I had some friends over Saturday after the boys went to bed for a rare, but special girl’s night in. We gave each other foot massages and manicures, ate aged Parmesan cheese with rosemary and drank a few glasses of local Missouri wine. When I commented that I couldn’t wait to use the left-over wine to make French beef stew, one of my friends looked at me like I was crazy. “Why waste good wine in cooking?” she asked. My immediate thought was “Why cook with wine that doesn’t taste great?” Granted, I don’t use the best wines in my cooking (I’m not sure I’d recognize “the best” wine or even great wine!). But why use a cheap cooking wine with your grass-fed, local beef instead of something special?
Low Oxalate French Beef Stew
French beef stew calls for local ingredients and local wines–the best in French food traditions. I make my French beef stew in the tradition of French cooking, using all local Missouri ingredients, most directly purchased from the producer (except in the spring when I hunt my own mushrooms). Since I’m keeping my carbohydrate intake low these days (40 – 70 grams per day), I decided to use one cup wine and one cup pork broth last night instead of the two cups wine the recipe calls for. Whenever I cook pork chops I always save the liquid and “brown scrapings” from the pan in a little jar in my freezer, so I often have pork broth on hand. The result was divine! You may also use chicken or beef broth in place of some of the wine, but make sure at least a half cup good, dry red wine makes it into the recipe. It helps tenderize the beef and it tastes so yummy, even if you are not a wine drinker! I’ve only recently developed a taste for wine, but I’ve always liked this stew. In fact, many years ago when I was an undergraduate at Mizzou, I let my roommate pick out good quality, inexpensive wines for my cooking. I didn’t want to drink it, but wow, I loved the flavor a good wine gave my stews and sauces.
Enjoy!
French Beef Stew
2 pounds boneless beef stew meat, cubed (I prefer to eat grassfed, organic or omega 3 meat)
2 cups dry, red wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 – 8 large cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4-6 ounces bacon, diced
2 cups yellow onions, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, sliced (about 8 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt (or to taste)
Put the first seven ingredients in a covered bowl in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or up to 24 hours, turning the meat occasionally. Drain the beef, reserving the liquid (I do this over a collander). Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until the bacon is brown. Remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan. Add the beef to the bacon fat and cook until almost browned (if you don’t have enough fat, add some olive oil). Add the onions and mushrooms and continue to cook until the beef is browned and the onions are translucent. Stir in the marinade, salt and the bacon and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and cook covered, until the meat is tender, usually 1 – 1.5 hours. Add salt to taste and cook until the liquid is reduced to whatever consistency you chose. Serve with turnips, butternut squash or cooked greens (kale or collard greens are nice). It’s also quite yummy served over the top of mashed cauliflower.
Serves 8
Low Oxalate Info: Black pepper is a medium oxalate ingredient with 12.6 mg. oxalate per teaspoon. All other ingredients in French Beef Stew are low oxalate or very low oxalate. French Beef Stew has about 6 mg. oxalate per large serving (4 ounces beef plus a half cup of veggies).
Substitutions: You may substitute low oxalate beef, pork or chicken broth for some of the wine. You may also increase the thyme by 1/2 – 1 teaspoon if you want a stronger herb flavor (thyme has 2.5 mg. per teaspoon).
Picky Eater Pleaser: If your kids don’t like onions, try using those little boiling onions instead of chopped onions. They’re very easy to pick out! I usually use a slotted spoon or a fork to pick pieces of meat and mushrooms out of this stew for my boys. They don’t like the liquid, but they do love the taste of the meat and mushrooms and will eat a huge helping with their butternut squash.
Other Diets: French Beef Stew may also be appropriate for gluten-free, dairy-free, Primal, Paleo and low carbohydrate diets.
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