Comforting Winter Beef Stew

Begin by cutting up the beef into one inch cubes. If the meat is extra fatty feel free to trim some of it off (a lot of it will melt into the stew anyway and be extra tasty during the long cooking time).

Take two tablespoons of the olive oil and heat it up in a large cast iron pot over medium high heat. Start to brown the beef, turning once each side is nice and browned. Don’t crowd the pan—do this in batches if needed.Once all the meat has a brown coloring take it out of the pot with a slotted spoon and place to the side on a plate.

Next take the chopped onion and garlic and place into the same pot with the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil. Stir and scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pot and make sure everything gets incorporated. To the onions and garlic add the tomato paste and stir for a few minutes. Next, gently pour in the beef stock while constantly stirring. Then stir in the Worcestershire sauce and the red wine. Once everything gets to know each other throw the meat back in the pot and cover.

Reduce heat to a simmer, season with the salt and pepper and cook for around 2 hours. At this point the meat will start to get really tender. Add the potatoes and the carrots in with the meat and continue to simmer for another one to two hours. With roughly 10 minutes before serving add in the cumin and frozen peas, simmer till peas warm through and serve!