Northern Italian Beef Stew

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 pounds lean top round, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 2 large sweet onions, diced
  • 2 cups large chunks of celery
  • 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into large rounds
  • 1 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 2 cups dry red wine
  • 4 large tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 ½ pounds red potatoes (such as Red Bliss), cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • ½ teaspoon dried sage
  • 1 quart beef stock
  • 2 cups tomato sauce

    • Directions

  • Step 1

    Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef in batches in hot oil until browned completely, about 5 minutes per batch. Remove browned beef cubes to a plate lined with paper towels, keeping skillet over heat and retaining the beef drippings.

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  • Step 2

    Cook and stir onion, celery, and carrots in the retained beef drippings until just softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir mushrooms and garlic into the onion mixture.

  • Step 3

    Pour red wine into the pan; bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Continue cooking the mixture until the wine evaporates, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir tomatoes into the mixture.

  • Step 4

    Return beef to skillet with potatoes, basil, thyme, marjoram, and sage. Pour beef stock and tomato sauce over the mixture. Bring the liquid to a simmer.

  • Step 5

    Reduce heat to low and simmer until the beef is very tender and the sauce is thick, 4 to 6 hours.

    • Cook's Note:

    To create a soup from this stew, chop up vegetables and beef pieces into much smaller pieces and add vegetable stock or water until it resembles a soup.Simmer briefly, but not too high as it will make the soup extremely cloudy.

    Source: Read Full Article

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