Beef and Mushroom Stew

Beef and Mushroom Stew

  • Prep Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 3 hrs 25 mins
  • Servings: 6-8

    • About This Recipe

    “The sour cream is an unusual add-in for a beef stew, but it adds a lovely richness. This stew is definitely homey, but good enough for company.”

    Ingredients

  • 1tablespoonunsalted butter
  • 1tablespoonolive oil
  • 2slicesbacon, finely chopped
  • 1onion, peeled and chopped
  • 2clovesgarlic, minced
  • 1carrot, peeled and sliced into thick coins
  • 1stalkcelery, thickly sliced
  • 1teaspoonWorcestershire sauce
  • 1bay leaf
  • 2teaspoonsdried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoonsalt
  • 1/4 teaspooncayenne pepper( you can use less, if you wish)
  • 1/4 cupall-purpose flour
  • 2lbsstewing beef, in large cubes
  • 1/2 cupred wine
  • 2cupschicken stock
  • 1 1/2 cupspeeled white pearl onions(optional)
  • 1/2 lbbutton mushroom, cleaned and left whole
  • 1cupsour cream( lowfat is fine)
  • 2tablespoonschopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley

    • Directions

  • In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter and add oil.
  • Add bacon pieces to fat and cook, stirring often, until bacon starts to brown.
  • Add onion, garlic, carrots, celery, worcestershire, and herbs and spices.
  • Cook, stirring often, until onion is softened (it takes about 5 minutes).
  • Pat beef cubes dry with a paper towel, if necessary, then dredge in flour until cubes are evenly coated.
  • Increase heat under Dutch oven to medium-high and cook beef, adding a few pieces at a time to pan; let pieces brown before adding new ones.
  • When all beef cubes have browned, add wine to pan and cook for 1 minute, stirring and scraping up any brown bits on bottom of pan.
  • Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to low, partially cover pot, and let simmer for one hour.
  • Stir in pearl onions; if you don’t want to be bothered peeling the pearl onions, substitute 1-1/2 cups of cubed yellow onion.
  • Continue to cook on low heat, partially covered, for another hour.
  • Remove pot lid and add mushrooms; simmer for 30 additional minutes; beef should be very tender.
  • Just before serving, remove pot from heat and stir in sour cream and parsley; return to heat to heat through; DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL.
  • Taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary, fish out bay leaf (if you can find it) and discard, and serve.
  • I serve it with rice (personal preference) but mashed potatoes or egg noodles also work well.

    • Reviews

  • “I made the recipe exactly as written with the exception of the sour cream.Since DH doesn’t like sour cream, I substituted creme fraiche.This recipe was very delicious…there was only one complaint – I didn’t make enough.There were 6 of us, and only 6 servings.Next time, I’ll double the recipe!”

  • “lovely! my partner made this for us last night, followed the recipe to the letter as far as i know, and it was very excellent. Loving the different flavours that are added with the mushrooms and sour cream and also the cayenne. Thanks for sharing”

  • “This is a great recipe, I’m so glad I tried it! It’s not your typical beef stew – the sour cream and mushrooms really add something special and unique. We loved it! Next time we might use a little less thyme and a few more carrots and celery stalks, but aside from this personal preference the recipe needs no tweaking. We served ours in bread bowls and will likely be repeating it for 20 or so guests at our wedding ceremony! Thanks so much for a great recipe!”

  • “My husband loved it, the rest of us took a few bites and were done.”

  • “This stew has a very rich and rustic feel/flavor to it.For some reason the meat was not as tender as I expected it to be, and I followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of the pearl onions. “

  • “I will not give this a rating as I did make a few changes and am not sure if the changes made a big difference in the we felt about the recipe. I made this using 3 lbs of stew meat that had been tenderized overnight.I did not use the bacon becuase I did not have any but do not feel that would make or break the recipe.Given that I used more meat I also used more veggies but kept the Worcestershire sauce and Thyme amount the same.I had some red winde but was not sure if it was still as fresh as it shoudl be so I cut back and used only 1/4 cup.I had to add more chicken stock due to more meat being used and that MIGHT be where my problem came in.The stew was much to salty for our taste and I never added any salt but the stock had salt so it might have been the reason, I added at least 1 1/2 cups of water to try to dilute it but it did not help.Luckily I served this with a sweeter cornbread so I did sort of counteract some of that but each of us (3 people)only ate 1 bowl each adn I threw the rest out.IF this had not been to salty I believe we would have really enjoyed it because it has all of the things we like in stew in it.”

