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Savory Beef Stew with Red Wine

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Savory Beef Stew with Red Wine recipe. This classic french recipe is the perfect warming one pot recipe for cold weather and Sunday suppers.

As we get ready to settle into fall we knew we wanted to share our beef stew with red wine recipe. This is a rich hardy stew that perfect on a chilly day to not only warm the body but to nourish it. This stew can be made in a dutch oven, on the stove-top or in a crockpot. No matter how you prepare it you'll find yourself going back to the pot for more.

INGREDIENTS  

  • 2 lbs beef cut into 1 ½" pieces chuck or round roasts
  • 2-3 Tbsp flour
  • 2-4 Tbsp Vegetable oil as needed
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 Tbsp tomato paste
  • ¾ cup red wine
  • 4-6 cups beef broth divided
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 celery stalks sliced
  • 3 carrots sliced
  • 3 potatoes sliced
  • salt black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
  • Season beef cubes on all sides with salt and pepepr
  • Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess.
  • Heat a dutch oven or heavy pot over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add 2 tablespoon vegetable oil and heat for 1 minute.
  • Brown beef on all sides in hot pan. For best results, do this in two or three batches. Remove finished beef before adding more beef and oil as needed.
  • Remove all beef from pan. Reduce heat to medium.
  • Add onions and more oil if needed to soften onions, about 2 minutes.
  • Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.
  • Add tomato paste and stir to coat onions.
  • Add red wine to deglaze pan and thin out tomato paste. Stir to loosen all the caramelized brown bits from the pan.
  • Add 4 cups broth, Worcestershire, bay leaves and rosemary sprigs.
  • Add beef and any juices that have collected to pan. Mix well.
  • Cover and bake for 1 ½ hours.
  • Add celery, potatoes, and carrots to stew. Add 1 to 2 cups additional broth as needed.
  • Cover, return to oven and bake for 1 ½ hours.
  • Remove from oven, taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
  • Let rest for 10 minutes before serving, garnish with rosemary or parsley.

Savory Beef Stew with Red Wine

Cooking with Spirits Test Kitchen
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs beef cut into 1 ½" pieces chuck or round roasts
  • 2-3 tablespoon flour
  • 2-4 tablespoon Vegetable oil as needed
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ¾ cup red wine
  • 4-6 cups beef broth divided
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 celery stalks sliced
  • 3 carrots sliced
  • 3 potatoes sliced
  • salt black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
  • Season beef cubes on all sides with salt and pepepr
  • Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess.
  • Heat a dutch oven or heavy pot over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add 2 tablespoon vegetable oil and heat for 1 minute.
  • Brown beef on all sides in hot pan. For best results, do this in two or three batches. Remove finished beef before adding more beef and oil as needed.
  • Remove all beef from pan. Reduce heat to medium.
  • Add onions and more oil if needed to soften onions, about 2 minutes.
  • Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.
  • Add tomato paste and stir to coat onions.
  • Add red wine to deglaze pan and thin out tomato paste. Stir to loosen all the caramelized brown bits from the pan.
  • Add 4 cups broth, Worcestershire, bay leaves and rosemary sprigs.
  • Add beef and any juices that have collected to pan. Mix well.
  • Cover and bake for 1 ½ hours.
  • Add celery, potatoes, and carrots to stew. Add 1 to 2 cups additional broth as needed.
  • Cover, return to oven and bake for 1 ½ hours.
  • Remove from oven, taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
  • Let rest for 10 minutes before serving, garnish with rosemary or parsley.

How to Make Your Own Superfine Sugar or Castor Sugar

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Superfine Sugar

Superfine sugar is favored for sweetening drinks or preparing a meringue. Caster sugar is the name of very fine sugar in Britain, so named because the grains are small enough to fit though a sugar "caster" or sprinkler.

It is sold as "superfine" sugar in the United States.

Because of its fineness, it dissolves more quickly than regular white sugar and so is especially useful in meringues and cold liquids. It is not as fine as confectioner’s sugar, which has been crushed mechanically (and generally mixed with a little starch to keep it from clumping).

If the recipe calls for superfine, powdered, or brown sugar, you can actually make any of them at home from regular white sugar. "If you don't have it in the house, you don't have to run out to the store—it's totally fine to make it yourself, All you need is a blender (or food processor) and a bit of ingenuity.

Name Variations

  • bar sugar
  • instant dissolving sugar
  • berry sugar
  • castor sugar
  • caster sugar
  • casters' sugar
  • caster's sugar

How to Make Superfine Sugar

f you don’t have any caster sugar on hand, you can make your own by grinding granulated sugar for a couple of minutes in a food processor (this also produces sugar dust, so let it settle for a few moments before opening the food processor). For one cup: Grind one cup and two teaspoons of white granulated sugar in a blender, coffee bean type grinder or food processor for 30 seconds.

Rimming the Glass with Sugar

Many cocktails, including our lemon drop cocktail, call for rimming the glass with superfine sugar. The rim of the glass is moistened just a bit and then dipped into the superfine sugar. Lightly tap the side of the glass to remove any excess sugar.

