Dinner

Mushroom Beef Stew

Note to self: NEVER grocery shop when hungry. This SHOULD be my personal mantra, but I’m still working on that.

If you can picture this… a marathon day at work, no time for lunch; my stomach is growling and I wish I’d had more than a latte for breakfast. Wandering through the grocery store aisles with no particular destination or recipe in mind. Craving comfort food. Can you relate?

It was in that moment of foodie desperation I came up with this riff on beef stew. Pair with crusty bread and a blue cheese, dried cranberry, and candied nut spinach salad with balsamic dressing and you’ll round out the food trifecta of deliciousness.

Surefire cure for a hectic day: enjoying a glass of wine (and taking a load off) while cooking, since you went through the trouble of opening a bottle for the recipe anyway. 😉

Mushroom Beef Stew

Print Recipe

Serves: 6 Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1.5 pounds beef stew meat
1 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 whole shallots, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces Cremini mushrooms, roughly chopped
1/2 cup red wine (I usually go with a Malbec)
1 can beef consomme (in the soup aisle! I use Campbell's)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pasta of choice (I usually use wide egg noodles or pappardelle pasta)
Fresh thyme, basil, and parsley, roughly chopped, to taste

Instructions

Sprinkle flour over meat. Toss to coat.

Melt butter with olive oil in a saute pan. Sear meat over high heat on both sides and set aside.

Add shallots and garlic to pan (don't clean your pan after cooking the meat) and saute for 2 minutes over medium low heat.

Next, add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in wine, consomme, and a half can of water, then add salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil, then add back in the browned meat. Reduce heat to low. Stir in herbs.

Cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes.

While stew is simmering, prepare pasta according to package instructions.

Turn off heat and allow stew to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Fix bowls of pasta and ladle the stew mixture over top. Serve with crusty bread (to soak up the beefy goodness!), a salad, and glass of wine for a complete meal.