Beef Stew alla Kim ! (recipe)

I have made boeuf bourguignon many times... even made Julia Child's recipe from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" once but I wanted to make another type of stew. When I make a beef stew I sometimes add pearl onions, mushrooms or baby carrots but tonight I did something different again. I like the addition of the balsamic vinegar and the orange zest.


Ingredients
3 lbs of beef, cut into 2" chunks, stewing beef or chuck roast
1/4 cup of olive oil
4 Tb Butter
10 whole garlic cloves (a lot I know, but I love garlic)
4 Tb spoons of tomato paste
1/4 cup balsaminc vinegar
1 cup of red wine, I used pinot noir (It was open becasue I was having a glass already)
1 can beef broth
zest from one orange


The Side : Buttermilk Blue Cheese Mashes Potataoes


4 medium red skinned potatoes
1/2 cup butter
2-3 Big TB sour cream
2 Tb of whipping cream
4 Tb of Buttermilk Blue Cheese
kosher salt

HOW TO :

- lightly dust beef chunks with flour and pepper
- drizzle olive oil over the bottom of a cast iron casserole dish
- saute beef chunks on both side until brown
- into the casserole dish, add the butter, garlic, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, red wine and beef broth

*** I didn't add the zest of the orange until the stew was almost cooked, in the last half hour.

I cooked in a 325°F convection oven for about 2 1/2 hours. From my experience, the time will vary for when the meat will be tender. Keep an eye on it. Also, I find the stew always taste best the next day.

Potatoes :
Boil potatoes. When done, keep skins on, mash, add butter, sour cream, whipping cream and blue cheese. The tang of the blue cheese compliments the beef dish nicely.

Plate It :

Place some of the stew on a plate and a nice big dollop of the mashed potatoes.

ENJOY EVERY BITE !