Beef Stew with Red Wine, Root Vegetables and Leeks

I have a lot of leeks given by a friend. Been cooking the leeks in many way. As it is a cold week I decided to cook a stew for the cold night. Browsing the web I came across this recipe by thehungrybluebird.com.

Ingredients:

• 600g lean beef chunks
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp flour
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 cups of beef stock
• 1½ cups red wine
• 2 parsley sprigs
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• 6 carrots, peeled halved and quartered length-wise, then cut into 1½ inch pieces
• 3 large parsnips, peeled halved and quartered length-wise, then cut into 1½ inch pieces
• 2 large leeks, cleaned and rinsed to remove any grit, use white and light green part on

Method:

Pat the meat dry with paper towels. In a large dutch oven, add 1 tablespoon oil in the pot. Sprinkle dried beef pieces with a little salt and add in a single layer in the pot. Do not crowd the meat and brown in batches. Brown beef well on all sides and then remove to plate. Continue browning meat, adding a little more oil if needed.

Remove all the beef from the pan. Add 1 tablespoon oil and then the onion wedges. Sprinkle with a good pinch of salt. Cook and stir until golden and lightly browned, scrapping up any bits as you can, about 5 minutes. Careful not to burn. Add a little beef stock if needed to deglaze the pan. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute.

Return the browned beef to the pan and sprinkle the flour, salt and pepper over the top. Cook and stir to incorporate and brown the flour lightly, about 3 minutes.

Pour the beef stock and wine in the pot, adding more of either so the meat is just barely covered. Stir well and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in parsley and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low, cover lightly and simmer until the meat is almost completely tender, stirring occasionally about 1½ hours. Alternately, you can cook in an oven, covered, stirring occasionally.

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon more oil. Add carrots, parsnips and leeks. Toss to coat and then sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar. Cook and stir until starting to brown and caramelize, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

When the meat has cooked and hour and a half or so, add the vegetables. Stir and continue simmering until vegetables and meat are tender about 1½ to 2 hours in total.

Season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy.