WINE & FOOD AFFAIR RECIPES

Main Dish

Beef Stew with Saitone Vineyard Zinfandel

DeLoach Vineyards

1791 Olivet Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
deloachvineyards.com

  • RECIPE YEAR: 2015
  • YIELD: Serves 6
  • PAIRS WELL WITH: 2013 Saitone Vineyard Zinfandel

A hearty beef stew with our Saitone Zinfandel, inspired by Julia Child - it's the perfect pairing of two classics!

Ingredients:
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon peppercorns, crushed
  • 2 fresh thyme sprigs or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 3 pounds trimmed boneless stewing beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
  • 3 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
  • 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots
  • 8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup beef stock or broth, plus more as needed
  • Saitone Vineyard Zinfandel, as needed
  • All-purpose flour, as needed
Directions:

				

			

                			

				
Directions:

				

					
In a small bowl, stir together the salt, crushed peppercorns and thyme. In an enameled or stainless-steel pot, toss the beef with the seasoning mixture. Add the onions, carrots, garlic and the 1/4 cup oil. Toss thoroughly, then add the vinegar and toss again. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the beef from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Pour the marinade into a large fry pan, set over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent.

In another large, heavy fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the 1 tablespoon oil. Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides. Return the meat to the pot and strew the cooked vegetables on top. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves.

Discard the fat from the fry pan used for browning the meat. Set the pan over medium-high heat and pour in the water. Deglaze the pan by letting the water simmer for a moment, then use a wooden spoon to scrape all the flavorful browned bits from the pan bottom into the liquid and pour over the beef. Pour the stock into the pot with the meat and add enough wine to almost submerge the ingredients. Cover and refrigerate the stew overnight; the wine marinade will improve the flavor.

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Bring the stew to a simmer on the stovetop. Transfer the covered pot to the oven so that it barely bubbles. You can stop the cooking at any point and continue the following day. It will take about 2 1/2 hours for the meat to become fork-tender; take an occasional small bite to test. Let the stew cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Using a spoon, skim all the solidified fat off the surface. Reheat the stew, then strain the hot cooking liquid into a large nonreactive saucepan, pressing on the cooking vegetables, which will have disintegrated considerably by this point. Taste the sauce for strength and seasoning; if it seems weak, boil it down rapidly. You should have about 2 1/2 cups.

If the sauce seems too thin, thicken it with a slurry: for each 1 cup sauce, in a bowl, blend 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour with 1 1/2 tablespoons cold beef stock. Whisk dribbles of the hot sauce into the slurry, then whisk the slurry mixture into the sauce. Simmer for several minutes, then pour the hot sauce over the warm stew and simmer for several minutes before serving.