beef soup – The Funky Oven

Okay. There are recipes and then there are RECIPES! There are recipes you make and you eat because it took work and there are ones that you dont know why you can’t have more leftovers. Am I right? My husband ate 4 bowls of this. It is seriously that good. Even though my posts are all not my original recipes, I try hard to post only the best of the best that I create or find. There is nothing worse than spending time or money on something that fails.

2 pounds beef stew meat

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoons black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 large shallot diced

3 cloves garlic minced

1 cup cabernet sav wine

4 cups beef broth – or 4 water and 4 bouillon cubes

1 tablespoon italian seasoning

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1-2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

4 cups red potato – small diced with skin on

3 cups carrots – peeled and cut into rounds

1 ear fresh sweet corn – remove corn from cob

1 12-14 ounce can diced tomatoes undrained

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Place the stew meat in a gallon bag or bowl with flour, pepper, cayenne pepper and salt to coat. Warm the butter and olive oil on medium high heat in a dutch oven or pot. Brown meat in 2 batches. Do not cook fully or crowd the pan.

Remove all the meat from the pan. Add the shallot and garlic. Cook about 3-5 minutes on medium high. Deglaze the pan with red wine. Add the beef broth, worcestershire, bay leaves, italian seasoning, and paprika. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer 40 minutes.

Prepare the vegetables.

Add them in along with the diced tomatoes. Cover. Return to boil. Boil anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours depending on when the meat is tender. It really depends on the cut of the meat. I say taste test it every 10 minutes or so.

Mine was not as thick as I wanted so I mixed 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with the hot soup in a small bowl until mixed and poured it back into the pot about 40 minutes after adding the vegetables.