You'll need:
3 lbs stew beef
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 bottle red wine, preferably burgundy or chianti
1 32 oz. container of beef broth
1 small sweet onion
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
4 leaves fresh sage
2 bay leaves
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
3 large carrots
1 container mushrooms
2 bags fresh pearl onions (or one large sweet onion)
olive oil
flour
butter
salt and pepper
See below for mashed potato recipe
1) Marinate the beef with half the bottle of wine. Cover and place in the fridge for at least three hours, but preferably overnight.
2) While the beef is marinating, cut the bacon into matchstick-size pieces
3) Once the beef is done marinating remove from the marinade, reserving the liquid. Pat the beef dry (this is important, to get it to brown properly). Season the beef with salt and pepper, and coat with flour.
4) Fry the bacon in a deep pan. Once cooked, remove the bacon into the crockpot, keeping the bacon fat in the pan.
5) Fry the beef in batches in the bacon fat, making sure not to crowd the beef in the pan. Fry just enough to brown, about 3 minutes, and remove to crockpot. If you start running out of fat to cook the beef in, add a little bit of olive oil.
6) Once all the beef is browned and in the crockpot, add the marinade to the pan (while the heat is still on) to deglaze. Boil the marinade for five minutes, then add it to the crockpot.
7) Peel, root, and quarter the small sweet onion, and add it to the crockpot. Add the thyme, sage, and bay leaves. Add enough beef broth to cover the beef, stir, and cover the pot. Set the crockpot for four hours on high.
8) While the beef's cooking, peel and chop your potatoes (chop into fours or sixes) and boil. Chop your mushrooms and carrots and set aside, then prep your pearl onions.
9) To peel pearl onions: Set a pot of water (large enough to hold all the onions) to boil. While the water boils, pull off the initial flaky skin of the onion and cut off the root end. Once the water reaches boiling, dump the onions in and boil for about 2-3 minutes. While the onions are boiling, prepare a bowl of ice water. Drain the onions and immediately put in ice water bath. Once the onions are cooled, drain again, and the tough outer skin should pop right off! (Note: it'll look like you're losing a lot of onion once you peel them, but that's okay, cause two bags is a lot of onions to begin with)
10) An hour before the timer on your crockpot is done, add the carrots and crushed garlic and cover.
11) Saute the mushrooms in 2-3 tablespoons of butter until the mushrooms begin to give off a lot of their liquid. Remove from heat and set aside, with liquid.
12) Saute pearl onions in 2-3 tablespoons of butter until they start to turn golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside with butter/juices.
13) A half hour before the timer on your crockpot is done, melt six tablespoons of butter in a pan, and stir in six tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Continue cooking roux until it starts to turn brown, then add the roux, onions, and mushrooms to the crockpot. Cover and cook for the remaining half hour.
14) While the stew is cooking for the last half hour, make your mashed potatoes according to the recipe below.
15) Serve stew over potatoes and enjoy!
Mashed Potatoes
You'll need:
6 gold yukon potatoes
1.5 sticks of butter
1 small container sour cream
Milk to consistency
salt and pepper
Peel and chop the potatoes. Boil in water (I recommend adding a couple pinches of salt to the water) until very soft. Once done, drain off water and return to pot. Mash butter into potatoes with a potato masher then mash in sour cream. Continue mashing and add milk to desired smoothness and consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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