Beef Stew with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme

Today I opened one of my cookbooks with the intention of making a Tex-Mex stew. However, the recipe called for green peppers, so I had to nix those since they upset hubby’s stomach. Then came the tomato sauce, but I wanted a broth base. The only herb was cumin, and frankly I just wasn’t in the mood for Tex-Mex I guess! I couldn’t get Simon & Garfunkel’s song “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” out of my head and have always wanted to a name a recipe after it. So that’s exactly what I did.

One of the things I love about stews is that you can build the recipe as you go, adding a bit of this and a splash of that, until it makes you happy. I pulled the parsley, sage, rosemary and the thyme off my spice rack. I was ready. I also wanted to keep this fairly simple, not a lot of dicing and chopping, yet end up with a full bodied flavorful dish. I’m pleased to say that I accomplished that with this recipe. I hope that you’ll try it, it’s really easy and quite delicious!

I posted earlier about this beautiful new range I received from Fridgidaire as part of their latest Test Drive initiative. I read about how the front two burners actually have four separate sizes, two sizes on each burner. There’s an outer element and an inner element, each one a different size made to accommodate a variety of different pan sizes. The left control knob operates the left burner of course, but the difference is that if you turn the knob to the left it controls the outer heating element. If you turn it to the right, it controls the inner element. Same goes for the right hand elements and control knob.

As you can see from the control knob pictured (umm, realized after posting this that I had it backwards! The inner symbol is the smaller one. Duh makes sense), I am using the inner heating element of the right burner as that was the closest match in size to my Dutch oven. Because the element actually fits your pan size, food is heating more evenly and efficiently.

After preparing the meat by tossing it with all the herbs, some freshly ground black pepper and Kosher salt, you’ll brown it in olive oil in your [amazon_link id=”B00063RWYI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dutch oven[/amazon_link]. Then you’ll add in the garlic and onion until softened and fragrant (I love how that smells!).

Then you’ll add the dry red wine, beef consomme and chicken broth. Bring it to a boil, simmer a little, then add the chopped vegetables. Then you’re going to cover it and place it in a 325 F oven for 2 hours, checking only once or twice during cooking so as not to let too much heat escape.

Then of course, you’ll eat. And hopefully, your family with thank you as mine thanked me.:)