Total of $18.48
6 servings at $3.08 per serving

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs chuck roast – $11.54
• Salt, pepper, and smoked paprika to coat meat
• 2-3 Tbsp neutral oil (like canola) – $0.12
• 3 carrots – $0.42
• 3 stalks celery – $0.40
• 1 yellow onion – $0.87
• .5 lb white mushroom (button, cremini, or portabella are all excellent) – $1.99
• 2 cups wine – $1.88 (we used some very cheap cabernet)
• 1.5 cups reduced sodium beef stock – $0.48
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste – $0.23
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme – $0.50
• 1 heaping Tbsp corn starch $0.05
• 1 Tbsp fresh cracked pepper
• .5 tsp salt

Method:

1. Dice your veggies and mushrooms to your desired size and toss them into a slow cooker.
2. Cut the meat into roughly bite-sized chunks, then coat with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
3. Heat a skillet (we tend to use cast iron) over medium high heat. Then turn on your vent hood and disable the smoke alarms cuz, buddy, we’re about to sear some meat!
4. Add a tablespoon of neutral oil to hot pan and sear each side of your meat chunks (or at least two sides, if you’re feeling a bit lackadaisical). Do this in batches so as to not crowd the pan. Add a touch more oil as needed to help get a little color on the meat. Toss the meat into the slow cooker once seared to your satisfaction.
5. Reduce heat to medium – medium low and allow the pan to cool from surface-of-the-sun-hot to a nicer asphalt-in-peak-summer-hot while you wait for the smoke to clear out a little bit.
6. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and then add the tomato paste. Cook a minute or two while mixing it into the oil.
7. Next, add the wine. Mix the cornstarch with the beef stock and add this as well.
8. Season with salt and pepper, and toss in your thyme. Stir thoroughly, and bring to gentle boil. Allow to reduce about 5 minutes.
9. Pour all of this into the slow cooker and mix everything together. Be sure to keep track of your thyme; you don’t want that to end up in someone’s mouth when this is all over.
10. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Check for seasoning and adjust as needed, then serve.

Notes:

• This is pretty simple to throw together and very easy to customize. We highly recommend the addition of potatoes (red or gold work best in our experience. Russet is fine, but the texture of the others is much nicer). Just dice them to your desired size and toss them in with the rest of the veggies.
• We paired this with brown rice to help stretch the stew over a few meals. This works very nicely since the rice soaks up some of that juicy goodness and tastes delicious.
• I deliberately under-salt most recipes because it’s much easier to add more salt than to fix something that is over salted. You will likely want to add a dash of salt to your stew at the end.
• Beef stew is a comforting and heavy meal. Sprinkling a bit of fresh parsley over top helps bring a light, bright touch to each bite. Highly recommend!

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