Every now and then, my husband gets a hankering for beef. Back when I still traveled to Minnesota, he would make sure to eat beef almost the entire week that I was gone. Now that I am no longer traveling for my job, I try to plan in a few beef meals periodically for him. Just because I used to be a vegetarian and seriously don’t like beef, doesn’t mean that he has to go cold turkey.
Last week he requested a beef stew, so I rolled up my sleeves and made him carbonnade a la flamande. I debated between making Julia Child’s recipe or the American Test Kitchen recipe. Since Eric had never tried the American Test Kitchen version, I opted with that one.
This recipe is a bit time consuming, but the final product is a beautiful, thick, hearty stew with a malty, earthy taste. If you are interested in making a special meal for guests or just for your husband, I would highly recommend it.
Ingredients:
3 ½ lbs top blade steaks, 1 inch thick, trimmed of gristle and fat and cut into 1 inch pieces
Table salt and ground black pepper
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 lbs yellow onions halved and sliced ¼ in thick
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 medium garlic clobes, minced
3 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
¾ cup low sodium chicken broth
¾ cup beef broth
1 ½ cups dark beer or stout
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
Directions:
1) Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 deg F. Dry the beef with paper towels and then season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tsp of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Add about one third of the beef to the pot. Cook without moving the pieces until well browned, 2-3 minutes. Using tongs, turn each piece and continue cooking until the second side is well browned, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the browned beef to a medium bowl. Repeat with 2 tsp more oil and half of the remaining beef. If the drippings in the bottom of the pot are very dark, add ½ cup of the chicken or beef broth and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Pour the liquid into the bowl with the browned beef. Repeat once more with the 2 tsp more oil and remaining beef.
2) Add the remaining 1 Tbsp oil to the now empty dutch oven. Reduce the heat to medium-;low. Add the onions, ½ tsp salt, and te tomato paste, cook craping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits until the onions have released some moisture, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and stir until the onions are evenly coated and the flour is lightly browned about 2 minutes. Stir in the broths, scraping the bottom to loosen any browned bits. Stir in the beer, thyme, bay leaves, vinegar, browned beef with any accumulated juices, and salt and pepper to taste. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a full simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover partially, then place the put in the oven. Cook until a fork inserted into the beef meets little resistance, 2 to 2 ½ hours.
3) Discard the thyme and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve. We like to serve it on top of egg noodles.
-Anna
