Recipe — Carrots Stew with Angus Prime Beef

Greetings!

Happy Saturday to all — hope you had a fabulous week! Mine was super cool and filled with new adventures and excitements. I’ve been working on new projects and now putting the finishing touches on a new collection on our website under the title Bella Bohemian Good Living, which will be launching soon. In the photos below is a sneak peek of what’s coming in our new line of lavender linen napkins. Of course I will post a detailed description of what I’ve been creating recently.

Below is a great and delicious recipe with ingredients that I love to cook with! It’s a slow cooker stew with carrots and Angus beef. The best part of this recipe is that if you don’t have time to cook, you just place the excess of the stew in Tupperware and refrigerate it for other meals.

You’re going to say Oh MY GOD  it’s an hour of preparation and cooking, but you won’t notice time passing. At the end it’s worth it and remember you can freeze the rest.

Have an amazing and relaxing weekend!  (◡‿◡✿) ♥♥ ✿¸.◦*´`✿✿¸✿¸.

Carrots Stew with Angus Prime Beef

Ingredients: Serves 4 – 8

Time (for the stew) : 1hr between preparation and cooking

• 2 lbs 1 oz natural Angus prime beef chuck for stew cut into 2″ pieces
• 1 lbs 14 oz organic carrots [approx. 12 medium carrots]
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tsp organic garlic, peeled and minced [approx. 3 cloves]
• 2 tbsp organic yellow onions [approx. 1 medium onion] peeled and thinly chopped
• 1 cup red wine
• 1¼ cups organic fire roasted tomatoes [I used these tomatoes]
• 1¾ cups water
• 1 cup organic green bell pepper rinsed, seedless and diced [approx. half large pepper]
• 3 large bay leaves
• ½ cup organic fresh parsley rinsed and chopped [to add after finishing cooking the stew]
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black peppercorn [for beef and whole stew]

How to Prepare the Stew:

1. Peel the carrots using a peeler, then puree a quarter of the carrots in a food processor or regular blender with ½ cup water if necessary. Slice the rest of the carrots into ½ inch think chunks.
2. Generously salt and pepper the beef chunks and then dust with the flour.
3. In a dutch oven, heat a large heavy soup pot over high heat until hot.
4. Add olive oil followed by the beef in a single layer. Brown on one side until a peek underneath reveals a dark brown crust.
5. Flip the beef and brown the other side.
6. Transfer the beef to a large glass bowl and turn down the heat to medium low.
7. Add the garlic and onions to the pot. Sauté until tender and starting to brown, simmer and gently stir with a heat resistant rubber spoon.
8. Add the carrots puree and continue sautéing until the carrots puree has started to brown.
9. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
10. Add the fire roasted tomatoes, water, bay leaves, salt and pepper and return the beef to the pot. Cook for about 45 minutes in low simmer, covered the pot and leave a crack for the steam to escape. The meat should fall apart when prodded with a fork.
11. Check periodically to see that all the the liquid hasn’t evaporated and add a little water if the pot looks dry.
12.  When the time is up, add the carrots and ¾ cup more water and let cook for 25-30 minutes.
13. If it’s still not as tender as you’d like, simmer uncovered until it reaches your desired level of tenderness.
14. Add the green bell pepper, taste the stew and add salt as needed, and then at last add the chopped parsley.
15. Meanwhile pour the stew onto plates and top off with white rice, garnish with your favorite greens for freshness, and serve it hot.

*Notes:

• The preparation seems long for a stew, that’s because I don’t have a pressure cooker, but if you have one, it should take only around 35 minutes. Usually a pressure cooker is always faster to cook than pots.
• And I didn’t mind spending time around the kitchen because to me it’s always a pleasure to cook. I really enjoy taking the time in washing, chopping and preparing all the ingredients and playing with the spices. Also measure the ingredients in the scale, cleaning, setting the table, preparing drinks, you don’t notice the time, just when you start to smell the delicious aroma of your creation.
• I used great beef chucks for this recipe, without antibiotics, hormones — in other words, cows which were fed 100% vegetarian diet. If you are going to eat meat, its quality is very important. Therefore read the labels before buying any kind of meat, or purchase organic, grass-fed from your local butcher or market.
• This recipe has been made before with less meat and carrots: 1 lb 5 oz beef chucks and 1 lb 10 oz carrots. This time I doubled the ingredients of the stew and placed the excess in Tupperware and refrigerated for other meals. It’s an easy alternative for cold days and when you don’t have time to cook.
• By the way it’s up to you to add any spices that you like, garnish or eat with any combination you feel is good for you. I particularly like to add more green bell peppers at the end without letting them cook too long. I think cilantro goes well with this stew.
• In my opinion the Muir Glen organic fire roasted tomatoes are the best for any recipe.