caramelized onion beef stew

hi friends! welcome to a friday edition of what i hope to eat every sunday for forever and ever during these colder, harder, nipped at your nose times. this is the kind of thing you want to set aside a few hours to pour your heart and your efforts into, and maybe also treat it as therapy time to unsqueeze a tiny bit of tension that seems to grip our bones during the holidays. i wish i could also report that it is a snow cocoon but viriginia has remained stubbornly, annoyingly temperate and my ice cold minnesota veins are v confused that it’s december and not a single snowflake has even attempted to fall.

if you have, however, shifted most of your activities indoors and have ample time on a weekend afternoon, you should make some stew. caramelized onion beef stew, to be exact, and sorry if that sounds pushy but i want the coziest and most love tucked into a bowl as possible for you. so here it is, from me to you.

i’ll preface that i am not a beef girl. if you were to plumb the depths of this site you might, might, find another beef recipe or two but i’m even skeptical of those odds because i just don’t really eat it. i’m not your gal to really ‘understand’ a great steak, and i sincerely hope the era of massive pieces of meat billed for their literal poundage and inches is past us. we know better, right?? howEVER, the caveat lies here, with beef stew. it tastes like the most comforting thing you’ve been eating your whole life and feels like home, even if you like me can’t recall a ton of memories of eating beef stew at home. i also really dig the simplicity of beef stew; an unfancy cut of meat, potatoes, carrots, onion, wine, broth. basic things to meet your basic needs, but on a level that’s abundant and way too delicious. it’s the kind of thing you make for a sunday supper to end the week on a gentle note. wine for drinking and bread for dunking are non-negotiables, too.

a few things before we get started:

- this is a labor of love, made with much love. set this for your menu when you have the time to take things low and slow.
- there are roughly 1,984,732,900 beef stew recipes out there, and they’re mostly the same. this is mine, with caramelized onions and a big splash of red wine to deepen the flavors and make things feel incredibly cozy
- it’s also fair to mention that there are a lot of instant pot or crockpot beef stew recipes. these are easier/faster, but i think not quite worth the loss of texture and depth, you know?
- totally easy to make this paleo. flour subs are listed below
- not so easy to make this vegan, however, chickpeas or a lentil could be a lovely stand-in for the beef, but adjustments and tweaks are your adventure at that point
- leftovers are a must, and this reheats beautifully

caramelized onion beef stew
makes: 4 servings
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 2.5 hours

1 1/2lbs beef stew meat, diced into 1-2inch pieces (you can use a nicer cut than this, but i felt like making life easy)
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, sliced into rounds
1lb baby gold or red potatoes, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 heaping tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1tbsp flour (you can also use tapioca starch if gluten-free)
1tbsp olive oil
2tbsp butter (you can use ghee if paleo)
1c dry red wine - something you’ll also like to drink, if that’s your jam!
4c beef broth
2tsp salt, divided
2tsp black pepper

parlsey for garnish, bread for dunking. optional but encouraged.

preheat the oven to 325.

in a large dutch oven that has a lid, heat the olive oil over medium high. add the pieces of stew meat the pot, season with 1tsp of salt, and sear until just browned on all sides. remove the meat from the pot.

lower the heat to medium low, and add the butter and onions. stirring occasionally, caramelize the onions until very softened and the edges become golden. this should take 15-20 minutes.

add the carrots, garlic, tomato paste, bay leaves, and meat back to the pot. sprinkle in the flour, and stir so it coats the meat and veggies. raise the heat to medium, and add the red wine to deglaze the pot. simmer until the wine is reduced by half, then add the potatoes, broth, and salt and pepper. give everything a big stir, then place the lid on the pot. transfer the stew to the oven, and cook for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

the stew should be thick but a bit brothy once cooked. ladle into big bowls, garnish with parsley and serve with buttered bread.