When the weather is cold outside, and you are looking at the freezer debating on what to make... what comes to mind? For myself, it makes me think back to those cold Wisconsin days out in the woods or on the lake and coming home to grandma's homemade stew. Stew is one of those things I can eat over and over, plus you can add different variations to every meal! This recipe is one of my favorites, and I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does! It is a variation of our family's stew recipe passed down from my grandmother, plus a little pizzaz from other recipes. Just like all stews, the longer you keep it in the fridge, the better the leftovers start to taste! Just don't let it spoil, then you will be regretting it.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds of meat, in this case venison neck roasts are what I used chopped into small cubes.
- Salt, I used sea salt, but any salt should do.
- Black Pepper
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Parsley
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 3 Carrots
- 2 Celery
- 3 Potatoes, I use Russets!
- 2 Turnips
- Large White Onion
- A big gallop of minced garlic, we love garlic in our house! If you are a vampire, be warned.
- Beef Stock, I prefer low sodium!
- 3 cups of red wine, we use that fancy $6.99 Cabernet Sauvignon!
- Olive Oil
- 1/3 cup flour
The Goods
Now that we have the ingredient list set in stone, we are able to start cooking up this hearty stew!
The first step is to thaw your meat of choice and chop it into cubes!
Now that you have the meat chopped into cubes as shown above, go ahead and heat your olive oil in the pot you are using for your stew. I used a medium sized stock pot for this recipe. Once the oil is hot, cook your meat cubes to brown all sides. Once they are done after about 6 minutes, place on a plate and set aside.
Next you will want to prep all of your veggies. Cut the onion, celery, and carrots into small chunks. I prefer a little bit larger than diced size. You can do this step before you start cooking the meat as well.
In the same pot, add a little more oil, if necessary, then add the mixture of veggies cooking on a medium heat. Stir occasionally and cook for about 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, add your garlic and cook for another minute or so. After your veggies are cooked to your liking, add the meat and juices from the plate back into your pot. Add the flour to the mixture and cook for a minute or two.
Next go ahead and add your 3 cups of red wine, 4 cups of beef stock and stir while bringing to a boil. While waiting for this to boil, I use this time to finely chop my rosemary, parsley, and get my bay leaf ready to add to the stew.
Once it is all boiling, add your parsley, rosemary, and bay leaves to the pot, reduce heat and simmer on low covered. I like to let mine simmer on low heat for an hour and 15 minutes. I am a fan of salt and pepper, so I will add some while the stew is simmering to my taste preferences. While that is cooking, now is a good time to chop up your potatoes and turnips! I cut them into bite size pieces and place them in a bowl and set aside. After this I love to have a warm bread to sop up the broth with, so I prepared a garlic butter spread on asiago garlic bread.
At 1 hour and 10 minutes, I add the potatoes and turnips to the stew and stir. After 5 minutes of that I will put my bread in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. By the time both are done, your dinner should be ready to eat!
After you deem your bread and stew done, now is the best part. You can finally savor the flavors blended together in this stew that you had made. If you cannot finish it all, like I mentioned above, it seems to get better after a day or two in the fridge! This makes eating leftovers a treat, and not so much a chore. If you prefer, you can put in a freezer safe container and store up to 6 months. I like to do this in case I am too lazy to whip up something for dinner from scratch. I find it still tastes great even out of the freezer! I hope you enjoy this recipe!
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