Crock Pot Beef Stew

Today a friend asked for a recipe for Beef Bourguignon using a crock pot.

This is a slightly altered version of Julia Child’s, the big differences being this doesn’t include bacon and I replaced butter for olive oil.  Sorry Julia.

Beef Stew

2 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into cubes

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups red wine, full-bodied

2 to 3 cups brown beef stock

1 tablespoon ketchup

4 cloves smashed garlic

1 large onion, in large chunks

carrots, peeled, in large chunks

4 celery stalks, in large chunks

1 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, quartered

1/2 pound mushrooms

1 teaspoon of each: thyme, parsley, rosemary, sage

3 bay leaves

*Instead of cooking the whole thing in a large pot, sauté the beef in a pan and deglaze the pan with wine after transferring everything to the crock pot. *

Place flour in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to a heavy Dutch oven over high heat. Working in batches, add beef to pot and sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch. Remove beef and toss in flour. Return all meat to pot. Add wine, garlic, broth, ketchup and herbs. Cover; simmer for about 1/2 hour. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on a low temp for 2 hours or longer.

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