rest of your ingredients. reduce to medium low heat, cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and reduce hear to simmer an additional 15 to 20 minutes until all your vegetables are completely cooked. And enjoy!