Country French Stew

My friend Kristina gave me this recipe from her mom. She raved that it was the best stew she had ever tasted, too bad I chose a 65 degree plus day to make it! I would agree that it is delcious stew and it has a big bonus that it can be made in the crockpot. When I brought it to the table, C asked for some Ritz Crackers. I was puzzled, why do you need crackers with stew? His logic was that the stew was much like some of the Chunky Soup he enjoys from a can (gross) and he has crackers with that, so why not with stew. At the end of the day, he decided that the stew had a "weird" flavor in it. Miss F devoured a ton of carrots and potatoes, so she obviously didn't agree. I wonder what he considered weird, considering all the flavors in the sauce are things he enjoys. Who knows...I am guessing he will be downstairs for cereal in no time.

Country French Stew
printable recipe

6 slices bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 boneless beef chuck roast, 2 pounds, trimmed of fat cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion cut into ½ inch wedges
2 cups carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
6 to 8 new potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cups red Zinfandel
1 cup beef both
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 can, 14.5 ounce diced tomatoes
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. In a nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Place bacon in slow cooker. Discard all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat in skillet. Cook beef in bacon fat in batches 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown. Stir onion into beef. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Sppon into cooker.

Stir carrots, potatoes, wine, broth, flour, basil, thyme, salt, pepper and tomatoes into cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Stir in mushrooms and paprika and cook on low for 20 to 30 minutes more.

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