Stay-at-Home, Slow Cooker Stew
This tasty stew was the perfect comfort food for our stay-at-home lives. We were out of corn and peas so substituted them with what we found in the freezer — edamame and green beans. Luckily, we had some grass-fed beef that was tender, moist and full of flavor.
Serves 4-8 (depending on slow cooker insert size)
Ingredients
6 Yukon gold or red potatoes, quartered
4 medium carrots, cut to 1-inch lengths
2-3 medium onions, quartered
2 to 3 pounds of beef chuck or stew meat (grass fed if you can find it). Trim the fat and cut to 1-inch cubes
1 ½ cups beef broth
½ cup red wine
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
2 cups frozen petite peas (substitute edamame or string beans or both)
2 cups frozen corn, defrosted
2 cloves garlic, lightly minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
1. Combine potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, 1 tsp. of salt, and ½ tsp. pepper in the insert of a 3.5 – 7 quart slow cooker. Toss the vegetables to spread the seasoning.
2. Prep stew meat: Add 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper and the flour to a large plastic bag and mix to combine. Add the meat to the flour and coat completely, then shake off any excess flour.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the meat and brown on all sides. Transfer the browned meat to the slow cooker insert.
4. Deglaze the skillet with the broth and red wine and scrape up all browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the skillet contents into the slow cooker insert and add the dried thyme.
5. Cover and cook on low power for 8-10 hours, depending on insert size. Add peas and corn (or substitutes) and cook for an additional one hour. Salt and pepper to taste just before serving.
