Beef Stew Hot from the Oven

I usually make beef stew in the Crock-Pot and wanted to make it using a Crock-Pot cast iron dutch oven that my husband got me for Mother's Day.  I've actually been wanting to try this for a while and was excited to have a Sunday afternoon at home to do it.

Every good stew needs something to sop up the delicious sauce and we had some jalapeno cheese bread we toasted in oven.  The kids had french bread.  They both were deliciously crispy and rounded out the meal.

Let's Get Crafty!

Getting the meat going:
2 1/2 lbs stew meat
4 tablespoons EVOO
2 bay leaves
Working in two batches - Heat a couple tablespoons of EVOO over medium- high in the dutch oven and cook 1/2 the stew meat along with one bay leaf.  We're wanting to brown the meat on all sides and get some flavors going.  This took about 5 minutes or so for each batch.

Once both batches are done - set the meat aside and continue to use the same dutch oven with the juices left behind from the stew meat.  There are so many delicious flavors left in the pot that we are going to work with and incorporate in our stew.

Add to the dutch oven:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Let the onion saute by itself for a few minutes before adding the garlic and cooking another minute

Give me more flavor!
1 12 oz can light beer (we used Miller Lite)
8 oz can tomato sauce (no salt added)
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 can beef broth, reduced sodium

Add the beer in first and stir.  Then add in the remaining ingredients of this section along with the browned beef that's been set aside.  Simmer on medium low for 30-40 minutes.  You'll want to get your oven preheated to 325 towards the end of this part.

We need more veggies!
4 carrots, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 small container mushrooms, sliced
Toss these all into the dutch oven and stir

(We didn't add potatoes today, but you certainly can if you think stew just isn't stew without potatoes.  I didn't put them in today because I wanted the kids to eat up the veggies and not just the meat and potatoes.)

Bake covered in a 325 degree oven for 1 - 1 1/2 hours until meat is tender.

To thicken our stew - I added 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to a small amount of cold water and added it to the pot.  I stirred constantly until it reached the desired consistency on the stove top using medium heat.  This took us around 1 minute.

Thanks for stopping by!  What's your favorite comfort food stew or soup?