Time: 3 Hours

Serves: 10 (or lunches for 2 all week!)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Beef Stew Meat
• 2 Large Yellow Onions
• 2 TBS. Canola Oil
• 6 Large Carrots
• 16 Oz. Whole Baby Bella or Cremini Mushrooms
• 2 16 oz. cans Whole Peeled Tomatoes
• 4 Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 1 Bottle Red Wine (I would suggest a Cabernet–nothing too sweet!)
• 1 Quart Beef Broth
• 3 Cloves Garlic
• Salt and Ground Pepper to taste

Growing up on a cattle farm it is no surprise that we ate a lot of beef. Burgers, stewed beef, grilled beef, roasts, and the crème de la crème—a rare steak. I learned to appreciate a properly cooked steak before most kids learn to walk. In reality my family was spoiling me by teaching me that the outside world consumed beef at the same rate and for the same price that we did. I still think to this day that my husband truly fell in love with me the first time he saw me unafraid to chow down on carpaccio with a raw egg in the sweltering Italian summer heat. I’ve never shied away from red meat.

Alas, my first year at college awakened me to the harsh reality of grocery shopping alone. Beef is 1) expensive! and 2) wasn’t exactly the dinner of choice among most of my college dorm friends, many of whom were vegetarian or believed that women should consume a minimum of two salads a day. I developed this recipe a year later in my sophomore dorm because it uses stew meat (a much more economical way to purchase beef) and it only gets better when it sits in the fridge. I usually cook up two large pots of it over the weekend and then eat it for lunch all week long. The longer it sits (within reason) the better it tastes. As I developed it in college, it of course uses ample wine in the broth.

Over time I did manage to gain a few converts. I even helped cure an impending break up one night, when one of my sorority friends came crying to my room after a bad fight with her soon to be ex-boyfriend. I heated up a bowl for her as she told me her tale. Ten minutes later through the sobs she declared, “I’m so upset but this soup is making me so happy!”

So whether you are getting over a break up, looking for an excuse to eat and drink wine at the same time or are craving beef on a budget, this recipe is for you.

Directions:

Rough dice both onions and the garlic cloves and set aside. Peel and chop the carrots, potatoes and mushrooms, mix together and set aside. These should be chopped in large chunks. I usually quarter the mushrooms and leave the carrots and potatoes big enough that I can get one, maybe two on my spoon at the same time. If you cut them too thin they will fall apart during the cooking process. Depending on the size of your stew meat you may want to cut the chunks in half (again going for one piece on your spoon at a time.)

Coat the bottom of two large soup pots with Canola oil and sauté the onions and garlic on high heat. You don’t want them to brown all the way only to sweat. This should take about 8 minutes. Add the stew meat and season with salt. Brown the meat all over, stirring constantly to keep the onions from burning, about another 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, carrots and potatoes and stir for another 2 minutes. You are not looking for these to cook, just sweat a bit with the onions and beef. Quarter the tomatoes but save the juice they come in (this is why you want canned tomatoes, not fresh ones).

Add ½ of the bottle of red wine and 1 can of tomatoes, with their juice, to each pot. Reduce the heat to medium. Add ½ of the quart of beef broth to each pot along with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a slight simmer.

Season with salt and pepper and cover each pot with a lid so that only a small crescent opening remains on the top. You want the broth to be able to reduce but you also want to keep the simmer going.

Simmer for 1.5 -2 hours, stirring occasionally and seasoning as necessary. You don’t want the soup to boil or the vegetables will become mushy and the beef will be tough. Keep it at a low simmer and let it take its time. If the broth reduces too much, add more water.

When the soup is finished the stew beef should fall apart in your mouth but the carrots should still have a slight bite to the them. This soup is excellent with a variety of breads, my favorite is corn bread though a hearty brown bread with butter will also suffice.

Enjoy immediately or reheated over the week. It’s fantastic either way!