This past weekend was cool and rainy in Ohio.  It was actually very warm, considering that it was the 2nd weekend of January, and temps were in the 50’s, but it rained and rained and rained.  In fact, it rained enough I didn’t really want to be outside cooking, so I decided to make some beef stew, which I hadn’t done in some time. 

I fix what I would call a more rustic stew.  I thought about the word "rustic", which basically means "rural" or "of the country", that sort of thing.  As it relates to food, rustic, to me, implies food done with less fuss, though there may well be a lot of care into the preparation.  The food should appear to be simple but well done.  Cuts of ingredients would be larger than a more sophisticated version of the same dish, and herbs not diced as finely.  Pepper would be coarsely ground.  For stew, it means to me that that the ingredients are maybe left larger than what one would take in a single bite.

This is one of those comfort foods that can sit in a pot all day, just
waiting for someone to get another bowl whenever needed.  I like to
start with decent chuck roast, and I trim as much fat off the meat as I
can.  I also trim out any membrane that can easily be removed.  I’ve
had stews that have little pieces in them, all about 1/2 inch, no
matter what it is; I don’t really like my stew this way.  So I cut the trimmed meat (2 medium sized chuck roasts) into pieces about an inch to a side, and quickly browned it in a cast iron Dutch oven to caramelize it.  Once this was done (it only took a couple of minutes, as the cast iron was hot, and I was just trying to sear the meat), I removed the meat and set it aside. 

I then added in 3 large onions, peeled and quartered, and about a dozen carrots, about 1" thick at the thickest part, cut into 1" or so pieces.  I left the cast iron on medium high heat to also caramelize the onions and carrots.  Once that was done, I added back in the chuck roast along with white and red fingerling potatoes, some button mushrooms and a bottle of Argentinian Malbec as the liquid for the stew.  I also used some marjoram and thyme for herbs, along with some salt and pepper (I like the stew and wine to do most of the flavoring and not be overdone with herbs and seasonings).

The stew stewed for about 2 hours, until everything was nice and done, with the lid closed and simmering away.  I made some hearth style bread to go with the stew, which was a great combination.

Here’s the basic recipe:

4 lbs chuck roast, cut into 1-1 1/2 inch cubs
3 lbs fingerling potatoes
12 carrots
3 large onions
1 lb button mushrooms
Several sprigs of fresh thyme and marjoram, destemmed
1 bottle (750 ml) of dry red wine.
Salt and pepper to taste

This can also be done in the oven by putting the dutch oven in a 350 degree F oven for about 1 1/2 hours.