One thing about being up north means more excuses to break in the new All Clad Slow Cooker that I found under the Christmas Tree.  I do have to say that I love this slow cooker – I can brown everything in ONE POT and clean up is a breeze.  Not to mention it looks phenomenal on my countertop if I do say so myself.  See, isn’t it beautiful.

I digress, I know.  Beef Stew just calls for chilly weather and I have to say over the past month, Philly has apparently angered Mother Nature so much that she has blanketed the city in waves of white snow a couple of times along with the northeast including New Jersey (perhaps she is also annoyed by the MTV show “Jersey Shore” and Philly got hit by default? – just a thought.)   What it has done is sent this gal to the kitchen to try and make her own “Tried and True” version of Beef Stew.  I found a recipe for “Slow Cooker Beef Stew” but I have to warn you, I changed it up quite a bit.  The end result was a beef stew that has a bit of bite and warms you to the core on a cold winter’s day. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BEEF STEW

Recipe adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. of beef stew meat cut into 1” cubes
• 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp. paprika (I used smoked paprika)
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3 potatoes diced
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 cup of whole button or baby bella mushrooms
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. of allspice
• Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt and pepper; dredge the beef in the flour mixture and brown the beef cubes.  Put remaining flour to the side.
2. After the beef is brown, put into slow cooker (or in my case, leave in the pot as I browned it on the stovetop).  Stir in garlic, remaining flour mixture, bay leaf, paprika, tomato paste, allspice, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, onion, mushrooms, beef broth, potatoes, carrots and celery.
3. Cover and cook on Low setting for 10-12 hours or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

Tweet This Post