Beef Stew

Measurements are approximate.....its cooking not chemistry.

2lbs stewing beef cut into bite sized chunks

1lb new red potatoes quartered

2 handfuls cremini mushrooms quartered

1 bunch carrots peeled (if you so desire, I do) and diced

1 softball sized yellow onion diced

5-6 garlic cloves chopped

1 TBS ground cumin

1.5 TSP ground black pepper

Salt to your taste (I think I use 1 TBS but I really have no idea)

1.5 TSP dried rosemary (or use a bunch of fresh if you have)

.25 bottle red wine (I like Merlot for this)

2 large bay leaves

flour

beef stock (one of those cardboard containers should be more than enough)

Extra virgin olive oil (from here on out EVOO with thanks to Rachel Ray for that acronym)

Combine cumin, pepper, salt and rosemary and toss with beef in a large bowl. I usually do this before all my chopping of the veggies so it has time to sink in.

Dredge seasoned beef in flour.

Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of an enameled cast iron pot (this is what I use, you can use whatever you have..although I don't know how a teflon coated pot would work). Medium heat. When hot enough to make the meat have a calm yet happy sizzle, add meat in batches to brown it on all sides adding oil if the pan is getting dry and smokey and placing the batches in a bowl to the side as they get browned (but not cooked through).

Add a touch of oil to the pot and add onions, carrots and mushrooms to the pot. The bottom of your pot might be looking scary, this is okay, that's all good and lovely bits we'll get to in a few minutes.....Let the mixture cook out a little so the moisture of it starts to release and start scraping up the browned bits with a wooden spatula. Just keep working it up and once its all up add the garlic and bay leaves and more salt and pepper if you love heavy seasoning (I do). Give that a stir and let it cook for 30 seconds.

Sprinkle the top of the mixture with flour and stir it all around until you have an awful pasty thing occuring in that pot and all that scraping up seems for naught -add the WINE. Scrape scrape scrape and then let it cook down until its thick and lovely.

Add potatoes to the mixture. Add the meat back as well and pour in any accumulated juices the meat has let go.

Pour in stock just to cover. Stir once, bring to a boil, stir, partially cover and bring down to a simmer.

Simmer for 30 minutes. Take off cover completely and simmer for 15 minutes.

Should be good to go...here's the trick...if you find you want a thicker sauce, use a slotted spoon to take out all the ingredients while you jack the heat up to high and boil that sucker down, you'll see it get thick as anything and then simply add the ingredients back and stir it around..lovely.

Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with buttered rolls.