Mom's Beef Stew
Mom’s Beef Stew, the Tina Freestyle Edition
When my mother took out her old brown crockpot, a classic I wish still worked or that she’d have passed down to me, I knew there was only one meal to be made - her classic beef stew. Filled with vegetables, beef (clearly) and a heavy pour of red wine, I loved watching her assemble all ingredients in the crockpot and plug it in before she left for work at the bakery. While she worked, amidst waiting on others and shifting to the back of the bakery to make breadcrumbs, dinner was miraculously cooking itself. I would arrive home from school and do my homework at the kitchen table, sitting in the chair directly next to the crockpot so I could sniff while I wrote. I practiced subtraction and side eyed the Gummy Bears on our 12” black and white television, sniffing my way into mealtime ecstasy. As I watched the condensation build, the little beads of steam on the inside of the glass lid, I grew excited with anticipation for this was a sign the meat was getting soft, supple and shreddable with a fork or spoon. I could feel it melting in my mouth as I stared. It was a 1987 miracle. I was too scared to lift the lid and go in so I waited, patiently.
Mom would arrive home, tired, smelling of toasted bread and butter cookies with flour handprints on her apron. The first ring of the house phone and she’d answer “good afternoon, Bread Box,” then she’d laugh, only to realize she was home. When I was a kid I remember being so happy that we had a crockpot, as though somehow it rescued my mother from another chore, another thing to do between working, coming home to cook and take my brother to the hospital. And it truly did, that crockpot must’ve given her some sense of freedom because it allowed her to make a meal when circumstances were beyond her control. Dinner was something she and my grandmother would often tag team so there was always homemade food on the table in our home.
In Christmas of 2008 I received the gift of crockpot, but it’s now stopped working. With my mother in mind, I broke out a bottle of red, a pound of beef, cleared the remaining carrots from the bottom drawer of my refrigerator, swept the pantry for two lone white potatoes covered in Korean yams and an acorn squash. Mom would have added peas and corn, but I’m holding on to my frozen vegetable stock a little longer in these uncertain times. Who would have thought frozen vegetables would be a rare commodity?
I unearthed my fire engine red dutch oven. Given the gift of time during this quarantine, I could wing her recipe and watch this meal cook, as I worked from home and had the liberty my mother never had or knew of. Liberties so many don’t know of. No one to wait on, no breadcrumbs to toast, cookie plates to arrange or a young child to take to the hospital, I got up from my work desk every 30 minutes to stir, check and sneak a taste. Clearly, I’ve lost my fear of lifting any lids while cooking. And I did all of this with the most grateful heart.
Stew is a gift that keeps on giving for singles or a family. Pair with egg noodles or rice. Pair with a big side salad and fresh, crusty bread from the bakery. Stew freezes well, just be sure it’s in an air tight container or individual ziplock baggies when you go to store it.
Ingredients
1 pound of beef stew meat
1/4 cup of flour
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
Black pepper
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 3/4 cups of red wine
2 cups of beef stock
5 dried bay leaves
4 large carrots, cut into rounds
2 medium potatoes, cut into medium cubes
Instructions
Mix flour with salt and black pepper, dredge meat and put aside
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large Dutch oven, browning meat in batches until done and put meat aside
Add onions and sauté for 10 minutes or so, until they begin to soften
Add tomato paste and mix well
Add wine, stock, beef, bay leaves and bring to a very low boil
Once a low boil is reached, lower the flame and allow the stew to simmer - cook for another 2 hours
Add carrots and potatoes, continuing to cook until done - roughly another hour to hour and 15 minutes
*Single Meal Freezing: Store in ziplock bags or single serving containers for ease of defrosting and space friendly storage. Families are welcome to do the same, clearly.