Beef Stew

Beef Stew---the perfect comfort food, especially on rainy days or nights, or just when you're famished! This is a modification of my Mom's own recipe. It takes hours to soften the beef (you could use a pressure cooker to shortcut this), but the rich, full flavour after that more than makes up for the wait!

BEEF STEW
Serves 6

1 kg beef, cut into cubes or chunks
4 carrots, cut into chunks
4 small potatoes, cut into halves
(Try to have the same amount of carrots and potatoes, and about the same size so they cook evenly at the same time)
10 sprigs fresh rosemary
10 springs fresh thyme
1 large onion, cut into chunks
6 large tomatoes, chopped roughly, seeds included
1 cup green olives (optional)
1 can of beer, 330 ml (I used Heineken brand)
Red wine, 1 to 2 cups
500 ml of beef broth
1 to 2 cubes of beef bouillon
pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Prepare the marinade a day or at least 3 hours before cooking. Mix together chopped rosemary, thyme, ground pepper.

Add the full can of beer and 1 cup of red wine.

2. Marinate the beef into the mix. Mix after each hour to ensure that all the chunks of meat get some of the marinade. Cover and refrigerate. It's best to marinate it overnight, or at least 3 hours before the start of cooking.

3. Once you are ready to cook, take out the meat and drain. Keep the marinate, do NOT discard.

4. Heat a heavy duty, deep pot or a pressure cooker (I used my Le Crueset French Oven) with some oil. Pan fry the potatoes and carrots, then set aside.

5. In the same pan,  panfry the beef on both sides, until they are brown. Set aside.

6. By this time, the pan will have dark bits stuck onto it. Don't worry; those are rich bits of flavour and do not discard them! Start deglazing the pan by sautéing the onions until translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes, including the seeds and their natural juice.

7. Cover the pot until the tomatoes become tender. Mash them with the back of the spoon or a potato masher (which is what I used).  Add the marinade, broth and remaining cup of red wine. Taste and if it is bland, add a cube or two of beef bouillon.

8. To this rich sauce, add back the pan fried beef, and with a slow boil, tenderise for a few hours. Make sure the pot does not dry up. Add more wine or broth to make sure the meat is always covered.

Tenderize until the meat can be pulled apart with a spoon, but make sure you don't overcook it that the meat becomes mushy. By this time, you will see that the sauce will have become dark and thick.

In the last 15 minutes of cooking, add the potatoes, carrots and olives (if using). Mix well and season with freshly ground pepper. Serve piping hot with rice.