awesome stew

this stew tastes amazing, says andy. and it smelled amazing, says me. it truly is so stick-to-your-ribs and hearty and everything you want in a stew, that it's sort of hard to not make a point to cook it. seriously, it's onions, meat, tomato paste, and beer, essentially. the taste is so complex and it's unbelievable to think that it's comprised of such few, simple ingredients. i love that.
it also is a stew that readily handles change. for example, i really recommend adding potatoes and carrots and parsnips. even turnips would go well. the extra ingredients don't flatten the flavors, and the sauce goes a long way. the reason why i love this recipe is because i'm mean about meat, and i figure if i'm going to go to all of the trouble to make andy something filled with meat, my retribution is that it's going to have some vegetables and vitamins thrown in to make me feel better about the situation. i'm punitive with my food.


i used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen for Beef Carbonnade. The beer here (Chimay) seems a little fru-fru (by "fru-fru" i mean "not necessarily cheap"... trappist monks are very elitist) but is absolutely vital. This beer tastes unbelievably sweet and bitter and so so so tasty, and if you use even a decent beer it's still unacceptable.

The beer itself comes in three different "flavors", and I used the blue label. I don't remember what kind it was, but there's a Chimay with a burgundy label, a deep blue label, and i think a wheat-colored label. in think the red and blue kinds are interchangeable here, though the white is probably not. It comes in a big bottle with a cork, and you might have to check a place or two before tracking it down. for example, it wasn't at the little grocery store near our house, but was well-stocked at Nugget and the Co-op. so maybe make a point to try and track it down before the day you want to make this dish, just so there are no last-minute hiccups.




I followed the recipe pretty much verbatim, though i have included my additions (vegetables) and corresponding extra liquid to the recipe, so email me if you want the straight-up Beef Carbonnade recipe.

also, it freezes really well. it's so hearty that a little bit of leftovers really goes a long way, and goes really well with rice (which you can also freeze, though separately) and egg noodles.
please make this!!!


Beef Carbonnade

Step One:
Yellow onions, slivered
2 pounds of chuck eye roast or blade steak
3 peeled and chopped carrots, 3 parsnips
tomato paste
salt

Step Two:
few cloves of garlic
3 tbsp flour
chicken and/or beef broth (few tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups chimay beer
1 cup of water, divided

Step Three:
a few stalks of thyme, separated from stem and quickly chopped
2-3 bay leaves
1 tbsp cider vinegar
s&p
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Remove gristle and silverskin from meat.
Pat dry and then brown in a heated and oiled pan, *working in batches*. Remove meat and let sit.
Add a tablespoon of oil, lower the heat to med-low, and add 2 pounds of slivered yellow onions, adding a tablespoon of salt and tomato paste. Sweat for five minutes at medium low, and then raise to medium.
Add parsnips and carrots, cook for a few minutes.


Add garlic and cook until fragrant, then add flour and incorporate for a minute or two.
Add chicken stock, 1/2 cup water, and beer.

Add section three.


Put in a 350 degree oven with lid slightly off for an hour and a half. Take out of the oven and add in 2-3 cooked potatoes with an additional 1/2 cup water (you can use chicken stock if you want to, though), then cook for another 30 minutes.