Let us know in the comments section if you have any questions or tips related to making superfine sugar at home.

The Best Vodka Sauce Recipe

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The Best Vodka Sauce Recipe

The Williams Sonoma Essentials of Italian cookbook states that it was invented in the 1980s by a Roman chef for a vodka company that wanted to popularize its product in Italy.

Along with the penne pasta, this dish generally contains cream sauce mixed with tomatoes or red sauce, which are a combination unusual in Italian cooking because the acidity of the tomatoes tends to make the oil in the cream separate. 

Why Add Vodka?

The vodka is an emulsifier, allowing the water and lipids to remain mixed. Vodka is also thought to release certain flavors from the tomato that would otherwise be inaccessible.

INGREDIENTS  

  • Kosher salt
  • 1 medium onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 4 oz. Parmesan cheese
  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
  • 1 4.5- oz. tube double-concentrated tomato paste
  • ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 oz. vodka
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • 1 lb. Penne
  • Basil leaves for serving

INSTRUCTIONS 

  • Fill a stock pot or other large pot three-quarters full with water and heat over high. Toss in a handful of salt and bring to a boil while you do your other prep.
  • Peel and finely chop 1 onion.
  • Firmly smash 4 garlic cloves with the flat side of a chef’s knife and remove peel.
  •  Grate 4 oz. Parmesan on the smallest holes of the box grater.
  • Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a Dutch oven over medium (position it next to pot of water). Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, just until onion is starting to brown around the edges, 5–7 minutes.
  •  Add entire 4.5-oz. tube tomato paste and ½ tsp. red pepper flakes and stir until paste evenly coats onion. Continue to cook, stirring often, until paste is deep red and starting to brown on bottom of pot, 5–7 minutes.
  •  Add 2 oz. vodka to deglaze pan and stir to incorporate, scraping bottom of pot. Reduce heat to low.
  • Using a heatproof glass measuring cup, scoop about ¼ cup boiling water from pot, then add ¾ cup heavy cream to measuring cup (this brings up the temperature of the cream so it won’t break when you add it to the pot).
  • Slowly add warmed cream to Dutch oven, stirring constantly, until a smooth sauce forms. Remove from heat.
  •  Add 1 lb. penne to pot of boiling salted water and cook according to package instructions until al dente. About 1 minute before the timer goes off, use heatproof measuring cup to scoop up about 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Heat Dutch oven over low.
  • Using a spider, transfer rigatoni to Dutch oven along with any water that’s piggybacking on the pasta.
  •  Add ½ cup pasta cooking liquid to Dutch oven and stir to incorporate, then gradually add half of Parmesan, stirring constantly to melt cheese. You should have a smooth, glossy sauce that coats each piece of pasta. Season with salt and add a splash more pasta cooking liquid to thin sauce, if needed.
  • Divide pasta among bowls. Top with remaining cheese, dividing evenly. Drizzle with more oil, then tear basil leaves over.

VODKA SAUCE RECIPE

Cooking with Spirits test Kitchen
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • Kosher salt
  • 1 medium onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 4 oz. Parmesan cheese
  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
  • 1 4.5- oz. tube double-concentrated tomato paste
  • ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 oz. vodka
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • 1 lb. Penne
  • Basil leaves for serving

Instructions
 

  • Fill a stock pot or other large pot three-quarters full with water and heat over high. Toss in a handful of salt and bring to a boil while you do your other prep.
  • Peel and finely chop 1 onion.
  • Firmly smash 4 garlic cloves with the flat side of a chef’s knife and remove peel.
  •  Grate 4 oz. Parmesan on the smallest holes of the box grater.
  • Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a Dutch oven over medium (position it next to pot of water). Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, just until onion is starting to brown around the edges, 5–7 minutes.
  •  Add entire 4.5-oz. tube tomato paste and ½ tsp. red pepper flakes and stir until paste evenly coats onion. Continue to cook, stirring often, until paste is deep red and starting to brown on bottom of pot, 5–7 minutes.
  •  Add 2 oz. vodka to deglaze pan and stir to incorporate, scraping bottom of pot. Reduce heat to low.
  • Using a heatproof glass measuring cup, scoop about ¼ cup boiling water from pot, then add ¾ cup heavy cream to measuring cup (this brings up the temperature of the cream so it won’t break when you add it to the pot).
  • Slowly add warmed cream to Dutch oven, stirring constantly, until a smooth sauce forms. Remove from heat.
  •  Add 1 lb. penne to pot of boiling salted water and cook according to package instructions until al dente. About 1 minute before the timer goes off, use heatproof measuring cup to scoop up about 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Heat Dutch oven over low.
  • Using a spider, transfer rigatoni to Dutch oven along with any water that’s piggybacking on the pasta.
  •  Add ½ cup pasta cooking liquid to Dutch oven and stir to incorporate, then gradually add half of Parmesan, stirring constantly to melt cheese. You should have a smooth, glossy sauce that coats each piece of pasta. Season with salt and add a splash more pasta cooking liquid to thin sauce, if needed.
  • Divide pasta among bowls. Top with remaining cheese, dividing evenly. Drizzle with more oil, then tear basil leaves over.