  • “I had to stop this recipe prior to adding the sour cream. It was too good and the thought of all those added calories.Next time I will add the last ingredient.It was great any way and the County Chef took all the credit. Strike another great recipefor the community of Recipezaar.com to enjoy on the coldest winter evenings!”

  • “This is a wonderful recipe.I used Baby Bella mushrooms, yellow onion instead of pearl onions, fat-free sour cream and dried parsely.We loved it!I simmered for 2 hours longer than required due to schedules and added an extra 1 cup of water to keep the sauce from drying out too much.I will definitely make this one again.Thank you!”

  • “Awesome!!I used all of the ingredients except the sour cream (didn’t think it need it…it was already great and didn’t need to be creamed).The only things I did different are that I browned to meat in a separate pan since I didn’t see how you could get a good sear / brown on them with all the other stuff in the pot, but this worked very well.Also, since you recommended serving with mashed potatoes, I said “hey, why not just make a shepherds pie?”So I put the finished stew in a casserole dish, topped with some freshly whipped mashed potatoes, dotted with some butter, and tossed under the broiler for about 5-10 mins until it got nice and browned.Awesome comfort food!A true keeper recipe.Thanks.”

  • “I chose this recipe because it did not have potatoes(don’t like them in stew) and because I love mushrooms.Words can not describe how incredible this stew turned out. I went to the store to buy the bacon for this recipe and mistakenly bought maple flavored bacon. Then I was off to the local fruit and vegetable market to get the mushrooms and pearl onions.The “Button” mushrooms were slightly larger then usual as well as the “Pearl” onions. However, regardless of the minor size differences and maple flavored bacon, it turned out wonderful!I only used half the sour cream because I need some for a recipe tomorrow. I used light sour cream and it was perfect.I would like to try this with baby bella mushrooms and some leeks the next time and maybe paprika instead of cayenne. Don’t get me wrong, this recipe is perfect as is, my only regret is that I had no one to share it with.This by far, has to be one of my Zaar favorites. Thanks for sharing a great recipe.”

  • “This is very good, not at all like your normal beef stew, it is really elegant. Also VERY tasty. I didn’t have pearl onions so I used a chunked sweet onion. Per Lennies suggestion I served this over rice. Really an exceptional meal, don’t let the cooking time put you off, it truly is worth it.”

  • “Delicious!! I have made this recipe twice already…last night I did it with Quorn in place of beef and it still turned out lipsmacking good! I omitted the bacon and used mushroom stock in the vegetarian version. I opted to use an additional 1 cup red wine and 1/4 cup stock when my stock dried up a little too much (those Quorn fillets are real thirsty buggers!). The stock was a nice rich brown, and DH drank up every bit of it….(BTW,this is the only way we drink wine!). I also used 2 ml of cayenne, and 1½ cups of pearl onions (we were fighting over them).Thanks JanS for such a delicious recipe!”

  • “Lennie, this may be the BEST Beef Stew I’ve ever tasted! I believe the secret is in the added sour cream and all those delicous mushrooms! I followed your directions but also chopped up the stems of the mushrooms and adding them along with all thecayenne pepper you suggested.I also used a jar of small sweet and mild onions that added a delicious flavor to the stew.I used 1 TBS of dried cilantro (flat-leaf parsley) instead of the fresh (so I wouldn’t have to make a trip to the grocery store ; ) ). I will definitely keep this recipe close at hand for future use.Thanks, Lennie for a wonderful meal last night.We all enjoyed it!”

  • “This is without a doubt one of the best stews I have ever made. I made a few changes due to my picky family. I put the onion in in quarters so I could retrive it from the pot before serving as DH likes the flavor but not the texture. I also used baby carrots which melted into the sauce while cooking. Absolute perfection. My family really enjoyed all the flavors. I would like to add that although the sour cream added a rich flavor, I actually preferred the flavor of the stew before adding. It was still very good but next time I will increase the sauce and probably skip the sour cream. I will be serving this a lot this fall and winter. Thanks Lennie!”

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