Bold Braised Beef

Beef stew prep

1. Take your beef and cut it into 1 ½ inch cubes, placing them into a bowl. Season your beef cubes with salt and pepper, about 1 tbsp of oil and then coat them with flour. Set this aside.
2. Dice your celery, carrot, and onion into ¼-½ inch cubes.
3. Mince your garlic.
4. Heat a heavy-bottom dutch oven or pot on high heat, with 2 tbsp of oil to coat the bottom. Sear the beef by placing the cubes in the pot for a few minutes until golden brown on each side. Be sure not to overcrowd the bottom of the pot – do this in stages if you have to to keep the pot at a high heat. Once all the beef has been seared, set them aside in a bowl.
5. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot, then add in the carrots, celery, and onion. Cook for 5-7 minutes on medium to medium-high heat until the vegetables start browning.
6. Then, add the garlic to the pot and keep stirring, and browning the vegetables for a couple of more minutes.
7. Next, add in the tomato paste and stir in. Turn the burner on high. Add in Apothic Cab – scraping the bottom of the pot to make sure nothing is sticking.
8. Once everything is combined, add the beef cubes back into the pot with all its juices and stir to combine.
9. Next, add in the beef stock and stir to combine.
10. Lastly, add the bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, and the honey. Bring the whole mixture to a boil.
11. Once the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and let it cook with the lid slightly ajar for 3 hours, or until the beef is fork tender.
12. While the stew is cooking, peel the parsnips and cut them into large chunks – approximately 1 ½ inches thick.
13. After 3 hours, add the parsnips into the stew to cook, and season the stew with salt and pepper to taste. Let it cook for an additional 45 min so that the parsnips become tender.

Field carrots prep

1. While the stew is simmering, put a large pot of water to boil. Add a handful of salt to the boiling water.
2. Prepare a large bowl of water – filled with ice.
3. Peel the field carrots  and trim off the tops. Blanch them by placing them in the boiling water for 1.5 minutes. After 1.5 minutes, remove and place them into the bowl of ice water to stop it from cooking further.
4. In a pan, heat a small amount of vegetable oil on high. Place the carrots in the pan and add in 1 tsp of honey, as well as salt and pepper to taste. Sautée the carrots for 2- 3min until just tender.

Mash potatoes prep

1. Peel the potatoes. Cut them into even chunks and boil until you can cleanly poke a knife into the potato with ease.
2. Drain the potatoes once they’re tender, and place them back in the drained pot, while keeping the stove on low heat. Add in a ¼ cup of cream, then salt and pepper to taste. Add in 2-3 tbsp of unsalted butter. Mash everything together until smooth. Once smooth, turn off the heat and mix in another 1 tbsp of unsalted butter.