About a month ago, I ordered the 4-quart Cuisinart Slow Cooker (CSC-400) for a pretty sweet price -- Thank You Sogeti Employee Appreciation!!! I made my first roast a couple weeks ago. Standard carrot + potato + onion + garlic + roast + cream of mushroom soup. It was good. I even took the time to brown the roast before slow cooking it.
While I was waiting to pick up Monkey from the vet last Tuesday, I browsed our new local Borders and picked up "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. 350 slow cooker recipes. There must be a couple good ones I can find. ;-)
I picked up just over 2 pounds of organic beef stew meat from Whole Foods for a recipe from a different book (of which I can't remember which one). Regardless, I was determined to cook the stew meat tonight. I found a recipe called Estofado in my NYMSC Cookbook after work and thought it sounded pretty darn good.
Slow Cooker: Medium or Large round
Setting and Cook Time: Low for 6 to 8 hours
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds beef stew meat, such as boneless chuck, trimmed of any excess fat, cut into 1- to 1.5-inch chunks, and blotted dry
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup smooth or chunky tomato salsa, homemade or prepared
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- Pinch of dried oregano or marjoram
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup dry red wine
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions:
- In a zippered-top plastic bag or a bowl, toss the beef, in batches, with the salt, pepper, and flour.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm 1.5 tablespoons of the oil until very hot. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes, then transfer to the crock. Add half the beef to the skillet and brown on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes total. Transfer to the slow cooker. Brown the remaining beef in the oil and add to the cooker. Add the salsa, vinegar, oregano, and water to the cooker and stir to evenly distribute.
- Pour the wine into the skillet and place over medium heat. Stir constantly, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the pan; it will reduce a bit. Pour into the cooker and stir. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
- Season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley. If the estofado is too thin for you, use a beurre manie to thicken it a bit. Serve with rice.
Before it got too late, I ran to Whole Foods to pick up some red wine and red wine vinegar. Ended up with a Whole Foods 365 Trackers Crossing, South Eastern Australia Shiraz for $5.99. Super cheap red wine for cooking. Not bad at all. I used the last of our Arriba! Medium tomatillo salsa. Sorry Sweetie!!! I'll get more!!! :-D
Turned on Groove Salad and went to work. It smells delicious...I'm glad I ate before I began this one.
Note: I find that most user-submitted recipe photos look disgusting. The recipe may sound good, but if the picture looks nasty, it's generally a bit of a food-turn-off.
