Beef Stew with Mushrooms & Red Wine

It's not really what you might consider "stew weather" outside, but when you think about it, we eat nearly all our meals hot anyway--so why not?

I stuck to my favorite beef stew recipe for a long time, and it's a good recipe, but I really do prefer this new one that Chris found online this past winter. There are few things that smell better than this does when cooking, courtesy of the red wine and fresh thyme, and stew is just full of all kinds of nutritious goodness!

Mine is simmering right now with sourdough bread baking in the bread machine!

From Cooking Light, here it is:

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided (though I always end up using more to really get the beef brown)
1 pound cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, halved
2 cups chopped onion
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup flour
2 pounds bite-sized stew beef
salt & pepper
1 cup dry red wine
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
32 ounce box chicken broth (it calls for beef but I HATE beef broth!)
2-3 bay leaves
1 diced russet potato (2 cups or so)
1 1/2 cups sliced carrot


Directions:

1. Heat 1 tsp. oil on medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven and cook the mushrooms until brown, about 8 minutes. Place them in a large bowl. Heat another teaspoon (or even less) of oil, then cook the onions until soft, about 8-10 minutes. In the last minute, add the garlic, and stir constantly so it won't burn. Add all this to the bowl of mushrooms and set aside.

2. Heat another teaspoon of oil, and pour the flour onto a shallow plate and toss half of the beef in it to coat. Brown the beef on all sides, about 6-8 minutes, sprinkling lightly with salt while cooking. Repeat this process with the other half of the beef, and when it's browned, just drop it in the mushroom-onion-garlic bowl.

3. Now that your ingredients are precooked and your Dutch oven is empty, pour in the cup of wine and allow it to cook off for a few seconds (but definitely don't let it all evaporate!), then add the thyme, bay leaves and chicken broth. Bring it to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in the beef mixture and cover. Simmer it for 1 hour.

4. Add the diced potato and carrots, stir, and bring the heat up to medium with the pot covered to jump-start the potatoes and carrots cooking. When it's bubbly, remove the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low again. Simmer it, uncovered, for 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until the sauce is thick and the potatoes and carrots are cooked thoroughly).