Slow Cooked Wine Braised Beef Stew

Sometimes last minute change in your cooking gives you better outcome than your original plans. I originally planned on making individual beef pot pies but I realized set of vessels I was going to use was really too small to fill it with nice portions of the beef mixture. So I just decided on nice rich pot of stew with side of puff pastry triangles instead and I ended up with wonderful, satisfying results!

Burleigh’s Gray Asiatic Pheasant

Featured tableware here is one of my favorites from Burleigh Pottery; Gray Asiatic Pheasants. This is the gray version of the poplar Asiatic pheasant pattern and I think is perfect tableware especially during winter and early spring. Unfortunately this color has been discontinued by the manufacturer which I’m super disappointed about but one can always hope that Burleigh will someday resurrect this color.

Meat and Veggies for the Stew

Chuck roast is typically used for stewing but I had two beautiful ribeye steaks that I happen to have so I decided to use them for my stew. Ribeye has gorgeous marbling and fat on them that give rich buttery flavor to the dish. I cut the steaks in approximately 2 1/2 inch chunks and seasoned them with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

I like plenty of veggies in my dishes and stew is no exception! This stew has onions, carrots, rutabaga, sliced baby Bella mushrooms and peas. Can’t forget herbs like Rosemary and Thyme too!. They are must haves with beef dishes, just don’t put too much in your pot otherwise that’s all you’ll be tasting.

Tips for Savory, Tender Beef Stew

• Cook beef, onions and garlic together in a soup pot – Beef chunks get flavored with onions and garlic.
• Sauté mushrooms, carrots and turnips together in a skillet – Sautéing these veggies separately will preserve their texture and prevent your stew from being watery.
• Rutabaga is dense so boil it for 10 – 15 minutes first before sautéing with other veggies.

• Use white and red wine to braise beef – Semi sweet Riesling add right amount of sweetness to the stew. Combined with red wine, stew will have balanced flavor with lots of umami!
• Skim scum off the surface of stew – You don’t want excess proteins and fats clouding your beautiful stew.
• Add fresh peas to the pot 15-20 minutes before serving so they don’t turn mushy.

Serve with Puff Pastry Triangles

As I said, I originally planned on baking individual pot pies but that wasn’t going to work. So, instead I cut the puff pastry dough into triangles, baked it for 10 minutes and served them on the side. This worked out better than I expected! Puff pastry is one of my favorite items from Trader Joe’s and I positively swear by them!

See my other puff pastry recipes:

• Pork Wellington
• Cherry Tomato Tart
• Puff Pastry Empanadas

Print Recipe

Slow Cooked Wine Braised Beef Stew

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time3 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Ingredients

Beef Stew

• Two 1½ pound ribeye steaks cut in 2 inch chunks
• 2 medium carrots sliced in ¼ inch thick rounds
• 1 rutabaga cubed, boil in hot water for 10 -15 minutes
• 1 large onion cubed
• 2½ cups baby bella mushrooms sliced
• 1½ cups fresh english peas
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 5 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup white wine ( I used semi-sweet riesling)
• 2½ cups red wine
• 1 sprig + 2 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 tbsp honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Puff Pastry Triangles

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (I used Trader Joe's puff pastry sheet)
• 1 egg wash

Instructions

• Season beef chunks with salt and pepper and toss in 3 tbsp. of flour. Heat medium soup pot over medium heat add 1 tbsp. butter. When the butter has completely melted, add beef and brown until nice crust forms.
• Next add 1 tbsp. olive oil, onions, garlic and 1 tsp of thyme to the pot and mix with beef. Once onions are soft, stir in white wine, then turn heat to low and simmer beef and onions for 1 hour.
• Heat small skillet over medium heat and add 3 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté carrots and rutabaga for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Stir in mushrooms, 1 tsp of thyme leaves and sauté for another 1-2 minutes and season vegetables with salt and pepper.
• Transfer vegetables to the pot with meat mixture and mix well. Add 1 tbsp. butter, 2 tbsp. flour, honey, and sprig of rosemary and thyme to the pot and mix well.
• Stir in red wine to the pot and simmer for 1 hour and 30-40 minutes over low heat. Remove any scum on the surface of the stew with large spoon or strainer.
• Once the stew has thickened, stir in peas to the pot and and let the pot simmer for another 20 minutes. Once peas are tender, serve while hot with puff pastry triangles.

Puff Pastry Triangles

• Turn oven to 400° and line baking sheet with a parchment paper. on a floured surface roll out puff pastry dough into a square and cut out 8 triangles.
• Place puff pastry 1" apart onto a baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for 10 minutes or until puff pastries are golden brown. Serve with bowl of beef stew.