Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients

• Beef broth or bouillon canned soup

  Ready-to-serve

  2 cup or 480g

• Beef chuck

  Arm pot roast, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, all grades, raw

  24 oz or 680g

• Onions

  Raw

  1 cup, chopped or 160g

• Fennel

  Bulb, raw

  1 bulb or 234g

• Red bell pepper

  Sweet, raw

  1 medium or 119g

• Cayenne pepper

  Spices, red or cayenne

  1 tsp or 2g

• Paprika

  Spices

  1 tsp or 2g

• Nutmeg

  Spices, ground

  1 tsp or 2g

• Bacon

  Raw, cured pork

  4 strip or 48g

• Salt

  Table

  1 tsp or 6g

• Cumin

  Spices, cumin seed

  2 tsp, ground or 6g

• Red wine

  Alcoholic beverage, table

  5 fl oz or 147g

• Garlic

  Raw

  2 cloves, minced or 6g

• Tomatoes

  Red, ripe, canned, packed in tomato juice

  2 can or 380g

• Parsley

  Raw

  ½ cup or 30g

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Combine salt, paprika, cumin, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Trim beef of excess fat and cube (2" x 1", if not already prepared). Coat beef in spice mixture and let sit for 20min at room temp.
3. In oven-safe soup pot (ideally cast iron), fry bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside; drain all but 1 tbsp bacon fat from pan. Sear stew beef in batches, 3-4 min each side; remove from heat and set aside with bacon.
4. In the same pan, saute the onions and garlic on medium heat until translucent (8 min). Deglaze the pan with wine, then add beef stock (homemade, if possible), meat, and 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes. Cover pot and put in the oven for 1 hr.
5. Add diced fennel, cook for another 10 min and add chopped red pepper. Cook for another 10-20 min, until fennel is cooked through.
6. Remove from oven, and take vegetables and meat out of the soup - set aside, and reduce sauce for another 20 min (or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon).
7. Add meat and vegetables back into soup. Season with cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste; garnish with parsley. May be served with sour cream.