Hearty Italian Beef Stew made with slowly simmered beef, vegetables, potatoes and red wine is comfort food at it’s best. Serve alone or over egg noodles.

I couldn’t believe that I had never posted a beef stew recipe here on the site until I decided to make it last week. It’s one of those recipes I don’t make very often, maybe 1-2 times per year, but is a wonderful one-pot meal that my family loves, especially in the winter. I also prefer to make my stew on top of the stove, so I have to plan on being home for several hours when I decide to prepare it, but you can also make this in a crock pot if you prefer cooking it that way.

When making a stew, you want to choose a tougher cut of beef so that your meat doesn’t fall apart during the long cooking process. I look for what happens to be on sale that particular week. Most of the time, it actually works out to be less expensive if you purchase a bottom round (like I did here) and cut it down yourself, then buying the prepackaged beef cubes.

Also be careful not to cut the pieces too small or they will simply fall apart and turn your stew to mush. You want to be able to see whole pieces and by cooking this low and slow for several hours, the meat just melts in your mouth. I like to add potatoes to my stew and eat this ‘as is’; however, you can also omit the potatoes and serve this over egg noodles or rice if that’s your preference.

It is very important to clean celery to avoid harmful bacteria to grow and come in contact with your food. Back in my commercial kitchen days, the food inspector would head directly to the tuna or chicken salads first to test for bacteria, as celery was the usually the main culprit for higher counts.